HBO Max K-drama The Judge Returns: Ji Sung in fantastical and melodramatic morality play

Lead cast: Ji Sung, Won Jin-ah, Park Hee-soon\nLatest Nielsen rating: 4.4 per cent\nFive years after The Devil Judge, Ji Sung once again dons judicial robes for The Judge Returns, another legal thriller with a fantastical premise ripe for social commentary.\nThis time he plays Lee Han-young, a corrupt judge living in a dystopian near future who learns the error of his ways only when he meets his demise in a dark alley. However, he wakes up 10 years earlier, granted a second chance to right his wrongs.\n\n\nThe series opens in 2035, which is much like the present day, save for the slightly updated smartphones and far more poverty and homelessness, as wealth inequality has expanded into a vast chasm, torn open by rampant corruption.\nHan-young is a figurehead of that corruption, as his judgments are for sale to the highest bidder. The middleman for those transactions is his father-in-law, Yoo Seon-cheol (Ahn Nae-sang, The Haunted Palace), the head of the powerful Haenal law firm.\nPoverty abounds in Seoul, and the city tries its best to hide it by criminalising homelessness. No sign of it exists on Han-young’s early morning runs, nor among the beautiful views from his glassy riverside penthouse.\nHan-young’s moral corruption is illustrated loud and clear when he knocks over a statue of Lady Justice from his desk and cannot be bothered to pick it back up on his way to read out a verdict that has been bought and paid for.\n\nAnother trial pits a girl with leukaemia against the evil corporation that made her sick. Sinking deeper into the mire, Han-young pockets a bribe to let the company off scot-free, prompting the girl to take her own life.\nHis asthmatic mother is ashamed of him and implores him to go to the funeral. He refuses, and later, when he neglects to bring his mother her inhaler, she dies as a result.\nThings come to a head during a new case involving plucky prosecutor Kim Jin-a (Won Jin-ah, She Would Never Know), who tries to prick Han-young’s conscience. The trouble is, once she succeeds and he goes against Seon-cheol, it is all over for Han-young, who is swiftly framed for a murder he did not commit.\nHe eventually meets his end when he is stabbed in an alley by a man doing the bidding of the ultimate villain: chief justice Kang Shin-jin (Park Hee-soon, No Other Choice).\n\nYet instead of hell, Han-young wakes up back on the bench, in the middle of a trial 10 years earlier, when he had just started his career and was still untainted by his future in-laws.\nAfter indulging in the sheer happiness of being alive, Han-young refocuses on the people who killed him in the future and slowly begins contemplating his revenge, which involves striking at Shin-jin and his cohorts before they ascend to the positions of power from which they will exploit society.\nBrash and broad, The Judge Returns has little room for subtlety, which applies not only to themes and plot points, but also to the performance styles, which are not always well suited to the cast.\nPark Hee-soon can play slick-haired villainy in his sleep, but the other leads are less well matched to their roles, including Won, who struggles with a character who is, initially at least, underwritten.\n\nJi is fine earlier on as the corrupt Han-young of the future, for which he has to suppress his emotions and make it clear that he has buried his conscience. The show hammers home the point with details such as the dark sunglasses he wears in the middle of the night for a secret meeting.\nOnce Han-young is set up for murder, the role demands something very different of Ji, who opts for histrionics. At this point, the slapstick undercuts the drama, and it is only after he wakes up in the past that he starts to settle more into his surroundings.\nWith its scenario of a crooked jurist finding his way back to the light, The Judge Returns stages a breathless but familiar morality play that doubles down on its obvious themes by seasoning them with soapy melodrama.\nFollowing a touch of early tonal whiplash, the show – and its performances – may yet settle down. The question remains whether this judge can deliver a fresh verdict on the state of modern society.\nThe Judge Returns is streaming on HBO Max.\n