If you’re sick of all these romantic and cute dramas and want to watch something with gripping twists that makes you binge the whole series at once, this drama is for you!
Stranger (비밀의 숲) is a 2017 crime thriller drama with the outstanding actors Bae Doo-na and Cho Seung-woo. Bae Doo-na plays Han Yeo-jin, a charming detective in Seoul, investigating a mysterious murder scene and it’s there where she encounters Cho Seung-woo as Hwang Si-mok, already on-site as a prosecutor because of his ties to the murder victim. The murder turns out to be more complex and puzzling than they initially thought, unravelling a whole national conspiracy behind the scenes. Viewers might find themselves questioning every character’s motives and allegiance while trying to find the real culprit.
Why is this drama so outstanding you ask? Well, because of Cho Seung-woo and Bae Doo-na’s chemistry of course. These two actors know their roles very well and go together like milk and coffee. Cho Seung-woo additionally had another challenge to tackle, as his character Hwang Si-mok has had brain surgery as a child, leading him to not having the range of emotions people usually have. He lacks empathy and social skills, thus making it hard for Han Yeo-jin and everyone else to work with him, even though he is always polite. Cho Seung-woo portrays this additional issue extremely well. In an interview broadcasted on Vlive, he even said that staying emotionless was the hardest thing for him because he could have laughed at anything at one point during filming, even though he usually has no problem with breaking character.
Anyone who watches K-dramas might have noticed that they usually do not get more than one season. For a K-drama to get a second season means that it has to perform exceptionally well, and Stranger did exactly that. Stranger has won several awards, including the Grand Prize for Television at the Baeksang Arts Awards. Then finally, in 2020 the second season was released on Netflix and broadcasted on tvN.
The second season also focuses on Hwang Si-mok and Han Yeo-jin, but this time, they do not necessarily stand on the same side as the prosecution and the police begin to fight more than ever as each side wants to have the upper hand while accusing the other side of having superiority over criminal cases. Because of this, the second season feels to be more political than the first. The viewers might need to watch more focused as to not lose the overview of the plot.
If you think you know the actors but can’t quite place them, you might be pleased to know that the cast has played in well-known dramas before. The unique and lovely Bae Doo-na for example has had roles in big dramas like Kingdom (yes, the one with the zombies), or movies like The Host. She even starred in international movies and series that are widely known, such as Cloud Atlas, Sense8, and Jupiter Ascending. In 2021 she will star in The Silent Sea, which will premiere on Netflix.
Cho Seung-woo has not starred in as many movies and television series’ as Bae Doo-na but he actually does a lot of theater and musical roles, like Jekyll and Hide. But you might still know him from the drama Life, that is also on Netflix, or the movie Marathon where he received the award for Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards in 2005.
Other actors include Lee Joon-hyuk, Shin Hye-sun, and Yoo Jae-myung in season 1, as well as Yoon Se-ah, Jeon Hye-jin, and Choi Moo-sung in season 2.
All in all, I would really recommend this K-drama for anyone that likes crime dramas like Signal, Black, or Designated Survivor. If you have watched Stranger already, you might want to look into Life, a hospital drama that includes the majority of the Stranger cast but with reversed roles.
