Return

Mid at best

Although I found Choi Ja Hye's character very good (and I liked both actresses, but Park Jin Hee was more evil-like, not that I mind lmao), I cannot say the same about some of the others. The performance of the actor playing In Ho was really bad, someone tell this fellow that opening his eyes all wide and confused-like is not acting lol. He was also utterly charmless in this drama which is a damn shame since the others are pretty good or at least decent. I was not convinced by Tae Seok as the main villain, he was too unserious imo. There was a serious tonal issue when it comes to Hak Beom. The writers should have chosen between evil rapist or comic relief, it's really weird if it's both. I was uncomfortable. Joon Hee was such an NPC which really sucks because the actor was good in Penthouse as sassy Dr Ha. I was also not convinced that Na Ra was some genius lawyer because she seemed to be very confused and shocked by very obvious happenings. The plot also made no damn sense.

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Karma, Sins, and Lies - It'll All Return

Over the past month I was swept into the twisted, gritty, dark world of the crime, legal & noir thriller, Return. This was a drama I'd been planning to watch for a while. It was similar to Penthouse, my favorite k-drama (at least, one of them), I love a good murder mystery, and I'd never really watched a legal thriller k-drama before. But I didn't get around to watching it till last month. By the time I pressed play on episode 1, I was intrigued by the characters, the plot, and the setting. Then I was on episode 2. Before I knew it, I was a quarter-way through the entire show! The structure made it fairly easy to watch, too- 30ish minutes per episode. I watch daily dramas, so I'm used to it.

Now, onto the drama itself. This is an unfortunately realistic reflection and perspective on the legal system in South Korea. It is unknown if the events that occured in the drama are based on real life, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Generally it's close to reality. Chaebols (and politicians), hell, anyone rich anywhere gets away with some of the most horrific crimes and are never brought to justice. Simply because of who they are, their social status, who their parents are, what they do, and how much money they have in their bank account. And more often than not, the poor are screwed over by these types of rich people. There are Kang In-Hos in real life, narcissists who can never truly take responsibility for their own actions. There are unhinged psychopaths who use the law to cover up their crimes with blood money, like Oh Tae-Seok. There are disgusting, immature scumbags like Kim Hak-Bum in real life. And there are enablers, but damaged individuals like Seo Jun-Hee in real life, too. Not a single person in this drama was truly a good person- not even the impulsive, short-tempered, but justice-seeking detective Dok Go-Young. This is the most fascinating part of the drama to me, everything that happened was a cycle. It captured the very title, "Return". What one does to others shall be done to them. It is not vengeance, nor justice, but karma that punishes or rewards the people and their fate.

First off, I have to applaud all of the actors in this drama, who did an amazing job portraying their characters (even with the off-screen drama.) Shout out to BOTH actresses who played Choi Ja-Hye. Contrary to some of the rude things said on here & other sites about Park Jin-Hee in Return (who did this while PREGNANT... insane), I think both women pulled off her character extremely well. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that the second half was even BETTER than the first half, and I heavily preferred Park Jin-Hee's portrayal- and it made me a fan of Park Jin-Hee, too! So I'm definitely checking out more of her dramas in the future. Go Hyun-Jung did great with her performance, too. No need to put 2 amazing women against each other. Lee Jin-Wook... it took me a while to realize that he was the guy from Squid Game season 3 lol he looked totally different! His portrayal of Detective Dok actually grew on me after some time. He was still frustrating, but somewhat rootable. A great foil to Ja-Hye. Jung Eun-Chae... okay, so I didn't care much for Geum Na-Ra in general, but she definitely had that good underdog arc. I guess I just didn't understand it till I got to the last episodes. She wasn't a bad actress, fairly alright.

Then, we have the 4 evil princes. Or 4 bastards/assholes, as I love to call them. We gotta start with Oh Tae-Seok, the entitled, psychotic, and twisted CEO. This man drove me insane, I loved how ruthless, selfish, and evil he was, but I also hated it too. Shin Sung-Rok did TOO GOOD of a job portraying him, it's almost like he enjoyed it! His performance was chilling! (I am aware he's not like this in real life lol, I'm just passionate about him now.) Definitely checking out more of his dramas too. Tae-Seok got the ending that he deserved. Now, Kim Hak-Bum! The biggest scumbag of them all! He's done downright abhorrent things, especially to women. Bong Tae-Kyu really impressed me here, I didn't think he'd be able to pull off playing a nasty sociopath like Hak-Bum, since he usually does comedic roles, but... he did. He was probably the second-best actor in the cast. Kudos to him. Next up is Seo Jun-Hee... and again, has Yoon Jong-Hun ever, and I mean, EVER been truly happy in his dramas? This is the THIRD TIME I've seen this man portray someone do something horrible and then get put through the absolute WRINGER for the rest of the show! GODDAMN! *PLEASE* LET THIS MAN BE HAPPY IN A K-DRAMA FOR ONCE! 😭😭 I love him so much! Jun-Hee was one of the most tragic characters in the entire drama, and at least he had a conscience! I'm starting to feel bad for the actor himself! Finally, Kang In-Ho, our... flawed anti-hero? I guess? Perhaps he's a villain of circumstance. But he becomes the main suspect in Yum Mi-Jung's murder, which complicates his life. Park Ki-Woong played him flawlessly- a cowardly narcissist who hides behind his money and his family's name. He was very, very complex.

As for the root of all evil, Yum Mi-Jung, I hated her. I was actually relieved when she died. And even happier to find out who actually did it! She did a great job in pissing me off. I liked the side characters too, especially Kim Dong-Bae, his blind mother, Ja-Hye's paralegal, Kang Young-Eun (I think), and Kim Jung-Su. I think I've already covered the themes. But I will say this: this drama is what happens when the legal system fails due to the power and influence of wealth. It breaks people, causes injustice, and radicalizes them. Just like what happened to Ja-Hye, who ended up being an extremely tragic figure. I didn't mind having no romance in this drama (I personally am looking for MORE k-dramas without romance or ones that don't really focus on it.) I'd definitely recommend this one.

The BGM/music was probably the best part of this drama lol, specifically the BGM. I loved the main theme too! And the directing was incredible. There were some minor pacing issues and a bit of filler that was annoying (mainly the comic relief/weird commentary with the officers & detectives at Go-Young's police station), but I didn't mind it too much. My verdict? A 10/10 drama for me right now. Yes, even though the ending broke my heart. It was still a great watch. The rating might change, overall I loved watching this drama. I 100% recommend it to anyone looking to get into crime dramas! Don't let the recast scare you away! They're nothing new in TV shows lol

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Recomendo para todos.

Esse drama "tem" um ótimo potencial. Depois de muito tempo estou assistindo um drama do tipo, sem romance ou comédia e posso dizer que valeu a pena. Porém tenho algumas coisas para comentar. 1. A troca de atrizes. Pensei que ia estranhar e que a atuação da nova atriz (ep. 15) ia ser ruim, mas gostei bastante da atuação da Jin-hie, me emocionei bastante e não afeta nada da história. 2. Esse drama me fez passar cada momento de raiva, como um psicopata com desgarga de emoções e um sociopata poderiam dar certos juntos? E em como todos eles foram influenciados por ele e no final querendo ou não pagaram seus pecados de um jeito. Um passa a vida inteira com remorso dos seus crimes, é uma dor terrível. Outro perdeu tudo que tinha, trabalho, esposa e filhos. O sociopata que foi preso e perdeu tudo (nome e dinheiro, pq era tudo q tinha) e o psicopata morreu. Não vou mentir falando que fiquei triste por que fiquei feliz quando ele morreu, esse homem era o segundo pior do grupo. Um inconsequente que acha que é um adolescente mimado. Mas também fiquei com pena do Joon e do In-ho, na situação deles me senti muito empatica. Como esse drama me fez refletir sobre como as coisas podem mudar de uma hora pra outra, principalmente assistindo as cenas finais do drama. Recomendo muito que assistam, se alguém estiver lendo isso daqui.

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