My Sunday evenings are usually very similar after I get in bed. Look at all the dramas I need to catch up on… searches for hours for the next binge watch instead. For some reason the same feeling came over me on Thursday, (I blame it on slow Viki subs) and thankfully my search unearthed Solomon’s Perjury. With it’s shorter 12 episodes, I was able to binge this in four days, and you can now find it on Netflix. Join me for a fairly spoiler free review of the series.Here is the synopsis: A male student’s body is found at school. Authorities assume that the student killed himself in a fall. Other students at the school hold a trial to uncover the truth behind his death.

One of the reasons I came back to this drama was because several of the actors are now familiar to me and weren’t back when this drama originally aired.  The dead student is played by Seo Young Joo who played the adorably dorky guy in Girls’ Generation 1979. His brother is played by his love rival from the same series.  Add in the second lead and my cutie guitar player from School 2017 and you have a pretty interesting cast.

The 12 episodes follows the students as they put their fellow classmate on trial and try to get to the bottom of how and why Lee So Woo died. Each episode unearths another truth about the dead boy and those around him. The adults hang out on the periphery and only show up here and there. The students are the ones that initiate the mock trial and are also the ones that do all the leg work. Let’s just say I wouldn’t really want the police or even the media investigating for me, but wouldn’t mind the help of these kids. They don’t take things at face value and dig deeper into the mystery.

Aside from a few weaker actors, I felt that everyone delivered strong performances. Kim Hyun Soo and Jang Dong Yoon made a great pair as the prosecutor and defense attorney. They are both strong characters and the driving force behind the mock trial.

The adorable romance that buds between Kim Hyun Soo’s character and Seo Ji Hoon was a very sweet first love. They were there for each other whenever they were needed and Ji Hoon was adorable anytime his little heart fluttered.

The trial doesn’t just serve to find out the truth, but helps the students deal with this tragic event. The core group involved become closer and learn to really depend on each other, forming some great bromances and just great friendships in general.

The defendant and murder suspect is played by Baek Chul Min. It’s interesting because he just showed up in Witch’s Court playing a very similar character. Rich boy with a huge anger problem fueled by his entitlement. I hope this actor doesn’t get type cast because he has potential, even though he plays the d-bag to a T. He did really well with the more raw and vulnerable sides to his character in this drama.

On top of the characters I grew to love, the show delivers some pretty decent cliffhangers. They’d reveal some new truth and had me dying to find out where it would take us. The show does a great job at making you second guess everything. I was convinced at the beginning that the eye witness wasn’t trustworthy, but as things were uncovered I was right there with the prosecutors, putting my faith in the not exactly likable Lee Joo Ri (partly because her acting was very green).

Somewhere towards the end, the mystery wasn’t what kept me watching the next episode (until 1AM), but it was to see this group of teenagers work through everything they’d been through and persevere

Finally, because the event happens on Christmas the music they have has a hauntingly magical feel to it, which is a good way to describe the feeling I had while watching the series. So I’d recommend this if you are looking for a quick dramathon or maybe just something to cycle into your regular viewing schedule.  I give this 4 out of 5 gavels.

Until the next episode loads on Netflix,

Drama Geek

Drama with a Side of Kimchi