InspectorMegre

I think he fell apart and wanted to be 100% clean state instantly. He certainly did NOT think it through

well now he is different LOL he is mean and determined LOL and I can see him bsing well LOL

and yeah I do not have a good idea what bs he could use, but I am sure he can :) Let us see what the writer came up with LOL My ideas are lame, like - oh we just drove around and he ran into our car himself...

Unless that last scene was just his fantasy :)

This drama (TJR) might look similar to Again My Life (AML) or Lawless Lawyer (LL) or Devil Judge (DJ) dramas , but it is very different.

AML, LL, and DJ are about always-good guys chasing bad guys.
TJR is about a guy who was both good and bad... He is an ordinary "good" guy who willingly became a bad guy, caused death and destruction, his conscience nagged him, he willingly turned good and went against his former accomplices.
The common thing in all 3 dramas is that a woman helps the ML.

>>>> Again My Life and Lawless Lawyer are revenge dramas about low status, righteous lawyer/prosecutor without power connections, going against high ranking officials who run crime to keep climbing up to the top government positions.
In AML, ML is naive, and he is given a chance to try it again. In LL, he is not naive LOL he was raised by thugs and uses all kinds of dirty tricks to revenge his mother.
TJR resembles AML bc a naive fighting-for-good person has a chance to come back to life with all memories intact and do it right the second time around; and resembles LL bc this "good person" uses dirty tricks to win. But:
TJR ML intentionally became a high ranking government official - a judge - who helped major evil do significant damages, so he is a deep, self-made crook. AML and LL heroes are always good guys. They use dirty tricks but never too dirty, they never were crooks, never did major bad stuff, never harmed anyone; they are just slightly mean
You can say that all three male leads somewhat resemble each other after TJR ep 2 :) But TJR hero is a LOT meaner and more criminal LOL if the end of ep 2 is not a fantasy. AML and LL heroes would never do that. They resolve everything legally.

>>>>Devil Judge is a thriller about fighting and exposing a well-camouflaged evil judge who is loved by the public but runs a crime ring and has grandiose evil goals about seizing control (like the villains in Lawless Lawyer and Again My Life, who are sooo well camouflaged sociopaths/psychopaths, it is chilling to meet them on the screen. Judge Cha and assemblyman are sooo creepy, esp. Judge Cha is a villain whom you will remember... !!!!! totally horrifying yet always 100% polite).
In comparison, TJR ML is an amateur... he tries to look good but his corruption is very obvious and known by everyone for a long time...... .... You can say that TJR ML resembles Devil Judge and LL and AML villains in ep 1 bc he pretends to be good but is doing bad :) but TJR ML has conscience and is a lot smaller scale crook that those three.

>>>>The Judge Returns drama is about cleaning up bad karma, about the redemption arc of a basically good ordinary person who succumbed to greed and INTENTIONALLY AND WILLINGLY became the slave of the corrupt power circles. His only intent was to gain a cushy life, but it came with a price he was not willing to pay.... As he climbed high and went far .... too far... .... did sooooooooooo much bad... he WILLINGLY experienced remorse and WILLINGLY started anew in good way .... but he was naive... and was given a chance to came back to fix his misdeeds and do the good stuff.

i am sure a judge can bs some excuse

Thank you!

Wow ML actor is better than ever! Assuming the drama continues so well, he should get an acting award, he is amazing! And FL is written well and the actress is awesome too.

wow ML got some *heavy* karma to clean up

Can someone please put a post into Discussions with all the names and who is who and how they are all related. This is copied from Wikipedia, so you can use this as the start for your post:

Hong Eun-jo = A female physician and thief, known as Hong Gil-dong in the shadows, leads a double life. A skilled healer by day at Hyeminseo, she treats the sick. A thief by night, she steals the granaries from corrupt officials to help her people, using her cunning to help them.
Hong Dae-il = Eun-jo's older brother.

Prince Dowol / Yi Yeol = he loves having fun. He likes to solve crimes like a detective and tells stories about it to the palace people. They think he's just joking around, but actually, he's keeping everyone safe. Then he meets Gil-dong, a thief, and falls for her.
Daechu = Yi Yeol's bodyguard.

Shin Hae-rim = A noble family's daughter who has a secret love affair. WITH WHOM???

Im Jae-yi = Yi Yeol's rival. WHY? WHO IS HIS mother?
Im Sa-hyeong = Jae-yi's father - what title is his father?

King Yeonsan / Yi Gyu WHOSE FATHER IS HE?

There was a young dude with some concubine who was also going to marry Queen's niece. What are all their names?

Then there was an older dude with some whore next to him untyng his clothes, he was brother of Prince YW. Who is his father/ mother and position?

First impressions after ep 1: This looks like Knights Flower but better bc the FL is not brainwashed into believing the trash. (However, when that grandpa dies and she becomes a widow... hm... !!! she could be killed etc). I like that the drama is real and shows how it was - totally entitld spoiled men and totally cruel nobles, and our FL navigating it skillfully. Bc of women like her, change is possible.

It is definitely totally different than Moon River bc MR was so emotional and melodramatic. This drama so far (ep 1) is really a business drama LOL the FL is so smart and calculated and the whole feel of everyone is very business-like . I like that they communicate quite clearly

The ML is a spoiled brat. I am looking forward to seeing him become real

And I wanted to write down what I know on self pity and taking oneself or another with that victim mentality... it is extremely dangerous. I learned the hard way. So I put it in writing what I know on the subject :)

All things happening in my life make me really really really want to clarify and understand EVERYTHING.

Of course you deserve everything. I don't think of you or anyone deserving or undeserving .. I wrote my reply bc you got me thinking and then I had to figure out what is going on, FOR MY OWN SAKE :) If you get something out of it, that's a bonus.

Happy new year!

Well it is not about you deserving a reply.... or not!!!! it is rather strange to think like that... I never thought about it that way LOL . I dont write like that :)

What you said got me thinking.... So my post is about me thinking aloud on this subject ... and if you read it, great, thank you for your patience :)

I have to deal with my mother and myself, and I am supposed to wrote a pro se federal lawsuit bc Hawaii judges are going to steal my condo and more on Jan 22, they do not follow the law, Hawaii is a corrupt MESS all the way to the top, so perhaps I am very sensitive to being very clear on everything :)

So.... I have this need to really be crystal clear about what is going on :)

Also, I am a drama nerd and I really want to know what works and what doesnt and WHY.
I am really worried about many things going on in the drama world, like cheap Chinese short verticals, etc so I am very interested to get kdramas be successful.

Bc of what is happening to me with the lawsuit, and bc of the DARK COLD WINTER lol that the Hawaiian me is not used to, I am more indoors and just clarifying and writing
I feel like a film / writing student, a psychology student, someone on a very very long retreat about my entire life as these guys want to take all I own and totally botch entire USA law and constitution - the USA has become a country where some lawyer can sue you for FAKE NOTHING and then have the judge condemn you and then you owe them your condo to pay for their attorney fees!!! it is an epidemic in the USA!!! and nobody is doing anything about it! only maybe Florida attorney general ..

So all those things make me really really really want to clarify and understand EVERYTHING.

And I had the time bc I was procrastinating writing the lawsuit :) But I must...
Pray for me :)

"just reheating Again My Life nachos anyway" LMAO love that so funny

YES.

Yes of course, a flawed condition is necessary for the START of a story. Without it, there is no story.

The story is then created by MOVEMENT, by further growth and CHANGE, by trying to move forward, failing, and trying again, until there is success.

if the starting flawed setup drags too long and the hero does not grow, then it is not a story, it is just a repeat of the same old same old.... and that is boring. It is how life goes for many ppl LOL but such narratives are unfit for a story to tell to others.

A good story shows how the hero fails, how the hero tries wrong ways and right ways, figures out what works, and how to eventually succeed.

A good story is a moving SPIRAL UP. There are major breakthroughs to the next level and everything changes.

The catch 22 is that the faults never totally go away but they get less and less frequent, less severe and less impactful, until one day ... one day! who knows when... .... it all disolves.

For example, for JW, her skeleton in the closet is feeling sorry for herself and then justifying her greed etc by that, and blaming others.
Once she breaks out of this stage of being a small entitled child in a tantrum, she will be a calm and productive adult. Notice that she is rotten spoiled. She is able to act as a small entitled child in tantrum all the time because she can, she is loved and SPOILED - there are so many ppl who truly care and love her, and unfortunately never stand up to her and thus keep her stuck in this silly tantrum state.
If there was nobody taking care of JW, she would have been a quiet wallflower, like the FL in The Glory; or would have turned into an addict, or a violent cold criminal.
Traumatized children who were loved turn into these socially acceptable raging toddlers.

Therapy might or might not be good, depending on the therapist LOL but I dont think therapy is a part of JW's world... Someone like her might have to discover ... painting ... meditation in a temple or church ... helping orphaned children.... something!!!! but our JW is super self centered and never ever helped anyone. She is focused on how SHE will get ahead bc she thinks she had nothing and feels bitter. SHE IS TOO MUCH OF A COWARD TO CHASE HER DREAMS.

So one day, she might grow out of this childish tantrum phase. That day when she starts feeling GRATEFUL for what she has - and she has a lot - all the people who love her, her design talent, etc.

The catch is that the inner urge to feel sorry for herself and keep finding excuses is going to haunt her, always, most likely... but if she is diligent, she will learn to recognize it and deal with it before it causes chaos.
So ... she might ... go shopping to get some nice stuff, or have some tea with ppl who love her, or go volunteer in a soup kitchen, whatever will bring her back to herself and feeling GRATEFUL for what she has and inspired to chase her dreams in productive ways, instead of being bitter and violent about what she does not have and essentially stealing it by lying.

It is a growing process.
Obviously, the script writer has no idea about the growing process... and thus this mess of a small entitled child in tantrum as a permanent state of being.

JW gotta grow up, fast, or else she will just kill this drama.

Our darling JW has not grown one iota from the start. Her reckless poking around has caused death of her father and she has not learned one single lesson so far. Now she caused nearly death and/or permanent disability of herself, by recklessly standing near a rooftop edge and leaning over it, while taunting a serial killer who just told her in plain simple Korean that HE IS GOING TO KILL HER RIGHT AWAY.
JW behaved like she is above the laws of the Earth. Like she is above God. Like a spoiled entitled IGNORAMUS. Of course she is gonna be eaten.

JW is just an entitled dumb whiney angry CHILD. The script is dumb for her and the actress is not really making it alive in any way. I do not see any change in her acting from ep 1 to ep 68. Script writer needs to wake up, and the actress needs lessons in acting, desperately, asap.

My 2 cents worth :)

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

See my reply there.
In summary:
JW had no character growth from ep 1 to ep 68. She is still a whiney angry blaming blind child. And the actress is acting in the SAME way from ep 1 to ep 68.

There is absolutely no change between episodes 1 to 68.

JW is made incredibly dumb and weak

It is a failure - the script writer's failure and actor failure.

Who wouldnt act in an irrational manner? AN ADULT.
An irrational manner is ok for an adult for a few episodes, but definitely not 68 episodes.
JW behaves like a child, from ep 1 to ep 68, NO CHANGE.

JW IS NOT AN ADULT. SHE IS A SNOWFLAKE.

Do not pity her. You are pittying yourself and justifying your own weakness by false pity to others.

Thanks for asking. I mostly meant she was a jerk to her mother and her family, cajoling he mother into the accident and then blaming her and hating her and avoiding her for 7 years.

Now you reminded me, she also was a jerk to the kid - trying to push him to like her without any effort on her part to get to know him. She was so superficial and fake to that kid.

She acted well by not saying anything when she saw him steal her vallet, but she should have told his father later. Then they should have come up with the plan to handle it. BUT HIS FATHER IS A DOOZEY MISHANDLING THE KID. The dad never put any effort to get to know the kid. The dad keeps going on dates with his chick instead of spending time with his son and trying to help him make friends. The kid is left out. And his mother does that too.

Coming alone to confront the kid is not an appropriate solution imo.

Her acting and her lines in ep 68 are the same as in ep 1. Sideline that, yes.

I said I get rid of anyone who wastes my time, so this KBS Inc person is blocked. FAREWELL

I am so glad he is not "pretty" because it is utterly boring to think and show that only pretty ppl have romances. So shallow. And I am tired of all plastic surgery and pale white faces.
I am so glad he looks and behaves like a real person

the drama has romance in 50s-60s, romance in 30s, and romance in 20s. It is a family drama :)

FYI I get stoked when I see an actor who looks like a real person. I just saw kdrama Lucifer and ML Osu is a real guy, he is incredibly handsome, without any plastic or makeup.
I also saw Pretty Crazy movie and ML there also doesnt have any major plastic surgery and is a gold medal boxer in real life, and he is incredibly handsome.

Nuff of photoshoped people....