Recap Korean Drama "Bad Prosecutor" Episode 1-2

We start the drama with an entitled, evil, rich CEO and his goons laughing at the corruption and incompetence of the prosecution. But police officers soon arrive to arrest him, cutting short the party.

Our hero JIN JUNG (D.O.) arrives, whistling like he has no care in the world. He looks like a college punk who gets into fights all the time — which he does (and a lot) — except he’s actually a prosecutor, and one who always stands on the side of justice and righteousness.

So why does he come to the rescue of this evil-looking CEO? In reality, Jung is just pretending to suck up to him to get his hands on some crucial evidence.

Despite getting caught red-handed, the evil CEO brings out his goons to beat the prosecutor up, but that doesn’t faze Jung because he has his own backup — except they don’t show up. Oof. Trying to contact them, Jung ends up getting lectured by his work superior SHIN AH-RA (Lee Se-hee), a star prosecutor who’s in charge of keeping him in check.

Well, even if he’s alone, he’s able to beat all the goons with only a kendo stick. Bad guy caught and justice served!

The next day, at the prosecution office, Jung gets a scolding from Ah-ra. Frustrated, she wonders aloud how he even landed his job. Jung, of course, answers with a confident “I was just talented and fated to be a prosecutor.” Oh my, I looooove him!

He reminisces about his elementary school days, when he allegedly witnessed his first injustice — his teacher accepting bribes — and decided he should teach her a lesson (by putting a gum on her car’s keyhole LMAO).

He originally wanted to be a swordsman, so he joined the kendo club in high school. But despite his outstanding talents, he was passed over for the son of a kendo athlete. So he decided to be a prosecutor instead. And he did so well that he became his class’s representative. Except, of course, he’s Jin Jung, and he arrives in a tracksuit with his kendo stick slung over his shoulder, lol.

Giving up, Ah-ra simply tells Jung to write an apology letter. No worries, Jung’s an expert at this because he’s already written hundreds of apology letters, and he’s pretty fed up about it so he just changes the date on a previous letter. She won’t notice anyway! LOL.

In his office, his loyal and trusty investigator LEE CHUL-GI (Yeon Joon-seok) enters with new case files, but Jung is fed up with these “trivial” cases… until he finds a murder case in the file. A woman was killed in her home, allegedly by a delivery guy who has already confessed.

Jung meets the suspect, a delivery guy who was discovered looking bloody at the scene, who recalls the incident with no guilt. He allegedly killed the victim because he found her rude.

Unfortunately for Jung, the case is quickly wrapped up because the suspect confessed. But he wants to investigate further, because he’s got a bad feeling about the case, thinking the crime is too perfect. Something’s off.

As Jung looks at the suspect being taken away, he bumps into Ah-ra, who informs him he needs to show up at their team dinner no matter what. The face he makes, haha! As the time to meet draws near, he tries to make an excuse — His gas! At home! He left it on! — but Ah-ra knows him too well. She’s waiting for him outside his office, so he’s forcibly dragged to the venue.

Because he doesn’t want to be there, Jung doesn’t partake in any activity, and just eats to his heart’s content. Unfortunately, LEE JANG-WON (Choi Kwang-il), the deputy chief of the central prosecution office, calls him out. Ah-ra makes Jung leave, but the one who gets the blame is his boss KIM TAE-HO (Kim Tae-woo), the solemn-looking head prosecutor of the crime department.

Outside, Jung mutters that he didn’t even want to come to this event. But it’s not for naught. A coincidental meeting with another guest gives him a clue about the murder case: the suspect is left-handed, but the murder weapon was used with the right hand. So Jung rushes out to confirm his suspicions — to the ire of Ah-ra. Poor girl. (Should we make a frustration counter? Lol.)

Back at the team dinner, the deputy chief is drunk and even losing his temper. But Tae-ho reminds him of his upcoming promotion, stopping him from creating a scandal. After the drunk deputy chief leaves, everyone breathes a sigh of relief. No one likes him at all.

The next day, Jung continues his investigation, questioning the detective in charge of the report. But the detective is uncooperative, making excuses and telling him to stay behind his desk. Jung accuses the detective of taking a bribe, and things nearly escalate into a fight before he gets kicked out. In the scuffle, Jung was able to snatch the sketchy detective’s phone, which they run for testing.

Returning to his office, Jung gets shocked by a waiting Ah-ra, who orders him to wrap up the murder case. Everything’s straightforward, so what is he even waiting for?! But Tae-ho arrives just in time to settle the matter. After reviewing the case file, Tae-ho allows Jung to investigate further, even if he’s dubbed as their department’s “Mr. Troublemaker.”

Jung delves deep into his investigation, and he does come up with something: the detective in charge is really suspicious, so he essentially kidnaps him, lol. Looking ominous, Jung threatens the sketchy detective, while Chul-gi starts swinging a hammer. It seems the detective’s gonna get hit — except Chul-gi swings a little too hard and lets the heavy hammer fly behind him. Chul-gi tries again, but he misses the detective’s hand by just a couple of inches. The detective confesses in fear, finally giving a written statement.

The next day, Jung visits the suspect again, questioning his motives about his written confession. While he looks a little nervous, the suspect sticks to his story.

Unfortunately, the public is clamoring for justice, dubbing the prosecution incompetent. Tae-ho gets a lecture from Deputy Chief Lee, who tells him to quickly wrap up the murder case. But it turns out that Tae-ho gave Jung the green light to continue investigating because he has his own suspicions, especially about the involvement of Deputy Chief Lee.

Jung and Tae-ho are both taken off the case. It’s reassigned to OH DO-HWAN (Ha Joon), an ambitious prosecutor in the same department. Jung shares his suspicions with Do-hwan, but the latter dismisses it. Seems like Do-hwan is ready to do anything to move up the ladder quickly, even if it means prosecuting the wrong person and letting the real murderer escape. In a flashback, Do-hwan is shown to have made a deal with Deputy Chief Lee, even negotiating a higher reward for himself to do the dirty work. The case quickly goes to court and the wrong suspect is sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Ah-ra confronts Do-hwan, accusing him of being a rotten human being despite being a talented prosecutor, just as Jung arrives. Do-hwan paints a dark picture of the reality of the prosecutor’s office: a corrupt place where only those with money and connections control the power. A rotten place where the righteous Jung doesn’t fit in.

Rebutting, Jung tells him he knows the truth, but he’s just playing dumb. “You know what the real issue is? You keep crossing the line just because I choose to play dumb. In this case, you crossed it big time. That’s why I’m going to take all of you down.” Then he promptly punches Do-hwan. Oof!

Of course, his action comes with consequences. Deputy Chief Lee catches him mid-punch, so Jung is promptly kicked out and sent to the Civil Affairs Division — the so-called “garbage disposal office” because it’s where delinquent prosecutors are sent to make them quit. There, he meets messy-looking PARK JAE-KYUNG (Kim Sang-ho), head of the Civil Affairs Division. He’s chill, and he’s accepted his position in the prosecution. In fact, he probably got the head position because he’s been there the longest.

At night, Jung sets up a trap for illegal taxi services. A taxi driver is taking a quiet woman home, but Jung appears to inspect the vehicle for illegal taxi services. It turns out the “woman” is Chul-gi in full disguise, complete with full makeup, lacy blouse, and sparkly skirt — and he gets right into a street chase. Damn, I love these partners in anti-crime crime!

Apparently, this incident was simply supposed to be a public service, one of many Jung’s been tasked to do since joining the Civil Affairs Division. Other ~important~ activities include investigating an affair, chasing a runaway dog, and taking care of drunk citizens — just like a glorified chauffeur.

But of course, while Jung is doing these mundane tasks, he and Chul-gi continue to investigate the murder case. And stars align for him, because when he goes to visit the taxi driver again, he discovers new info about the murder victim. After threatening to drop him off the balcony, Jung discovers the victim works as a hostess. And they get a new lead: the hostess bar owner who seems connected to Deputy Chief Lee.

Bringing out his aces, Jung calls for the help of his “gang”: badass lady gangster BAEK EUN-JI (Joo Bo-young) and genius hacker GO JOONG-DO (Lee Shi-un), the latter who works for Jung merely to get his indictments removed. In an elaborate scheme to gather evidence, the pair encounters a few hiccups (getting caught in a lie, Joong-do getting hit with a taser, and Joong-do getting kicked), but they do succeed in gathering evidence.

Later, in a secret hacker lair, Eun-ji and Joong-do meet up with Jung and Chul-gi to review the evidence. Apparently, Deputy Chief Lee was caught on cam soliciting the services of hostesses. Oof, that’s why he wants this case closed fast!

While Jung is trying to negotiate with the hostess bar owner, prosecutors arrive with a search and seizure warrant, allegedly from the incident at the very beginning of the drama. Jae-kyung seems to come to his rescue, but he quickly gives up. Oof. So Jung ends up in the custody of the prosecution.

Meanwhile, as she’s reporting to Tae-ho, Ah-ra witnesses Deputy Chief Lee slap Tae-ho on the face, threatening to remove the latter from office once the former gets his promotion. So she breaks Jung out, finally deciding to work together with him, even if they do everything his way this time.

Jung is prepared, because he had Eun-ji and Joong-do tail the hostess bar owner, but he has already escaped. No matter — Jung has a backup plan: he has planted a tracker on the hostess bar owner, so they’re able to quickly follow him to the pier where he plans to escape. But he just left the tracker on a truck. Nooo. It’s the corrupt and ambitious Do-hwan who found it, sending the hostess bar owner away on a flight to Shanghai.

Ah-ra is ready to give up, but Jung says he has a way. How? By claiming there’s a bomb on the plane. Flight grounded! (Don’t do this at home, guys.) Spotting the hostess bar owner trying to escape, Jung, Chul-gi and Ah-ra chase him across the locked down airport, apprehending him after he threatens to kill an innocent bystander. Unfortunately for Jung, the airport security tracks him down and arrests him for his bomb call prank.

At his reporter-filled promotion ceremony, Deputy Chief Lee is delivering his speech when he suddenly gets surprised by a pinch on his leg. It’s Jung hiding underneath the podium! LOL, this crazy bastard.

Jung addresses the media, promising to reveal the corruption and evilness of the prosecution and sending them into a frenzy. Everyone goes crazy when Jung promptly arrests Deputy Chief Lee, charging him with the murder of the hostess.

Wow, what an opening week! I love the tone: it started strong with the perfect introduction to our hero. Those first few minutes perfectly encapsulated just how conniving Jung’s character is, and I love it. I missed seeing D.O. on screen, and he’s doing a good job as always! We got good introductions to the rest of the characters as well, but no one is capturing my attention like D.O. and Yeon Joon-seok are. Maybe the others just didn’t have enough screen time yet. Or maybe I’m just loving these partners in anti-crime crime — especially how shameless the two of them are about doling out threats to get what they need.

While we’re dealing with crime and corruption, the show was able to keep things humorous and entertaining — I just hope it doesn’t end up being too procedural. So far, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be one case per week, but rather that the big case tackled throughout the entire drama will be exposing the corruption of the prosecution — the very office Jung joined. Well, no matter what, I’m sure sticking around for the hilarious character of Jung. Keep being interesting, Show!