Return‘s antagonists reminded me a bit of the ones in Golden Cross and Reset. The horrible bad guys are nothing short of evil scum who have no business sharing the planet with decent, normal folks. I am definitely one who believes in repentance and second chances but this show clearly points out the fact that some people are just too evil and selfish to change.
After having a fight with his mistress, Mi-Jung, Kang In-Ho becomes the prime suspect for her murder when she is found stuffed inside his designer suitcase, abandoned on the road. The cops have no way of knowing she is the first victim of a serial killer who carves Roman numerals on the shoulder of the person murdered and that each death is somehow linked to a group of friends nicknamed the “Entitled Four.” Detective Dokgo Young is on the case and he won’t rest until he unravels this web of deceit and mayhem.
The Entitled Four:
Kang In-Ho is the Chief Director of Taeha Group and its sole heir. When he was younger he had a relationship with Mi-Jung, the daughter of his father’s driver. He put a stop to their relationship after he married another woman but it started up once again a few years later. He and Mi-Jung have been having an affair for over a year now.
Oh Tae-Seok is the CEO of an IT company. Although he is married there is no love in the relationship and they treat one another like roommates. He is the brains of the group and the one who always takes the lead. He only looks out for himself but is always able to make his selfish desires seem like pure motives. The man is cold and calculating and sincerely thinks he is above the law.
Bachelor Kim Hak-Beom is a theology professor. He is a small man but acts like he is the toughest in the room. He has an explosive, impulsive, violent temper and doesn’t think twice about physically abusing people, including total strangers. He sees himself as superior to others and treats people like they are worthless.
Seo Joon-Hee is a single doctor who works out of a big hospital. He is addicted to illegal drugs which Mi-Jung, In-Ho’s mistress, always provided for him.
Other characters:
Dokgo Young is a tenacious police detective who won’t settle for guess work. He wants proof and facts so there’s no regrets if someone he arrests happens to be set free. He is curious about Attorney Choi Ja-Hye and wonders if there’s more to her than meets the eye.
Geum Na-Ra is Kang In-Ho’s wife. She is a soft-spoken woman who loves her husband and daughter. She passed the bar when she was just 21 years old with off the charts grades and worked for a big law firm for a year before quitting to become a full-time at home wife and mother. She has no idea her husband is having an affair with the new neighbor who just moved in next door.
Choi Ja-Hye is an attorney who hosts a TV law show called Return in which she goes through old legal cases and shows the audience some errors that might have taken place in the investigation or hearing. As an attorney, she has never lost a case. Geum Na-Ra is stunned and flattered when Ja-Hye invites her to join her law firm.
Thirty-three year old Park Ki-Woong got his start in the entertainment field by appearing in the K2 music video Giving You Love. He began acting in 2005 but it was the SKY PMP mobil phone commercial in 2006 that catapulted him to stardom as the “mill dance guy.” 2007’s feature film My Tutor Friend 2 was his first starring role but the movie wasn’t successful. However, in 2009 he garnered much attention and praise for his role in the motion picture The Slingshot. I remember him best from the 2012 Kdrama Full House Take 2, however, his role as evil Kang In-Ho will forever be etched in my mind.
The world of Kdramas will always be grateful for an injury Shin Sung-Rok received that switched his career goal from professional basketball to acting. Because he was so tall directors weren’t about to cast him in minor or supporting roles so he decided to turn his focus to the stage and joined a theater company. His first musical was performed to an audience of around 25 people in a 500 seat venue. Instead of feeling depressed he said the experience turned him into an actor with plenty of guts. He starred in musical after musical, impressing critics and fans alike with his acting and musical skills. Although he eventually turned to TV and the big screen, his love lies in theater. He is absolutely fantastic in scary roles such as villainous Oh Tae-Seok. You also ought to check him out in Liar Game. He married a non-celebrity office worker in June of 2016.
Psychotic Kim Hak-Beom is played oh so well by actor Bong Tae-Gyu. Sadly, I have no information about him other than the fact that he has been acting in movies, TV, and theater since 2000 and has received awards for Best New Actor, Producer’s Award, and Best Actor in a Special/One-Act Drama. Although he’s been in a few things I’ve seen, I don’t remember him at all. However, after his bone chilling performance as Kim Hak-Beom in Return I can assure you I won’t be forgetting him any time soon.
I’ve seen actor Yoon Jong-Hoon in five different dramas but can’t recall him at all. However, I’m not likely to forget him as Seo Joon-Hee, one of the crazy Entitled Four.
While studying Environmental Engineering at Cheongju University, Lee Jin-Wook decided to drop out and peruse acting. In 2003 Panasonic hired him to be their print model and then the following year he made his acting debut in a short film entitled My New Boyfriend. After that, he took roles in several TV dramas before serving his mandatory military assignment. His comeback drama was Spy Myung-Wol in which he played a North Korean agent. I’ve seen him in a ton of different dramas and have always loved him whether he’s played a romantic, dramatic, or action role such as the one in this drama as Detective Dokgo Young. However, my favorite drama he’s been in so far has been the fantasy drama Nine: Nine Times Time Travel.
In 1989 Ko Hyun-Jung became a Miss Korea runner-up. From there she went on to star in one of the highest rated and most critically acclaimed Kdramas of all time, Sandglass. She quit acting in 1995 after marrying chaebol Chung Yong-Jin (the grandson of the founder of Samsung) but returned after her divorce in 2003 becoming one of the highest paid actresses on Korean TV. She wrote a book about skin care which became a best seller and sold all 30,000 copies of the first printing in just two days. She also has her own fashion and cosmetics line and is the mother of a 20 year old son and an 18 year old daughter. Her character in Return is Attorney Choi Ja-Hye (episodes 1-14.)
When Ko Hyun-Jung stepped down from her role as Choi Ja-Hye, Park Jin-Hee took over. Ironically, the 1996 teen drama entitled Start was Jin-Hee’s debut (start) as an actress. She has been in lots of TV dramas and feature films but I think the most interesting thing about her is that her master’s degree thesis in 2010 was entitled Studies on Depression and Suicidal Urges Among Actors in which she interviewed 260 actors with varying incomes. She found 40% suffered from depression and 20% had actually purchased pills, toxic agents, and “devices” for suicide. In her paper she said some actors thought that having to “stay young and blissful” was self-consuming.
If you’d like to know a little about Jung Eun-Chae, the actress who plays Kang In-Ho’s wife Geum Na-Ra, you can go to my Dr. Frost review.
“Here’s the thing about the law; the result changes depending on one’s ability to use the law to one’s advantage instead of the ability to get closer to the truth. Don’t people with money forge laws that don’t even exist?” – Attorney Choi Ja-Hye
That’s one of the major points this drama tries to make. Money buys verdicts. I think that’s true not just in South Korea but all around the world. The saying that some people are above the law seems to be very true.
The other thing this drama makes us think about is the punishment and rehabilitation of minors who break the law. Return points out that in South Korea someone under the age of 14 pretty much gets away with just a token slap on the wrist no matter what crime they commit. Seriously. One main character tells us they agree with the law because they believe in second chances and not branding a child a criminal. Another character thinks it’s a law that needs to be changed because if children don’t feel serious consequences to their actions they may never learn from their mistakes and go on to commit even greater crimes. I suggest you write down your feelings about that law and then see if you think the same after you watch the show.
Return‘s a dark, unsettling drama. The “Entitled Four” are psychopathic individuals who only become worse because they are backed by one another and their families’ money. They are evil, pure evil who are able to fool others into believing they are normal thinking and feeling people. If this type of character bothers you, or if you don’t do well with violence, you might want to consider skipping this particular drama. However, it is a fast moving, compelling, story that captures your attention the whole way through each of its 34 half hour episodes.
In Return we learn…
“When a family member testifies as a witness, they {you} are not required to be sworn in. Family members are not prosecuted for perjury.” And, “If there is no evidence to prove the truth of the suspect’s confession, the suspect is not guilty.”
Although there was a time in my life I seriously considered being a police officer, I really don’t know much about the law here in the U.S. so I can’t help but wonder if those two laws stated by characters in this drama also apply in America. If anyone knows the answer to that, please let me know.
Now comes the “oops” paragraph. There’s a part where a female character picks up a vile and her finger is on the top of the bottle, but when it shows her holding it her entire hand is around the base. Obviously two different shots. Then there is a part that shows cops looking at some surveillance footage. It is completely light outside just “an hour” before an event but “a half hour” before the event, that same footage shows it completely black outside. Folks, we all know it doesn’t go from sunshine to total darkness in just 30 minutes.
These two things aren’t mistakes, just things I didn’t like… Remember the ridiculous horse statue with a lampshade on its head in Temperature of Love? Well, it surfaces once again in Oh Tae-Seok’s office. Yuck. And I wasn’t really thrilled with the last few seconds of this show. I thought it was just too emotionally sappy, but that’s just my opinion.
Return scored fairly high in the ratings, starting off with 6.7% nationwide and receiving 19.6% in Seoul on its 14th episode. After its third episode it never dropped below fifth place in the ratings, often being in first. Good job, Return.
There was some controversy surrounding this drama when Ko Hyun-Jung, who played Choi Ja-Hye, dropped out after the 14th episode leaving actress Park Jin-Hee to take over the role. From what I read, Ko Hyun-Jung had an argument on set with the producer because, even though she had top billing, she didn’t think her character was getting as much air time as she had thought she would. Funny, I thought Choi Ja-Hye had plenty of time on screen, especially while the drama was wrapping up.
Return‘s content doesn’t lend itself to many lyrical songs so what we hear is almost entirely instrumental during the show. There are a few vocal songs but they are mostly played at the end of the episodes. Again is sung by Jae Jae-In, Return is performed by Ronny Chu, and Se So-Neon sings Black Sun. All three sound like they could be in an old 1970’s James Bond movie.
The scenery for this drama is first rate. The penthouse, which is the clubhouse of the adult Entitled Four, is elaborately decorated with over the top expensive furniture. In-Ho and Tae-Seok both have fancy, multi-million dollar looking homes which greatly contrast the lowly homes of the lower-class people in the show. Much of this drama is filmed at night or in dimly lit rooms. I guess illegal things are best done under the cover of darkness.
If you can handle the extremely dark side of life, Return is a very entertaining Kdrama. If not, I suggest you turn on a feel good show like Tomorrow’s Cantabile.
Score: 8.5
The Good:
Lee Jin-Wook
Great acting
Decent mystery
Makes you think
The Bad:
Subject matter is dark
Violence
Emotionally unsettling
Heart and Seoul 