Scarecrow Killer Identity Revealed Early: Why?

The drama "Scarecrow," starring Park Hae-soo and Lee Hee-joon, is capturing viewers' attention with its unconventional plot twist of revealing the culprit within just seven episodes. With five episodes remaining in the 12-episode series, this early reveal is intensifying curiosity about future developments.

In the seventh episode of "Scarecrow," viewers witnessed Lee Ki-beom (played by Song Geon-hee), who was cleared of false accusations, beginning to suspect his brother's identity. The episode concluded with the shocking revelation that the character who appeared 30 years later under the name 'Lee Yong-woo' was in fact Lee Ki-hwan (played by Jung Moon-sung). The situation was further infuriated by the fact that Lee Ki-beom died from the aftereffects of torture, while his brother, Lee Ki-hwan, shamelessly acted as if innocent after framing his sibling for the crime.

Viewers expressed their surprise regarding the timing of the culprit's reveal, with comments such as "It's shocking that Lee Ki-hwan is the culprit, but it's even more shocking that his face was revealed in episode 7," "What are they going to show in the remaining 5 episodes?", and "It was chilling when the culprit's face suddenly filled the screen."

However, this was an intentional development by the production team. Director Park Joon-woo stated at the press conference that "the culprit appears in the first and last scenes of every episode," explaining that he wanted to tell a story with a different direction than the movie 'Memories of Murder.' "Scarecrow" is based on the Hwaseong serial murders that began in 1986, and its unique approach is to re-examine the case from a perspective after the real killer has been caught.

Director Park revealed that the focus is "not on who the culprit is, but why the culprit was missed for 30 years." The drama realistically depicts the circumstances of the 1980s, when scientific investigation systems like DNA and CCTV were insufficient, and portrays the reality of innocent people being victimized and numerous men being suspected during the indiscriminate police investigations of that era. Viewers expressed their realistic empathy, saying, "There was no DNA or CCTV back then," and "Whether it was Tae-joo or Si-young, the story is about wanting to catch them but failing to do so."