Slow Start, Strong Turnaround
DISCLAIMER: The review is based on the first 2 episodes only. No spoilers, only early impressions.The drama started off quite weak for me, to the point where I watched half of the first episode on 2x speed and even skipped some scenes that felt unnecessary. A first episode should hook you enough to watch it normally, and unfortunately this one didn’t. I’m generally very weak when it comes to political corruption plots, they usually bore me unless there’s something else to balance them out. From the premise, I thought this drama would have enough going for it to keep me engaged early on, but ep 1 focused on the darkest, most frustrating side of corruption. It was slow, overly long, very heavy, and dragged out so much that it became boring rather than immersive.
The only reason I pushed through ep 1 was because of why I started the drama in the first place:
- the trope of a character going back in time to fix past mistakes, which I find extremely intriguing
- Ji Sung — one of my favorite actors, which alone made me want to give this drama a fair chance
Even episode 2 took its time it still needed at least 30 mins to finally reach the actual turning point where the main character resets his life and goes ten years back into the past. But once that happened, the pacing and engagement improved significantly. I stopped fast forwarding, watched at normal speed and by the end of the ep 2 I was genuinely glued to the screen, wanting to know what happens next. By that point, the drama had finally found its footing and did enough to keep me seated and eagerly waiting for next week’s episode and I’ll definitely be pressing play as soon as it airs.
That said, I still have some personal complaints. The “over-the-top” acting meant to come off as comedic didn’t really work for me (as expected for my taste). There were quite a few cartoonish, overly animated moments where characters screamed too much or acted in an exaggerated, theatrical way which pulled me out of the story a bit. In those moments, the tone felt inconsistent and unserious. Objectively speaking, the acting is solid overall, but those choices didn’t fully land for me.
Another issue I noticed is the inconsistency in the main character’s personality. The shift is so sudden that it makes you question whether this is even the same person. In the present time he’s portrayed as morally gray with an unpleasant personality that annoyed me throughout the 1st ep, and even with the explanations given, I couldn’t really like or root for him. Then, once he goes ten years back, he suddenly turns into this chaotic, unserious, almost anime-like “hero” type, trying to be cute and righteous. While I understand the reasoning behind this change, it still feels strange because mentally, he should still be the same man that only went back in time. The contrast sometimes makes the character feel more cartoonish than believable, though I can accept it for now given the circumstances.
Overall, the drama had a rough start for me but it managed to recover by the end of ep 2. Despite my issues with pacing, tone, and character consistency, the core concept and Ji Sung are strong enough to keep me invested. For now it has the potential to rise if the story continues to tighten its pacing and balance its tone better.
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Well done!!! ML should get an award for this role. FL is great too
====WRITTEN AFTER EP 2: ====ML is an amazing actor and has lots of time on the screen. He should get an award for this role. FL is written very well and the actress is amazing too. I am looking forward to seeing more of her. So far she was very secondary although her influence was critical.
The script is tight and there are so many nuances, it is worth rewatching this. Let us hope it continues for 14 episodes!
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This drama (TJR) might look similar to Again My Life (AML) or Lawless Lawyer (LL) or Devil Judge (DJ) dramas , but it is very different.
AML, LL, and DJ are about always-good guys chasing bad guys.
TJR is about a guy who was both good and bad... He is an ordinary "good" guy who willingly became a bad guy, caused death and destruction, his conscience nagged him, he willingly turned good and went against his former accomplices.
The common thing in all 3 dramas is that a woman helps the ML.
>>>> Again My Life and Lawless Lawyer are revenge dramas about low status, righteous lawyer/prosecutor without power connections, going against high ranking officials who run crime to keep climbing up to the top government positions.
In AML, ML is naive, and he is given a chance to try it again. In LL, he is not naive LOL he was raised by thugs and uses all kinds of dirty tricks to revenge his mother.
TJR resembles AML bc a naive fighting-for-good person has a chance to come back to life with all memories intact and do it right the second time around; and resembles LL bc this "good person" uses dirty tricks to win. But:
TJR ML intentionally became a high ranking government official - a judge - who helped major evil do significant damages, so he is a deep, self-made crook. AML and LL heroes are always good guys. They use dirty tricks but never too dirty, they never were crooks, never did major bad stuff, never harmed anyone; they are just slightly mean
You can say that all three male leads somewhat resemble each other after TJR ep 2 :) But TJR hero is a LOT meaner and more criminal LOL if the end of ep 2 is not a fantasy. AML and LL heroes would never do that. They resolve everything legally.
>>>>Devil Judge is a thriller about fighting and exposing a well-camouflaged evil judge who is loved by the public but runs a crime ring and has grandiose evil goals about seizing control (like the villains in Lawless Lawyer and Again My Life, who are sooo well camouflaged sociopaths/psychopaths, it is chilling to meet them on the screen. Judge Cha and assemblyman are sooo creepy, esp. Judge Cha is a villain whom you will remember... !!!!! totally horrifying yet always 100% polite).
In comparison, TJR ML is an amateur... he tries to look good but his corruption is very obvious and known by everyone for a long time...... .... You can say that TJR ML resembles Devil Judge and LL and AML villains in ep 1 bc he pretends to be good but is doing bad :) but TJR ML has conscience and is a lot smaller scale crook that those three.
>>>>The Judge Returns drama is about cleaning up bad karma, about the redemption arc of a basically good ordinary person who succumbed to greed and INTENTIONALLY AND WILLINGLY became the slave of the corrupt power circles. His only intent was to gain a cushy life, but it came with a price he was not willing to pay.... As he climbed high and went far .... too far... .... did sooooooooooo much bad... he WILLINGLY experienced remorse and WILLINGLY started anew in good way .... but he was naive... and was given a chance to came back to fix his misdeeds and do the good stuff.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Legal Thriller That Resets Itself Too Late
The Return of the Judge starts as a legal thriller about judicial corruption and corporate power. On paper, the premise is strong, but the execution is slow, overlong, and filled with familiar character clichés and exaggerated performances.By episode 2, the series reveals its true direction: the protagonist is framed, killed, sent to purgatory, and given a second chance in the past with full knowledge of future events. From that point on, the legal tension collapses. Conflicts are no longer solved through investigation or strategy, but through supernatural advantage.
The issue isn’t the fantasy element itself — it’s that it invalidates everything that came before. What was introduced as a grounded legal drama turns into a moral reset story with no real stakes. When the main character always knows the outcome, suspense disappears.
Rather than evolving, the series changes genres midstream, after already demanding patience from the viewer.
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