The first teaser is out for SBS’s Falsify, and it gives us a brief look at all of our main players and what they’re up against as they fight against corruption. The teaser is pretty chock full of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scenes and there’s a lot going on, but what it does convey is pretty gripping.
The first person we hear is Moon Sung-geun’s (The Tooth and the Nail) character, a powerful figure in charge of Daehan Ilbo, the newspaper at the center of Falsify: “Moses parting the Red Sea isn’t the only miracle. When our newspaper comes down, the promised land reveals itself.” Wow, your ego literally could not be bigger if you’re making comparisons with God. And how appropriate that as he says it, men in suits walk across Daehan Ilbo’s floor plaque, and one of them steps on the word “truth.”
A reporter announces that a chaebol CEO has disappeared following a corruption scandal, leaving behind a suicide note, while not-so-coincidentally, a story breaks that four unknown corpses have been found. A bloodied Namgoong Min (Chief Kim) looks bewildered as he asks what is going on. Faked or not, the chaebol CEO does appear to have committed suicide, and Jung Man-shik (Entertainer), who plays a detective, phones a reporter to ask if they want a tip-off from the crime scene. The following chyron reads, “A falsified case. Hidden power.” So is he a lackey for the bad guys?
Now that we’ve established the main case our protagonists will work to solve, we get a closer look at our group of reporters and sole prosecutor. Namgoong Min chases someone out in the rain and gets beat up for his trouble, narrating offscreen, “I believe that this world will give me at least one chance to right its wrongs.” Yoo Joon-sang’s (Pied Piper) character seems more cautious: “You don’t know what’s waiting at the end of this case.”
I’m really looking forward to Eom Ji-won’s (Master) prosecutor, because judging by the teaser, she’s got some balls as she yells, possibly to a superior, “Do you know what I can’t stand? That we’re all complicit in this. Just who gave this sh*# order?!” It looks like she gets kicked out of the prosecutor’s office for her insubordination, but I don’t expect her to take that lying down. The next chyron says, “A world where truth is upside down. The people who will flip that world right side up.”
A man narrates offscreen, “Keep your friends close, and keep your enemies in an embrace.” And yay for badass female characters, as Eom Ji-won delivers a good kick to a suspect in jail, saying, “I’m going to be the one to lock you up for good. Consider this is your last day to laugh.” Yoo Joon-sang asks someone whether they’re really up for this, as Namgoong Min looks at the Daehan Ilbo building from afar and thinks, “I’ll become Korea’s top trash reporter, just for you.”
That was a solid teaser, and the premise is reminiscent of Forest of Secrets with a tone that hews more toward Lookout’s. Which aren’t bad connections to make at all. I’m pretty excited to see Namgoong Min back in another role that seems to have a bit of the crazy, and Eom Ji-won in an ass-kicking female lead character, which is always welcome in my book. Now, if only we got to see more of Jeon Hye-bin (Woman With a Suitcase)…
SBS’s upcoming Falsify will follow My Sassy Girl in the Monday-Tuesday slot on July 24.
