Ah, here we have news of a new drama in the works, a series on SBS titled Return that is currently courting Go Hyun-jung (Dear My Friends). Go Hyun-jung is one of those versatile top-rate actors who I can always count on to be so good that she actually amazes me each time (she killed me in Dear My Friends), so I’m curious to see what kind of role she takes next.
Return is a mystery-thriller drama that centers around a murder in which privileged children of rich upper-class parents come up as suspects, which then dives into the search for the truth. Go Hyun-jung is up to play Choi Jae-hye, a lawyer who grew up dirt-poor who is now the MC of a legal-themed TV show titled Return. Ja-hye gets assigned as lead on this murder case, kicking off our story.
If some elements of that sound familiar, it may be because PD Park Yong-soon also directed last year’s broadcast-show-themed thriller Wanted, where Wanted was also the name of the show-within-the-show. There were a lot of things about Wanted that fell short, and it tended to feel sloppy and sluggish in parts, but I think it had an exciting premise and a lot of potential, so I hope that Return can do things a notch better. (The PD also co-directed fantasy melodrama 49 Days and rom-com Divorce Lawyer in Love. The writer is Choi Kyung-mi, about whom I can’t find much information, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but gives us little to go on.)
We’ve had quite a lot of shows taking on the 1% in villains’ roles (remember when they were the heroes and rewards in stories?), but it feels relevant and very much on point with the zeitgeist, and I would relish watching Go Hyun-jung playing the righteous underdog ready to take down some Goliaths. I bet she’d love it too.
Return will be a Wednesday-Thursday drama, though an exact airdate has not yet been set.