The Scarecrow 2026 Full Review

Park Hae Soo as Kang Tae Ju

Kang Tae Ju grew up in a small, rural community, taking care of his younger sister. As an adult, he eventually settled down there, near his best friends, and became a detective. But when their quiet town is rocked by a string of recent murders, Tae Ju is assigned the case and connects them as serial killings. Working on the case brings him into direct contact with his former friend and childhood nemesis, Si Yeong, who is the town prosecutor. As Tae Ju races against the clock to find the killer and keep him from striking again, Si Yeong and Tae Ju's fellow detectives are more interested in their reputations than justice. In the end, Tae Ju will witness the brutal death of his sister's fiance (and father of her unborn child) and the false accusation and conviction of Seok Man, the quiet welder. All at the hands of Si Yeong and the violent team of detectives willing to do his dirty work. Tae Ju moves away, plagued by guilt and shame for his part in not being able to protect the innocent.

33 years later, Tae Ju is working as a criminal profiler and teaching at a university. He is called home after an imprisoned serial killer confesses to the seventh murder in this case; the crime Seok Man was accused of. Eager to right his own wrong, Tae Ju agrees to meet with the killer in prison and work with him to clear Seok Man's name and expose the corrupt politicians and police officers who framed him. But it won't be easy. Especially since the imprisoned killer turns out to be Tae Ju's childhood best friend, Gi Hwan. And no matter how hard Tae Ju tries to persuade Si Yeong to come clean about his part in it all, Si Yeong refuses to give up all he has worked for to get to the place he is as prosecutor. 

Kang Tae Ju is honest and determined. He has a strong sense of right and wrong. As a young student, Tae Ju met Si Yeong, and they became friends after Tae Ju was hired to tutor him. But Si Yeong turned on him after finding out Tae Ju's mom spent her nights working at a hostess bar, and begins bullying him. That injustice may have influenced Tae Ju's righteous personality. Park Hae Soo is such a gritty, emotional actor. I love to watch him and I think he was great in this role.

Kwak Sun Young as Seo Ji Won

Seo Ji Won is Tae Ju's other childhood best friend. She is a struggling journalist for the local newspaper. She has always had romantic feelings for Tae Ju, but she has never told him directly and he doesn't seem to notice. When Tae Ju returns to town, he finds Ji Won still waiting for him. She now runs a television news agency and employs Sun Yeong's son, Young Beom. She agrees to help Tae Ju find out the truth and expose Si Yeong.

Jung Moon Sung as Lee Gi Hwan

Growing up, Lee Gi Hwan was Tae Ju's best friend. His younger brother is Gi Beom, Sun Yeong's fiance. Gi Hwan seems like a pleasant but slightly bumbling bookstore owner. Little do his friends know, Gi Hwan is actually the serial killer responsible for multiple deaths. He moves away from town without ever being caught, but later he ends up in prison for additional crimes. 

Suh Jie Hye as Kang Sun Yeong

Kang Sun Yeong is Tae Ju's sister, until she finds out that Si Yeong's father is actually her biological father. She abandons Tae Ju to move in with her new family, but a serious accident leaves her in a coma. When she wakes up, Tae Ju has moved away and she and her newborn son have been moved into Si Yeong's house. 

Two Paths

This drama examines the paths of two men in positions of power who make very different choices. Tae Ju represents the path of honest repentance and social responsibility, Si Yeong, on the other hand, represents those driven to chose their own status and success over the truth. In the end, Tae Ju accepts his role in what happens. He faces the ridicule of his students and many in the community. But he has regained his own self-respect and the love of his sister, nephew, and Ji Won. Si Yeong refuses to confess to his own crimes and due to the statute of limitations, he totally gets away with it from a legal perspective. But his wife, sister, and nephew have all left him entirely alone.

The Scarecrows

The image of scarecrows are laced throughout this drama in different ways. The obvious one if the chilling mask worn by Gi Hwan when he commits his murders. But later Tae Ju confesses that he also became a scarecrow while investigating this case. He was an emotional shell with no power to protect or administer true justice. Meanwhile Si Yeong and the other detectives have had all the humanity sucked out of them, much like a lifeless scarecrow, until there is nothing redeeming left. And as the audience, we all follow the twisty paths and misleading clues, feeling at times like the brainless scarecrows of literary fame.

Lee Gi Hwan

Jung Moon Sung is so chilling in his transformation from carefree bookseller to ego-maniac serial killer. And just when you want to absolutely hate him, he shows us flashes of the vulnerability and gentleness that we loved about him in the beginning. He goes from cold-blooded to soft-spoken with eery ease. His scenes in prison with Tae Ju were emotionally stirring and memorable. 

Sun Yeong's Change

Sun Yeong's character changes so much from the point she decides to move out of their home and move in with Si Yeong's family. And by the time Tae Ju comes home, she feels almost unrecognizable. She has become a cold and distant mother to her son. And although she hates Si Yeong for everything he did to her and Gi Beom, she continues to live with him and work in the family foundation. And even when Tae Ju moves back, she only reaches out to ask him to pretend he is the one responsible for Gi Beom's death. The transformation felt too extreme. 

Seok Man's Sister

Poor Seok Man just had a rough time, start to finish. It' hard not to sympathize with the guy. But even with that, I can't believe his sister just refused to see him. Surely she knew him better than anyone. I can't imagine that she, even for a minute, believed her brother would be capable of killing someone. You would have at least thought she could give him the benefit of the doubt. I was happy they were eventually reunited, but I still feel like she should have stood by him.

Dae Ho

Obviously the victims in this drama are tragic. But I feel like Dae Ho is one of the most tragic of the survivors. With the other police officers and politicians, they either started good and held their ground against all opposition or they always had a leaning toward selfishness and corruption. But Dae Ho is really the only character we see who starts out with a strong sense of justice, and is swayed into abandoning his own principles to join his corrupt counterparts. 

Before I break this down, let me take a minute to comment on this ending. I have heard a lot of people complain that it didn't feel very satisfying. But let me remind you, this is based on a true story. To give some rosy, neatly tied up ending would be disrespectful to the victims and their loved ones. I'm sure they also would have liked a happy ending. But we do get some bittersweet moments, and that will have to be enough.

Seok Man finally gets his retrial and it is a victory for justice. Tae Ju convinces Gi Hwan to tell the truth in court, and his detailed description of the night and the murder scene is enough to sway the judge. While Yeong Beom and Tae Ju both beg Si Yeong to do the right thing, Si Yeong and the detectives refuse to confess their own wrong doing. In the end, Seok Man is exonerated, and his sister and nephew meet him outside the courthouse for a bittersweet reunion. Due to the statute of limitations, Si Yeong and the detectives get off scot-free.

Yeong Beom finally finds out the truth about how his father died, and how it was his other uncle, Si Yeong who was really responsible. Even so, Yeong Beom tells Si Yeong that if he confesses his crimes in court, Yeong Beom will stand by him. But when Si Yeong lies again, Yeong Beom meets him outside the courthouse and disowns him, no longer calling him uncle. Slowly he begins approaching Tae Ju and eventually shyly building a relationship with the uncle he never knew he had.

Once Yeong Beom turns his back on him, Si Yeong goes home to an empty house, feeling defeated even though he has gotten away with his crimes and kept his job. But his wife, Hee Jin is also sick of his hollow victories. She says she is going abroad until all this settles down. Si Yeong is left unhappy and alone.

And Tae Ju finally feels some sense of relief that he has righted some of the wrong he felt responsible for. Yeong Beom comes to see him at the university, where his door is littered with hate letters, but he tells Yeong Beom to leave them there because he feels he deserves their scorn. Although he turns down Tae Ju's lunch invitation, Yeong Beom promises to meet his uncle again. And we see the start of a relationship between them. Tae Ju visits Gi Hwan one last time to say he won't be working with Gi Hwan anymore. Gi Hwan asks if he would visit him as a friend, and Tae Ju says he might consider it if Gi Hwan expresses true remorse for everything he has done. Unfortunately, Gi Hwan has no intention of doing so.

Now that he has come home, Tae Ju and Ji Won have become close again. In the final scene, Tae Ju meets her and tells her about a dream he had where Yeong Beom was celebrating his first birthday. Everyone who had died was there, together with a happy, innocent looking Gi Hwan. Tae Ju quietly wonders what life would have been like for all of them if none of this had ever happened. And then he says "At the very least, we would've been together"