[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Devil Judge" Episode 10

Last time on "The Devil Judge" Yo-han succeeded in turning Ga-on to his cause by having everyone watch as a corporate criminal prioritizes a burning stack of money over his own family. The purpose of this recap is principally to explain why Ga-on is now uncritically assisting Yo-han with his crusade of cool and unusual punishment. The criminal himself, and his exact use as bait for the attorney general, is not further elaborated upon.

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Instead, the principal villain this time around is Choong-sik (played by Lee Hae-woon), who leads the band of thugs that's been taking Yo-han's style of theatrical justice into their own hands and beating up immigrants. Initially, there's an intriguing set-up wherein Ga-on appears to have identified Choong-sik's Internet gang as being connected to President Heo. Ga-on made this deduction by snooping around on the employment background of the crew that produces President Heo's social media videos.

But an actual serious look into official corruption goes nowhere as Choong-sik instead becomes a symbolic figurehead. That sentence kind of makes it sound like the Social Responsibility Foundation, in a savvy counterattack, turns Choong-sik into the story rather than the broader extralegal militias that he's working with. A clever move like that lets them play the hero for a change, giving them a badly needed win against Yo-han while he continues to snoop, with his secretly captured corporate crook remaining an ace in the hole.

That's not what happens. Instead, the villains are furious at Choong-sik's destruction. And in the single most mixed metaphor the drama has had to date, Choong-sik is hunted down by the very same violent thugs he used to partner with. This is presented as inspiring and just, because Choong-sik is a bad person. This creates the alarming implication that a Choong-sik with a more sympathetic backstory would have won, and totally validated the mobs.

With six episodes to go, all of which have now already aired, it's possible I'm not giving "The Devil Judge" enough credit in terms of properly exploring its own plot hooks. The trouble is, there's also been less retrospection of past cases than I was expecting. All of these events should be influencing each other, yet the cause and effect is very disjointed. The current implication is that mob justice is only good when they're doing what Yo-han says- an alarmingly fascist sentiment to bring up right as Ga-on has finally been convinced that Yo-han's a worthy ally.

Review by William Schwartz

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"The Devil Judge" is directed by Choi Jeong-gyoo, written by Moon Yoo-suk, and features Ji Sung, Kim Min-jung, Park Jinyoung, Park Gyu-young, Ahn Nae-sang, Kim Jae-kyung. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/07/03~Now airing, Sat, Sun 21:00 on tvN.