A Thrilling and Unexpected Ride

Set in the dystopian country of South Korea, it is about a judge who's trying to punish bad people that can't be punished by law, using a live-streaming court, open to the public.

The 'punish the unpunishable using any way possible' prompt is not a new story in the kdramaland. In fact, I first watch this drama because the synopsis reminds me of Vincenzo that I've once enjoyed. The similarity I found between these two dramas is the 'problem-solving' format. It started with a less important case, then slowly building the tension and reveals more cases, which is related to big and bigger problems, in this case, related to the government. The Devil Judge doesn't just focused on the judges in the court unlike the usual legal dramas. I think it's more of a political drama, since we got a bigger scheme of political conspiracy happening in the country.

The live court show format is the thing I highlight in this drama, probably the main reason why I get to finish this, even though this drama is emotionally draining. The drama offers so many unexpected things in the court, making it thrilling for every trial they held, from the first one until the very last. Outside the court setting, about Yohan's struggle against the government, there are also a lot of unexpected things and twists happened. Every episode brings more surprise to the viewers, to the point I never get bored when watching this drama. The CGI was also very cool, but become less cooler in the last episode.
The main leads' character, Kang Yohan and Jung Sunah are well-written imo. They went through similar struggles and loneliness when they were younger, unknowingly building their own 'monster' side to their personalities and declaring war with each other. Compared to Yohan's story, I still hope that the writers can elaborate more about Sunah's background of how can she became a villain that is feared by a lot of people while she's very fragile inside.
Kim Gaon, however, kinda get me annoyed from the beginning. It's clearly shown that even though he has an idealist vision of how a judge should be, he is also a naive person easily swayed by other people words, not even checking the facts before believing it (minor spoiler alert: which may cause more chaos later). Thus making the drama is a big game of Trusting Kang Yohan: Is He A Good Person Or Not?
Last but not least, Yoon Soohyun, a police who has a similar vision as Gaon and acts as someone who often interfere Yohan and Gaon's plans. I feel that she's more like a supporting chara rather than main chara, since her portion of the story wasn't that much, more like a #1 Gaon supporter with little character development. All I can say that she deserves better.

Despite my complaints to the characters, the casts were super! They understand their assignments very well. I really love their chemistry with each other, especially when watching their interviews and BTS videos. I haven't watched any dramas from these actors before, except for Kim Minjung (whose also did a very great job portraying a sassy, ambitious lady), and they amazed me with their acting skills! Ji Sung is so charming while portraying the charismatic and mysterious judge Kang Yohan, so charming that I'm becoming his fan now :D
Also kudos to the supporting characters: Judge Oh, Elijah, Professor Min, as well as the other antagonists in the CSR foundation and The President, they did their job so good that I was able to actually get on my nerves many times! The drama only has few OSTs, that fits the drama very well on different circumstances and scenes.

Overall, watching The Devil Judge is like riding a rollercoaster with a lot of tunnels. We are not sure of what would happen next since it's dark inside the tunnel, but it is thrilling and exciting anyways. The drama isn't that remarkable for me, but it is surely enjoyable to watch, if you're into this type of legal and crime drama, of course.

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A Complete Package

This drama may be boring at first (in fact, I put this drama on hold for two years until I picked it up again), but despite the first impression of the drama, picking up this drama again may be one of the best decision I've ever made.

There are some points as to why I think it's a complete package:
- The travelling part! I've always liked travel shows, and I watched this in the middle of the pandemic that makes it harder to travel. The explanations of the French landmarks and places that got featured is easy to be understood, as if I'm one of the tourist (maybe because of the FL as well, that portrayed the tour guide very well). After watching this drama, I'm considering to put France to my travel bucket list, Haha.
- The background story from the tourists, as to why they decided to travel to France. The tour guide also has her own story as well, but not as intriguing as the tourists, I think. Every tourist in the group travels to Paris for different reasons, and it will be revealed one by one during the 12 episodes. How the writers tell the story of the tourists is also very good, as it often makes you misunderstood, thus making few 'mini-twists' along the way. From the background stories, we can see things like family love, romantic love, and self-encouragement, making this drama a heart-warming ride as well.
- The comedy! I really like how the writers able to include comedy in the story--sometimes unexpected to the viewers. The comedy aspect is quite dominant, so it's a good drama if you want some good laugh.

I haven't watched any works from the actors and actresses in this drama before, so I can't really compare how their acting were. All I can say, they are able to portray the emotions very well (since there are a lot of emotional parts in it). The main couple's chemistry were off a bit for me, but the other pairings' chemistries was quite good. The music was superb and memorable, to the point you'll know what music would play at a particular scene. I have them on my playlist and still listen to it often.

Overall, this drama is for you who wants a light, funny drama combined with a travel show to clear up your mind, with a lot of heart-warming stories in it.

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