[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Devil Judge" Episode 12

So Attorney General Cha has killed herself. Initially Soo-hyeon is on the scene and appears to suspect Yo-han of murdering her. What she was doing there and why she suspected Yo-han of murdering the Attorney General is unclear, but this plot hook is almost immediately abandoned. "The Devil Judge" then moves on to all the characters feeling like Attorney General Cha's suicide was a red line, and that Yo-han has gone too far by provoking this rash action on her part.

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As mentioned in my last review, this could make sense if there was a feeling that Yo-han deliberately provoked the suicide. But this reading isn't supported either emotionally or materially. Yo-han genuinely appears to feel bad about Attorney General Cha killing herself, despite her being a terrible person who almost certainly deserved it. But more importantly, Yo-han doesn't actually get the incriminating evidence he was looking for. So even if he did plan for this, the plan didn't work.

Then Jeong-ho makes his big return, and his complaints against Yo-han are surprisingly vague. I rolled my eyes when one villain beams about the perfect timing because yeah, the timing is way too perfect. It's incredibly scripted. The narrative needs something to try and turn public opinion against Yo-han despite every recent plot beat making Yo-han look heroic while the Social Responsibility Foundation looks monstrous, so here it is.

Speaking of which, the latter half of the episode gets into some kind of...riot, prompted by a new disease outbreak? And the Social Responsibility Foundation is behind it somehow? After all the endless moping of the earlier half of the episode, I felt like I was really missing out on some pretty critical context for the second half. Is the disease just being used as a pretext for the police to forcibly evict people? And if the police are already doing that, why is Bamboo Spear there too?

But the logical gaps of that moment compare to the actual climax, the post-script of a completely unseen confrontation between Yo-han and Seon-ah's loyal right-hand goons. I would have liked to see that actually! Both of those characters are intriguing, as they're unshakably loyal to the main characters for reasons that have never been clearly explained. Are they just strong believers in Yo-han and Seon-ah's competing visions? That would be an easier question to answer if I had any idea what Yo-han and Seon-ah's competing visions even are.

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.