Netflix dropped all eight episodes of The Scandal on September 18. By September 19 it was sitting at No. 1 on Netflix's Korea series chart. By September 20, viewers had already picked sides.
That is the odd thing about this one. I went through the Korean press roundups of online reactions and the first reviews, and they keep landing on the same word: mixed. There is real praise for how it looks and for its leads. There are equally real complaints about the pacing, the amount of sex, and at least one piece of casting. Even the explicit scenes are contested: one critic calls the nudity excessive, while another says the show runs cooler than its 19+ rating promised.
Below I break down both camps, the argument over the explicit scenes, why the 2003 film Untold Scandal keeps coming up, and who should actually press play. One note on sourcing: everything here comes from press roundups of social media and community posts, plus individual reviews. It is not a poll, and it is not based on my own viewing. Treat the reactions as the loudest voices, not a headcount.
What You're Pressing Play On
The Scandal moves Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses to Joseon Korea, by way of the 2003 film Untold Scandal. Son Ye-jin plays Lady Cho, a gifted noblewoman. Ji Chang-wook plays Cho Won, the era's most famous lover. Nana plays Ahn Hui-yeon, the widow the two of them pull into a dangerous game.
Jung Ji-woo directs from a script by Lee Seung-young and Ahn Hye-song. It runs eight episodes, and in Korea it carries an adults-only rating. Gukje News notes that it marks Son Ye-jin's return to period drama after 24 years and her first Netflix series, and that it is Nana's first period role.
Strong Charts, Split Verdict
The ranking part is straightforward. Netflix's own Korea chart had the series at No. 1 on September 19, one day after release. FlixPatrol data reported by Korean outlets has it in the top 10 in 26 countries and regions that same day. By September 20 it sat at No. 7 on FlixPatrol's global TV chart and at No. 1 in five markets: Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
The critical side is thinner. Rotten Tomatoes had no critics' score for the series yet when I checked, so the verdict so far comes from individual reviews and viewer posts.
Here's the catch when I put the charts next to those reactions. A full-season drop compresses everything. Joynews24 ran a full review on the evening of September 19, barely a day after release, and its verdict was a big disappointment. The curiosity clicks and the judgments arrive inside the same 48 hours, so a No. 1 ranking and a lukewarm reception can both be true at once.
Camp One: It's Gorgeous, and the Leads Are Holding It Up
The praise is specific. In what I read, viewers keep pointing to the mise-en-scene, the late-Joseon look, the hanbok costumes and the cinematography. A Joynews24 review, otherwise harsh, still singles out the production design and an inventive use of pansori, the traditional sung storytelling, and minhwa folk painting.
The leads get credit too. The same review says the two of them hold the show together, and that without them it would have been hard to finish. It describes Son Ye-jin as confident and elegant, where the 2003 film's version of the role leaned on sensuality, and credits Ji Chang-wook with layered emotion, from obsession to a loneliness that shows in his eyes. It even argues his polished image keeps the explicit scenes from feeling unpleasant. Two supporting actors, Shin Youn-ha and Kang Chan-hee, are named as the show's discoveries.
Oddly enough, Nana is where the camps overlap. Some viewers quoted in a Topstar News roundup preferred her take on the widow to the older film's, reading her as a mix of sensuality and naivete. Others think she is a miscast, and Joynews24's reviewer is one of them. Which brings us to the other side.
Camp Two: It's Slow, Loud, and a Little Miscast
The most repeated complaint I came across is pacing. KbizoOm quotes viewers who say they skipped through large chunks, and one says eight episodes took about three hours. Joynews24's reviewer says the fun drops sharply as soon as the central bet begins. Another reaction in the Korean coverage asks why the story needed eight episodes at all.
Casting draws the sharpest lines. Viewers say Nana looks too glamorous and modern for a suppressed widow, and Joynews24 also finds her passive. Some feel Son Ye-jin keeps too much of her gentle image to sell a manipulator, and one viewer quoted by KbizoOm finds Ji Chang-wook's womanizer more creepy than seductive. A gentler version of the complaint runs through the Topstar roundup: everyone acts well, but nobody is a perfect fit for their part.
Too Explicit, or Not Hot Enough?
If one topic keeps dragging the conversation away from the story, it is the intimacy. The coverage treats it two ways. Gukje News framed the show's record-level intensity as part of its appeal, while English-language roundups like KbizoOm led with viewer backlash over it.
On the too-much side, the complaints come from viewers and critics alike. One viewer quoted by KbizoOm watched all eight episodes and still asked whether the scandal was anything other than the explicit scenes. Another said the intimate scenes did not need to be that explicit. Joynews24's reviewer argues the show's ideas about identity and desire fade under too many of them, and that constant sexual desire ends up tiring rather than building.
NewsBuzz went further and devoted a whole column to the nudity in the mid-to-late episodes, published September 19, barely a day after release. Its critic accepts the intent: a scene involving Hui-yeon is meant to show the widow breaking a taboo and claiming her own name. But the result, the column says, was embarrassment rather than immersion, with attention pulled to bodies instead of faces and eyes.
Then there is the opposite complaint. MK Sports, on September 21, argues the show was sold on bold nudity and a love bet but plays closer to a lukewarm heated floor than a blaze. Its critic says viewers expected sticky, dangerous eroticism, yet the series puts more weight on the psychological game of who wavers first. The actual level of exposure, the review says, is not that high: the nudity is concentrated in specific episodes, with episodes 5 and 7 named, and skin alone does not add up to sensuality. Joynews24 makes a similar point from another angle. In the early episodes, it says, the tension between Son Ye-jin and Ji Chang-wook builds without much physical contact or nudity at all, through looks and expressions.
Ji Chang-wook has spoken about how he approached the seduction scenes. Speaking to Philstar, he described his scenes with Son Ye-jin as smiles on the surface with psychological warfare underneath, and said he approached his scenes with Hui-yeon differently, since they mixed romance and seduction. He also said he did not dwell on how fans would react to seeing him play a seducer.
Reading these side by side, what stands out to me is that the same series is being called both too explicit and not hot enough. Both complaints can be true at once if the nudity is packed into a few episodes, as MK Sports describes. If you are deciding whether to watch, it carries a 19+ rating in Korea, which Philstar calls R-rated, and the critics disagree on whether the scenes deliver anything beyond that.
The Untold Scandal Problem
The 2003 film sets the bar, and a lot of the disappointment is measured against it. The Joynews24 review notes the series changes the ending. Where the film closes on tragedy, the show lets its characters go their separate ways after the male lead departs, with some finding happiness and others sorrow.
The comparison cuts both ways in the coverage. One viewer in the Topstar roundup likes that Nana's version of the widow differs from the film's, arguing a remake has no reason to exist if it copies the original. Joynews24's reviewer goes the other direction and questions why the series was made in 2026 at all when it can't top a film from 23 years ago. This piece leans on reported reactions and reviews rather than my own side-by-side comparison of the two, so consider the comparison the audience's, not mine.
Editorial Take: Reading the coverage, I don't think the split is really about whether The Scandal is good. It's about what people came for. Come for the costumes and the leads, and the reaction coverage says you mostly get them. Come for a tight game of manipulation, and the loudest complaints are aimed exactly there.
Who Should Press Play
If you watch period dramas for the craft, meaning the sets, the hanbok, the look of late Joseon, the reviews I read put their strongest praise here, so it is the easiest recommendation.
If you love Untold Scandal, go in expecting different relationships and a different ending.
If slow burns test your patience, eight episodes is a real commitment. Joynews24 calls the opening promising and places the drop once the bet begins, so notice early how the first episodes land for you.
And if explicit content is a dealbreaker, note the adults-only rating, and know the nudity is not spread evenly. MK Sports says it is concentrated in specific episodes, naming episodes 5 and 7, while NewsBuzz places it in the mid-to-late stretch. If you are coming purely for heat, the same MK review suggests tempering your expectations.
FAQ
Is The Scandal on Netflix? Yes. All eight episodes of The Scandal have been streaming on Netflix since September 18, 2026, released at once.
Who stars in The Scandal? Son Ye-jin plays Lady Cho, Ji Chang-wook plays Cho Won, and Nana plays Ahn Hui-yeon. Shin Youn-ha and Kang Chan-hee are in the supporting cast.
Is The Scandal based on a book or a movie? Both, loosely. It is inspired by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal, and it relocates the story to the Joseon dynasty.
Do I need to watch Untold Scandal first? Nothing in the coverage says you must. The series is adapted from the same 1782 novel and, per Joynews24, differs from the film in its relationships and its ending. Just know that part of the debate compares the two.
How explicit is The Scandal? It carries an adults-only rating in Korea, which Philstar describes as 19+ (R-rated). Reviews disagree on how far it actually goes. NewsBuzz calls the nudity in the mid-to-late episodes excessive, while MK Sports says the actual level is not that high and is concentrated in specific episodes. Viewers quoted by KbizoOm complain about the number of intimate scenes.
Is The Scandal worth watching? Reactions are split. It reached No. 1 on Netflix Korea in a day and drew praise for its visuals and lead performances, while other viewers found the pacing slow and parts of the casting off.
The Scandal is now streaming on Netflix. Tracking streaming arrivals and global demand at incoming.to.