The Scandal is one of those South Korean Netflix dramas where the number of episodes almost reach double figures, yet about three would’ve been enough.
In a world where everyone wears silly big hats indoors, and with some flashbacks to earlier times, noblewoman Lady Cho (Son Ye-jin) wants liberal aristocrat Cho Won (Ji Chang-wook) to take in a concubine, in the form of So-ok (Shin Youn-ha), both looking to twist romantic relationships for their own bizarre purposes, and damn anyone who gets hurt.
It’s based on Dangerous Liaisons – a great film which was made into an awful Amazon Prime series, of sorts, but titled the same as the film, Cruel Intentions, and even that dragged on and on. As for this version… It also really drags, with nothing really happening for long periods of time.
The only point of note is that for no apparent reason, when it heads back for flashback scenes, while the whole series was shot in 2.39:1, these earlier-set scenes are given an anamorphic squeeze to 2.00:1, so everyone’s badly stretched vertically and it looks really crap.
Who the hell came up with that? Mr Magoo??
Overall, The Scandal is not for me. So, farewell, my concubine.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
The Scandal is on Netflix from today.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-80 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: September 18th 2026
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.39:1; 2.00:1 (anamorphic squeeze – see review)
Director: Jung Ji-woo
Writers: Song Hye-kyo, Jung Ji-woo, Lee Seung-Young
Novel: Choderlos de Laclos
Cast:
Lady Cho / Cho Yun: Son Ye-jin
Young Choo Yun: Shin So-hyun
Cho Won: Ji Chang-wook
Young Cho Won: Jeong Hyun-jun
So-ok: Shin Youn-ha
Ahn Hui-yeon: Nana
Bun-hui, So-ok’s mother: Han Sun-hwa
Lady Jeong-kyeong: Kang Ji-eun
Kwon In-ho: Kang Chan-hee
Lord Yoo: Lee Ji-hoon
Chil-seong: Kwon Do-gyun
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.