The Devil Judge (2021)

The Matrix, Reimagined As A Courtroom Drama.

This drama took me a lot longer to finish than I expected. Usually, I will wait till a drama is fully aired and then marathon watch it. This drama was different. I took my time and paused for a day or two after each episode because there was so much to unpack and I wanted to draw it out and really savor every scene and revelation. The story is so well written, the cast does an amazing job, the emotions were a lot more raw and realistic than I usually see in Kdramas.

I was fully immersed in their world and the overarching theme of judgement. It was not lost on me that the main characters are judges and every moment of every episode is about the judgements we form in every interaction with people. We perceive this world through the eyes of Kim Ga On, a young and impressionable judge. He is thrust into situations constantly where he is surrounded by his own impulse to judge others and influenced by other people's judgements in turn. Seeing things through his eyes allows the audience to naively fall into the same traps Ga On also falls into, casting judgement on things he doesn't fully understand and later regretting his actions.

The whole world is blindfolded, and the main protagonist is the unwelcome devil who removes the blindfolds so that we can look past the illusion that surrounds us and see the world, and ourselves, for what it really is. This drama was really cleverly done. As the show and episodes progress each pivotal clue scene gets replayed and shuffled to show how each situation, each action, each piece of information can be read differently based on the information you have. Like tarot cards being reorganized to support a different verdict from the same cards.

I've read a lot of the reviews here that talk about the drama being about social injustice, but I think that's a pretty superficial observation. The social injustice isn't there to highlight the unfairness of the world or to make a political/social point, it's there to help us understand how willing we are to be fooled, led into judgements that end up being the essence of the injustice we are trying so hard to overcome. Every single character gets misunderstood, every single character misunderstands others, every single character is guilty of acting on a judgement based on an incomplete assumption. The drama holds a mirror up to us and asks us to assess our own judgements of others, to examine them instead with the understanding that our experience and information is only a small piece of the puzzle and not the complete picture.

I've also read reviews talking about the character Kim Ga On being unrealistically naive and impressionable. But to me, having lived in this world a decent amount of time, it seemed very realistic. People, in general, seem to be happy to accept the blue pill, content in their ignorance. People, to me, seem to want to be fooled, not force fed a red pill by some shady hot dude in a black robe. Ga On being naive is a representation of the entire world's population, throughout every time and every culture, willing to believe the easy lie, fighting against incursion from the ugly reality. Ga On had to be naive for the story to make its point. He had to be force fed the reality he wanted to overcome, fighting his innate urge to accept assumptions and lies. He had to be naive because we are naive, because there isn't a human alive who is not guilty of falling for a pretty lie, because he needed to be a reflection of who we are as humans.

This show for me was easily a 10, the story was masterfully crafted, the directing was expertly done, the acting was across the board incredible, the music was perfectly timed and themed to the show. I would 100% watch this drama again, and that's rare for me.

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An Absolutely Amazing Series

OH NO! It's Over ... And this is my second time watching this series!

The acting, it's very impressive! Everyone did an awesome job of portraying their characters. There were a lot of emotional scenes and not once did I feel let down.

The chemistry between Kang Yo Han and Kim Ga On (as well as Elijah) is too good, their bond just kept growing and it was nice to watch. And not to mention, how strong the other main characters are, both physically and in personality.

Cinematography and overall production value was the best, the scenes were so realistic and believable.

The OST, is totally fitting and right on target with each scene.

Enemy Of Truth & Mirror City, what can I say?

This is a series that, given a few months in between has so much story to it, you can rewatch it because there is so much you forget.

All in All, one of my favorites!

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Impossible to stop watching

Once you start this drama, you want to end it. The story is really catchy and well written, maybe some people won't like it, because it is an exaggeration of what the judicial system could be, and everything is messed up. I mean, do we, in the real world, have justice? Would we agree with Kang Yo-han?

Well, it's something to think about.

Now, I'm not a film critic, but I'm a viewer, and I have nice and not nice things to talk about this drama:
1) Jisung and Jinyoung have amazing chemistry and acting skills.
2) The story is really good.
3) The president and company are despicable, It's hard to watch because their acting is great.
4) Personally, I didn't like both female protagonists acting skills, especially Kim Min-jung acting, it was a generic acting of a sociopath/psychopath (whatever she is).
5) The romance was not it, and it was really bad, no chemistry, just words. They could ignore any romance in this drama, like Beyond Evil did ( I mean the heterosexual one lol).
6) Kim Gaon really gets on your nerves sometimes, Kang Yo-han was really in love y'all.
7) Kang Yo-han is hot.
8) Jeon Chae eun, our beloved Elijah, was AMAZING, what a great character and actress.
9) We need a gay director's cut, then it would be perfect.

Overall, it's really worth watching!

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I don't know how to express my feeling, but this series is a masterpiece!!!!

First of all, I personally prefer bromance-rated series over BL-rated

Because it involves a real and strong love relationship without the need for hot scenes (my religion forbids sexual relations before marriage or those that are harmful to humans, etc... Therefore, the classification of bromance is the best option, but I watch some BL series) as well as bromance series that focus on strong friendship and love Pure, loyal and willing to sacrifice, this series also shows the strength of their friendship.

I really enjoyed this series and was also sad because of the last episode with an open ending.
I will watch the series again if I get the chance.

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A Cinematic Masterpiece

Honestly, while everybody is talking about if this show is BL or not, i want to point out what stood out to me the most. This show has one of the most amazing cinematography I’ve seen in asian dramas. Especially when it comes to the dystopic series. I think Asian productions are unprofessional compared to the western ones. So even if you want to convey a good story, the lack of production value can kill all the joy. However, the locations, camerawork, costumes etc. everything is top notch in this drama, I would say it’s on par with Hollywood ones.

The acting performances are great. Especially Ji Sung, he’s so talented that he made Kang Yohan this iconic. Casting overall is perfect. The story isn’t fast-paced hence why some people say it’s kinda boring but it’s quite normal for this kind of dramas when the topic is Justice and morals. Action and lead interactions all over would make this show less serious so i loved the fillers. It’s catchy and entertaining.

This show has one of the most iconic characters like Yohan, Sun ah, Gaon, elijah etc. each of the leads have great chemistry with other characters but of course Yohan and Gaon dynamic steals the show, with all the tension and conflict going on between them. Absolutely one of the best drama couples for me.

Also the OST for this drama is amazing. Both for soundtrack and scores. They’re all so fitting to dramas theme. Overall this show was definitely worth watching and iconic for me and it even deserves more recognition than the other Korean dramas with high ratings out there.

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Well, that was... a lot of bodies. Dystopian future this might've been but the similarities with the actual situation of today were chilling.

The main draw for me was the relationship between Kang Yo Han & Kim Ga On, of course. No wonder the actors won the "bromance of the year" award. And honestly... even without my slashy glasses on, theirs was not a simple bromance. It was all in the looks, in Yo Han's gestures... when he ran his hand along the back of Ga On's seat at the end... yeah.

Also, I didn't feel one iota sorry for Jung Sun Ah. Hers was an easy way out in the end, she deserved a much harsher punishment for all the people she destroyed along her mad rush for money and power. The president and his cohorts and their wives were disgusting and they were presented as such but that the drama tried to make me feel sympathy for her? Nah. You failed. Being an abuse victim didn't give her the right to trample all over other people. I can understand and sympathize with people who do stuff for revenge - but with those who do it for money and power? No. Just no.

Overall, one of the most unusual dramas I've ever seen, a real experience.

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#TeamYoHan

Kim GaOn is the most useless, weak, self righteous goody2shoes masquerading as a good person. His character as a judge lacks believability, there is no way such person can ever be a successful lawyer much less a judge. Someone that can be easily manipulated, doesn’t have any self convictions and goes wherever the wind blows and always looks like he wants to cry could never have made it to any judicial bench in any country in the world even in Korea I believe. I swear to God I would have dropped this drama with how many times the rage and anger in my heart was boiling to the extent I felt like I could literally explode with how completely useless the character GaOn was. Don’t even get me started with his cop girlfriend, she was basically of no use in the series and someone said Elijah’s wheelchair was more useful than GaOn and I think that statement applied to his cop girlfriend. She points her gun at people like it’s a toy, she goes to into dangerous situations without calling for backup and conducts vindictive/personal unauthorized investigations. You are a cop that claim you seek justice but knew of the corruptions going on and she never went after any of the corrupt officials but she was hell bent on going after YoHan and bringing him down because she was jealous of his budding relationship/friendship with GaOn, her character did not make any sense and I feel the writers just threw her in there in other the combat the BL tone the series was giving with the intense chemistry of YoHan aka Ji Sung & aka GaOn. I solely blame the writers and directors for giving us such a useless character, that was basically a waste of space.
The chairwoman was such a badass character. She was evil and knew why she was evil and made no apologies for it. She was super smart and the actress who played her portrayed the sultry creepy evil mastermind to perfection.
The President was such a weird character because he was more like a comic relief that no one asked for.
Why then did I not drop the drama and rate it so high if I had all this complain and fury, ladies and gentlemen it’s because of the enigmatic character called YoHan played by the ultra super talented Ji Sung. OMG he was everything and so much more. His charisma and presence as the chief judge was captivating, enthralling and like I said literally everything. His little smiles and smirks like he knows your deepest darkest secrets and he’s going to use them against you and there is nothing you can do about it was insanely good. He reminded me so much of Vincenzo because he has brains and brawn in equal measure, I slightly preferred Vincenzo because he wasn’t boggled down by self righteous morality and faced evil with evil, dishing out revenge especially capital revenge punishment to the deserving perpetrators, while the writers here made the useless and weak GaOn a kind of moral compass that ended up biting him in the ass in ep15.
YoHan’s badassry and the chairwoman’s cunning savagery made me rate this show highly because I refuse to let the mastery that were these characters be overshadowed by the uselessness that was GaOn and his cop girlfriend.
I doubt will be rewatching this so it 5/10 for me.
Overall 9/10.
I highly recommend but prepare to be frustrated and angry.

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Not at all disappointing!! Has everything in it.

This drama has everything romance, suspense, mystery, comedy and what not perfect story, acting and superb cast.
Simply put ,one of the best dramas.
Saw it for Ji Sung and Jin young fell in love with Kim Min-jung ( JungSun-Ah) she portrayed her role so well that I was super mad at her and also felt pity at the same time.
Kudos to all the cast, and staff for making another legendary drama that will go down in history!.
Came here for Ji Sung after watching doctor john as I simply couldn't move on from him.
Jin Young improved a lott from his previous drama, he expresses his emotions more freely and profoundly.
His chemistry with Park Gyu Young(Yoon Soo Hyun) was so adorable , so sad that they didn't have a perfect ending.

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The writer loves Yohan a lil bit too much

And that is the pros and cons of this drama.

Yohan and Jisung hard carry the plot with his intricate motive and planning. I couldn't put label into his character even till the last ep. Is he an anti-hero? Is he simply a hero? Because as you see throughout the drama, though he was doing it for "the greater good" in his mind, in the end, his motive was mainly for his own revenge. Also, god, should I say more about Jisung? We all know he's a freaking good actor who blends into any character given to him and has lots of charisma.

The casts were superb, from the the female lead to the president. I still get chill remembering the president, he looked so much like you-know-who. And I wish I could love Sunah more than this, she was an interesting villain who has a soft spot for people in need and actually didn't want to go to the length the other villains had taken, if only the writer explore her character more. The cinematography was good, moreover on the first half and when Gaon was exploring Yohan's home, I screenshooted lots of scene from that one. And the songs. I love the song choice, watch it or not, everyone needs to hear Nightmare by Sondia.

Then the downfall, how can you got a hand of a handful of fine to great actors, and not maximizing their potential? Especially the "good" characters, they were so dumbly written, as if good people means easy to fool and a saint who's always in lawful path. It was frustrating to see our second leads being so stupid and reckless (Soohyun not calling for backup, Gaon kept running in circle), I mean, when you want to doubt Yohan all the time, be subtle and manipulative, no? Even Jinjoo got better character development than our two second leads.

Still I give it good rating because Yohan makes me forgive the rest lol.

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This drama has squeezed my heart out of shape. It shocked, horrified, stunned and melted my heart by turn. It was heart-wrenching at times and shocking at other times. It is meant to show a dystopian Korea of the future but succeeds in showing the actual reality in many countries. The nexus between politics, judiciary and industry is exposed in all its rawness. The protagonist of the drama metes out justice in his own way but it is not always commendable. Sometimes you feel your heart stop at the methods he employs but you never doubt that he is on the side of justice.....wild justice, you could call it.
The acting is beyond perfect. Watching Ji Sung play the role of Judge Kang Yo Han, I had my heart in my throat most of the time. This actor gets better as the years go by and he always chooses to play unusual and powerful roles. After watching him, you cannot imagine anyone else in this role. The other actors do not disappoint either. But I would specially like to mention the one who played the President. He was such a repugnant character and his rabble rousing tactics were so reminiscent of certain politicians in history and at present.
The music enhanced the play and I would encourage anyone who enjoys a serious issue-based story, to watch this one.

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