Your Honor: Episodes 1-2

by lovepark

Two opposing forces collide after an accident turns both their worlds upside down. One man sworn to uphold the law abandons it when his son’s life is set on the scale. Another seeks revenge when his son’s life is dashed away. In a world where justice is defined by the powerful, who will prevail in the end?

 
EPISODES 1-2

Two fathers, two sons, and one fateful day that changes everything. That’s how the show begins as it introduces the indomitable chairman KIM KANG-HEON (Kim Myung-min) and the honorable judge SONG PAN-HO (Sohn Hyun-joo). While one devotes his life to defending the law, the other strolls above it, untouchable. However, the line that divides them soon blurs as Pan-ho faces a decision that threatens to upend his family and Kang-heon suffers a tragedy that ruins his.

April 8th marks the start of this story as Pan-ho’s son SONG HO-YOUNG (Kim Do-hoon) crashes into a motorcyclist, Kang-heon’s second son. Rattled, Ho-young dials the emergency number instinctively, but rather than call for help, he runs away. When Pan-ho hears of the accident, he advises his son to turn himself in, but once he learns the victim’s identity, he rescinds that option. This rash decision leads to irrevocable consequences, and as one lie begets another, father and son rapidly fall towards their demise.

Pan-ho’s skills once used to maintain justice now become tools to subvert it as he destroys any evidence of the accident, uses his contacts to control the narrative, and erases all traces of his son’s involvement that day. With every step he takes to ensure his son’s safety, a part of Pan-ho’s soul darkens, and though he does not hesitate to break the law for his family, it makes him question his own ideals and the life he lived up to now.

On the other side of this tale is the grieving family of the victim and the reason for Pan-ho’s fears: Woo One Group. A conglomerate that literally owns the city — name and all — no one can stand up to Kang-heon and the power he wields. Thus, when news of his son’s death reaches his ears, Kang-heon ends his three-year sentence early (from a prison his company owns, mind you) and sets out to catch the person who killed his son. While everyone speculates that a rival gang may be responsible for this hit, Kang-heon knows better. Alas, if his son truly died in an accident, the perpetrator will get five years max in prison, which does not sit right with our heartbroken father.

Exiled oldest son KIM SANG-HYUK (Heo Nam-joon) returns from the U.S. to pay his respects, but his presence irks his stepmother who believes he could be the culprit. Accusations are tossed liberally amongst the public as the police scramble for a lead, and Sang-hyuk announces to the press that not all lives are worth the same. If a wild dog kills a human, then justice means razing down the mountain to get rid of the entire pack — which he intends to do.

Entering enemy territory as if he owns the place, Sang-hyuk confronts Boss JO MI-YEON since her side would benefit the most from Woo One Group’s end. Boss Jo leisurely enjoys her drink as she corrects Sang-hyuk’s assumption: she isn’t stupid enough to touch Kang-heon. Despite her answer, Sang-hyuk believes they did it, and the only way to change his mind is if they bring him the person who did.

Caught in the crossfire is petty thief LEE SANG-TAEK who was hired by Boss Jo’s group to get rid of Pan-ho’s car. Of course, neither party knew the extent of this request made by Assemblyman Jung Yi-hwa who also was fed a lie by Pan-ho, and this convoluted trail of commands complicates matters as more and more people get involved in this case not of their own volition.

While on his way to dispose of the car, Sang-taek gets pulled over for running a red light, and Pan-ho’s car gets flagged as stolen. Though Sang-taek escapes, the police now have the car and find a familiar looking motorcycle fender stuck in the front wheel. Detective JANG CHAE-LIM informs Pan-ho of the incident and since he reported the vehicle missing during the time of the accident, the police believe Sang-taek is the culprit of the hit-and-run.

Rumors of Sang-taek as the murderer get around to the Kim family, but only Kang-heon sees through the lies. He knows Boss Jo has no reason to kill his son, but if her group hides the truth from him, then he will come after them, too. As for his wife MA JI-YOUNG, her fiery anger only burns hotter after hearing the news, and unlike his father, Sang-hyuk is more than ready to embrace his roots and deal with the situation using his grandfather’s less than legal methods.

Now that people think Sang-taek is the murderer, Pan-ho needs to catch him before the others in order to bury the truth forever. As he looks through his files, he realizes that the man’s family visited him not too long ago to express their thanks, and racked with guilt, he drives to their house and watches them from afar. As the grandmother and granddaughter go home, they get caught in an explosion, and though Pan-ho runs to save them, it’s too late.

An explosive end to a dramatic opening week that hits all the right notes. With a solid cast, a tight script, and a tense atmosphere, Your Honor is shaping up to be an interesting show filled with morally grey characters and a fast-paced plot. Sohn Hyun-joo and Kim Myung-min are both amazing in their roles, capturing the duality of their characters and bringing a depth to their portrayals that make them feel complex. Pan-ho is already cracking from the pressure, and while he may have been an upright judge before this accident, his lack of hesitation reveals a much darker nature hiding underneath the mask. He easily manipulates his friends and colleagues for his own gain, and every move is calculated to a scary degree.

As for Kang-heon, I like how his grief is depicted as paralyzing sadness which seems contrary to expectations. Given his introduction and history — a gangster who makes his opponents disappear mysteriously — one would expect him to lash out in anger much like his wife, but Kang-heon is almost disturbingly levelheaded which makes the juxtaposition between the two fathers that much more disquieting. They are more alike than different, and I suspect the ensuing chase won’t be easy for either side.

As someone who is unaware of the source material, I do have my suspicions about the accident. It is possible that Ho-young swerved into the other lane because the sunlight momentarily blinded him, but the placement of the car and the body after the crash makes it seem as if Sang-hyeon (Kang-heon’s second son) drove into Ho-young. I wonder if a bigger conspiracy could be involved — did someone tamper with his new bike — or maybe it really was an unfortunate accident. Regardless, the outcome remains the same, and whether or not Ho-young is responsible for the crash, it does not absolve him of his crime of running away and allowing Sang-hyeon to die when he could have been saved.

Something I liked about the show that is often not the case for this genre is the use of female characters and allowing them to exist in all corners of the story. Ji-young, Boss Jo, and Detective Jang all affect the story to various degrees, and while the cast is still male dominated, there are also a lot of women of different shades playing important roles, too. They aren’t just there as victims or support — in fact, some of them are leaders and all of them have their own motivations. Details like these make the drama feel layered because the story isn’t just about the two leads, and though this is only the beginning, I’m hoping the show continues this momentum and stays engaging to the end.

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