True Taste Korea

Ji Chang-wook

  • Was Cho Won Groomed by Lady Cho? The Scandal Viewers Are Divided

    One relationship in Netflix’s The Scandal is causing an unexpected debate among viewers.

    It is not Cho Won and Hui-yeon.

    It is Cho Won and Lady Cho.

    After watching the flashbacks showing their younger years, some viewers began asking a provocative question:

    Was Cho Won groomed by Lady Cho?

    The answer is not as simple as it might first appear.

    Why Are Viewers Asking This?

    Cho Won may be known as Joseon’s notorious playboy, but his relationship with Lady Cho reveals a very different side of him.

    Episode 4 makes it clear that Cho Won had long hidden his feelings for Lady Cho, trying to fill the emotional void through relationships with other women.

    The flashbacks make that attachment feel even deeper.

    One Reddit viewer described young Cho Won as someone who seemed to keep clinging to the small pieces of affection Lady Cho gave him.

    That led to the suggestion that Lady Cho may have groomed him emotionally.

    But other viewers see the relationship differently.

    Lady Cho Doesn’t Simply Control Cho Won

    Calling their relationship “grooming” creates a problem.

    Cho Won is not simply a passive victim throughout the story.

    As an adult, he challenges Lady Cho, provokes her and willingly participates in their dangerous wager.

    He understands her cruelty better than almost anyone — yet repeatedly returns to her.

    Lady Cho also lives inside a system that severely limits her own choices.

    Netflix describes her as a brilliant noblewoman trapped by the restrictions imposed on women in Joseon society.

    That does not excuse her manipulation.

    But it makes their relationship more complicated than a straightforward predator-and-victim dynamic.

    The Hat Scene Changes How Their Relationship Looks

    One Reddit viewer noticed a small but revealing detail in the final episode.

    Lady Cho ties Cho Won’s hat beneath his chin and pulls it so tightly that he has to adjust it.

    Later, Cho Won ties Hui-yeon’s hat.

    But this time, the gesture is gentle.

    The viewer interpreted the contrast as symbolic:

    Lady Cho wants to keep Cho Won trapped. Cho Won wants to protect Hui-yeon.

    Whether that symbolism was intentional or not, it perfectly captures the difference between the two relationships.

    With Lady Cho, love and control are almost impossible to separate.

    With Hui-yeon, Cho Won finally experiences affection without the same psychological game.

    Maybe “Grooming” Isn’t the Most Important Question

    The drama never labels what happened between Lady Cho and Cho Won as grooming.

    And there is not enough information to make that diagnosis with certainty.

    But the debate reveals something important about their relationship.

    Cho Won spends much of his adult life acting sexually free while remaining emotionally attached to one woman he can never truly have.

    Lady Cho, meanwhile, keeps him close enough to maintain that attachment but never gives him the relationship he wants.

    They hurt each other, challenge each other and repeatedly return to the same emotional trap.

    That may explain why viewers cannot agree on who has power over whom.

    Perhaps that is the real tragedy of The Scandal.

    Cho Won can seduce almost anyone in Joseon.

    But for most of his life, he cannot free himself from Lady Cho.

  • Did Cho Won Really Die in The Scandal? The Final Clue Everyone Is Debating

    Netflix’s The Scandal ends with one question that the drama deliberately refuses to answer:

    Did Cho Won really die?

    In the final episode, Cho Won leaves everything behind and boards a ferry. Then, without warning, he jumps into the river.

    We see him disappear into the water.

    But we never see him die.

    And one small detail near the end has convinced some viewers that Cho Won may actually be alive.

    Cho Won’s Death Is Never Confirmed

    The most important point is simple.

    There is no body.

    After Cho Won jumps from the ferry, the drama does not show his corpse being recovered. There is no funeral scene and no definitive confirmation that he drowned.

    He simply disappears.

    That ambiguity immediately sparked discussion among viewers.

    One Reddit viewer even said they preferred to believe that Cho Won knew how to swim and escaped.

    It sounds like wishful thinking — until the drama gives us one final clue.

    Why Are Letters Still Arriving for Cho Won?

    Later, Lady Cho visits Cho Won’s former home.

    There, she learns something strange:

    Letters are still arriving for him.

    The drama never clearly explains who is sending them or whether Cho Won is receiving them.

    So the letters cannot prove that he survived.

    But why include them at all?

    That is what makes the ending interesting.

    If the writers wanted viewers to believe unquestionably that Cho Won had died, they could have ended his story at the river.

    Instead, they deliberately leave another mystery behind.

    Did Cho Won Fake His Death?

    There are two possible readings.

    The first is the tragic one.

    Cho Won genuinely intended to die. The unanswered letters simply emphasize his absence and leave Lady Cho waiting for someone who will never return.

    But there is another interpretation.

    Cho Won had already lost his former life. Leaving Joseon as the man everyone knew would not free him from the emotional destruction caused by Lady Cho, Hui-yeon and the wager.

    Disappearing completely would.

    If he survived the river, his “death” could have been the final act that allowed him to abandon Cho Won himself.

    The drama never confirms this theory — but importantly, it never rules it out either.

    The Real Punishment May Be Not Knowing

    Perhaps the biggest clue is not about Cho Won at all.

    It is about Lady Cho.

    Throughout the series, Lady Cho tries to control people, relationships and outcomes.

    By the ending, she still has her social position.

    But there is one thing she can no longer control:

    She does not know whether Cho Won is alive or dead.

    If Cho Won had clearly died, she could mourn him.

    If he clearly survived, she could search for him.

    Instead, she receives neither answer.

    That uncertainty may be the real punishment the ending gives her.

    So, did Cho Won die in The Scandal?

    The safest answer is:

    We don’t know.

    And those mysterious letters suggest that the writers wanted viewers to keep asking exactly that question.

    The debate over Cho Won’s fate does not end with the question of whether he survived. The final letters and the way the story closes may offer a different perspective on what his ending is meant to represent. For a broader interpretation of these unresolved details, explore The Scandal ending explained, including Cho Won’s fate and the meaning of the final letters.

  • Did The Scandal Really Need This Much Nudity?

    Netflix’s The Scandal was never going to be a modest romance.

    The series is rated TV-MA and follows Lady Cho, Cho Won and Hui-yeon through a dangerous game of seduction, desire and betrayal in Joseon. So viewers knew they were entering an adult story.

    But after all eight episodes arrived, one question became difficult to ignore:

    Did The Scandal really need this much nudity?

    The reaction among viewers is surprisingly divided.

    For some, the answer is yes — or at least, the explicit scenes make sense. Cho Won is introduced as Joseon’s notorious playboy. His sexuality is not a minor detail; it is part of his reputation and the way he initially treats relationships.

    One Reddit viewer argued that the nudity did not hurt the drama at all. Because Cho Won is established as a playboy and the series is rated 19+, showing that side of his life directly felt consistent with the character.

    There is also a larger point. The Scandal is a story about people breaking social and sexual boundaries in a society built around strict rules. Removing sexuality completely could make that conflict feel strangely sanitized.

    But other viewers see it differently.

    Even before the premiere, some K-drama fans were already questioning whether another Netflix production needed explicit scenes. For these viewers, the issue is not whether adults can have sex on screen. It is whether every explicit moment actually adds something to the story.

    And that may be the more interesting question.

    A scene can be provocative without being unnecessary. Nudity can reveal power, vulnerability, manipulation or desire. But when viewers begin noticing the nudity more than the characters, the scene risks pulling attention away from the drama itself.

    That is why The Scandal has created such an interesting divide.

    Perhaps the real question is not:

    “Was there too much nudity?”

    It is:

    “How much of it did the story actually need?”

    And depending on which viewer you ask, the answer may be completely different.

  • Why Does Netflix’s The Scandal Look So Artificial? Viewers Are Questioning the Backgrounds

    Netflix’s The Scandal is supposed to look beautiful.

    And in many scenes, it does.

    The hanbok is elaborate. The colors are carefully controlled. The sets are polished, and the Joseon-era world often looks more like a painting than an ordinary television drama.

    But some viewers are having a very different reaction.

    Instead of asking:

    “Why does this drama look so beautiful?”

    they are asking:

    “Why does some of it look so artificial?”

    That question has appeared in online discussions about the drama, with viewers pointing to backgrounds, soft-looking faces, unusual focus and heavily stylized images.

    Some have even wondered whether AI-generated backgrounds were used.

    So what’s actually happening?

    First: There Is No Confirmed Evidence That the Backgrounds Are AI-Generated

    This distinction is important.

    A viewer saying that a background looks like AI is not the same as evidence that generative AI was actually used to create it.

    As of this writing, I could not find an official statement from Netflix, director Jung Ji-woo or the production team confirming that The Scandal used generative AI to create its backgrounds.

    Netflix’s own promotional material instead describes the series as a visually ambitious Joseon-period production and specifically highlights its setting in Bukchon.

    Director Jung has also publicly discussed some of the drama’s deliberate artistic choices, including its use of pansori structure and the importance of hanbok in expressing the characters’ emotions.

    So the safest answer is:

    We don’t currently know of confirmed AI-generated backgrounds.

    But that doesn’t mean viewers are imagining the artificial feeling.

    The Scandal Is Extremely Stylized

    One possible explanation is simply that The Scandal doesn’t seem particularly interested in looking natural.

    Look at the way the series presents its world.

    Faces can appear unusually soft.

    Backgrounds sometimes feel separated from the actors.

    Colors are carefully manipulated.

    Lighting can look almost too perfect.

    And some exterior scenes have the polished quality of an illustration rather than the messiness of a real location.

    That’s not automatically bad cinematography.

    It can be an aesthetic choice.

    In fact, even reviews that criticize the drama’s storytelling have noted its elaborate sets, color grading, costumes and polished Joseon-era visual presentation.

    The problem is that heavy stylization can eventually cross a line for some viewers.

    Instead of thinking:

    “This looks cinematic.”

    they begin thinking:

    “This doesn’t look real.”

    Modern Cameras Can Look Too Clean

    There is also a broader issue with modern streaming productions.

    Digital cameras can capture extremely clean images.

    Filmmakers then often use shallow depth of field, lens characteristics, diffusion, color grading and other techniques to make that clean digital image feel more cinematic.

    Viewers have complained about similar visual trends across other Netflix productions — particularly images where the center remains sharp while the edges or background appear heavily blurred or smeared.

    Again, that doesn’t prove The Scandal uses exactly the same techniques.

    But it helps explain why audiences increasingly describe certain modern images as looking “fake” or even “AI-generated” when what they may actually be reacting to is aggressive digital stylization.

    And Then There Is the Strange Flashback Problem

    The Scandal already has one confirmed visual oddity.

    The flashbacks.

    Viewers noticed almost immediately that people looked strangely stretched during some scenes set in the past.

    One published technical review identified a change from the main 2.39:1 presentation to an approximately 2.00:1 anamorphically squeezed presentation in the flashbacks.

    And it wasn’t only international viewers who noticed.

    A Korean Cineplay review published after watching the complete series specifically said the reviewer still couldn’t understand what the distorted flashback aspect ratio was supposed to accomplish.

    So The Scandal is clearly willing to manipulate the image aggressively for stylistic reasons.

    That makes the debate over its other unusual visuals more interesting.

    Maybe the Problem Isn’t That It Looks Cheap

    This is where I think the criticism can be misunderstood.

    The Scandal doesn’t necessarily look artificial because it looks cheap.

    In many scenes, it looks expensive.

    That’s almost the point.

    Everything can appear so carefully arranged — costume, skin, lighting, background, color — that the image sometimes loses the imperfections our eyes associate with reality.

    Imagine a portrait that has been retouched just slightly too much.

    The person may still look beautiful.

    But suddenly you become aware of the retouching.

    Something similar can happen with cinematography.

    The more filmmakers manipulate an image to make it beautiful, the greater the risk that viewers begin noticing the manipulation instead of the beauty.

    The Hanbok Shows That Much of This Styling Is Deliberate

    We also know that at least some of the visual design carries narrative meaning.

    Son Ye-jin explained that Lady Cho’s clothing becomes darker as her desire grows, while Hui-yeon’s white clothing was chosen to suit her character.

    Director Jung Ji-woo also emphasized the importance of traditional Korean aesthetics in the production.

    So it would be unfair to dismiss the entire visual style as bad post-production.

    There is clearly intentional design behind it.

    The more interesting question is whether that design always works for the viewer.

    Why Are People Calling It “AI-Looking”?

    Probably because “AI-looking” has become a new visual shorthand.

    People increasingly use the phrase for images that feel:

    too smooth,

    too perfect,

    strangely lit,

    overly separated from their backgrounds,

    or somehow realistic and unrealistic at the same time.

    That doesn’t tell us how the image was actually created.

    It tells us how the image feels to the viewer.

    And that’s an important distinction.

    So, Did The Scandal Use AI Backgrounds?

    For now, there is no reliable public evidence I found that allows us to say yes.

    So I wouldn’t.

    What we can say is that some viewers find the show’s visual treatment unusually artificial, and The Scandal undeniably uses strong stylistic manipulation elsewhere — most obviously in its controversial flashback presentation.

    Maybe that’s why the series is producing such contradictory reactions.

    One viewer sees:

    beautiful cinematography.

    Another sees:

    overprocessed images.

    And another asks:

    “Was this made with AI?”

    They may all be looking at exactly the same scene.

    The real debate, then, isn’t necessarily whether The Scandal looks expensive.

    It clearly does.

    The more interesting question is:

    Can an image become so polished that it stops feeling real?

    For some Scandal viewers, apparently, the answer is yes.

  • Is Netflix’s Scandal More Explicit Than the 2003 Movie?

    Before Netflix’s The Scandal was released, one question followed the drama almost everywhere:

    How explicit will it be?

    That curiosity was understandable.

    The new eight-episode series is based on the same literary source as the 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal, a movie remembered not only for Lee Mi-sook, Bae Yong-joon and Jeon Do-yeon’s performances, but also for its unusually provocative depiction of desire in a Joseon-era setting.

    Netflix’s 2026 version was never trying to avoid that reputation.

    The series is rated TV-MA on Netflix, which also describes it as “steamy,” and when director Jung Ji-woo was asked about the adult content before release, his answer was simple: viewers could look forward to it.

    Now that all eight episodes are available, however, I think there is a more interesting question than simply counting intimate scenes:

    Is the new Scandal actually more sensual than the 2003 movie?

    Those are not necessarily the same thing.

    Yes, the New Scandal Is Clearly an Adult Drama

    Let’s get the obvious part out of the way.

    Netflix’s The Scandal does not hide the sexual nature of its story.

    This is still a story built around seduction, forbidden desire, manipulation and a dangerous romantic wager.

    Lady Cho, played by Son Ye-jin, challenges Jo Won, played by Ji Chang-wook, to seduce Hui-yeon, the widowed woman played by Nana.

    Sex isn’t decoration around the story.

    Sexual desire is one of the forces moving the story forward.

    That was also true of the 2003 movie.

    So anyone expecting Netflix to turn Scandal into a conventional, restrained historical romance was probably watching the wrong story from the beginning.

    Recent Korean coverage after the full release has continued to emphasize the new series’ adults-only nature and the cast’s willingness to take on more provocative material.

    But this is where comparing the two versions becomes interesting.

    More Screen Time Changes the Meaning of the Intimate Scenes

    The original movie had to move quickly.

    It introduced the wager, the seduction and the consequences within the structure of a feature film.

    The Netflix remake has eight episodes.

    That gives the new version something the film did not have:

    time.

    Son Ye-jin explained before release that the series contains much more of each character’s story, while Ji Chang-wook said the longer format allows viewers to see how Jo Won became the person he is and where his choices eventually lead him.

    That changes the role of sex in the story.

    An intimate scene no longer has to carry the entire burden of showing desire.

    The series can build desire through conversations, letters, jealousy, resentment, memories and power.

    In other words, Netflix can show more.

    But it can also spend much longer getting there.

    And that creates a strange possibility:

    A drama can be more explicit while feeling less immediately erotic.

    Explicit and Erotic Are Not the Same Thing

    This distinction is important.

    You can show more skin.

    You can make a scene longer.

    You can receive an adults-only rating.

    None of those things automatically creates stronger sexual tension.

    Eroticism often depends on what happens before two characters touch.

    A glance held slightly too long.

    Someone moving too close.

    A sentence that means something different from what it says.

    A person wanting something they know they should not want.

    And Scandal is especially dependent on that kind of tension because seduction is really a form of power in this story.

    Jo Won isn’t merely pursuing Hui-yeon.

    He begins by trying to prove that he can seduce her.

    Lady Cho isn’t merely watching.

    She created the game.

    And Hui-yeon doesn’t initially know that she has become part of one.

    So the most important question isn’t:

    How much does Netflix show?

    It’s:

    How dangerous does the desire feel?

    The 2003 Movie Had One Major Advantage: Compression

    This may explain why some viewers still remember the original film as particularly sensual.

    A movie compresses everything.

    Attraction accelerates.

    Danger arrives quickly.

    The characters have less room to breathe.

    That can create intensity.

    The Netflix series deliberately chooses something else.

    Director Jung Ji-woo said he began again from Dangerous Liaisons rather than simply reproducing the 2003 film, rewriting the three central characters and substantially expanding the relationship between Lady Cho and Hui-yeon.

    So the remake isn’t simply:

    the old movie + more sex + eight episodes.

    It changes the psychological structure around those scenes.

    That may make the characters richer for some viewers.

    For others, it may reduce the dangerous speed that made the movie so memorable.

    Son Ye-jin’s Lady Cho Changes the Temperature

    This difference becomes especially obvious with Lady Cho.

    The role carries enormous sexual power.

    But Lady Cho doesn’t need to constantly express that power physically.

    Her real weapon is control.

    She understands Jo Won.

    She understands society.

    She understands desire.

    And she knows how to use one person against another.

    Son Ye-jin described the role as particularly attractive because the story explores human desire inside a society where those desires—especially a woman’s—were heavily restricted.

    That makes her sexuality inseparable from something else:

    frustration.

    Lady Cho has intelligence and ambition.

    But she lives in a world that limits what she is allowed to do with them.

    The sexual game therefore becomes more than entertainment.

    It is one of the spaces in which she can exercise power.

    That gives the adult material a different meaning from simply making the drama “hotter.”

    Ji Chang-wook’s Jo Won Is Also Not Just Bae Yong-joon 2.0

    The same problem appears when comparing the two Jo Wons.

    Ji Chang-wook openly acknowledged that Bae Yong-joon’s performance remained in his memory.

    But he also said their interpretations were too different for imitation to be useful, so he worked with Jung to create his own version.

    The eight-episode structure gives this Jo Won more psychological space.

    We see more of where he comes from.

    We see more of his relationship with Lady Cho.

    And the seduction of Hui-yeon gradually becomes something more dangerous than the game he thought he was playing.

    That matters because Jo Won’s sexuality is supposed to begin as something he controls.

    Then desire starts controlling him.

    The transformation is more important than any single intimate scene.

    Nana’s Hui-yeon Has the Hardest Job

    Hui-yeon may actually be the character on whom the entire erotic structure depends.

    She cannot begin at the same emotional temperature as Jo Won and Lady Cho.

    If she did, the wager would mean nothing.

    She is a widow living under social restrictions.

    Her resistance is essential.

    Because Jo Won’s game only works if there is something difficult to break through.

    Nana said before release that this role allowed her to show a side of herself she had not previously presented, while the released drama has drawn attention precisely because it asks her to move away from the strong, modern image many viewers associate with her.

    So Hui-yeon’s intimate scenes matter most when we understand the transformation that precedes them.

    What happens when repression becomes curiosity?

    When curiosity becomes attraction?

    And when attraction becomes something she can no longer control?

    Without that progression, explicitness is just explicitness.

    With it, the scenes become part of the tragedy.

    Why the 2003 Version May Still Feel More Dangerous to Some Viewers

    This is where nostalgia isn’t the only explanation.

    The original movie had less time.

    That limitation may actually have helped it.

    Everything felt closer together:

    the wager,

    the seduction,

    the betrayal,

    the consequences.

    The Netflix series expands the characters and their relationships deliberately; its creators repeatedly emphasized that this was one of the major differences from the film.

    But expansion always comes with a trade-off.

    More explanation can create more understanding.

    Less explanation can create more mystery.

    And mystery is often extremely useful in an erotic story.

    The audience starts filling in the empty spaces themselves.

    Sometimes what isn’t shown—or isn’t explained—creates more tension than what is.

    So Which Version Is More Explicit?

    There isn’t a useful answer based simply on counting scenes.

    Both versions are adult works, and Netflix clearly did not sanitize the material. The 2026 series carries a TV-MA rating and openly presents itself as a steamy period drama.

    But I think the more useful distinction is this:

    The Netflix series has more room to explore sexuality.

    The 2003 film had less room—and therefore more compression.

    One emphasizes the psychology surrounding desire.

    The other could hit viewers with that desire more quickly.

    That is why someone can watch the new series and think:

    “This is definitely explicit.”

    And still remember the old movie as:

    “That felt more erotic.”

    Both reactions can make sense.

    The Real Question Was Never How Much Netflix Would Show

    Before release, everyone wanted to know the “level” of Scandal.

    Would Son Ye-jin go that far?

    Would Ji Chang-wook?

    Would Nana?

    Would Netflix make it more provocative than the movie?

    Now that the series is here, I think those questions miss what makes Scandal interesting.

    The story isn’t fundamentally about sex.

    It is about people who believe they can control desire.

    Lady Cho thinks she can use it.

    Jo Won thinks he can manufacture it.

    Hui-yeon thinks she can resist it.

    And eventually, desire stops obeying all three of them.

    That is where Scandal becomes dangerous.

    Not when someone removes their clothes.

    When the game stops being a game.

    Comparing the two versions of The Scandal involves more than counting explicit scenes. Changes in storytelling, character relationships, and visual presentation can also shape how audiences experience the same material. To understand the bigger picture, explore how Netflix’s The Scandal differs from the 2003 film Untold Scandal and see how the adaptation approaches its familiar story in a new way.

  • Why Are Korean Viewers So Divided Over Netflix’s Scandal?

    Netflix’s new Korean historical drama Scandal had no trouble getting attention.

    The eight-episode series, starring Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook and Nana, was released in full on September 18.

    Just one day later, it reached No. 1 on Netflix’s daily Top 10 series chart in South Korea.

    That sounds like an immediate success.

    But popularity and agreement are two very different things.

    Once Korean viewers actually started watching all eight episodes, reactions became surprisingly divided.

    Some praised the drama’s beautiful cinematography, performances and expanded character stories.

    Others had a much simpler complaint:

    Why does a story that worked as a movie feel so slow as an eight-episode series?

    And that debate may reveal the biggest difference between the 2003 Scandal and Netflix’s 2026 remake.

    First, Korean Viewers Were Definitely Curious

    The new Scandal arrived with unusually high expectations.

    It isn’t simply another historical romance.

    The series reimagines the story previously adapted in the acclaimed 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal, which itself was based on the French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons).

    The original Korean film starred Lee Mi-sook, Bae Yong-joon and Jeon Do-yeon.

    This time, those central roles are played by Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook and Nana.

    For Korean viewers who remember the movie, comparison was almost unavoidable.

    Even the new cast acknowledged that pressure before release.

    Ji Chang-wook said the 2003 film had left a strong impression on him, while Nana said she hoped viewers who loved the original could enjoy comparing the differences.

    And viewers clearly wanted to see the result.

    The series climbed to No. 1 in Korea almost immediately.

    But then the arguments started.

    The Biggest Complaint: “It Feels Too Stretched Out”

    This may be the most interesting criticism because it comes directly from the remake’s biggest structural change.

    The 2003 Scandal was a movie.

    The 2026 Scandal is an eight-episode series.

    That gives the new version much more time to explain why the characters behave the way they do.

    Son Ye-jin herself emphasized before release that the series contains far more character backstory than the movie. Director Jung Ji-woo also said the characters and their relationships had been substantially rewritten.

    For some viewers, that’s a strength.

    For others, it’s the problem.

    One Korean viewer on TheQoo complained that stretching the original story into a drama made it feel too slow, despite liking all three lead actors. A Korean review similarly argued that once the central seduction game begins, the longer running time causes the momentum to drop.

    That creates an interesting paradox.

    The remake has more story, but some viewers feel it has less tension.

    More Backstory Doesn’t Automatically Mean More Emotion

    This is where the criticism becomes more specific.

    The new series spends additional time explaining Jo Won, Lady Cho and Hui-yeon.

    That should theoretically make their decisions more believable.

    But some Korean reviews argue that the opposite happens with Hui-yeon.

    One review criticized the series for failing to make the development of Hui-yeon’s feelings for Jo Won convincing enough, despite having much more screen time than the film. Another argued that the expanded supporting stories don’t always come together into one strong narrative.

    That’s important.

    The criticism isn’t simply:

    “The drama is too long.”

    It’s closer to:

    “If you’re going to make the story longer, the extra time needs to make the emotional transformation more convincing.”

    For some Korean critics and viewers, Scandal hasn’t completely achieved that.

    But Others Think the Longer Format Makes the Characters Better

    And this is exactly where the reaction splits.

    The creators never intended to simply reproduce the movie.

    Son Ye-jin said the expanded format allowed the characters to become less one-dimensional, while Ji Chang-wook explained that the series could explore where Jo Won came from, why he became this person and where his choices eventually take him.

    That difference can be felt especially strongly in Lady Cho.

    Lee Mi-sook’s interpretation in the 2003 film remains memorable for many Korean viewers.

    But Son Ye-jin isn’t simply trying to recreate it.

    A recent Korean review contrasted the two interpretations: where Lee Mi-sook’s version emphasized sensuality, Son’s Lady Cho comes across as more openly dignified and aristocratic while carrying the frustration of a talented woman trapped by the restrictions of Joseon society.

    That’s not necessarily better or worse.

    It’s different.

    And that difference explains part of the divided reaction.

    Son Ye-jin and Ji Chang-wook Are Getting Significant Praise

    Even some of the harsher reviews make an interesting exception.

    They praise the leads.

    Son Ye-jin has drawn positive notices for portraying Lady Cho’s conflicting desires: status, love, ambition and anger at being unable to use her abilities freely because she is a woman in Joseon society.

    Ji Chang-wook has also been praised for giving Jo Won more than the image of a simple womanizer. The series explores his attachment to Lady Cho, his loneliness and the destructive obsession underneath his charm.

    And ordinary viewer reactions aren’t uniformly negative either.

    Some Korean community posts simply describe the drama as enjoyable and particularly praise its movie-like direction, while others say they quickly became absorbed in the performances.

    So describing the Korean response as “bad” would be misleading.

    It’s more complicated.

    People are watching. People are talking. And they disagree about what works.

    Nana May Be the Most Divisive Casting

    Among the three central actors, Nana’s Hui-yeon appears to be attracting some of the sharpest criticism.

    The issue isn’t necessarily that viewers think Nana is a bad actor.

    Some reactions question whether her naturally striking, glamorous appearance fits a character who has spent years suppressing herself as a young widow trapped by expectations of chastity.

    One Korean review argued that Nana’s height and strong visual presence make it difficult to completely accept the deliberately faded, withdrawn image the character is supposed to project.

    That’s a casting debate rather than a simple acting debate.

    And it illustrates another challenge facing this remake.

    Korean viewers aren’t meeting these characters for the first time.

    Many still remember Jeon Do-yeon’s version of the role.

    Every new interpretation is competing with a performance that has existed in Korean popular culture for more than two decades.

    Then There Is the Question Everyone Asked Before Release: How Steamy Is It?

    This was probably inevitable.

    The original Scandal became famous partly because of its adult content, and the Netflix remake carries an adults-only rating as well.

    Before release, director Jung Ji-woo was directly asked about the level of sexual content.

    His response was essentially that viewers could expect it.

    And yes—the released drama contains explicit romantic and sexual material. Korean coverage after release described viewers as reacting to a notably high level of adult content.

    But here’s the more interesting part.

    Being more explicit doesn’t automatically make something feel more sensual.

    One Korean viewer who had reached Episode 6 made exactly that distinction, saying the sex scenes didn’t feel particularly erotic while finding the three leads more interesting when they were together than when their individual stories were separated.

    That may explain why the “19+” marketing isn’t the entire story.

    The real question isn’t how much the series shows.

    It’s whether the psychological tension between the characters is as dangerous and seductive as the images themselves.

    The Visual Side Is Much Less Controversial

    One area appears easier to appreciate: the production itself.

    From the beginning, Jung Ji-woo emphasized that he wanted to portray late Joseon society as more sophisticated and visually refined than audiences sometimes imagine. The production uses hanbok, letters, folk paintings and pansori as important parts of its visual and emotional language.

    Even among mixed reactions, viewers have commented on the cinematic quality of the direction.

    For international viewers, this may become one of the remake’s biggest attractions.

    Because Netflix’s Scandal isn’t merely retelling Dangerous Liaisons.

    It is using desire, clothing, architecture, social hierarchy and the restrictions placed on women to make that story specifically Korean.

    The Original Movie Is Both an Advantage and a Problem

    I think this explains much of the Korean reaction.

    International viewers discovering Scandal through Netflix may simply ask:

    “Is this a good drama?”

    Many Korean viewers are asking a different question:

    “What did this version do differently from the movie I remember?”

    Those aren’t the same standard.

    The original film was a major Korean hit in 2003 and became particularly notable as an adults-only period film.

    So every change attracts attention.

    A different Lady Cho.

    A different Jo Won.

    A different Hui-yeon.

    More backstory.

    A longer running time.

    A different ending.

    More explanation.

    And possibly a different kind of sensuality.

    For viewers without memories of the original, those things simply belong to the new show.

    For Korean viewers who know the movie, every one of them becomes a comparison.

    So Do Korean Viewers Like Netflix’s Scandal?

    There isn’t one answer.

    The early numbers tell us something important:

    Korean viewers were extremely interested.

    Reaching No. 1 on Netflix Korea one day after release proves that much.

    But the discussion after release shows something more interesting.

    Some viewers think the eight-episode format gives the characters more depth.

    Others think it sacrifices the dangerous momentum that made the film effective.

    Some admire Son Ye-jin and Ji Chang-wook’s interpretations.

    Others struggle with the casting or characterization, particularly Hui-yeon.

    Some appreciate the adult content.

    Others think explicit scenes alone don’t necessarily create erotic tension.

    And many can still admire the visual beauty even while criticizing the storytelling.

    Perhaps that division is inevitable.

    The 2026 Scandal isn’t trying to erase the 2003 film.

    It’s trying to reinterpret it.

    And for Korean viewers who remember the original, watching the new Scandal isn’t only about discovering what happens next.

    It’s also about deciding whether a story they already know needed to be told differently.

  • The Scandal: Why Does Lady Cho Want Cho Won to Seduce Hui-yeon?

    One of the first confusing moments in Netflix’s The Scandal comes when Lady Cho and Cho Won turn seduction into a dangerous game.

    For some viewers, the obvious question is:

    Why does Lady Cho want Cho Won to seduce Hui-yeon at all?

    A viewer in the Reddit discussion for Episodes 1–8 asked essentially this question while watching Episode 2. And the confusion makes sense: Hui-yeon initially appears to have little to do with Lady Cho’s immediate problem.

    But the wager is not really about Hui-yeon.

    At least, not at first.

    It is about Lady Cho and Cho Won.

    The Bet Actually Starts With Another Woman

    There is an important detail that can easily get lost.

    Netflix’s official description of the main trailer says Lady Cho initially asks Cho Won to seduce So-ok, the young woman who is about to become a concubine in Lady Cho’s household.

    Cho Won then raises the stakes.

    Instead of simply accepting Lady Cho’s challenge, he proposes an even more difficult target: Hui-yeon, a virtuous young widow.

    So Hui-yeon is not randomly selected by Lady Cho as the original victim.

    She becomes part of a contest between two people who have known each other for years and understand exactly how to provoke one another.

    Lady Cho and Cho Won Have a Complicated History

    Their relationship is crucial to understanding the wager.

    Lady Cho and Cho Won are cousins who exchanged letters as children and shared their innermost thoughts. Years later, they reunite and their relationship develops into something much more psychologically complicated.

    Cho Won is also not simply participating because he enjoys seducing women.

    Netflix describes him as a notorious playboy who does not trust love, but who uses his charm in his pursuit of Lady Cho and in their wager.

    That changes how we should read the game.

    On the surface, they are talking about other people.

    Underneath, they are testing each other.

    Why Hui-yeon Is the Perfect Target

    Hui-yeon is almost the opposite of Cho Won.

    She is a widow who has vowed to remain chaste after her husband’s death. Cho Won, meanwhile, is famous for pursuing pleasure rather than love or social respectability.

    That makes seducing Hui-yeon more than another conquest.

    If Cho Won can make her fall for him, he proves that even someone apparently beyond his reach can be drawn into his world.

    Netflix’s Episode 2 synopsis makes that challenge explicit: Lady Cho and Cho Won begin their dangerous game and target a virtuous woman who “may not bend so easily.”

    Hui-yeon therefore becomes the ultimate test.

    But something goes wrong with the test.

    The Problem: Cho Won Starts Developing Real Feelings

    This is where the wager becomes much more interesting.

    Cho Won approaches Hui-yeon because of the game.

    But Netflix’s own episode descriptions gradually reveal that the relationship stops behaving like one.

    By Episode 4, Cho Won’s facade is beginning to fade as he pursues Hui-yeon. In Episode 5, his growing feelings become increasingly complicated. By Episode 7, Cho Won and Hui-yeon are spending private time together away from public scrutiny.

    In other words:

    Hui-yeon begins as the object of a wager but becomes the person capable of breaking it.

    And that creates a much bigger problem for Lady Cho.

    Lady Cho Isn’t Just Watching Hui-yeon

    It is easy to interpret Lady Cho as simply manipulating another woman.

    She certainly is manipulating people.

    But the more important person she is watching may be Cho Won himself.

    Netflix’s promotional material repeatedly emphasizes Lady Cho watching from the shadows while Cho Won approaches Hui-yeon. The trailer also shows the game escalating until Lady Cho herself urges Cho Won to stop.

    Why would the person who helped start the game suddenly want it stopped?

    Because the emotional rules have changed.

    What was supposed to demonstrate control begins revealing something Lady Cho cannot fully control:

    Cho Won’s feelings.

    That Is Why the Wager Matters

    This is the key to understanding the early episodes.

    The wager isn’t simply:

    “Can Cho Won seduce Hui-yeon?”

    There are several questions underneath it:

    Can Lady Cho still control Cho Won?

    Can Cho Won prove that love means nothing to him?

    Can Hui-yeon resist him?

    And what happens if the man who treats romance as entertainment actually falls in love?

    That last possibility threatens the entire game.

    So Why Does Lady Cho Let the Seduction Continue?

    Because initially, Hui-yeon is part of a contest through which Lady Cho and Cho Won challenge each other.

    Lady Cho begins the game with So-ok. Cho Won escalates it by proposing Hui-yeon, a far more difficult target. Lady Cho accepts the challenge, and Hui-yeon becomes trapped inside a struggle that is fundamentally about desire, pride, jealousy and control between Lady Cho and Cho Won.

    But the wager contains a flaw neither of them fully anticipates:

    Cho Won is supposed to make Hui-yeon fall for him.

    Instead, he begins falling for her too.

    And once that happens, Lady Cho is no longer simply controlling the game.

    She has something to lose.

    Lady Cho’s decision to involve Jo-won in the seduction of Hui-yeon raises a deeper question about her own feelings. Was she motivated by love, jealousy, a desire for control, or some combination of all three? Her actions become even more complicated when we examine the relationship itself. Explore whether Lady Cho truly loved Jo-won in Netflix’s The Scandal for a closer look at the emotions behind her dangerous game.

  • The Scandal: Why Do the Flashback Scenes Look Stretched?

    If you started watching Netflix’s new Korean drama The Scandal and suddenly wondered whether something was wrong with your TV or Netflix settings, you’re not alone.

    One surprisingly specific question appeared almost immediately after the series premiered:

    Why do the flashback scenes in The Scandal look stretched?

    Some viewers even checked their Netflix settings or refreshed the app because the image looked so unusual. But the strange-looking picture appears to be part of the show itself — not a problem with your screen.

    No, Your Netflix Settings Probably Aren’t Broken

    The Scandal premiered globally on Netflix on September 18, 2026. The eight-episode Joseon-era romance stars Son Ye-jin as Lady Cho, Ji Chang-wook as Cho Won, and Nana as Hui-yeon.

    Soon after release, viewers discussing Episode 1 on Reddit began noticing something strange whenever the story moved into the past.

    One viewer asked whether anyone else disliked the screen ratio during the flashbacks, saying it made them dizzy. Another said they checked the Netflix app because they thought something was wrong with their settings.

    Others described the flashback image as looking stretched, almost as if a compressed picture had been expanded incorrectly.

    So if you noticed it too, it isn’t just your imagination.

    What Is Happening to the Picture?

    The unusual appearance has also been noticed outside Reddit.

    A review from DVDfever specifically examined the presentation and reported that the main series uses a 2.39:1 presentation, while the flashback sequences are presented differently, describing those scenes as an anamorphic squeeze into approximately 2.00:1.

    The result is that people and objects can appear unnaturally stretched vertically.

    That explains why the flashbacks can feel visually “wrong” even when viewers cannot immediately identify what changed.

    It isn’t simply a different color filter or softer lighting.

    The proportions of the image itself appear different.

    Why Would The Scandal Do This?

    This is where we need to separate fact from interpretation.

    As of now, I could not find an official Netflix or director statement explaining exactly why the flashbacks were presented this way.

    However, the distinction is clearly noticeable enough that multiple viewers independently identified it.

    The most plausible creative interpretation is that the altered image was intended to give the past a visually different identity from the present timeline.

    Filmmakers frequently distinguish memories through changes in color, grain, lenses, framing or aspect ratio. In The Scandal, the visual difference is unusually aggressive.

    And that may be why it is attracting attention.

    Instead of simply thinking,

    “This is a memory.”

    some viewers are thinking,

    “Is something wrong with my Netflix?”

    Reddit Viewers Had Exactly the Same Reaction

    That reaction may be the most interesting part.

    In the Episode 1 discussion, viewers independently reported checking their settings, refreshing Netflix and asking other viewers whether they were seeing the same distorted image.

    One commenter summarized the issue simply: the flashback scenes looked stretched.

    That tells us the technique certainly succeeds at making the past look different.

    Whether it looks good is another question.

    The Flashbacks Matter More Than They First Appear

    The visual choice is particularly noticeable because The Scandal relies on its characters’ histories to explain their present relationships.

    Netflix describes the drama as a dangerous game involving Lady Cho, notorious seducer Cho Won and the widowed Hui-yeon. As the series progresses, earlier events become important for understanding the desires and resentments behind that game.

    Making the past visually distinct therefore makes narrative sense.

    The controversy is over the execution rather than the basic idea.

    So, Why Are The Scandal’s Flashbacks Stretched?

    The short answer:

    Your TV probably isn’t broken, and changing your Netflix settings probably won’t fix it.

    The flashback sequences in The Scandal use a noticeably different visual presentation that can make the picture appear vertically stretched. Multiple Netflix viewers noticed the same effect immediately, and at least one published review independently identified the altered aspect-ratio presentation.

    What remains unclear is why director Jung Ji-woo and the production team chose this particular effect. Netflix’s official materials confirm Jung as the director, but the materials I found do not explain this flashback technique.

    So for now, the safest conclusion is:

    It’s the drama, not your Netflix app.

    And judging by the first wave of viewer reactions, you definitely weren’t the only person who thought something had gone wrong.

  • Could a Married Woman Really Have a Secret Lover in Joseon Korea? The Real History Behind Netflix’s The Scandal

    Netflix’s The Scandal asks viewers to accept a provocative idea.

    In Joseon Korea — a society famous for strict Confucian morality — Lady Cho, a talented noblewoman trapped by the limitations placed on women, secretly plays a dangerous game of love and seduction.

    It makes great television.

    But could a noblewoman in the real Joseon Dynasty actually have a secret lover?

    And if she were discovered, what would happen?

    The answer is more interesting than simply “no.”

    Why The Scandal Chose Joseon Korea

    The Scandal, starring Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook and NANA, premieres globally on Netflix on September 18, 2026.

    Netflix describes Lady Cho as an exceptionally talented woman who refuses to be confined by the expectations placed on women of her era.

    She proposes a secret romantic wager to Cho Won, a notorious playboy, eventually drawing another woman, Hui-yeon, into their dangerous game.

    That premise deliberately creates a contradiction:

    The stricter the society, the more dangerous the desire becomes.

    And Joseon Korea provides an almost perfect setting for that conflict.

    Could a Married Joseon Woman Have a Lover?

    Physically?

    Of course.

    Legally and socially?

    That was another matter entirely.

    Joseon society increasingly organized marriage and family life around Neo-Confucian ideas of lineage, chastity and proper relations between men and women.

    For an elite woman in particular, sexual behavior was not considered purely private.

    Her reputation could affect her husband, children and extended family.

    This is one reason Lady Cho’s behavior in The Scandal would have been genuinely dangerous rather than simply embarrassing.

    A secret affair was possible.

    Getting caught could destroy far more than a romance.

    Women and Men Did Not Play by the Same Rules

    This is one of the most important things international viewers should understand about the setting.

    Joseon marriage was not sexually equal.

    The dynasty developed a formal distinction between a man’s principal wife and concubines.

    A man could therefore have relationships with women other than his principal wife within socially recognized structures.

    Women had no equivalent system.

    For a wife, sexual fidelity was closely connected to Confucian ideals of female virtue.

    Even the traditional grounds on which a husband could seek to remove a wife included sexual misconduct among the so-called “Seven Grounds” associated with Joseon marital norms.

    So when The Scandal gives Lady Cho desires comparable to those of Cho Won, it is doing something deliberately provocative.

    The same desire did not carry the same consequences for a man and a woman.

    What If a Noblewoman Was Caught?

    The consequences depended on the period, social status and circumstances, so there is no single punishment that describes every case across five centuries of Joseon history.

    But for an elite woman, the danger was substantial.

    Sexual misconduct could damage her standing inside the household and provide grounds for marital separation.

    And the social consequences could extend beyond the woman herself.

    Joseon society cared intensely about legitimate family lines.

    A scandal involving a principal wife could therefore become a question not only of morality, but also of family legitimacy, inheritance and status.

    For a yangban family concerned with reputation and government careers, that could be devastating.

    This helps explain why secrecy matters so much in a story like The Scandal.

    The danger is not merely:

    “What if my husband finds out?”

    It is:

    “What happens to my entire place in society if people find out?”

    Could Joseon Women Divorce Their Husbands?

    Not on equal terms with men.

    Joseon divorce practices developed within a patriarchal legal and family structure.

    Historical sources describe legal divorce largely through state-enforced separation or a husband’s grounds for dismissing his wife.

    There were also restrictions on when a husband could remove a wife, so husbands did not possess completely unlimited power.

    Still, this was very different from modern divorce based on equal individual rights.

    A married noblewoman dissatisfied with her life could not simply obtain a modern-style divorce and begin again.

    That makes Lady Cho’s frustration much easier to understand.

    A talented woman might possess intelligence, wealth and influence —

    yet still have remarkably little freedom over the most personal parts of her life.

    What About Widows Like Hui-yeon?

    This is where The Scandal becomes even more interesting.

    NANA’s character Hui-yeon is a widow who intends to remain chaste after her husband’s death.

    To a modern viewer, that might seem like a personal choice.

    In Joseon Korea, widow chastity became a powerful social ideal.

    The government increasingly encouraged elite widows to remain faithful to deceased husbands, and restrictions on remarriage became particularly strong during the dynasty.

    In 1477, during the reign of King Seongjong, restrictions were introduced against remarriage among widows of the elite sajok class.

    A widow’s remarriage could even have consequences for her descendants.

    That changes the way we see Hui-yeon.

    When Cho Won attempts to seduce her, he is not merely challenging her romantic resistance.

    He is challenging an entire moral identity society has constructed around her.

    Was Widow Remarriage Always Forbidden in Korea?

    No.

    And this is a fascinating detail.

    Before Joseon, particularly during the Goryeo period, widow remarriage was much more accepted.

    The increasingly strict attitude toward widows developed alongside Joseon’s growing Neo-Confucian social order.

    Even within Joseon, attitudes and regulations evolved over time.

    That is important because historical Korea was not one unchanging society.

    A rule or custom associated strongly with late Joseon should not automatically be projected onto every Korean woman living centuries earlier.

    Could Noblewomen Meet Men Privately?

    Elite women’s lives could be heavily restricted by expectations surrounding gender separation and propriety.

    But “restricted” does not mean women literally never encountered unrelated men.

    Households were complicated spaces containing relatives, servants, visitors and social networks.

    Human beings also found ways around social rules.

    That is true in almost every historical society.

    So a secret relationship was certainly imaginable.

    The unrealistic part would be treating it as casual and consequence-free.

    For a noblewoman, secrecy would be essential precisely because discovery could carry enormous social consequences.

    Then Were Joseon Women Completely Powerless?

    No — and this is where historical dramas can oversimplify things in the opposite direction.

    Joseon women were not identical, and their circumstances changed according to period, class, wealth, family structure and personality.

    Elite women could manage households, control resources in certain circumstances, influence relatives and participate indirectly in family decisions.

    Earlier Joseon customs could also differ significantly from the stricter gender order commonly associated with later centuries.

    So the choice is not between:

    “Joseon women were free”

    and

    “Joseon women had absolutely no agency.”

    Reality was more complicated.

    They could possess influence while simultaneously living inside legal and social structures that severely limited their choices.

    That contradiction is exactly what makes Lady Cho an interesting character.

    Why Could Men Like Cho Won Be Playboy Characters?

    Cho Won represents the opposite side of this system.

    Netflix describes him as Joseon’s greatest playboy — a man who chooses pleasure over conventional ambition.

    A wealthy elite man had far more room for sexual behavior than a respectable married woman.

    That does not mean Joseon society approved of unlimited male promiscuity.

    Family reputation, hierarchy and proper conduct still mattered.

    But the consequences and expectations were clearly unequal.

    That inequality gives The Scandal its central irony:

    Cho Won can become famous for seduction.

    Lady Cho must hide desire itself.

    So Is The Scandal Historically Accurate?

    We should probably separate historical setting from historical probability.

    The series is not presenting itself as a documentary.

    It reimagines Dangerous Liaisons, the 1782 French novel that has inspired numerous adaptations, through Joseon Korea. Netflix also connects the new series to the 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal.

    So the extraordinary romantic game at the center of the story is intentionally dramatic.

    But the social danger surrounding it is grounded in something very real.

    A noblewoman’s sexuality was constrained.

    Widow chastity mattered.

    Marriage was tied to family and lineage.

    Men and women faced different expectations.

    And reputation could affect much more than one individual’s private life.

    In that sense, the historical restrictions don’t weaken The Scandal’s premise.

    They make the scandal possible.

    The Most Interesting Question Isn’t “Could She Do It?”

    Of course Lady Cho could secretly desire someone.

    Joseon women were human beings, not Confucian symbols.

    The better question is:

    How much would she risk by acting on that desire?

    For a modern woman, a forbidden affair can destroy a marriage.

    For a noblewoman living under Joseon’s strict social order, discovery could threaten her reputation, her position within the family and potentially the standing of people around her.

    That makes the title The Scandal unusually appropriate.

    The shocking part isn’t that a woman could desire another man.

    The shocking part is what her society demanded she sacrifice in order to act like a person with desires of her own.

    Quick Answers

    Could a married woman have a secret lover in Joseon Korea?
    Yes, affairs were humanly possible, but an elite woman faced serious legal, familial and social consequences if discovered.

    Were men allowed to have other women?
    Joseon developed a recognized concubinage system for men, while wives had no comparable sexual freedom.

    Could a widow remarry?
    Attitudes changed over time, but Joseon increasingly restricted elite widow remarriage and strongly promoted widow chastity.

    Were all Joseon women confined and powerless?
    No. Women’s experiences varied by period, class and family, and some exercised considerable household or economic influence despite major structural restrictions.

    Is Lady Cho a historically typical Joseon woman?
    No. She is an intentionally extraordinary fictional character. The interesting historical element is how dangerous her behavior would have been within the society surrounding her.

  • Who Are Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook and NANA Playing in The Scandal? Character Relationships Explained

    Netflix’s upcoming Korean series The Scandal brings together three names that immediately attract attention: Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook and NANA.

    But the casting raises a more interesting question than simply who is starring in the drama:

    Who exactly are they playing — and how are their characters connected?

    At the center of The Scandal are Lady Cho, Cho Won and Hui-yeon, three people drawn into a dangerous game involving seduction, desire and power in Joseon Korea.

    The basic setup may sound familiar to anyone who knows Dangerous Liaisons or the 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal.

    However, director Jung Ji-woo has indicated that the new Netflix adaptation rewrites its characters and relationships after returning to the original French novel.

    That means viewers should be careful about assuming they already know exactly who these people are — or what they will eventually do.

    Here is what we know about the three central characters before the series premieres.

    Son Ye-jin Plays Lady Cho

    Son Ye-jin plays Lady Cho, one of the most important characters in The Scandal.

    Lady Cho is presented as an intelligent and talented woman living in a society where women have extremely limited opportunities to exercise power openly.

    That immediately makes her more interesting than a simple romantic villain.

    She lives within the restrictions of Joseon society, but she is not necessarily willing to accept the role that society has assigned to her.

    And that may help explain why relationships, desire and manipulation become forms of power.

    What Does Lady Cho Want?

    This could become one of the central mysteries of the series.

    On the surface, Lady Cho is connected to the dangerous wager involving Cho Won and Hui-yeon.

    But the important question is not simply what she asks Cho Won to do.

    It is why she wants it to happen.

    Is it entertainment?

    Revenge?

    Jealousy?

    A challenge to Cho Won?

    Or is there a deeper motivation that Netflix has deliberately kept hidden before release?

    Because the production has emphasized that the characters and relationships have been rewritten, Lady Cho’s true motivation is one of the details worth watching closely.

    A character who appears to be controlling everyone else may also be hiding something herself.

    Ji Chang-wook Plays Cho Won

    Ji Chang-wook plays Cho Won, a notorious playboy whose reputation for seduction makes him the natural participant in Lady Cho’s dangerous game.

    Cho Won is confident in his ability to attract women.

    For him, seduction appears to be something he understands and controls.

    That confidence is important because stories descended from Dangerous Liaisons often revolve around a simple contradiction:

    What happens when someone who treats love as a game develops feelings that are no longer part of the game?

    Cho Won may believe he understands desire better than everyone around him.

    But understanding other people’s emotions is not the same as controlling your own.

    That could become the character’s greatest weakness.

    What Is the Relationship Between Lady Cho and Cho Won?

    This is likely to be one of the most important relationships in the drama.

    Lady Cho and Cho Won are not simply two strangers who happen to participate in the same scheme.

    They are connected closely enough for Lady Cho to challenge him and for Cho Won to enter the game.

    Their relationship appears built around several competing forces:

    trust, rivalry, attraction, pride and power.

    Who actually controls whom?

    That question may matter more than the wager itself.

    At first, Lady Cho may appear to be the person setting the rules while Cho Won carries out the seduction.

    But relationships based on manipulation rarely remain stable.

    If Cho Won begins making decisions Lady Cho did not anticipate — especially because of genuine emotion — their balance of power could change dramatically.

    And if Lady Cho has motivations Cho Won does not fully understand, he may never have been as free as he believed.

    NANA Plays Hui-yeon

    NANA plays Hui-yeon, the third central figure in the relationship.

    Based on the basic premise, Hui-yeon becomes entangled in the dangerous wager involving Lady Cho and Cho Won.

    That makes her appear, initially, to be the target.

    But “target” and “victim” are not necessarily the same thing.

    This may be one of the most important distinctions to watch when the series is released.

    Earlier adaptations of Dangerous Liaisons give audiences certain expectations about the woman pursued by the seducer.

    Netflix has an opportunity to use those expectations against viewers.

    And Hui-yeon may be the character with the greatest potential to do that.

    Is Hui-yeon Really Just a Victim?

    Before the premiere, there is no confirmed answer.

    But it is an important question.

    If The Scandal simply presents Hui-yeon as an innocent woman deceived by two sophisticated manipulators, audiences familiar with the original story may find much of her journey predictable.

    But what if she understands more than Lady Cho and Cho Won believe?

    What if she discovers the wager earlier?

    What if she has her own reason for continuing the relationship?

    Or what if her decisions ultimately force the two supposed players to react to her instead?

    These are possibilities rather than confirmed plot details.

    Still, the director’s comments about rewriting the relationships make Hui-yeon particularly difficult to predict before release.

    The person who appears to have the least power at the beginning could eventually become the person who changes the entire game.

    The Scandal Character Relationship Chart

    The basic relationship can currently be understood like this:

    Lady Cho (Son Ye-jin)
    ↓ initiates or influences the dangerous game
    Cho Won (Ji Chang-wook)
    ↓ approaches / seduces
    Hui-yeon (NANA)

    But that simple diagram probably does not tell the whole story.

    A more useful way to think about the relationship may be:

    Lady Cho ↔ Cho Won
    Power, rivalry, trust, attraction and manipulation

    Cho Won ↔ Hui-yeon
    Seduction that may develop into genuine emotion

    Lady Cho ↔ Hui-yeon
    Potentially one of the most important relationships still hidden before release

    That final connection deserves particular attention.

    If Netflix wants to distinguish this adaptation from previous versions, changing the relationship between the two women could significantly alter the story.

    Why Lady Cho May Be the Key to Netflix’s Version

    Among the three characters, Lady Cho may reveal most clearly what Netflix wants to do differently with this adaptation.

    A modern audience is unlikely to be satisfied with a powerful female character whose motivations are reduced to simple jealousy or romantic rivalry.

    The Joseon setting provides an opportunity to explore something larger.

    Lady Cho is intelligent and capable, yet she lives in a system where her gender limits how openly she can exercise those abilities.

    That creates an interesting possibility:

    What if manipulating relationships is not merely Lady Cho’s game, but one of the few forms of power available to her?

    If the drama develops that idea, her actions may still be cruel or destructive without becoming one-dimensional.

    The audience may understand why she behaves as she does even when they disagree with her choices.

    That would make Lady Cho far more complicated — and potentially much more dangerous.

    Cho Won’s Biggest Conflict May Be Himself

    Cho Won appears to begin the story with an advantage.

    He understands the game.

    He has experience.

    He is confident.

    And he believes he can separate seduction from real emotion.

    That makes his potential weakness obvious.

    He may be the one person who does not realize when the game stops being a game.

    If his feelings toward Hui-yeon become genuine, he faces a conflict between his reputation, his relationship with Lady Cho and his own emotions.

    The most interesting version of Cho Won would therefore not simply ask whether he succeeds in seducing Hui-yeon.

    It would ask:

    At what point does Cho Won realize that he is no longer the person controlling the relationship?

    Hui-yeon Could Determine Whether The Scandal Feels Fresh

    This is where the adaptation faces its biggest test.

    Lady Cho and Cho Won are naturally dramatic characters.

    A brilliant manipulator and a famous seducer are easy to make interesting.

    Hui-yeon is harder.

    If she exists mainly to be desired, deceived and hurt, the central relationship could feel too familiar.

    But if she has agency, hidden motivations or the ability to change the direction of the story, the entire triangle becomes less predictable.

    That is why NANA’s character may be especially important to the script freshness of The Scandal.

    The question is not only whether Hui-yeon falls for Cho Won.

    It is whether the audience correctly understands Hui-yeon in the first place.

    Who Is Really Manipulating Whom?

    That may ultimately be the best question to carry into The Scandal.

    At the beginning, the answer appears obvious.

    Lady Cho creates the game.

    Cho Won plays it.

    Hui-yeon becomes the target.

    But if the series follows exactly that line from beginning to end, viewers familiar with Dangerous Liaisons will have a major advantage: they already understand the structure.

    A stronger adaptation would gradually destabilize those roles.

    The controller becomes emotionally vulnerable.

    The seducer becomes seduced.

    The target gains power.

    The person who seemed to understand everything discovers that they misunderstood the one person who mattered most.

    Whether Netflix actually takes the story in those directions remains to be seen.

    But if The Scandal wants to make a centuries-old story feel new, changing who holds power at different moments of the relationship may be more important than changing the basic premise itself.

    The Three Characters to Watch on September 18

    Before release, the basic roles seem clear:

    Son Ye-jin’s Lady Cho is the powerful strategist.

    Ji Chang-wook’s Cho Won is the confident seducer.

    NANA’s Hui-yeon is the woman drawn into their dangerous wager.

    But those descriptions may only tell us where the characters begin.

    The real story will be about where they end up — and how many times the balance of power changes before they get there.

    For viewers who already know Dangerous Liaisons or Untold Scandal, that may be the most interesting reason to watch.

    We may recognize the three positions on the board.

    What we do not yet know is whether Netflix has changed the rules of the game.

    The Scandal premieres globally on Netflix on September 18, 2026.

    This character guide was written before the premiere and will be updated after release as the characters’ hidden motivations, relationships and major turning points are revealed.