THE PYRAMID
OF
INJUSTICE
IN
LEE JOON
GI’S
2022
TELEVISION MASTERPIECE
AGAIN MY
LIFE
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 Again My Life, a time-travel-fantasy-action-legal television
masterpiece, stars leading man, Lee Joon Gi, who portrays Kim Hee Woo, an
earnest prosecutor who is murdered and brought back to life by the Grim Reaper to avenge his
death and the wrongs done to his country. As a man who has walked back into his
past life, the prosecutor reinvents himself as a man of genuine charm,
charisma, prodigious energy and talents. His wit and multiple intelligences make him a shrewd
and scheming prosecutor, whose sly but successful manoeuvres win him admiration all
round. The series, which centres on injustice, resonates deeply with the audience. It is to Lee’s credit that he can visually revert back to a time when he
was his younger self, thanks to his brilliant acting performance, powerful eye and facial expressions and body language.   https://www.instagram.com/ljg1_vered/reel/DIP_aTACBP1/ 
One significant aspect of the television series is the main theme, injustice, which is constantly
emphasized particularly, at the beginning and the ending of the narrative. Again
My Life opens with an apt quotation by Pablo Victoria.
‘A country can survive war, illness, and poverty. However, ONE cannot
survive in a country where justice does not exist.’
   It implies a person cannot survive in the absence of justice. In
such a situation, a person will be unjustly deprived of their rights and
freedoms.
 In the closing sequence, Kim Hee Woo, an upright prosecutor, sends a chilling message to the audience that: Without Justice, A COUNTRY will also not survive.
'A country can survive even after a war. A country can also
survive disease and poverty. But A COUNTRY without justice will not be able to
survive in the end.'
What is Justice?
Justice is defined by the Cornell Law School as:
 This essentially sets the tone for the story. Justice is an
absolutely essential component of this Time Travel, Crime and Punishment, Legal
and Action story.
The drama fractures the narrative of Kim Hee Woo’s first life
into flashbacks related by the protagonist, himself.
The television series speaks of organizational injustice and corruption, two evils which are intertwined with each other. Cho Tae Sop, the powerful but evil politician who, presides over the Pyramid of Injustice, seizes undue power from the President, whom he, as ‘The Kingmaker, supports and at the same time, suppresses.
      Under Cho Tae Sub is Kim Seok Hoon, a chief district prosecutor who turns Prosecutor General-in-waiting, Jang IL Hyun, an ambitious senior prosecutor, and Choi Kang
Jin, an unscrupulous and corrupt prosecutor. Choi Tae Sub is assisted by his
cold-hearted lackey, Kim Jin Woo and his very own trained assassin, Dr K. Cho oversees a system which appears that almost everyone at every level is involved in some form of corruption, misuse of power or position, exploitation of others and criminal behaviour. Injustice is rife. Political and financial crimes are difficult to crack. The pyramid of injustice involves conspiracies of political
leaders, political parties, the prosecution service, business and financial
groups, and the police force. It even includes the murky criminal groups, alleging
a shadowy connection between politicians, bureaucrats, prosecutors, police and
criminals. Bribery or gift-giving abound. In his previous life, Kim Hee Woo attempted to arrest Cho Tae Sub for his crimes but his efforts were to no avail. Kim Seok Hoon, his superior objected to issuing an arrest warrant for the corrupt politician.            
Kim Seok Hoon said it to Kim Hee Woo's face that it was useless and he could not win. He also warned him about the particular invisible order which he obliquely describes as 'a village'. Kim Hee Woo was not just going head-to-head with one person but the whole village if he went against Cho Tae Sub.
         What Kim Seok Hoon didn’t say was that the village, as in most social structures, has a pyramidal power structure, a system which Cho Tae Sub said, ‘….. is built just for me’.   If Kim Hee Woo wanted to destroy Cho Tae Sub, he should have, first of all, destroyed the system built specially for the politicians like Cho.  THE PECKING ORDER IN THE PYRAMID OF INJUSTICE
In Again My Life, it is clear that there is a hierarchy in the world of injustice. Injustice is prevalent from the top to the bottom. The TV series speaks of a collective social group in a pyramidal system with a complex multi-level hierarchical structure, which is dominated by Cho Tae Sub, the country's most powerful politician. Cho Tae Sub, uses his office to punish and control less powerful politicians and others who refuse to submit to him. He uses thugs, criminals and an assassin to facilitate his policies. The atmosphere is full of conspiracies as multiple agencies are involved in perpetuating injustice. Politicians, legislative officers and other bureaucrats are inseparable bedfellows. Criminal gangs far away from the capital city are allowed to lord over the local population. The police, the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system, are lax in their duties. Youths with connections, who commit crimes, are summarily dismissed or just given a slap on the wrist. In schools, there is a lot of bullying which goes undetected. Perhaps, the education administrators conveniently turn a blind eye to it.
What lies in the centre stage in the legislative landscape is the Prosecutors’ Office which a hotbed of injustice. Cho Tae Sub exerts his dominance and promotes those who obey him. Cho baits Kim Seok Hoon with the possibility of being appointed the Prosecutor-General. The conspiracies also link the police who are at the lowest level of the pyramid of injustice. Anyone under this structure who does not fit in and adapt himself would be expelled, transferred away or murdered. Kim Hee Woo, the earnest but rash prosecutor, who launched ‘a war against injustice’ in his previous life, was murdered by Cho Tae Sub’s assassin, Dr K.
    After he was injected with a cocktail of drugs, Kim Hee Woo was
thrown from the circular rooftop.  THE TIME TRAVEL CLOCK   The circular rooftop, which gives the impression of a never-ending
circle, resembles a clock - a Time Travel Clock. The rooftop seems to move
in an anti-clockwise direction. By going counterclockwise, the director creates an image that the story is moving back in time and into the past. Kim Hee Woo has symbolically unzipped the fabric of time to step between the worlds, The Present and the Past.
THE STAGE IN THE SKY
The rooftop also resembles a circular stage and the sky can be
likened to the television screen; it is a stage in the sky.
 https://twitter.com/i/status/1512675660917280771
A GINOMOUS MAGNIFYING GLASS
  Filmed from a distance against the backdrop of the city and a
long straight road, an amazing image emerges. The straight road seems to be attached to the circular rooftop making the
rooftop look like a huge magnifying glass mounted on a handle.
This idea is strengthened when the Grim Reaper shows Kim Hee Woo incidents in his past life in the huge sky which include bullying incidents and the death of his parents. It is like the huge failures in his Past Life, when examined by a magnifying glass, are magnified a thousand times for all to see and understand.
  A FEMALE GRIM REAPER IN RED
Grim Reapers, who are a personification of death, often appear in tragic stories and are often male and clothed in black. But this Grim Reaper, who is against the norm, is Female and she is dressed in Red. Red, in many cultures, is associated with life. The Grim Reaper informs him that he is given a new lease on life and instructs him specifically to train himself meticulously so that he could give Cho Tae Sub his comeuppance when he returns to his Past Life.                Kim Hee Woo then travels 15 years back to the PAST and walks into his previous life.  
INJUSTICE IS A NEVER-ENDING CIRCLE
In his second life, Kim Hee Woo emerges victorious over Cho Tae Sub despite the fact that the nefarious politician tries to clench onto power till the very end. Cho's fanatically loyal assistant, Kim Jin Woo, futilely takes the fall for the politician's crimes and commits suicide.    At the end of the television series, the same rooftop is shown to emphasize that injustice is a never-ending circle. Kim Hee Woo smirks when he thinks that people whom he has punished return unscathed to haunt him. He says, ‘Trash I must get rid of still remains.’      The ending of the television series emphasizes that, 'a country without justice will not be able to survive in the end.'        Again My Life is scripted by J and Kim Yul, and directed by the maverick filmmaker, Han Chul Soo, and Kim Yong Min. The ending of the amazing television series uses a cliffhanger. A new criminal gang under a female boss appears. She presents a challenge for the legal and judicial authorities as their members can be easily bribed with money. Imprisoned criminals can easily return to collaborate with the new criminal gang to perpetuate a new cycle of injustice. This shocking revelation implies that injustice is a vicious, endless circle and the pursuit of justice is never-ending; it is a continuous journey, not a destination. Will the thrilling television series, Again My Life, have a second season?
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