It’s not every day that a K-drama rewrites a broadcaster’s record books — but The Scarecrow just did exactly that, going out with a bang that left both critics and viewers genuinely shaken. Here’s everything about one of 2026’s most powerful Korean crime thrillers.
Table of Contents
The Scarecrow: Overview
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Title | The Scarecrow (허수아비) |
| Network | ENA / Genie TV |
| Premiered | April 20, 2026 |
| Finale | May 26, 2026 |
| Finale Rating | 8.1% (nationwide, Nielsen Korea) |
| ENA All-Time Ranking | 2nd highest ever |
| Only Drama Ahead | Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022) |
| Director | Park Joon-woo (Taxi Driver, Crash) |
| Writer | Lee Ji-hyun |
| Lead Cast | Park Hae-soo, Lee Hee-joon, Kwak Sun-young |
| Streaming | Viki (with English subtitles) |
A Historic Finale
On May 26, the series finale of The Scarecrow achieved the second highest ratings of any drama in ENA history, bested only by the award-winning 2022 series Extraordinary Attorney Woo. According to Nielsen Korea, the final episode took first place in its time slot across all channels — including public broadcast networks — with an average nationwide rating of 8.1 percent, marking a new all-time high for the hit drama.
Beating public broadcast networks in a prime-time slot is no small feat. For a cable/streaming-adjacent channel like ENA, this is an extraordinary achievement.
What Is The Scarecrow About?
The Scarecrow is a crime investigation thriller that follows a detective who, while tracking down a serial killer, is forced into an unexpected alliance with someone he deeply despises.
Kang Tae-joo (Park Hae-soo) is a detective with tenacious observational skills and keen intuition who gets demoted from Seoul back to his hometown of Gangseong, where he decides to look into a serial murder case that took place there as a way to restore his honour.
The drama is based on the Lee Choon-jae serial murder case — also known as the Hwaseong killings — and follows someone who does not succumb to the murderer, the pressure of the era, or public authorities, but aims to set the record straight and bring the killer to justice. HanCinema
The mystery stops being “who did this?” and becomes: “How many lives were destroyed before the truth finally came out?” The narrative trades suspense for guilt and curiosity for pain — and it works incredibly well.
Why It Resonated So Deeply?
Park Hae-soo delivers an outstanding performance as Tae-joo — a character who feels emotionally broken at all times, like someone carrying decades of regret. It’s a quiet performance, but incredibly intense in its smallest details.
More than a thriller, the show became a meditation on collective guilt and the human cost of justice delayed. That’s the kind of storytelling that earns 8.1%.
According to Wikipedia’s entry on ENA, the channel rose to global prominence with Extraordinary Attorney Woo in 2022 — and The Scarecrow has now cemented ENA’s status as home to genuinely prestige Korean drama.
For more K-drama ratings news, reviews, and Asian entertainment updates, visit TechnoSports.
FAQs
Q: What rating did The Scarecrow finale achieve on ENA?
The finale recorded an 8.1% nationwide average rating (Nielsen Korea), making it the second-highest rated drama in ENA history, behind only Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
Q: Is The Scarecrow based on a true story?
Yes — it is inspired by the Lee Choon-jae serial murder case (Hwaseong killings), one of South Korea’s most notorious real-life criminal investigations, though the drama fictionalises key elements.
