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[Sports Today Reporter Kim Tae-hyung] SBS’s drama Shin Irang Law Office is posting rising ratings.
Nielsen Korea reported that the second episode of the SBS Friday–Saturday drama Shin Irang Law Office, which aired on the 14th, delivered a nationwide average of 8.7%, 9.2% in the Seoul metropolitan area, and a peak minute rating of 11.3%—pushing the series into double digits by episode two. The show also ranked first in both overall average ratings and among viewers aged 20–49 for all miniseries airing in the same time slot on Fridays and Saturdays.
Yoo Yeon-seok’s portrayal of a lawyer who literally absorbs the traits of the dead has struck a chord with audiences, announcing the arrival of a new, cathartic hero in SBS’s lineup of courtroom dramas. Expectations for Yoo’s inspired turn are building quickly.
Shin Irang (Yoo Yeon-seok) isn’t the straight-arrow hero audiences are used to. After repeatedly failing law firm interviews because of the stigma attached to his prosecutor father’s scandal a decade earlier, he opened his own practice determined to build the best law firm under his own name.
The office he rents—Room 501 of the Okcheon Building—turns out to have been a shaman’s house. Hidden behind wallpaper are talismans. After lighting an incense burner he finds in a desk drawer, Shin Irang begins to see ghosts. Though the clingy spirits drive him to the brink, he can’t ignore their injustices. He throws himself into a bittersweet fight to right their wrongs, even at personal cost.
That half-willing, half-unwitting creation of a possessed lawyer delivers fresh thrills and catharsis for viewers.
Yoo Yeon-seok’s range deepens the show’s pull, shifting from a soft-hearted attorney to a vicious, possessed mobster. He electrifies with bare-knuckle action that turns a storage room into chaos, snarls in an unexpected regional dialect while unleashing profanity with flushed cheeks, then shows embarrassed regret once the possession lifts. Though this is Yoo’s first full comedic turn, he lands the laughs.
The series doesn’t stop at comedy. In a poignant scene, he comforts Lee Ji-woo (An Chae-heum), who blames herself for her father Lee Kang-pung’s (Heo Sung-tae) death, telling her, “Your father’s death isn’t your fault.” In a touching twist, he clings to Lee Kang-pung’s spirit, urging him to stay and watch his daughter grow up—an emotional beat that resonates.
Yoo Yeon-seok’s powerhouse performance is only the beginning. As different deceased people appear, he will embody their personalities and traits in a string of multi-character transformations. The schoolgirl ghost introduced at the end of Episode 2 is just a start; viewers will be watching to see which spirit uses Shin Irang’s body to speak the truth next, and how Yoo’s metamorphoses evolve each moment.
SBS, which has found success with dark-hero titles like Taxi Driver and The Judge from Hell, this time delivers cathartic justice through a possessed lawyer. At the core of Shin Irang Law Office is the idea of giving voice to the dead—forcing criminals who thought they could escape the law to finally answer for their crimes.
Producers said, “The dead cannot speak, and their grievances are often buried forever. Shin Irang becomes their voice, pulling the truth into the open. The story centers on how an unwillingly ghost-seeing Shin Irang frees the dead’s grudges and grows into a hero.”
They added, “Going forward, the series will continue to resolve the grievances of people who have had to bury painful circumstances against the walls of law and reality. We’re confident it will carry on SBS’s tradition of cathartic courtroom drama.”
SBS’s Friday–Saturday drama Shin Irang Law Office airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 p.m.
[Sports Today Reporter Kim Tae-hyung ent@stoo.com]
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