By Pierce Conran

Copyright scmp

Lead cast: Han Suk-kyu, Bae Hyun-sung, Lee Re
Latest Nielsen rating: 7.4 per cent
Following his critically acclaimed turn in last year’s dark mystery drama Doubt, veteran leading man Han Suk-kyu returns with some lighter fare in Shin’s Project, a new tvN drama that premiered to strong ratings last week.
Echoing the big screen comedy smash Extreme Job, the show sees Han play Mr Shin, the crafty owner of a fried chicken restaurant whose occupation masks his true skills as an expert negotiator.

This comes in handy when he is brought in to settle little spats that erupt in the neighbourhood between various shopkeepers, but sometimes he is also called on to render his services on a larger scale.
This happens when judge Kim Sang-geun (Kim Sang-ho, Sweet Home) drops by Shin’s chicken joint with budding judge Philip Jo (Bae Hyun-sung, Family by Choice), a fresh graduate from the judicial institute.
Sang-geun orders chicken, but right after it arrives, he gets up to leave and tells Philip to stay and start working for Shin.
Among the bewildered Philip’s new responsibilities are chicken deliveries – hardly fitting tasks for a judge – but knowing his senior must have left him there for a reason, he scrutinises Shin’s actions and soon comes to understand that he is no ordinary seller of fried goods.

Shin is also nonplussed by his unexpected new worker, whom he almost immediately fires. Philip is tenacious and sticks around to do the work anyway, and before long, he also shows his true colours to the suspicious Shin.
Sang-geun has also left Shin with a complicated lawsuit for which he wants him to mediate a settlement before it goes to trial. The case involves a group of seafood merchants who are suing a television investigation programme for defamation.
The show aired a report about their unsanitary work conditions and contaminated food, effectively killing their business. They cried foul, suggesting that they had been set up.
Shin first visits the frosty host of the investigation programme, who refuses to settle, standing by his programme’s journalistic standards. He next goes to the countryside to meet the merchants and soon begins putting the pieces together.

Philip dutifully follows along and manages to get Shin’s attention when he shows off his keen judicial know-how.
The partnership continues apace as the pair handle casework during the day and fry and deliver chicken during their evenings.
The store receives a sudden boost when the handsome Philip, dressed in his sharp suit, delivers an order and ends up making a cameo appearance on the customer’s popular streaming show.
Also helping out at the store is Shin’s part-timer Lee Shi-on (Lee Re, Hellbound), while police officer Choi Chul (Kim Sung-oh, Low Life) lends a hand with the cases.
We do not yet know Shin’s exact background, but while we can surmise that he must be a brilliant legal mind, his true skills as a negotiator prove to be more unique than that.

We first meet Shin when he walks down the street and stumbles into a group of police officers and concerned neighbours looking up at a rooftop where a man is threatening to set himself on fire and jump off.
Shin goes up to the roof, but rather than present himself as a negotiator, he appears with a basket of clothes, pretending to go up and hang some laundry.
Though never directly asking him anything, he teases out the man’s grievances and skilfully befriends him, yelling down to the street alongside him while slyly discarding all the fuel the man has brought to the roof and defusing the situation.
A bit like his lead character in Dr. Romantic, but with a more jaded view of the world, Han once again plays a highly capable character with excellent people-reading skills.

With Shin’s origins for the moment shrouded in mystery, the show is forced to rely almost entirely on Han’s charm.
In Dr. Romantic, Han was surrounded by younger characters, and they elevated each other, but the duo at the centre of Shin’s Project is more lopsided. Philip is a bit one-dimensional, and Bae has a hard time making him stand out beside the more charismatic Han.
However, Bae has plenty of time to grow into the role, just as Philip will eventually settle into his unorthodox internship.
By holding several cards close to its chest, Shin’s Project at least ensures that it has plenty of story to dig into in the coming weeks as we learn more about its titular character.
Shin’s Project is streaming on Viu.