This review may contain spoilers
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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THE PLOT TWISTS OMG
From the beginning I wasn’t sure if I was going to love this show but when I got to ep 7 I got hooked. The way this show manipulated you in so many ways omg. They try to make u believe it is Yohan who is behind the fire and suhyeon death when it was the Professor and the chairwoman all this time. The twist of Elijah being the one that started the fire without her knowing blew me away honestly. I also loved how complex the characters are cuz it made the show unpredictable and fun to watch. The acting was all on top.Was this review helpful to you?
#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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I will be going back to this drama time and again
I have been engulfed by this drama while it was airing. The dystopian world portrayed is ever so real for many places around the world. I could find many similarities with current events and leaders! There are many loop holes in the drama but for me its a 10 because it has engaged me in a way that very few dramas have. The acting, production, OSTs all were steller. Barring a few, I have empathised with most characters icluding the villains. It has made me question my own views on morality, values. It was a good drama watching experience for me.Was this review helpful to you?
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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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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Disappointed
Really disappointed. The drama was good till the ep 12 then storyline started going downhill. I loved the bromance.Yo Han character was great, his whole show was planned really well. On the other hand Ga On was soo annoying. He was so blinded/stupid that he couldn’t see that justice does not exist for people that do not have money or power. You would thing he learned his lesson but no…he stayed naive till the end and almost ruined everything.
The detected character was really useless….could not solve anything and the only thinkg she cared about was Ga On for who she just left everything and run to him if she known he is in a danger. And she was really obsessed to make Yo Han the villan.
They could write the story better. Its shame as I was hooked at the beginning of the show.
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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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