[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Devil Judge" Episode 9

The lengthy recap which sets off the second half of "The Devil Judge" is surprisingly uninformative. Distinctive imagery is prioritized over concise explanations of the larger situation. And most of the recap doesn't even touch upon Bamboo Spear, the vigilante group that was for reasons unknown was trying to provoke Soo-hyeon into shooting them. They then rather incredibly manage to avoid being charged for their crimes of viciously attacking immigrant protestors on camera.

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Despite the huge significance of this "The Devil Judge" sidelines that plot point for more slow pacing. Seon-ah, in her new position as chairwoman, has surprisingly little interest in ruling South Korea. She propositions Yo-han with almighty political power in such a way that it feels less like an attempted bribe and more like she really does just want to burn te entire world down, just for fun. This is a marked contrast to Ga-on, who only wants to do controlled burning, and Yo-han, whose motivations are as usual inscrutable.

So naturally Ga-on once again takes on the bulk of the story arc here. We start out with him agreeing to work with Yo-han, and end with Ga-on taking on the same pragmatic attitude toward upper level crime that Yo-han does. Unfortunately there's just not much bite to these bombastic incidents anymore. The big twist was fairly predictable, and Yo-han clowning on the bad guys is less interesting at this point than watching them fumble against each other.

Their coalition is a total mess. We find out that not all the Social Responsibility Foundation co-conspirators were on-board with President Heo or the shift to populist messaging. In between Seon-ah's trolling and President Heo's incompetence in the face of crisis, there's a definite sense that these were just genuinely bad plans. Or at least, Attorney General Cha seems to think so, as she moves to backstab her allies before they backstab her first.

I really do wish "The Devil Judge" would take on a more expansive scope with its worldbuilding rather than just focus on Yo-han and Ga-on all the time. Both characters are inherently reactive. Their scheme to ensnare Attorney General Cha seems a lot more interesting than the scheme to collect bait for the scheme, yet goes largely undescribed. If screenwriter Moon Yoo-suk is going to insist on tying all the action to elaborate conspiracies, I'd really like to see more of the elaborate conspiracies than just the same old characterization.

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.