Bad Prosecutor (Hangul: 진검승부, Romanization: Jingeomseungbu) is a 2022 Korean Series starring Do Kyungsoo as Jin Jeong, a prosecutor of the Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul, whose desire for true justice to be served often makes him skirt the rules and regulations of his office. The main story begins when Jin Jeong is assigned to what appears to be an open and shut murder case of a young woman by a delivery man, as the suspect self-reported and confessed to the crime. However, Jeong notices that things aren't as they seem and as he begins to pull threads on the case, he uncovers a corruption plot far bigger than a single murder that sees him going head-to-head against the very prosecutoral office he serves.
While the series technically is about prosecutors, given the greater jurisdiction prosecutors have in South Korea in comparison to the US, the show plays out more like a Cop Show than a Courtroom Drama, focusing primarily on Jin Jeong out in the field investigating the murder, collecting evidence, chasing down leads, and confronting suspects. In fact, there are zero scenes of anyone in the Prosecutor's Office actually prosecuting suspects in court.
The show aired from October 5, 2022 to November 10, 2022 to positive reception, with lead actor Do's performance getting the most acclaim. Do would later win the Top Excellence Award (Actor), Popularity Award (Actor) and Best Couple Award (along with co-star Lee Sehee) at the 2022 KBS Drama Awards for the role.
Tropes in this work:
- Broken Pedestal: A-Ra looks up to Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee for his fair and gentle way of seeking out justice. So she is devastated to learn of his corruption, especially after Jeong is almost stabbed to death to cover up Lee's role in the murder of Chief Prosecutor Kim. Jeong knew this and made sure to have photo evidence before even bringing up his suspicions about the Deputy Chief to her.
- By-the-Book Cop: A-Ra is a model prosecutor, following the rules to a T, which puts her at odds with Cowboy Cop Jeong, who liberally ignores the rules in his pursuit of justice.
- Cowboy Cop: Jeong is notorious in the office for doing as he pleases, which includes lying to suspects, getting into fights and brawls with them, getting evidence without warrants, and ignoring direct orders from his superiors.
- Cop Show: The show varies between this and Buddy Cop Show, as the main focus is on Jin and the collection of people who he scrounges up to help him in his pursuit of justice. However, Jeong's relationship with his direct supervisor, Shin A-ra is frequently highlighted as she's a By-the-Book Cop foil for him, and many scenes are just of the two working together and learning about each other.
- Dirty Cop: More like "Dirty Prosecutoral System", seeing as we learn that most of the higher ups in the Central Prosecutoral Office are either currently covering up and lying about cases for personal gain or doing so for others behind the scenes who are really pulling the strings.
- Five-Man Band: Jeong is The Hero of this story, who drives the plot with his single-minded pursuit for the truth and justice and is the main connecting point for the group, who either are just work colleagues or complete strangers otherwise. A-ra is The Lancer, as she's the only person in the group who has more authority than Jeong on the team as because she outranks him, and she's the only one willing and capable of challenging Jeong's plans (not that he ever listens). Joong-do is The Smart Guy, an admittedly middling hacker with a long rap sheet that Jeong gets to help him by promising to drop a charge for each favor Joong-do successfully does for him. Eun-ji is The Big Guy, a woman of few words who can beat up men twice her size easily with gang affiliations and a rather obvious crush on Jeong. And then there's Chul-ki as The Heart, a junior prosecutor tasked with assisting Jeong who continues to do so out of admiration for him and belief in his cause. What he lacks in specialized skill or authority, he makes up for by being highly dependable and likable, getting along with everyone else on the team with no friction.
- Frame-Up: Several across the series.
- Delivery man Kim Hyo-jun is willingly being framed for the murder of Park Ye-young.
- Later, Jeong gets framed with the murder of Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-Ho in order to keep him from further investigating Kim's and Park's cases and uncovering the truth.
