Return is a suspense drama about a group of friends from the rich, elite class who find themselves caught up in a murder mystery, and their lies and deceptions start a chain reaction of things going from bad to worse as they try to cover things up.
Buckle up for an exciting ride with this one! Return starts out as a “Who did it?” type story where almost everyone is a suspect at one time or another as we try to find a murderer. It’s unique in that it has a large main cast with screen time pretty equally divided. And this is one of those dramas where things go bad in the beginning and then our characters just keep digging themselves deeper into a massive hole. So let’s meet all of the key players in this crazy story!
Lee Jin Wook plays Detective Dok Go Young. And I really loved Lee Jin Wook in this role! He’s so good natured and fun as a scruffy detective. He completely took his job seriously, but his pleasant demeanor was very much in contrast to the usual detectives we see. He added some nice levity to the show as well as being competent at his job and easy to root for.
We have the lawyer Choi Ja Hye who is the host of a legal TV show played by both Go Hyun Jung and Park Jin Hee. There was quite a bit of behind the scenes real life drama that resulted in Go Hyun Jung playing the role for the first half of the drama before stepping down and then being replaced by Park Jin Hee for the second half.
Choi Ja Hye is an interesting character that is brought in to defend a suspect early on in the drama. I thought both Go Hyun Jung and Park Jin Hee brought a little something extra to the role to make the character to come to life in a unique and powerful way. I enjoyed Go Hyun Jung in the first half, but I admittedly preferred Park Jin Hee in the role. Luckily, I thought that the transition was smooth overall and that it didn’t harm the story or drama in any way.
Park Ki Woong is Kang In Ho. He’s the first of our four rich, elite friends. He seems like an all around nice guy at home with his wife and daughter, but a long term affair is about to completely rock their world.
Park Ki Woong is always so incredibly intense in his roles, and this time was no different. In Ho is a fascinating character that is very multi-faceted. This is why Park Ki Woong is perfect for such a role because he brings to life the softer side of him as well as the very intimidating and intense side.
Shin Sung Rok plays another in the group, Oh Tae Suk. And Shin Sung Rok does what he does best as he is just made for roles like this. He is calm, powerful, and has that touch of creepy. He is always in control of the situation and ready to do what needs to be done to benefit himself. I always love seeing Shin Sung Rok play characters like this as he just makes them so entertaining!
Bong Tae Gyu is the third of our friends, Kim Hak Bum. This guy is completely obnoxious and is about as scummy as they come. He is a loose cannon with a temper that leads to violent outbursts. I disliked him from the moment I saw him on screen and that continued throughout the drama. A huge credit to Bong Tae Gyu for playing this character so in your face without holding back.
Finally, there is Yoon Jong Hoon as Seo Joon Hee. He’s a doctor with a more kind personality, but he has a terrible drug addiction. He’s the one that actually has a conscious, but even that isn’t always enough to do the right thing.
We also have Jung Eun Chae as In Ho’s wife Geum Na Ra. Her world is turned upside as she finds herself right in the middle of the crazy happenings of In Ho and his friends. She does her best to adjust and stay strong, but a never ending list of secrets threatens her day after day.
Return was quite the crazy and suspenseful drama! The pacing was fantastic, and there was always something happening as one crazy event led to another. What starts out as one murder, opens a huge can of worms. The drama peels back the story layer by layer to reveal one secret after another. Things were constantly shifting with each new development to make for a fast paced and exciting ride.
With plenty of twists and turns throughout the drama, I was frequently surprised by what was going on. So many crazy things happened that I was constantly wondering what the characters would do next and how they would get out of the difficult situations they created.
Most of the characters in this drama are all kinds of out there! They are unpredictable and are varying levels of bad. Some of my favorite scenes were between Tae Suk and Hak Bum. Watching these two scheme and plot was so entertaining!
Hak Bum is completely over the top while Tae Suk is so conceited and condescending. The scenes were completely serious, but they just cracked me up because of how crazy the scenarios and their personalities were.
The drama is also packed with so much raw emotion. Individual characters are thrown into turmoil and relationships fracture. Murder is a messy business that affects everyone in some way or another. Guilt, anger, frustration, heartbreak…all of these emotions and more are fully on display with everyone on edge. It’s angsty goodness at its finest! And the entire cast was absolutely fantastic and completely delivered from start to finish.
Return isn’t a drama that will give you warm fuzzies or lots of lovable characters. But it is perfect if you’re looking for a crime thriller with excitement, twists, turns, and lots of over the top craziness as a group of spoiled elites fall deep into a hole of lies, deception, and murder.
My Rating: 9/10
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