There's a dark side to everything and the Voice series has been unabashedly exploring it for the past 3 seasons. It is continuously probing and reaching depths that are prevalent everywhere around us, no matter the country or city, but that we conveniently overlook in favour of viewing the world as being full of roses and peaches. The fourth installment in this series pushes our limits to the maximum in yet another aspect- family. In a way, this is a look at the other side of the coin to, "Anyone would do anything for their family." Because some would rather their family didn't do anything.

The location this time around intelligently shifts to the Vimo Island and the head of the Vimo PD states in her first conversation with Director Kang that the island has its own rules. It sets the tone for the entire series- Director Kang and her merry men of the GTT have to now play by those new, unfamiliar and at times irrational norms and try to look for a win with the odds stacked so high against them. If they manage to survive that is. If they can manage to fight the demons both internal and external, that is.

It's interesting how the writers included the concept of family as a running theme across the episodes. All the emergency cases the GTT solves have family involved in one way or another. After half the season passes by, this underlying theme is pulled up to the forefront and is neatly incorporated into the cases to be more prominent, helping them build the foundation for the final showdown. Stitched into this delicate fabric are a village and a cult as dark as the show itself and vaguely reminiscent of Save Me. It's masterfully done and as far as the main plot of Judgement Hour is concerned, it was impeccable. For once, I'm even glad the show takes a route onto the sunny side.

Yet, the show has its fair share of problems. It doesn't get rid of any of its clichés- Director Kang still faces opposition from her superiors wherever she goes and her relationship with her ML partner starts off rocky and rough. Perhaps there are other better ways of showing the internal conflicts arising from a new member in a well established team? Then comes the cyber guy embodying all the tech nerd stereotypes and filling in for the second resident vacant position on the team. He is given his idiosyncrasies, alright. Only, they are too similar to what we've seen in the previous seasons in those who held the same post. Let's say these are necessary evils and changing this basic framework would be too difficult for both the writers and viewers. Why were all the emergency cases so long and complicated? They spawned across at least two episodes and sometimes made us lose the thread of the plot. What I find the most inexcusable, however, is that the villain here is yet another lunatic. This is a subjective opinion because I've grown tired of mental illnesses (specifically the one the villain here has) being the reason for a social evil. Why couldn't he be a simple psychopath instead of being a mad one? Why should a mental illness cause a social evil in the first place? The said illness is not even depicted properly. Since this season was based on a real incident, even this part can be reasoned out.

However, I'm dissatisfied by how Director Kang and Derek Cho's trauma was dealt- I don't recall it appearing anywhere except when either or both of them had to be put on backfoot. Healing from it was somewhat better. We are leaving out the technicalities of an American working in the Korean police. That's what the show did too and that creative liberty can be accepted.

In spite of these pitfalls, Voice 4 is incredible. Song Seung Heon is good as Derek Cho even if he is less grumpy and more irritable than the previous male leads. His acting surprisingly falls flat in the emotional scenes which makes it difficult to connect with his relationship with his sister. Also, they could have done away with his English accent. Baek Sung Hyun shines as a struggling and conflicted Shim Dae Shik making his comeback to the force. Han James is impressive as Chad- his Korean-American accent is scarily sexy. Director Kang and Park Eun Soo's excellent camaraderie continues. It's always delightful to see the two women support each other. All other seasoned actors do their parts well. The star of the show, however, is Lee Kyu Hyung. The emotions he makes his range of expressions convey are endlessly beautiful. There is no one more perfect for the role, which is easily his second best, only next to Looney in Prison Playbook.

OST is suitable and cinematography is good. Voice 4 has much less gore compared to the other seasons and was therefore more bearable. I won't strictly recommend this unless someone specifically asks for dark thrillers. There's no reason why you shouldn't watch it, though. It is racy and nail biting and delivers the punch it promised it packed.