The Judge Returns Ep 1 sees solid ratings as international viewers positive about its plot
Michelle Topham 
The Judge Returns, Episode 1 gets off to an excellent start
With 2025 whizzing by, and 2026 several days in, we have now reached the next K-drama season with several big dramas dropping in the next couple of weeks.
One that had been on my radar is MBC legal-themed drama The Judge Returns, which premiered its first episode on Friday night to extremely good ratings.
Those ratings, according to Nielsen Korea, were 4.3 percent nationwide and a slightly lower 4.1 percent in Seoul.
They placed the Korean drama as the 12th most-watched show of the day nationwide, and the 11th most-viewed with viewers in Seoul.
What is The Judge Returns plot?
Another K-drama that did not receive a ton of promotion, this time from MBC, The Judge Returns stars Ji Sung, Park Hee Soon, and Won Jin Ah.
It tells the story of judge Lee Han Yeong (played by Ji Sung) who, after going to a non-prestigious law school, marries the daughter of a law firm CEO and rises through the ranks only to sentence a corrupt chairman to prison and, because of that, ends up murdered himself.
Interestingly, however, he wakes up 10 years in the past and soon realizes he has been given a second chance to live his life again. This time, hopefully, with the goal of making different decisions.
International viewers have mentioned the K-drama’s first episode was sometimes confusing, but that Episode 2 quickly straightened out some of the misunderstanding.
In other words, stick with it.
Most commenting stated The Judge Returns has an interesting concept and, with a solid 8.1 out of 10 rating on My Drama List and with a very high 9.6 out of 10 on Viki, the K-drama’s future looks promising.
You can watch the first two episodes of The Judge Returns (Episode 2 dropped earlier tonight and has since posted slightly rising ratings) internationally via Viki.
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