Return (TV series)

For the Polish television series, see Powrót.

Return (Korean: 리턴) is a 2018 South Korean television series. It aired on SBS TV from January 17 to March 22, 2018, every Wednesday and Thursday at 22:00 (KST) for 34 episodes.^[3][4]

Return
Promotional poster
Hangul	리턴
RR	Riteon
MR	Rit'ŏn
Genre	Mystery Thriller Legal drama[1]
Created by	Park Young-soo (SBS)
Written by	Choi Kyung-mi
Directed by	Joo Dong-min
Starring	Go Hyun-jung (Ep. 1–15) Park Jin-hee (Ep. 16–34) Lee Jin-wook Shin Sung-rok Bong Tae-gyu Park Ki-woong Jung Eun-chae Yoon Jong-hoon
Music by	Kim Joon-seok
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	34[a][b]
Production
Executive producer	SBS Drama Operation Team
Producer	Park Hyung-ki
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	35 minutes[b]
Production company	The Story Works
Original release
Network	SBS TV
Release	January 17 (2018-01-17) – March 22, 2018 (2018-03-22)

Synopsis

A body is found on the freeway, and the four suspects are South Korea's powerful elites. Choi Ja-hye, the most influential and famous female lawyer in the country, decides to take the case and defend Kang In-ho, per the request of her law school friend Geum Na-ra. However, In-ho was having an affair with the victim and was seen having an argument with her the day before the murder took place. As Ja-hye investigates the case with Dokgo Young, a detective with a dark past as a juvenile criminal, they realize that the case is not a simple murder but was born out of corruption and dark secrets among In-ho and his friends.

Cast

Main

• Go Hyun-jung/Park Jin-hee as Choi Ja-hye^[5]

A lawyer who is now the host of a legal-themed TV show titled Return. She helps Na-ra to solve In-ho's trial.

• Lee Jin-wook as Dokgo Young

A hot-tempered detective. He has sharp analytical skills to follow the trail of a murder case. Throughout the series, he manages to solve the murder cases, but is unable to capture the socialites throughout the years for their wrongdoings.

• Shin Sung-rok as Oh Tae-seok

A calm and successful CEO of an IT company, but turns to a have shady behavior when he attempts to cover up a mistake he or Hak-beom makes. He is currently being framed for murdering Ahn Hak-soo, a former police officer who owns a karaoke bar.^[6] After Tae-seok's and Hak-beom's secret is revealed, he plans to silence anyone who gets in his way, especially Attorney Choi.

• Bong Tae-gyu as Kim Hak-beom

A professor in theology studies at Myungsung Foundation. He turns out to be an impulsive and abusive man who resorts to violence without thinking of its consequences. When things do not go on his way, he tends to displace his anger onto other characters or bribe them with money in the show.

• Park Ki-woong as Kang In-ho

The chief director at Taeha Corporation. He was in a relationship with Mi-jung during their younger times. After marrying Na-ra, he had an adulterous affair with Mi-jung for one year and became the co-founder of Mi-jung's wine bar. When Mi-jung was found murdered, he was framed and put into prison. Despite being bribed by his wife, Na-ra, their marriage become more estranged and his attempts to save the marriage becomes futile due to his wife's discovery of his affair with Mi-jung. Throughout the series, he was the one who knocked down a little girl when he was in high school. Unfortunately, he reluctantly followed Mi-jung's and the rest of his friends' suggestion to throw the girl into the sea.

• Jung Eun-chae as Geum Na-ra^[7]

In-ho's wife and a former lawyer who passed her bar examination. Mi-jung describes her as an innocent, devoted and beautiful wife of In-ho. After Mi-jung was murdered, she discovered In-ho's affair. Currently, she has an estranged relationship with In-ho.

• Yoon Jong-hoon as Seo Jun-hee
  • Ji Min-hyuk as young Jun-hee

A doctor and an associate with Tae-seok, Hak-beom and In-ho. Due to regrets and guilt he has gone through, he succumbed into drug addiction for years to forget the incident as well as stresses in workplace. When he witnessed Mi-jung's death and became his friends' accomplices, he decided to turn himself to the police. However, he was nearly murdered by both Tae-seok and Hak-beom. Despite running away from his mistakes and his friends, Na-ra managed to convince him to turn himself to the police, together with the evidences he had in the USB.

Supporting

• Oh Dae-hwan as Kim Jung-soo

A doctor at The Daemyung Hospital.

• Kim Hee-jung as Kang Young-eun

Attorney Choi's assistant attorney. She is a very observant and calm character. She helps both Choi and Na-ra to find Joon-hee in a hospital in Taein.

• Kim Dong-young as Kim Dong-bae

A detective working with Dokgo Young. He saved Jun-hee from car crash. He turns out to have an alliance with Ja-hye to expose Taek-seok and the rest of the socialites' corruptions.

• Seo Hye-rin [ko] as Ko Seok-soon
• Son Jong-hak [ko] as An Hak-soo

A corrupt police, who used to be Detective Young's superior. He was the police-in-charge of the Sung Jung-mi's drowning case in 1999.

• Yoon Joo-hee as Park Jin-joo
• Shin Rin-ah as Kang Dal-rae

In-ho's and Na-ra's quiet and introverted daughter.

• Jung Ji-yoon as Ms. Kyung

Special appearances

• Han Eun-jung as Yeom Mi-jung/Rachel Yeom (Ep. 1–2)

The victim of In-ho's case. She owned a wine bar, sponsored by In-ho. She had an affair with him for a year. After aborting his child, she planned to ruin In-ho's family by getting close to Na-ra.

• Park Jun-gyu as Park Byung-ho
• Shin Yoo-ram as a drug trafficker
• Jung Han-hun as Seo Joon-hee's father
• Kim Hyung-mok as Kim Byung-ki

A car salesperson, who was murdered by Tae-seok

• Kang Nam-gil as a judge
• Jo Seung-yeon as a prosecutor
• Hong Ji-yoon as Bang Seon-yeong
• Kim Myung-su as Judge Lim Woo-jae
• Kang Seong-min as a foreign car dealer
• Ahn Hye-kyung as a client
• Lee Kye-in

Production

The first script reading of the cast was held on November 15, 2017.^[8][9]

Controversy

On February 7, 2018, it was reported that there was a large dispute on the set of the series on the 5th, between lead actress Go Hyun-jung and the series' director Joo Dong-min.^[10] The following day, Go's agency officially announced that the actress would be leaving the team due to irreconcilable differences with the directing team concerning the production process.^{[11][12][13][14]} The agency also denied the initial reports that her sudden departure was due to her physically assaulting director Joo; stating that "there was indeed a verbal conflict but reports of physical assault was nonsensical".^[15][16] Meanwhile, viewers of the series flooded SBS website with comments blaming the producer for "abusing his power" and calling for director Joo to quit instead.^[17][18]

Actress Park Jin-hee later replaced Go Hyun-jung for the role of Choi Ja-hye. She started filming on February 13 and first appeared on the sixteenth episode.^[5]

Original soundtrack

Part 1

Released on January 24, 2018 (2018-01-24)

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Return" (리턴)	Ronny Chu	3:45

Part 2

Released on January 31, 2018 (2018-01-31)

No.	Title	Artist	Length
2.	"Again"	Jang Jae-in	3:20

Part 3

Released on February 28, 2018 (2018-02-28)

No.	Title	Artist	Length
2.	"Black Sun" (검은 해)	Se So Neon	3:30

Ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		TNmS[19]		Nielsen Korea[20]
		Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide	Seoul
1	January 17, 2018	6.6% (19th)	7.4%	6.7% (19th)	7.5% (11th)
2		7.8% (15th)	9.3%	8.5% (9th)	9.0% (6th)
3	January 18, 2018	7.0% (20th)	7.7%	7.8% (14th)	8.5% (9th)
4		7.9% (15th)	8.6%	9.0% (8th)	9.7% (5th)
5	January 24, 2018	9.1% (14th)	10.2%	11.0% (8th)	12.0% (5th)
6		10.5% (9th)	12.4%	14.1% (4th)	16.0% (3rd)
7	January 25, 2018	9.8% (11th)	10.9%	12.7% (6th)	13.6% (5th)
8		11.5% (8th)	12.7%	15.2% (3rd)	16.4% (3rd)
9	January 31, 2018	9.6% (11th)	10.9%	12.7% (5th)	14.0% (4th)
10		11.2% (8th)	12.8%	15.1% (3rd)	16.7% (3rd)
11	February 1, 2018	11.2% (10th)	12.8%	14.2% (4th)	15.8% (4th)
12		12.7% (8th)	14.4%	16.0% (3rd)	17.7% (2nd)
13	February 7, 2018	10.4% (11th)	12.2%	14.4% (5th)	16.2% (3rd)
14		12.6% (8th)	14.8%	17.4% (2nd)	19.6% (1st)
15	February 14, 2018[c]	11.5% (5th)	12.7%	12.8% (4th)	14.0% (4th)
16		15.7% (2nd)	16.9%	17.0% (2nd)	18.2% (1st)
17	February 22, 2018[d]	11.3% (9th)	12.5%	12.2% (5th)	13.6% (4th)
18		13.8% (3rd)	15.4%	16.5% (1st)	18.2% (1st)
19	February 28, 2018	10.7% (9th)	11.2%	11.5% (5th)	12.0% (5th)
20		13.5% (4th)	14.3%	15.2% (3rd)	16.0% (2nd)
21	March 1, 2018	11.8% (8th)	13.0%	13.6% (5th)	14.8% (3rd)
22		14.1% (4th)	15.5%	16.3% (2nd)	17.7% (2nd)
23	March 7, 2018	11.6% (7th)	12.8%	13.7% (5th)	14.9% (4th)
24		14.0% (4th)	15.7%	16.2% (3rd)	17.9% (2nd)
25	March 8, 2018	11.8% (8th)	13.5%	13.4% (5th)	15.1% (3rd)
26		13.7% (6th)	14.9%	16.2% (2nd)	17.4% (2nd)
27	March 14, 2018	10.4% (5th)	12.0%	12.1% (5th)	13.7% (4th)
28		12.2% (4th)	14.3%	14.7% (3rd)	16.7% (2nd)
29	March 15, 2018	11.2% (8th)	12.8%	13.0% (5th)	14.6% (3rd)
30		12.6% (6th)	14.5%	15.2% (2nd)	17.1% (2nd)
31	March 21, 2018	10.0% (14th)	11.6%	13.3% (5th)	14.9% (3rd)
32		11.8% (6th)	13.5%	16.1% (2nd)	17.8% (2nd)
33	March 22, 2018	12.7% (7th)	14.8%	14.6% (4th)	16.4% (3rd)
34		13.8% (5th)	15.6%	16.7% (2nd)	18.4% (1st)
Average		11.4%	12.8%	13.7%	15.1%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2018	54th Baeksang Arts Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Bong Tae-gyu	Nominated	[22]
	2nd The Seoul Awards			Nominated	[23]
	SBS Drama Awards	Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Wednesday-Thursday Drama	Lee Jin-wook	Nominated	[24]
		Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Wednesday-Thursday Drama	Park Jin-hee	Nominated
		Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Wednesday-Thursday Drama	Park Ki-woong	Nominated
			Bong Tae-gyu	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Wednesday-Thursday Drama	Jung Eun-chae	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor	Oh Dae-hwan	Nominated
		Best New Actor	Yoon Jong-hoon	Nominated
		Best Character		Won
			Shin Sung-rok	Won
			Park Ki-woong	Won
			Bong Tae-gyu	Won

Notes

1. Originally scheduled to air for 32 episodes, the series was extended by two episodes in lieu of three preempts.
2. In order to circumvent Korean laws that prevent commercial breaks in the middle of an episode, what would previously have been aired as single 70 minute episodes are now being repackaged as two 35 minute episodes, with two episodes being shown each night with a commercial break between the two.^[2]
3. Episodes 15 and 16 were put on hold due to the production incident and SBS instead aired a program on 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.^[15][21]
4. No episodes were aired on February 21 as well due to the Olympics.