Legal thriller "Defendant" earned a double-digit lead against its rivals "Rebel: A Thief Who Stole People" and "Hwarang" for latest episode. On the Feb. 14 broadcast of the SBS drama, Park Jung Woo (Ji Sung) finally remembers the assailant of his wife and daughter.
Korea Joongang Daily reported the eighth episode of "Defendant" soared at 25.2 viewership ratings in Seoul households. In fact, the legal thriller has set a huge run against its contenders for Monday-Tuesday timeslot.
The SBS drama recorded an overall rating of 22.2 percent, while MBC's "Rebel: A Thief Who Stole People" settled at 10.6 percent and KBS2's "Hwarang" at 7.7 percent.
"Defendant" follows the story of Park Jung Woo, a successful prosecutor who suffered from memory loss following the death of his family. After his tragic loss, he found himself behind the bars for allegedly murdering his own wife and daughter.
In the 16-episode drama, Ji Sung's character will try to uncover the truth behind the killings of his loved ones. In an interview, the 39-year-old actor admitted he personally suffered after taking the role in "Defendant."
"I keep having dreams of me hanging on the verge of death or saving a family from distress," he said as per Soompi.
Like Park Jung Woo, Ji Sung refused to imagine his life without his wife and daughter. The actor admitted he was taken aback after knowing the story of "Defendant."
"I wanted to try this kind of genre but it took me a while to decide since it's a difficult subject to approach and I don't want to even think about any of this actually happening to me in real life," he said.
The Korean actor added he intends to give hope through his current drama, stating that what Park Jung Woo has to go through in "Defendant" should never happen in real life.
Catch "Defendant" every Monday and Tuesday at 10:00 pm on SBS.
