“In each of us, two natures are at war – the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer. But in our own hands lies the power to choose – what we want most to be we are.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson

“You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.”
- Joss Whedon

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If I were to describe this drama with one word, it would be:

Misleading - complex - secretive - slowly seething - engraving

Yeah, okay. Those were not only one word but five. But as difficult as it is to categorize each character in this story, it's also impossible to find only one word or one saying that would cover every beautiful aspect about this whole show.

Hwang Shi Mok, a prosecutor who lacks the ability to feel any emotion since a surgery in his childhood, and Han Yeo Jin, a police lieutenant, team up to fight corruption in the prosecutor's office. That pretty much describes it all and the summary above is also very accurate about the key points.

-- Misleading --
I admit that I was a little skeptical and hesitant before I started this drama. Prosecutors and corruption. Not again... But my worries were groundless. Even though this drama is indeed about those things, the whole set-up differs alot from your usual k-drama structure. Sometimes and especially in the beginning you might think that many things are predictable. But you will soon be disabused. You'll learn that every scene, every move and every obvious incident has always two maybe even three faces to them. You can never be sure about what you see right in front of you.

-- Complex --
The characters in this story are as cunning and sly as the story around them. There is not one person you can be certain about and only the finale will reveal everyone's true nature. Only at the far end you'll see the whole picture. So, be aware of the fact that you have to pay a lot of attention.

-- Secretive --
Imagine each one of these people as trees with many branches - long and short ones, thick and thin ones which symbolize their every wish, desire, greed, ambition and so much more. Everyone hides in the shadows. Some of them stand in a light grey, others in far darker places. But it doesn't automatically make them bad people. And I loved that the drama conveyed that as well.

-- Slowly seething --
The story flow might seem a little dragging here and there but you shouldn't forget that this a drama that focuses much on the corruption in the prosecutor's office and never loses its way. It's "slowly seething", as I was describing it in the beginning.

-- Engraving --
The music is subtle and so well set that you are left with deep impressions every time an episode ends - even though the narrative flow might seem slow-paced. And let me tell you that this drama has one of the most captivating final episodes I've seen so far.

-- Forest of Secrets --
Never was drama title more accurate.

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“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow