'Secret Forest 2' averages 7.6% viewership from the start... Surpasses Season 1's highest ratings

tvN new weekend drama 'Secret Forest 2' / Photo by tvN

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Park Hee-eun] According to Nielsen Korea, a ratings survey company, the first episode of tvN's 'Stranger Season 2' aired the previous day recorded an average rating of 7.6% and a peak of 8.9% (nationwide household 기준). This surpassed the highest rating of the last episode of the previous season (6.6%) and secured the second highest first-episode rating in the history of tvN weekend dramas.

In the episode, Hwang Si-mok (Jo Seung-woo) and Han Yeo-jin (Bae Doo-na) pursued the truth behind the Tongyeong accident. What was initially thought to be a simple accident in Tongyeong turned out to be a butterfly effect caused by the reckless behavior of a safety-neglecting couple. Although circumstances suggested it might have been a case rather than an accident, due to Hwang Si-mok, the prosecutor who does not remain silent, and Han Yeo-jin, the proactive police officer, an uncomfortable truth of preferential treatment for former officials covered it up within a day.

At a coastal area in Tongyeong where an access control line was installed, two university students drowned while intoxicated. That night, Yeo-jin saw a photo of a couple taking a selfie with the access control line at the Tongyeong coast as the background, which was posted on SNS she usually follows, raising suspicions about the accident.

The fact that the photos were deleted all at once about an hour after being posted, and that the couple drove all night to Seoul that same night, triggered Detective Yeo-jin’s instincts. She began a full investigation, and Si-mok, who had already been closely monitoring the case, also took action.

Returning to the scene, Si-mok identified the access control line that the couple was presumed to have cut during the estimated time of the accident, and even discovered that the line was cut with a lighter. After persistent tracking, Yeo-jin and Detective Jang Geon (Choi Jae-woong) found the man in the SNS photos, Lee Yong-ho (Kang Shin-hyo), and interrogated him for suspicious points, but could not proceed with further investigation due to his lawyer Oh Joo-seon (Kim Hak-sun), a former chief judge.

While Si-mok and Yeo-jin were investigating the Tongyeong accident, the conflict between the prosecution and police was increasingly surfacing. Especially, Choi Bit (Jeon Hye-jin), head of the Investigation Structure Reform Team, proposed, "Please directly suggest to the commissioner that both sides meet face-to-face to adjust investigative authority," foreshadowing an even sharper conflict.

tvN's 'Stranger 2' is written by writer Lee Soo-yeon, continuing from season 1, and airs every weekend around 9 PM.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.