Diary of a Prosecutor: Episode 1

by quirkycase

I’m happy to say I don’t think Diary of a Prosecutor is going to be just another run-of-the-mill prosecutor drama. We’ve got a great ensemble of characters in our little prosecutor’s office with a cozy, slice-of-life feel. After only one episode, I already feel invested and like I know these characters. This episode was all set-up, but it looks like we’re in for a fun, possibly more realistic take on the work of prosecutors. And, as a bonus, there’s nary a serial killer in sight.

  
EPISODE 1

Two men fish under moonlight as they wax poetic (literally reciting poetry) about fishing and the beauty around them. Their admiration is cut short by a siren as an absurd number of police officers make their way down to the water, announcing it’s a no fishing zone. His companion takes off, leaving LEE SEON-WOONG (Lee Seon-kyun) to fend for himself.

He hides under a tarp but is immediately discovered by an officer. Apparently, it’s a military base and fishing there is illegal. Seon-woong is taken to the station with a group of other offenders, while his companion swims to freedom.

Seon-woong hands over his ID and barely evades having to state his occupation. He high-tails it out of there, but runs right into a familiar face who good-naturedly insists on providing a police escort back. Seon-woong looks like he’s about to die from embarrassment as the cop car pulls up to his office, sirens blaring, while his colleagues look on.

He nonchalantly tries to slip into the auditorium where his every-man-for-himself companion KIM IN-JOO (Jung Jae-sung), the Jinyeong Branch Chief of the Jangwon Prosecutor’s Office, is giving a speech.

Seon-woong narrates that Jinyeong is a port city on the southern coast of Korea known for fishing. Although it’s bigger than Seoul, its population of 320,000 is about the size of the single Seoul district of Dobong-gu. With only 12 prosecutors, their little office’s notoriety consists of being entirely forgotten about by the prosecutor general three years running and a second point, which Seon-woong narrates he’ll get to later as we mysteriously zoom in on Room 309.

Chief Kim presides over a meeting where the prosecutors discuss the embarrassment of Seon-woong being arrested. NAM BYUNG-JOON (Kim Yong-hee), the head of Criminal Division Team 1, argues Seon-woong’s case should be taken to the disciplinary committee. Chief Kim studiously avoids eye-contact with Seon-woong.

Seon-woong stands and apologizes for embarrassing everyone. He can’t defend his actions…but as a prosecutor, he must be honest about what happened…I love how he keeps pausing and making vague references to strike fear into Chief Kim’s heart until he can’t take it anymore and interrupts. “Yes?” says Seon-woong all innocently. Ha.

Chief Kim magnanimously gives him a pass, seeing as it’s his first offense and all. Everyone’s up in arms, especially Prosecutor Nam, but Chief Kim won’t hear another word on it. We flash back to his 2.8km swim to freedom, bravin’ the elements to make it to dry land. We’re told his nickname is Sea Otter.

After the meeting, Prosecutor JO MIN-HO (Lee Sung-jae) confronts Prosecutor Nam about being so hard on Seon-woong, but Prosecutor Nam just tells him to train his subordinates better. He leaves, taking half the group with him. Clearly there’s some team rivalry going on here.

Introduction time. We learn Min-ho is the head of Criminal Division Team 2. He’s obsessed with fitness and frequently comes to work in biking outfits that unsettle colleagues. He’s recently divorced. Prosecutor OH YOON-JIN (Lee Sang-hee), who used to be a violent crimes detective, now leads a hectic life as a working mom of twin babies.

After once winning the second-place lottery prize, Prosecutor HONG JONG-HAK (Kim Kwang-kyu) is now obsessed with buying lottery tickets despite spending more on them than he won. Baby Prosecutor KIM JUNG-WOO (Jeon Sung-woo), who is being trained by Seon-woong, spends most of his time trying to look suave and smolder for his Insta.

Working closely alongside the prosecutors are assistants and investigators like JANG MAN-OK (Baek Hyun-joo) who has 30 years of experience. We watch as she swoops in to save the confused prosecutors from having to figure out how to communicate with a woman speaking Chinese in their office.

Lastly, there’s Seon-woong. He’s been a prosecutor for 10 years and was thrilled to be transferred to his hometown of Jinyeong a year and a half ago. Never having been one of the elites, he’s happy to be a part of the unglamorous Criminal Division whose cases tend toward the mundane. They’re often in charge of summonses, and Seon-woong has no problem busting out the satoori and getting folksy with the locals, much to Jung-woo’s chagrin. Captions tell us Seon-woong is an “expert in begging.”

Man-ok is impressed with his cajoling skills since she tried to get the woman to come in without success. But Jung-woo wonders why a victim wouldn’t want to see the prosecutors. Seon-woong says they’ll find out when they interview the victims later.

Seon-woong and Man-ok meet with a shaman who is accused of collecting money for an exorcism he then didn’t perform. He argues he performed that exorcism 21 times, no less…he just performed them alone. But he claims to have a witness. The only problem is they’ve been dead for three years. Pfft.

Man-ok looks very over it and asks sweetly, since he sees dead people, if he can see her deceased uncle who loved her oh so much. His face changes, and he suddenly leaps up to exclaim, “How dare you lie in front of me!” making Seon-woong and Man-ok jump.

They send him off as he tsks at Man-ok. But he suddenly stops, looking frightened, and drops to the floor yelping. Seon-woong rushes over and the man latches onto him before saying in a little girl’s voice, “My feet hurt!” Good lord. That’s so unsettling.

As that grown man continues crying for his mom in that little girl’s voice, everyone has gathered and looks understandably disturbed. They’re right next to Room 309, and Seon-woong narrates that this room has a strange history. All 11 occupants from the past 5 years have up and quit being prosecutors.

Over lunch, the prosecutors wonder if the man was possessed. They tell Jung-woo that the grounds used to be a cemetery, making him wonder if there’s a ghost in their building. Seon-woong calmly says there is. “The girl wearing high heels.” Everyone stares.

Seon-woong is surprised no one knows the story. Five years ago, a little girl went missing wearing her mom’s heels. Four days later, the heels were found but the girl was not. This unsolved case was assigned to the prosecutor in, naturally, Room 309. Sitting in the room at night, he would hear the clacking of high heels in the hallway.

Yoon-jin gasps in fright, almost giving everyone else at the table a heart attack. She reminds them of the shaman earlier who claimed his feet hurt in that little girl’s voice. Min-ho finally cuts in to scare them into silence by suggesting they maybe shouldn’t be gossiping about that room without a care.

At home, Seon-woong freaks himself out looking up supernatural abilities of shamans. Jong-hak lets himself in and grabs a beer. The door beeps again as Investigator LEE JUNG-HWAN (Ahn Chang-hwan) enters. Does everyone have his door code? Jung-hwan is the investigator who comes with Room 309, so he’s constantly working with new prosecutors. It seems like he lives downstairs.

They turn on the TV as they lounge around drinking beer. As they watch a drama scene with a shady prosecutor, Jong-hak scoffs, “What is this? Another prosecutor drama?” Ha!

Seon-woong narrates there are two types of prosecutors that probably come to mind: the power-hungry and the righteous social justice fighter. They flip to the news where we get our first glimpse of CHA MYUNG-JOO (Jung Ryeo-won), who’s clearly a hot-shot prosecutor, leading the briefing on the Bless Foundation investigation of a $200 million fraud case.

They deflate a little when they compare those numbers to their $2,000 shaman case. But that’s the reality for most prosecutors. And in comes Jung-woo who apparently lives there with Seon-woong, although “with” is a bit strong considering he has a separate passcode for his room door that Seon-woong hasn’t cracked. They decide to watch something funny and draw Jung-woo out to join in the hilarity, but he couldn’t be less interested as he calls a woman to set up a date.

Seon-woong narrates prosecutors are nothing special. They’re mostly just stuck in their little offices buried under paperwork or fighting with victims, witnesses and suspects.

At the office, Min-ho berates his team for having too many “old” (over three months) and undesirable cases. They have the most team members but never come in first place. With that out of his system, he suggests they get down to the real business now. Jung-woo jumps up, ready to take notes while they seriously discuss…where to get lunch. Pfft.

At lunch, Min-ho gets a call from the chief and informs his team they’ll be getting someone new. Yoon-jin is excited, but Jung-woo grumbles no one stays over a week anyway. Seon-woong kicks him under the table. Later, in his office, Min-ho thinks back on the eerie Room 309 happenings, wondering if that’s truly why people keep quitting.

Back at the office, we’re introduced to assistant SUNG MI-RAN (Ahn Eun-jin) who silently shows Man-ok a magazine spread featuring Seon-woong–in the background of a picture for a story on Cha Myung-joo. Heh. The enigmatic Mi-ran apparently says no more than a couple words a day.

Seon-woong heads to the hospital after getting a call that the victim of the shaman almost got hit by a car. She’s convinced it’s retribution for going against the shaman, so she orders Seon-woong to leave, saying she won’t sue or go to the prosecutor’s office.

Her son informs Seon-woong the shaman told her there’s a ghost at the office, which is why she’s so scared. After the shaman accurately predicted some unfortunate incidents (a fire and a break-in), she was a believer, although her son thinks it’s nonsense. Seon-woong looks thoughtful as he asks if the perpetrator of the incidents was caught (they weren’t) and how his mother got hurt.

Seon-woong fills Man-ok in at the office. She asks if he believes in ghosts to which he replies all the weird incidents he’s come across as a prosecutor have led him to believe in them. He asks her to get the CCTV footage from the victim’s accident, saying, “Let’s catch this ghost.”

Trying to solve his ghost problem, Min-ho makes a trip to the shaman’s and receives a talisman. He sneaks into Room 309, like the shaman told him to, and glues the talisman underneath the desk. He hears a whimpering child crying for her mom, but per the shaman’s instructions, he doesn’t turn around.

In the morning, Min-ho and Jung-hwan pick up the newbie and show him the town (Seon-woong skips out to take himself fishing) while Jung-woo does the same for his date. Min-ho waits for an opening to slip a talisman countering Room 309’s curse in the newbie’s pocket, but when he finally gets his shot, he’s caught red-handed awkwardly holding the man’s jacket. Fail. He plays it off but can’t slip in the talisman.

Jung-woo brags about himself to his date, but he’s brought crashing right back down as she offhandedly mentions how her uncle (Jung-woo’s law professor) says a prosecutor’s grades determine how far from Seoul they’re assigned. His date happens to find his misplaced arrogance cute, so there’s that.

Things get a little awkward when the newbie politely turns down Min-ho’s offer to see the residences and go for round two. In desperation, Min-ho settles on getting way too personal and gives the newbie a bear hug so he can slip the talisman in his pocket. Mission accomplished.

On the ride home, they’re in high spirits, thinking that the newbie is a keeper, especially since Min-ho managed to sneak that talisman. As they’re congratulating themselves, elsewhere, the newbie discovers the talisman and tosses it on the ground. On the bus, he sits next to Jung-woo’s date, and they both write thanks-but-no-thanks texts to their unsuspecting companions.

Seon-woong returns home to a thoroughly drunk Jung-woo who shows him his rejection text. Seon-woong commiserates with him, and Jung-woo drunkenly acts more familiar, even calling him “hyung.” Seon-woong playfully puts him in a headlock while Jung-woo tries to tap out, saying he’s going to puke.

Min-ho shares the bad news with Chief Kim and Prosecutor Nam about the newbie. Chief Kim wonders if they should just give up and turn Room 309 into a meditation room. Odd choice for a potential ghost haunt, but okay. Prosecutor Nam jumps on board, but Min-ho is against it, although the promise of an exercise bike he can use to his heart’s content softens him up a bit.

Seon-woong calls the shaman back into the office to let him know the victim dropped the charges, which the shaman claims to have already been told (by the lady who’s the source of his mystic powers, naturally). Seon-woong fixes him a coffee, getting him to relax, before tossing him some pictures.

They found out the car that almost hit the victim is owned by the shaman’s cousin who immediately placed a call to him after the accident. Besides this case of attempted murder or conspiracy to murder, they’re investigating other cases the shaman may be involved in. He looks a lot less confident now.

Seon-woong narrates that their branch isn’t every prosecutor’s dream, but even Jinyeong needs prosecutors. Everyone there does their jobs diligently, unglamorous as those jobs may be.

Seon-woong has a late night at the office as a storm rages outside. He hears the clacking of heels and glimpses a woman walking down the hallway. His eyes widen as Cha Myung-joo turns to face him, and he wonders what in the world she’s doing there.

 
COMMENTS

I’m into it! Honestly, the main draw of this drama for me was Jung Ryeo-won (and also Lee Seon-kyun), and I liked the idea of a Miss Hammurabi-esque look at another aspect of the justice system. But as someone who’s prosecutor/lawyered out, I had tempered expectations. So I’m happy to say this exceeded those expectations. I like that it’s not super serious in tone. Slice-of-life can tend toward heavy or overly introspective (not a bad thing per se), but this one has a lighthearted, fun vibe.

We had a ton of introductions this episode, but they didn’t feel tedious. The whole cast is great so far–each character feels distinct without being stereotypical. And seeing as this is clearly a more character-driven drama, that’s a big plus. Since we haven’t dived into the plot yet, I can’t comment on that aspect, but I don’t foresee this being a plot-heavy drama anyway. I’m hopeful it’ll focus predominantly on the characters’ daily lives and work, weaving in cases naturally without being overly reliant on a case-of-the-week structure. Guess we’ll have to see.

I really like Seon-woong as a lead–he takes his job seriously and seems good at it, but he’s not stiff or unyielding. I mean, he got arrested within the first five minutes of the drama so obviously, he isn’t a stickler for rules. Plus, I like that he’s got a cheeky side which came out in full force during that meeting over his arrest. And I think I’m really going to enjoy his relationship with Baby Prosecutor Jung-woo who takes himself way too seriously. Seon-woong seems to find him ridiculous and cute in equal measure, which is about right.

I’m not always a fan of voice-over narration, but I thought it worked well here. It added to the warm, cozy feeling of the drama, giving us a more intimate look at the day-to-day operations of the office. And, let’s be real, having a voice like Lee Seon-kyun’s narrating certainly doesn’t hurt. I wonder if it’s being used more just as an introductory tool or if it’ll continue throughout.

The only disappointment this episode was the lack of Jung Ryeo-won! I kept waiting for her to show up, and I was surprised she was such a distant character this hour. But I get why they waited to introduce her. She’s clearly the exact type of prosecutor who does not dream of being in an office like Jinyeong’s, so giving us a thorough introduction to this peaceful office and the type of prosecutors who work there will only accentuate the difference. I have a feeling she’s going to shake things up, and it’ll have a greater impact now that we’ve seen the typical atmosphere of the office. But now I’m ready for lots of Jung Ryeo-won, and I’m excited to see how she’ll fit (or won’t) with our lovable team.

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