Hyena is a Korean law drama that revolves around its two main leads, Jung Geum-ja (Kim Hye-soo) and Yoon Hee-jae (Ju Ji-hoon). Initially, the two find themselves in a growing rivalry as cunning lawyers on totally different levels of success in their legal practice.

Jung Geum-ja is a struggling female attorney who is desperate to win a case and trampling a heart or two along the way is a casualty she can live with. Her target is Yoon Hee-jae, the gem of one of the biggest law firms in South Korea. 

Yoon Hee-jae wins so many cases that it’s hard for him to stay humble. His success fuelled this belief that he is capable of crushing any opposition. So he didn’t see it coming, that a chance meeting with a beautiful, mysterious woman, is nothing more than just a calculative move from his opposing counsel. Jung Geum-ja would easily infiltrate his life and dismantle his defenses. She gathers enough ammunition to hurt his ego and damage his reputation. And even though her underhanded tactics infuriated Yoon Hee-jae, he can’t stop thinking about her.

The story sees the two fight across the first half of the series as they wrestle for control in several different cases. While preying for the win in each case, the two find themselves having to work together which ultimately brings them to an ultimate case which reveals widespread corruption orchestrated by people in their ranks.

While the topics in the drama are quite dark and gory, the show does a great job of keeping their audiences engaged and entertained by showing the relationships between the characters in a more light and comedic manner.

Hyena is a very suitable title for this drama since both main characters are predatory attorneys for whom the chase is the most appealing part of the game. It also makes sense that they will be drawn to each other, since they are a lot alike in several ways. 

Hyena marks Kim Hye Soo’s return to TV after almost 4 years, with her last lead role in the 2016 drama Signal. The vetran actress boasts of a fantastic and long filmography that began way back in the eighties when she was still in her first year in high school.

Meanwhile, many Netflix subscribers will also recognize Joo Ji Hoon as the Crown Prince, Lee Chang in the popular zombie horror series Kingdom, with its second season running at the same time as Hyena.