Climax — The Higher You Rise, The Harder You Fall
"The higher you fall, the closer to the top. The deeper you crave, the closer to the climax." That is the tagline of Climax. The reason this single line unsettles is that it places ascent and downfall on the same trajectory. The drama, which premiered last week, has put a word rarely seen in Korean television front and center as its genre — "picaresque." The literary tradition of the rogue's tale: an anti-hero who starts at the bottom and claws upward through a corrupt world. Prosecutor Bang Tae-seob stands at precisely that starting line.
Climax | ENA | 2026 | 10 Episodes | Politics, Mystery, Romance, Noir
Available on Disney+ and Rakuten Viki (availability may vary by region)
Only two episodes have aired so far, but the numbers are already speaking for themselves. The premiere opened with a nationwide rating of 2.9%, then jumped to 3.8% by episode two — a 31% increase overnight. It also claimed the second-highest premiere rating ever for an ENA Monday-Tuesday drama. For an unconventional genre experiment that weaves political noir with romance and mystery, the audience is clearly paying attention.
An Ensemble of Gravity
Reading this drama's casting sheet alone is enough to sketch an entire relationship map. Joo Ji-hoon plays Bang Tae-seob, a man who became a prosecutor with no connections and no money. True to his nickname — "the Doberman of the Seoam District Prosecutors' Office" — he grinds his teeth and climbs toward ever greater heights. From Princess Hours to Mask to The Light in Your Eyes — having crossed genres from period drama to romance to horror, this marks the first time Joo Ji-hoon has stepped into the heart of political noir.
Ha Ji-won appears as Chu Sang-a, a top actress in the story. Scandal follows her constantly, yet she could not care less — the only fall she fears is her own. Having become synonymous with strong characters through Secret Garden and Hospital Ship, Ha Ji-won this time trades physical toughness for political survival instinct. What makes this pairing especially interesting is that Joo Ji-hoon and Ha Ji-won were originally set to work together in the 2019 drama Prometheus, but the production fell through. That this long-delayed meeting — seven years in the making — has finally materialized in a political noir feels like a coincidence worth noting.
Oh Jung-se is an actor remembered for Dong-geulami in Extraordinary Attorney Woo and his performances in Misaeng. An actor known for nuanced emotional depth in comedy and slice-of-life dramas has now entered a completely different world as the eldest son of the WR Group chaebol family. He reunites with Joo Ji-hoon after Jirisan and shares the screen with Ha Ji-won for the third time. Rounding out the ensemble are Cha Joo-young, who broadened her range with a distinctive turn in Mask Girl, and Nana, who continues to build her standing as an actress. Nana plays Hwang Jung-won, a woman from the bottom who becomes Bang Tae-seob's informant — someone who, from the very lowest rung of the food chain, ends up holding the most powerful card of all.
Into the Picaresque
What the first two episodes have revealed is the outline of the world. The prosecution, the conglomerates, the entertainment industry, politics — four pillars of power that simultaneously need and check one another. Within this structure, the marriage of Bang Tae-seob and Chu Sang-a is not love but a partnership — a strategic alliance forged to serve each person's ambitions. The essence of the picaresque genre lies in making the audience suspend moral judgment on the anti-hero, and these opening episodes are focused on widening exactly that space of suspension. If you find yourself unsure who to root for, the drama is working exactly as intended.
Director Lee Ji-won serves as both writer and director. Having a single creative vision governing both the narrative architecture and its visual execution signals a commitment to maintaining density within a compressed ten-episode run. Compared to political dramas like Stranger and Chief of Staff, which stretched across sixteen or more episodes with longer pacing, the ten-episode structure of Climax is a statement in itself.
Rise — The First OST Setting the Tone
With the show still in its early days, only one OST track has been released so far. "Rise," performed by Lim Ji-su, opens with a sweeping intro and builds in intensity — distilling into music the direction this drama is heading: upward, but at a cost.
Fate, 이미 정해진 결말과
닿지 못 한 약속은
Can we ever reach the sky?
Live a painted lie?
Rise — Lim Ji-su (Climax OST Part 1)
The question "Can we live atop a painted lie?" cuts straight to the inner world of characters walking a tightrope between power and desire. As the ten episodes unfold, it will be fascinating to see what additional layers of emotion the forthcoming OST tracks build upon.
The main trailer distills the partnership between Bang Tae-seob and Chu Sang-a, along with the tension of the power dynamics surrounding them.
The second trailer brings the presence of Hwang Jung-won (Nana) and Lee Yang-mi (Cha Joo-young) into sharper focus, hinting at the complex dynamics that emerge when all five leads collide.
Behind-the-scenes footage from the episodes 1–2 shoot. A glimpse into the cast's first on-set chemistry and the atmosphere on location.
This Is Only the Beginning
Two episodes out of ten. We are still in the prologue. Yet the questions this prologue has raised — does every rise necessarily entail a fall? Is desire a sin in itself? — are compelling enough to make you wonder what answers the remaining eight episodes will reach. If Stranger exposed the internal machinery of the prosecution and Chief of Staff laid bare the backroom deals of politics, Climax has its sights trained on the very apex where all those forces of power converge.
How the picaresque genre will take shape within Korean drama, and how far this five-person ensemble will push its boundaries — these are the reasons Monday and Tuesday nights are worth waiting for. On the uncomfortable premise that downfall and ascent run in the same direction, Climax has just taken its first step.
This article is updated weekly as new episodes air
