It's been a while since the last time I watched any revenge/conspiracy drama since Shark, as well as good law-related drama since Witch at Court so I really have to say that Justice did a good job at reeling my interest in. Not to mention Son Hyunjoo as the main antagonist is a great compliment to Choi Jinhyuk's Taekyung who's not quite free of his own wrong deeds.
The series was sweet, melancholic, haunting, dark and hopeful and as a viewer, you can't help but root on Taekyung as he tried to turn back and recover his sense of justice and right the wrongs that were committed towards him as well as by him. And in a way, the series tells us that sometimes even good people can lose their way. But that doesn't mean that they cannot go back and head back towards the right path.
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I’m glad I went through all the episodes and saw the ending. It wasn’t a light journey but it was worth it.
Drama is about crime and corruption in prosecutors, politics and business. But for me the crime plot is an excuse to present the story of touching relationship between friends who had to become enemies. The character of Song Woo Yong (the older friend), brilliant played by Son Hyun Joo, is so well written. He’s intriguing and ambiguous. Is he hardhearted, ambitious man or devoted father?Good or bad? We don’t know for sure.
And, of course, there is no romance, we only got the recollection of romance, but it’s enough.
The stories of the father and son, the prosecutor lady (Nana) and lawyer (Choi Jin Hyuk) are extremely interesting. As well as the story of psychopath villain and his victim. The cinematography is outstanding, the music is sad. The script is perfect.
The ending is satisfying.
If you want to watch something beautiful and melancholic and tender like autumn in the North – watch Justice.
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And I changed my opinion.
I did not expect this drama get me so excited. The plot began to develop in a interesting way. At the begining the story of this series was not very original, but with time it became more and more curious.
I am glad that the work of a lawyer and a prosecutor did not end up tendentiously. The drama also showed what the work of the judiciary looks like after capturing a criminal.
When it comes to actors, in my view the main character was very fascinating. He had a very intriguing look. The acting of the rest of the actors was also convincing.
It is just a pity that the music was not diversified. I regret a little about the underdevelopment of the main characters' relations.
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The music I have a.recollection of the second half song (come over )it was a nice song
I will probably rewatch this due to the psychopath.I am amazed .
I honestly feel that more people should watch this shown.It is,such a great one .#bangbang
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The writers in a writing room be like: do we want romance? melo? thriller? psychological? crime? buddy cop? family issue? gray character? psychopaths? serial killers? good characters with gold morals? tragic past? every cliche on the earth? yes.
The Good
I have to admit, it has quite a well written side/supporting characters with nice stories and development/progression. Young Mi being the "behind the scene heart of the story". I have to say, her and Hyeon Woo's scenes were some of my favorites and I was always curious where they would lead. Hyeon Woo has been just a huge mystery and I never knew what the heck he was thinking. There is also baby boy Dae Jin, who broke my heart. Definitely the best executed story line in the whole show.
Another good aspect of the show was the editing and production value. The show was simply beautiful. I loved all the "from the floor" shots/low angle ones, even though they started overusing them at some point. But from an aesthetic point of view, it felt as if it was made for me.
The Bad
Lee Tae Kyung... What a boring main character. Legit did not care about him at all. Isn't it tragic? The main character being the weakest one?
The confusion I felt from the writing team. As if they could not make up their minds on what the drama is supposed to be. Is it a character driven drama set in a court/business setting? Is it a crime, fast paced one with action? Is it a psychological one with some good old psychopaths? What was it?
The set up of the characters and the plot was too long. It basically took 10 out of 16 episodes. While I enjoyed the last 6 a lot, the first 10 were truly off. It felt as if I was watching two different dramas.
The "I couldn't care less"
The romance... What was the point? It leads to nowhere, they have no romantic chemistry nor they look or act as past lovers. The only scenes that gave you that impression are the few when they are talking about it and you are like - oh yeah, they were a thing before the show started.
Yeon Ah character - I don't know if I was just not impressed with Nana's acting (though I know she ain't bad and has some good skills), but I could not connect with her at all.
Overall, I would not recommend watching. The only memorable bits and characters are the supporting parts, so it would be a waste of time. It was not a bad show, but I rather take a bad one that I can laugh about than the mediocre one, that I just feel bored and frustrated with.
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KEEPS YOUR INTEREST BUT WHAT IS WITH THE ENDING?
The corrupt politicians scene has been done way too often in kdramas but this one has a different twist. All the bad deeds are shown so at least you know who the real evil ones are. The ML, who is one of my very favorites actors and serious eye candy, is great throughout. The FL is good but her character is a bit boring. The two main support MLs are really good at showing thhl and psycho side of people.Why oh why did they have to ruin a decent drama with that ending? Someone please explain it to me. Geesh.
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This review may contain spoilers
watch this for Choi Jin Hyuk, not sure about Lee Tae Kyung
well i watched this in skips mainly because of CJH doing another law drama after Pride and Prejudice but i might rewatch later.first of all, this is one of the least sophisticated law dramas i have ever watched, writing wise.
this shouldn't be a thriller at all contrary to the tagged genre, it could've been anything else but that. most likely noir.
in terms of cinematography executions, it reminds me a lot of Confession (2019) which uses this dark/greyish undertone a lot to keep the mood mellow.
first of all, in terms of writing. this is probably the simplest way to write a law drama LOL. you can predict the big picture almost right away after the first two sub-cases were thrown in.
usually in better law/thriller dramas, they keep throwing plot twists in the sub-cases to keep you engaged in guessing the real culprit. yeah, that's the biggest problem in the writing here. the real culprits are as clear as day, there's no surprise at all about that. so usually in situations where writers decide to go down this path where there's very little surprises, it's in the skillful threading of the story sequences that really makes the biggest impact.
which has been really mediocre in this drama to say the least.
i get that the story meant to focus or revolves itself around the two male leads, namely Lee Tae Kyung and Song Woo Young, and the 'development' of their relationship for lack of better terms, i.e. the brokenness/crashing down of their relationship. so the cases to be solved really focused on these two.
however, that is problematic because this is a slow paced drama with the entire storyline almost served to you on a silver platter, as early as the first half of the series. i believe that if the pace is decisively slow, then the developmental building/entanglement/resolution of the cases should also be slow, complex or gradual to build better tension. i guess you can see how i am almost saying that the writers are failing miserably at that.
it's pretty damn obvious to me that this drama severely lacks the beautiful complexities that most well written thriller law dramas have of its genre. i can explain why. it's because the writers not only focused the cases around the two male leads, they also decided to focus on:
1) the sub-cases that use supporting casts that appear or are mentioned about often but actually do not contribute much to the advancement of the story, unless to keep the links to the big picture therefore end up being repetitive and highly predictable.
2) the resolving of cases between a small number of working teams who are mainly focused on cases only and not shown much personalities at all outside of it. LOL! booooringgggg.
i also feel that it's quite a problem that both the leads cooperating to seek justice are people of law (a prosecutor and a lawyer), so there's not much push and pull dynamics that happen, compared to if the other partner is someone from the police force, i.e. a detective.
don't even get me started on the hints of romance, bloody hell. the pair is such a good looking couple, and what a missed opportunity it has been not to explore so much more.
they are presented to the story as exes, but we hardly have a meaningful flashback of the time they shared together. and all the moments sharing how they still care for each other are very minimal. there's only two meaningful skinship moments between them, 1) was when she wanted to lift up his shirt to check on his injury when he keeps declining to admit (well not really, since his hands were too fast to block her), and 2) when he hugged her after a huge tragedy in her life.
gosh, i wish they explored more. i always love a good visual couple, LOL.
and i'd finally end with the characterization of Lee Tae Kyung. i read one of the reviews saying that he's probably the weakest link in the drama. well i thoroughly enjoy the lead actor who plays him, so i am going to try to be at least objective here. come to think of it, i might painfully admit that he comes across really flat, blerghh.
and i have to say i am kinda disappointed with this character because with it being so controlled and subdued, there's not much that Choi Jin Hyuk can show within his usually full-on acting range like it was spectacularly evident in Tunnel. this is when i realise that you can have a world class actor playing a character but if the range is very limited, then not even him can save it LOL.
also between the two villains Song Woo Young and Tak Soo Ho, i actually preferred Tak Soo Ho more but it's really a shame that he's only the secondary villain in this. this guy's a straight up psychopath but he doesn't get as much screen time to show how brutally evil he can get, rather they only makes him come across as demented and creepy when he could have delivered much greater impact. i wished they had given him better opportunity to shine like Vincenzo's writers did to Jang Jun Woo's character played by Ok Taec Yeon.
all in all, highly recommendable mainly for Choi Jin Hyuk's eternal gorgeousness, LMAO~
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Alright
The drama needed to move faster or take a different route or get shortened because after a very long build up and endless anticipation the delivery/payoff wasn't quite as impactful as I expected. Some later parts had too much running around, silence and a lack of communication. You can tell they were trying to stretch it. Considering the theme of the drama being dark/depressing/sad, the cinematography needed some adjustments. It needed slightly darker colors and saturation, lower brightness and contrast, and less exposure. Considering the theme, I also expected more violence. With all that being said, it's still a decent watch.Was this review helpful to you?
