Innocent Defendant

Innocent Defendant^[1] (Korean: 피고인; RR: pigoin; lit. 'Defendant') is a South Korean television series starring Ji Sung, Um Ki-joon, Kwon Yu-ri, Oh Chang-seok, and Uhm Hyun-kyung. It aired on SBS from January 23 to March 21, 2017 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 22:00 (KST) for 18 episodes.^[2][3][4][5]

Innocent Defendant
Promotional poster
Hangul	피고인
Hanja	被告人
RR	Pigoin
MR	P'igoin
Genre	Legal drama Thriller
Developed by	Han Jung-hwan (planning)
Written by	Choi Soo-jin Choi Chang-hwan
Directed by	Jo Young-kwang Jung Dong-yoon
Creative directors	Jo Young-min Kim Jang-han
Starring	Ji Sung Um Ki-joon Kwon Yu-ri Oh Chang-seok Uhm Hyun-kyung
Music by	Park Se-joon (Music Director)
Opening theme	Until The End (Inst.) by San E
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	18
Production
Producers	Park Hyoung-gi Min Hyun-il Lee Sung-jin Lee Sang-min
Cinematography	Jung Min-gyun Park Min-sung
Editors	Jo In-hyung Lim Ho-chul
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Signal Entertainment Group The Story Works (SBS)
Original release
Network	SBS TV
Release	January 23 (2017-01-23) – March 21, 2017 (2017-03-21)

Synopsis

Park Jung-woo is a prosecutor at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. One day, he wakes up and finds himself a convict on death row. Suffering from temporary amnesia, Jung-woo has no idea what transpired to land him in prison. He struggles to recover his memory and clear his name.

Cast

Main

• Ji Sung as Park Jung-woo^[6]

A Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office. The head of the violent crimes investigative division who never loses a case.

• Um Ki-joon as Cha Sun-ho / Cha Min-ho^[7]
  • Han Ki-won as young Cha Sun-ho
  • Han Ki-woong as young Cha Min-ho

Cha Sun-ho is the President of Chamyung Group and Cha Min-ho's older brother.

Cha Min-ho is the Vice President of Chamyung Group and the younger brother of Cha Sun-ho. He is neglected and abused by his father.

• Kwon Yu-ri as Seo Eun-hye^[8]

A defense lawyer who strives to be eloquent and rational, but loses in court every single time. She takes up Jung-woo's case.

• Oh Chang-seok as Kang Jun-hyuk

Jung-woo's best friend and fellow Prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office.

• Uhm Hyun-kyung as Na Yeon-hee

Sun-ho's wife and daughter of a bankrupt chaebol, who has a fiery ambition to succeed.

Supporting

People around Jung-woo

• Son Yeo-eun as Yoon Ji-soo, Jung-woo's wife.
• Shin Rin-ah as Park Ha-yeon, Jung-woo's daughter.
• Kang Sung-min as Yoon Tae-soo, Jung-woo's brother-in-law. A prison officer.
• Sung Byung-suk as Oh Jung-hee, Jung-woo's mother-in-law.

Prosecutors

• Park Ho-san as Choi Dae-hong
• Lee Shin-sung as Ko Dong-yoon
• Han Ji-woo as Yeo Min-kyung^[9]
• Jung Dong-gyu as Deputy Prosecutor General

Wol-jeong Prison

• Kim Min-seok as Lee Sung-gyu

Born on 16 December 1990, Lee Sung-gyu is a convict charged with assault. The prison's quick-witted mood maker, who helps take care of Jung-woo.

• Jo Jae-yoon as Shin Cheol-sik

Jung-woo's jail-mate who was serving life imprisonment for murder. He was jailed by Jung-woo for killing his boss, later to be revealed that he was falsely accused of the crime.

• Yoon Yong-hyun as Chief Priest
• Woo Hyun as Han Sang-wook aka Milyang

A former doctor, he is a life convict and who had been imprisoned for twenty-years by the time he became Jung-woo's jail-mate.

• Oh Dae-hwan as Cheon Pil-jae / Moong Chi aka Bundle

Jung-woo's helper.

• Jo Jae-ryong as Oh Hyuk-joo aka Rockfish

Jung-woo's jail-mate.

Chamyung Group

• Jang Gwang as Cha Young-woon
• Ye Soo-jung as Myung Geum-ja
• Kim Kyung-nam as Executive Secretary

Extended

• Kim Seung-hoon as Prison Security Chief
• Baek Ji-won as Eun-hye's aunt
• Seo In-sung as Cha Eun-soo, Yeon-hee's son.
• Lee Jung-hun as Yeo Sung-soo
• Oh Seung-hoon as Kim Seok, Cha Min-ho's henchman.
• Seo Jeong-yeon as Kim Sun-hwa, a psychiatrist.
• Hwang Young-hee as Cheon Pil-jae's older sister

Special appearances

• Kim Hwan as News Anchor (ep. 1)
• Seo Dong-won as Detective Oh Jong-min (ep. 3, 7-8)
• Han Kyu-won as Lee Chan-young (ep. 6)
• Oh Yeon-ah as Jennifer Lee (ep. 7 & 8)
• Lee Deok-hwa as Prisoner #2460 (ep. 8)
• Lee Si-eon (ep. 18)

Production

Innocent Defendant is directed by Jo Young-kwang of 49 Days, and written by Choi Su-jin of City Hunter. Its first script reading took place on November 18, 2016 at the SBS Studio in Ilsan, South Korea.^[10]

Original soundtrack

Defendant: The OST Album
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean, English
Label	Signal Entertainment Group The Story Works KT Music

In December 2016, co-producer Signal Entertainment Group signed a deal with KT Music for the soundtrack of Innocent Defendant.^[11]

Part 1

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Dreaming Now"	Dona Yuyu	17HOLIC Edison Lee Jung-won	Son Dong-woon (Highlight)	3:37
2.	"Dreaming Now" (Inst.)		17HOLIC Edison Lee Jung-won		3:37
Total length:					7:14

Part 2

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Until the End" (끝까지)	Jung San Park Se-joon Han Joon	Park Se-joon Song Jin-suk	San E	3:24
2.	"Until the End" (끝까지) (Inst.)		Park Se-joon Song Jin-suk		3:24
Total length:					6:48

Part 3

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Winter Tree" (바람이 차갑네요)	CuzD Ricky Dona	CuzD Ricky Dona	Suran	4:15
2.	"Winter Tree" (바람이 차갑네요) (Inst.)		CuzD Ricky Dona		4:13
Total length:					8:28

Part 4

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Trauma" (아픈 그림자)	Lee Seung-hyun Eun Jong-tae	Choi Cheon-gon Eun Jong-tae	Raun	3:43
Total length:					3:43

Reception

The series was a commercial success with over 25% ratings and topped popularity charts.^[12][13] It received praise for its plot-focused narrative, impressive acting performance of lead actors Ji Sung and Um Ki-joon and its ability to resonate with the public. The Korea Times said the drama is like a "warning sign to the evil and powerful figures of the real world"; and Yonhap News Agency praise Ji's character as "putting a relatable human face on a tale that is often disturbingly grim and somber". However, it also had criticisms about its unrealistic plot and its tendency to repeat the same pattern of twists and turns to keep viewers hooked.^[14][15][16]

Ratings

In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		TNmS[17]		AGB Nielsen[18]
		Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide	Seoul
1	January 23, 2017	11.9% (5th)	13.9% (4th)	14.5% (4th)	16.3% (4th)
2	January 24, 2017	12.9% (4th)	15.1% (4th)	14.9% (4th)	16.1% (3rd)
3	January 30, 2017	12.8% (4th)	15.1% (3rd)	17.3% (3rd)	18.2% (2nd)
4	January 31, 2017	14.8% (4th)	17.8% (3rd)	18.7% (3rd)	20.8% (2nd)
5	February 6, 2017	14.2% (4th)	16.3% (3rd)	18.6% (3rd)	19.6% (2nd)
6	February 7, 2017	15.3% (4th)	18.5% (2nd)	18.6% (3rd)	19.6% (2nd)
7	February 13, 2017	15.8% (4th)	18.9% (3rd)	20.9% (3rd)	22.4% (1st)
8	February 14, 2017	16.6% (4th)	20.2% (2nd)	22.2% (2nd)	23.8% (2nd)
9	February 20, 2017	15.9% (4th)	20.0% (2nd)	21.4% (3rd)	23.1% (2nd)
10	February 21, 2017	16.8% (4th)	20.4% (2nd)	22.2% (2nd)	23.4% (2nd)
11	February 27, 2017	19.8% (3rd)	22.7% (2nd)	23.3% (2nd)	24.6% (1st)
12	February 28, 2017	19.0% (3rd)	22.1% (1st)	22.9% (2nd)	23.9% (2nd)
13	March 6, 2017	18.8% (3rd)	22.2% (2nd)	23.7% (2nd)	25.4% (1st)
14	March 7, 2017	20.1% (3rd)	24.3% (1st)	24.9% (2nd)	26.1% (1st)
15	March 13, 2017	20.3% (3rd)	23.5% (2nd)	25.6% (2nd)	27.1% (1st)
16	March 14, 2017	21.3% (3rd)	24.6% (1st)	25.4% (2nd)	27.1% (1st)
17	March 20, 2017	24.8% (2nd)	29.0% (1st)	27.0% (2nd)	28.8% (1st)
18	March 21, 2017	26.6% (2nd)	30.3% (1st)	28.3% (1st)	29.7% (1st)
Average		17.65%	20.83%	21.69%	23.11%

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2017	10th Korea Drama Awards	Best Original Soundtrack	Son Dong-woon (Dreaming Now)	Nominated	[19]
	1st The Seoul Awards	Best Drama	Innocent Defendant	Nominated	[20][21]
		Best Actor	Ji Sung	Won
		Best Supporting Actress	Seo Jeong-yeon	Nominated
		Best New Actor	Kim Min-seok	Won
	SBS Drama Awards	Grand Prize (Daesang)	Ji Sung	Won	[22][23]
		Drama of the Year	Innocent Defendant	Won
		Character of the Year	Um Ki-joon	Won
		Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Monday–Tuesday Drama	Ji Sung	Nominated
			Um Ki-joon	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actor in a Monday–Tuesday Drama	Kim Min-seok	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Monday–Tuesday Drama	Kwon Yu-ri	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor	Jo Jae-yoon	Nominated
			Oh Dae-hwan	Nominated
		Youth Acting Award	Shin Rin-ah	Nominated
	30th Grimae Awards	Best Actor	Ji Sung	Won	[24][unreliable source?]
		Best Drama	Jung Min-gyun, Song Yo-hoon	Won

Adaptations

The series was adapted in Turkey as "Mahkum - Şehrin Kralları" and it has been broadcast on Fox TV.^[25]