The Devil Judge (2021)

The devilish entertainment

Its intense, its bold political corruption, manipulation inbetween friendship love hate lies bromance.. Its power packed ..
Its all in one
Ji sung eyes speaks more than him.. His every movie or series had made me love n respect him more... And for this character no one would have suit better than him.. He is into the character n light up the screen with fire
Ga-on is simply lovable .. His chemistry with ji sung(kang yo han) is too good.. He wants to believe him but yet fear . The pain of loss of loved ones bond them together..
Kim min jung the female lead or villian.. U need to watch her a strong character driving the wheels of the nations without being seen.. She behave like a puppet but actually made entire national leaders her puppet..
No words actually completely describe how it is but surely worth a watch

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most definitely worth watching

the two main male leads, ji sung (kang yo han) and jinyoung (kim gaon) have amazingly perfect chemistry with eachother. watching the drama and when there were moments when they got mad with eachother were hard to watch cause of how close they seem. the whole series really seemed as it almost revolved around them.

i liked how kang yohan was almost always there for gaon. when he got into trouble, yohan appeared out of nowhere and basically saved him.

what else surprised me is both of their family histories being tragic. i feel like this was a great plot twist to bring the two closer in a psychological way as they would understand each other.

i would definitely rewatch this drama as much as 10 times. i don't usually write reviews, but the devil judge is definitely worth it. well made kdrama with amazing actors and stories.

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WHAT A SHOW!!!!!

So I took some time to actually watch this series. I kept getting youtube videos on my page but sort of pushed it aside. Then I could no longer resist the pull of Ji Sung. My lord that man!!! I also love Kim Min Jung who gave a stellar performance as usual. The cherry on the top was, of course, Park Jin Young, whom I had never had the pleasure of watching before. Commendable young actor.
The acting, the acting, the acting!
Awesome performances by the entire cast, to be honest. It is one of the few series I have watched where all of the actors do such an amazing job. Truly remarkable. The entire series is gripping and has you on the edge of your seat because of the acting. The male lead characters were phenomenal in every way. Ji Sung was breathtaking in his role, I can tell you what else was breathtaking in him but then that would be a spoiler :) Park Jin Young followed Ji Sung's lead step by step. Neither one of them tried to outdo the other, when one was leading the other generously stood aside. I thought the manner in which their relationship developed was brilliantly written. I enjoyed every moment of their scenes together. Kim Min Jung also delivered her performance as the devil incarnate with impeccable grace. She was flawless. Even the despicable president was excellent. For me, every episode brought with it outstanding acting.
The plot:
I enjoyed the storyline. It was familiar but with a twist. I am relatively new to the South Korean drama scene but have almost only been watching Korean since last September and in this series, what particularly marked me was the ruthless, brutal honesty in how the writers depict the wretched world of the powerful; how manipulative they are, hungry for money, neglectful of the people they are meant to serve. It also makes the audience think about what true democracy actually means if it actually existed, that is. What is a democratic process? The judge faces us with choices that are difficult to make and we are left wondering what would we have done if we were put in such situations. How would have I voted? For me, the story touched on gender, power, politics, equality, opportunity, abuse, cruelty, deceit among other things. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The music: OST
Fresh, exciting, not as repetitive as in other series. A big thumbs up!
Summary:
The Devil Judge is truly one of the best South Korean dramas I have watched in a year. My hat goes off to all the actors. This is the product of a truly homogeneous, hard-working, modest, cast and crew. They clearly worked together towards making this series a success and I commend them and thank them for their effort.

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A strange and creative drama

The film ensures entertainment and brings a lot of reflection to viewers. In the half first, the writer handled the situations very well, bringing excitement and curiosity to the viewers. Since the writer is the judge, that makes his script even more special. I really get shivers every time the online trials are over. However, that was lacking in the final trial.

The author is an experienced person, has an in-depth view of politics, the political details and plots are handled very well by the scriptwriter. The script brings the viewer's emotions to a climax at decisive moments. However, the construction for some characters is really not good. Typically, Ga On and Soo Hyun. I feel these two characters are very shallow. Even Ga On whose background is the tragedy of his parents' death by a scammer, Soo Hyun is Ga On's protective friend who acts almost like his mother. But the motives and views of these two characters are unclear. So I find it difficult to understand them. I know we need characters who ruin a favorable situation, but sometimes they annoy me so much that it's hard to keep watching.

The commendable thing about this movie is the beautiful, artistic, soulful scenes combined with emotional soundtrack. I like slow motion scenes with no voices but only a sad violin sound. However, in the last episode these scene is a bit abused.

About the actors, Ji Sung is the same as always, he breathes life into the character, his acting level has reached the upper level. This drama wouldn't be so successful if it weren't for someone with the same acting ability as Ji Sung. And the one who surprised me the most was Kim Min Jung. I've seen two of her dramas and don't like her. In this drama, I really like Sun Ah, interesting, smart, dirty, but also a bit naive, Kim Min Jung and Ji Jung's chemistry is also amazing.. Kim Min Jung has been very successful in portraying such a complex character. I want to know more about Jung Sun Ah, if only they could take some of Soo Hyun and Ga On's time for Sun Ah's past. Next is Park Jin Young and Park Gyu Young. Park Jin Young acted quite well in the crying scenes, but in other scenes that required the maturity and determination of a judge, he was still not good, his actions were still a bit awkward and unnatural. Park Gyu Young is the same, there's no chemistry between the two, even if it's a friendship, it's awkward. But in general, their acting is also acceptable.

This is a worth watching. One of the best drama this year. Hopefully Ji Sung will receive nominations and awards in Baeksang.

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The natural human feelings in amazing visual setting

Ok, it's time to write about my first and one of the most favorite Kdramas.
When my friend was watching it I was interested in but I had never watched Kdramas before and expected something more... traditionally romantic or 'vanille'. Well.
It stroke me by the amazing visual and music from the very 1st ep and when I saw Kang Yo-Han (by gorgeous Ji-Sung) I fell in love with this series immediately. It's astonishing how the acting of all the cast, the setting an plot here are absolutely phenomenal.
I discovered Park Jin-Young not only as a cool guy from K-pop and Tom Ford campaigns, but an actor whose career I want to follow. Baek Hyun Jin was great portraying Heo Jung Se with all his hysterical personality we can laugh at and be afraid of at the same time.
If we're talking about music, it's just amazing and the Tempest (main theme) is in my playlist for ever.
So, the Devil Judge is 100% recommended to everyone who love the beautiful, intelligent cinema about pure love (it has no announced romantic-line but it's all about love), human passions and politics.

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Gran BROMANCE distópico!

Después de 8 semanas nos toca decir adiós a nuestros queridos jueces que nos han entretenido, emocionado, enamorado y también nos han puesto de los nervios!!! Ha sido una montaña rusa de emociones pero creo que la mayoría de seguidores de la serie hemos quedado muy satisfechos! La historia ha sido muy entretenida, ha tenido misterio, tragedia, intrigas políticas y oscuridad, pero también nos ha regalado momentos entrañables y emotivos que nos han emocionado (yo personalmente he llorado a mares) y que han iluminado esta distopía que podría haber sido demasiado oscura y triste. El guión nos ha sorprendido con giros inesperados, la trama no da tregua y mantiene la atención del espectador, la escenografía, ambientación y vestuario han sido de calidad y la OST es un regalo para los oidos: grandes canciones que han realzado y complementado los momentos importantes de cada capítulo.
Mención aparte se merece la ACTUACIÓN: el elenco de actores lo ha bordado!! Los secundarios, los villanos todos han estado fabulosos! Pero por encima de ellos han brillado los actores Ji Sung y Jin Young, que han estado magníficos, inmensos en su interpretación de los jueces Yohan y Gaon. Su BROMANCE ha sido de otra dimensión, su química ha hecho arder twitter y las redes sociales con debates y especulaciones sobre su SHIP!!! Pasan a ser junto con la pareja de policías de "Beyond evil" mi bromance coreano preferido de los últimos años!

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Worth watch

I always waited a Ji sung drama to release, he is one of the finest actors and done so many good works. Devil judge simply a very decent worth watch drama. Honestly very happy that tvn always providing such interesting contents.

The story was not something we see for the first time. We have been watching similar contents so many these days but the makes this different definitely will be the performance and interesting screenplay. There were no particular dragging even the episode length was very long everything was felt so perfect. Again i don't like to move further deep into the plot or story line which you can find if you want in mydramalist

Yet again an outstanding power packed screen presence from the brilliant ji sung. He is so good for everything he does. His niece was also excellent, Yo Han and Elijah scenes were really interesting.. and also the lady female lead and others done excellent job.

Don't think it's just a court drama which only dealing the law and justice, it has more to say. There were so many Goosebump scenes. I enjoyed a lot. Even the finale was so satisfying...

Worth watch

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One of the Best

I was Looking for A really good Bromance with no or little romance and this was the perfect show for that Thank you to the person who recommend this to me

there needs to be more Like this one All the Actors did such An amazing Job the Two Male leads will make you fall in Love with them and even Ship them the villain's of the show were such that I actually yelled at my Tv A time or two

the one thing this show does do is show you even the best Intention People can lose there way and mess up

I really Liked how the two main leads formed A bond so deep

the Second Male Lead Was so good I forgot he was A KPOP Star

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In the face of corruption, how far is too far for the sake of justice?

What an enthralling drama!

Devil Judge was an entertaining drama that dealt with topics revolving around corruption, justice, fairness, law, revenge, politics, greed, and morally gray characters.

Judge Yo Han is a true to the bone anti-hero you want to root for but also can't help but doubt his intentions and methods. Watching this drama, you are bound to skirt the lines between wanting to achieve justice while preserving your morals and wanting to abandon those morals for the sake of justice/seeing all corrupt people burn. I truly found this drama entertaining because it made me really question what I would do if I were in Yo Han's or Ga On's shoes and that made me relate/understand their motivations and actions, despite them being different. Ga On and Yo Han were on different ends of the spectrum, morally speaking, so you get to see both perspectives in the drama. Yo Han is a morally gray character who does whatever he deems appropriate for the overall sake of justice(more like his personal revenge story imo), while Ga On is a character that has a firm belief in what is wrong vs right and acts in a way that does not stray from the law and his beliefs.

The most entertaining part of this drama was watching the Live Court proceedings and wondering just what innovative method Yo Han will inflict as punishment on the criminals. As the drama goes on, I went into the mindset of thinking the show took place in a dystopian society, as that's the only way I could see any of what was going on as believable. The whole concept behind the Live Courts just felt very Black Mirror, and was really fun to watch, but also towards the ending, started to feel a bit too over the top.

My interest was peaked from episode 1 and I couldn't stop watching. While I had frustrations with character decisions, Ga On mainly, I still enjoyed the show for the most part. The main cast also did a great job. We all know JiSung is amazing so nothing more to note there. I was also very satisfied with Cha Gyung Hee's actress, and Chairwoman Sun Ah's actress (although the latter sometimes did have too much of an airy voice (?) Lmao but I believe that was more of a character trait, than an acting issue). Other actors were okay, but only 1 really took away from the experience for me and it was Juk Chang's actor. My displeasure is probably more due to the way the character was written itself but I also just didn't like the actor's acting. It was a minor role that turned into more of a bigger role towards the end of the drama so I likely feel more annoyed about it than I normally would.

There's a little bit of romance in this between Ga On and his police officer best friend, but it is not the focus. I actually thought their relationship was cute and approved it because their story makes sense as they both have supported eo since they were teens. Before watching this drama, I was familiar with it due to having watched multiple clips on Youtube where it was inferred there was a BL story between Yo Han and Ga On. But honestly, after watching the drama, their relationship felt more like bromance/family than anything else. Sad, I know (there were moments where you can sorta feel Yo Han is into Ga On, but they were too little and short for me to really focus on, so I just enjoyed the drama as is and didn't think about the possible BL undertones after a point).

Overall, it's a really fun series. I had a great time watching and getting to know the characters, especially Yo Han. The overall plot was good too just a bit too exaggerated/over the top for my taste.

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A Thrilling and Unexpected Ride

Set in the dystopian country of South Korea, it is about a judge who's trying to punish bad people that can't be punished by law, using a live-streaming court, open to the public.

The 'punish the unpunishable using any way possible' prompt is not a new story in the kdramaland. In fact, I first watch this drama because the synopsis reminds me of Vincenzo that I've once enjoyed. The similarity I found between these two dramas is the 'problem-solving' format. It started with a less important case, then slowly building the tension and reveals more cases, which is related to big and bigger problems, in this case, related to the government. The Devil Judge doesn't just focused on the judges in the court unlike the usual legal dramas. I think it's more of a political drama, since we got a bigger scheme of political conspiracy happening in the country.

The live court show format is the thing I highlight in this drama, probably the main reason why I get to finish this, even though this drama is emotionally draining. The drama offers so many unexpected things in the court, making it thrilling for every trial they held, from the first one until the very last. Outside the court setting, about Yohan's struggle against the government, there are also a lot of unexpected things and twists happened. Every episode brings more surprise to the viewers, to the point I never get bored when watching this drama. The CGI was also very cool, but become less cooler in the last episode.
The main leads' character, Kang Yohan and Jung Sunah are well-written imo. They went through similar struggles and loneliness when they were younger, unknowingly building their own 'monster' side to their personalities and declaring war with each other. Compared to Yohan's story, I still hope that the writers can elaborate more about Sunah's background of how can she became a villain that is feared by a lot of people while she's very fragile inside.
Kim Gaon, however, kinda get me annoyed from the beginning. It's clearly shown that even though he has an idealist vision of how a judge should be, he is also a naive person easily swayed by other people words, not even checking the facts before believing it (minor spoiler alert: which may cause more chaos later). Thus making the drama is a big game of Trusting Kang Yohan: Is He A Good Person Or Not?
Last but not least, Yoon Soohyun, a police who has a similar vision as Gaon and acts as someone who often interfere Yohan and Gaon's plans. I feel that she's more like a supporting chara rather than main chara, since her portion of the story wasn't that much, more like a #1 Gaon supporter with little character development. All I can say that she deserves better.

Despite my complaints to the characters, the casts were super! They understand their assignments very well. I really love their chemistry with each other, especially when watching their interviews and BTS videos. I haven't watched any dramas from these actors before, except for Kim Minjung (whose also did a very great job portraying a sassy, ambitious lady), and they amazed me with their acting skills! Ji Sung is so charming while portraying the charismatic and mysterious judge Kang Yohan, so charming that I'm becoming his fan now :D
Also kudos to the supporting characters: Judge Oh, Elijah, Professor Min, as well as the other antagonists in the CSR foundation and The President, they did their job so good that I was able to actually get on my nerves many times! The drama only has few OSTs, that fits the drama very well on different circumstances and scenes.

Overall, watching The Devil Judge is like riding a rollercoaster with a lot of tunnels. We are not sure of what would happen next since it's dark inside the tunnel, but it is thrilling and exciting anyways. The drama isn't that remarkable for me, but it is surely enjoyable to watch, if you're into this type of legal and crime drama, of course.

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Perfect drama that will shake you every episode

That was an absolute wild ride. From the beginning till the very end. I’ve never watched drama that could shake me every episode. That each time surprised me with plot twists. That I could not anticipate what will happen because it was so absolutely unpredictable. And at the same time, drama that would be so perfect in every aspect.
When I prepare for writing review, I always make notes. Not much, just the overall thoughts that I have while watching drama. That helps me to organise my writing later on. Usually those notes are not longer than two pages of handwriting. Maybe four if drama is especially complicated or I have a lot of comments about it. How many pages I’ve written watching The Devil Jugde? Freaking 10 and I still think that’s not enough to barely touch the subject.

Let’s talk about Yo Han
Let’s talk about Kang Yo Han, because there’s so much to unpack here that we’ll going to be here for a while. First of all, huge kudos to Ji Sung for carrying this role, I hope his back is ok after that. He shown his acting range in Kill Me Heal Me, his attachment to the role in Defendant, but I honestly think that Yo Han is going to be his crown jewel. Because who is Kang Yo Han? Nobody knows. Nobody. We don’t know what’s actually sitting in his head. He’s so unpredictable that he can be double bluffing and we’ll know if two episodes later. He’s master of manipulation which basically means that once again he cannot be trusted, all he does may be just a way to fulfil his plan. From the beginning we see that there’s something wrong with him. The way he talks about hunting for example in one of first episodes. Right away I had a thought that the prey he would like to hunt is human. And I wasn’t really wrong, because it seems that his whole life was a battle. He had to fight from youngest years and one of his greatest weapons is manipulation. I was watching with my mouth opened the scenes when he was basically steering people in a trap that he prepare for them. How he manipulated them to be in exact position that he wanted them to be. No hesitation, no remorse, everything to achieve his goal.
And it seems that he can weasel himself out of every situation. Every time he was backed to the wall somehow he managed to get out without damage and it was so amazing especially that it was done so effortlessly that I could barely believe what just happened. I have to admit, I’ve said the phrase “Yo Han, you sly fox” more times that I care to admit
Yo Han is incredibly sure of himself when he interacts with people he manipulates and at the same time he’s absolutely awkward towards his family and the ones close to him (which totals to like three people, and I’m being generous here).
It’s clear that Yo Han’s methods are often too much, but seeing some scenes involving members of the Social Responsibility Foundation , the injustice and lies of people on the top, it’s hard not to sympathise with him. From time to time he makes us doubt if normal, according to the law methods are the right ones in this brutal reality. The truth is that Yo Has has his own slightly crooked form of justice, but at least he’s true to it through and through.
Yo Han is an incredibly complicated character, with many layers to him.

Cinematics
From the very first scene, cinematic were the element that I was totally in awe of. Remember it? Black Corvette riding thought the city at night. In the background Drop The Game by Flume & Chet Faker. This song, even tough was used several more times, was linked for me with this scene. Till now I thought that It’s Okay to Not be Okay was the pinnacle of cinematography in dramas, but I have to admit, The Devil Judge topped that. With amazing light (scenes in Yo Han’s office at night!) And scenography it just created amazing background to the main plot.

Music
That must’ve been one of the most searched out for me. It fits so seamlessly into the action of the show that after every episode I could just listen to it on repeat. And not having whole album already to listen to really hurts. But from now on every car trip starts with Tempest and that’s perfect way to go anywhere.
So how they say, choice of music in some scenes is *chef’s kiss*. I believe that’s this is one of there most memorable soundtracks I’ve heard.

Created world
I love dystopias. After time travelling, that’s my favourite motive. I was raised on 1984 by Orwell and Brave New World by Huxley, so I have a bit of soft spot for it. But when those two were till pretty much recently rather far away. With what happened in them, then The Devil Judge seems terrifyingly familiar. A great plague? Checked. Society in disarray after the crisis? Checked. Nationalist movements? Unfortunately, where I’m from, almost checked. So with all that in mind, watching The Devil Judge with this new scary form of Live Court seemed just too probable. And that was why this drama hit so hard. Is Live Court something that could happen? Hopefully not, but in society where all hope is lost, why not? We already have corrupted politicians and greedy corporations so we’re not far from there. Is the idea of people actually deciding about major court ruling absolutely terrifying? Of course. I have to admit, I chuckled couple of times watching those hearings (I mean the video from American prison was a bit over the top) but I also understand that the format of the Live Court was supposed to be a bit flashy. It was supposed to be a tv show. The way that it also become the battlefield between Yo Han and the Foundation was amazing. It looked like a true chess game, where each side had to be very cautious about next move.

The villain
This is a pure gem right here. Who do you fight psychopath with? Another psychopath. Yo Han could actually be a villain by himself with his very particular form of justice. But the writers decided to go a step further and gave us Sun Ah. Sun Ah at first seems like a perfect opposite to Yo Han. Where he want’s justice, she wants power, no matter the cost. But at the same time they share a lot of traits and this is pretty much scary at some point. And what I love about this character is how at the beginning she let everyone to underestimate her giving her the perfect point of attack. I mean, who would suspect a secretary?
Her lecture at school where she speaks to young girls about what to do to be a good child is a perfect introduction and explanation of motives for this character. For her survival can only be achieved through power and power is gained with wealth. Person must do everything to survive. She’s ruthless and her prey are men who are abusing women. They have to be destroyed. She finds their soft spot and hit it till she achieves her target.

Welcome to the world in which the ones talking about power don’t really have it, and the powerful work in the backstage meticulously steering their puppets.

About acting, apart from extraordinary Ji Sung and Kim Min Jung we have a vast array of amazing actors, even the smaller roles leave a mark in a memory. I mean great example is Park Hyung Soo as attorney Ko In Guk who really left amazing impression for me. Park Jin Young’s acting wasn’t convincing for me at the beginning but I was glad to see much needed progress throughout the series. But that might’ve been because the role he had wasn’t easy either. I could write something else here about Ga On himself, but I think that in the end he was exactly the person who he was intended to be and not much more.

This must be first drama that I gave the score of 10 with absolutely no hesitation. I had absolutely no choice to do differently, since this drama for me is simply perfect. Acting, characters, cinematic, music, everything comes up to the show that I will from now on compare others to. This would be a best series that other could only aspire to. I know that these are big words here, but honestly, I’ve never waited for another episode with that much of anticipation. I’ve never beed so hooked on a show in my adult life. This ladies and gentlemen is a perfect drama, thank you very much.

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