MBC’s Joseon Attorney got off to a smooth start. The show premiered on March 31st and tells the story of a Joseon-era lawyer named Kang Haen Soo (Woo Do Hwan) seeking revenge against the person who killed his parents through a trial.
In the first two episodes, Joseon Attorney introduced Kang’s performance as the Joseon attorney and the story of a princess, Lee Yeon Jo (Bona), who helps her people outside the palace.
Kang helps a merchant named Park (Choi Jae Hwan), who is being taken advantage of by the powerful Jang Company, in order to get closer to its boss Jang (Lee Jun Hyuk). He helps Park win the case against the Jang Company, which causes them to miss out on a palace supply contract. In retaliation, they took Kang for some beating up. However, Kang promises Jang to deliver the painting that he’s been after, and with the help of Princess Lee, Kang convinces Pyo who has the painting. But instead, Kang steals the painting and frames the crime on Jang.
Kang secretly pays Jang a visit, who’s dying from a severe beating, and tells him that he’s the son of Kang Eon Jik, whom Jang played a role in the killing, and demands to know who was behind the plot. But Jang meets his end after snickering at Kang, telling him, “You’ll get trampled on if you want change.”
The show’s ratings were initially disappointing at 2.8% and 2.9% for the first two episodes, compared to the 18.3% ratings SBS’s Taxi Driver 2 recorded in its latest episode. However, considering that the previous drama of the same time slot, Kokdu: Season of Deity, ended with 1.6% ratings, this is not at all a bad start.
Moreover, Joseon Attorney surprisingly has an impressive quality. The drama is penned by Queen for Seven Days writer Choi Jin Young, who based this new project on a popular webtoon of the same name. She joined hands with Twenty-Five Twenty-One director Kim Seung Ho.
After a three-year hiatus, Woo Do Hwan returns to the screen with a solid performance that showcases his range as an actor. Bona also proves her worth as an actress, breaking away from the “idol-actress” label with her stable performance. Meanwhile, actor Cha Hak Yeon shows off his acting chops in a supporting role.
Although MBC has not had a hit drama since the 2021 series The Red Sleeve, Joseon Attorney may be the one to turn the tide for the network.
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