so where do i start? first of all, i do not throw out the baby with the bath water. i look at the whole picture, script, directing, acting, photography, music, costumes, jewelry, set ups, stage designs...etc. it's art, and each aspect has to support the whole - that's a good piece of art. this drama was THIS KIND of drama. did the drama have problems? hell, yes. but i am yet to see a chinese or korean drama that is perfect. can you? this particular drama - the acting was through the roof, of course i am talking about Ji Sund (Kang Yo-Han) - what a trip! i also enjoyed Kim Min-Jung (Jeong-Seon-a) i think she gave it her all, very special, presenting her evilness to the utmost perfection. i can't imagine anybody doing better than that. and i must mention the young actress Jeon Chaeeun who played Elijah, she impressed me with her arsenal of emotions at such a young age and the ability to express them on screen. Jin Young (Kim Gaon) is a story apart from the others, in my opinion. i believe that he was wrongly cast. his looks are childish and he was too "pretty" for this role, like a decoration or lollypop. but may be that was intentional, to introduce a juxtaposition to Kang Yo-Han, who is all macho in the most beautiful sense, but has a soft inside. i actually never believed that he killed his brother or caused the fire, or killed Kim Gaon's childhood friend. i just didn't feel it was in him. i also was very suspicious of Gaon's professor from the very beginning, who pushed too hard, there was something behind his fight against Yo-Han. i just didn't trust him, and of course he ended up to be the "devil", who betrayed and killed. but back to Kim Gaon. again, opposite Ji Sund, who is the top of the best in this industry, Jim Young appeared to be very weak, in character as well as in acting. so many times, i looked at his eyes, beautiful - yes, but somehow empty, looking for a way to express a certain emotion, idea, or whatever... kind of looking through the "files in his brain", but couldn't find any. Ji Sund, every movement of a finger, slightly raised eyebrow, twitch of the mouth, tilt of his head, posture, thunder in his eyes... i can go on and on, everything is at play. not a single detail missed. you could sense his reach emotional intelligence that he relies on in his work and it totally draws you into his world. i must admit, Gaon somehow remedied himself in the last episode, but that's hardly enough. Gaon's friend, Yoon Soo-Hyun, could have been even better than Gaon, she had the potential, but wasn't given a chance, i felt. so that's a missed opportunity. the rest of the cast was mostly good, but i am not going to go into details.
the script, that many complained, but truly, all or most say they enjoyed, were glued to the screen, participated in the journey, got invested in the storyline... so how can you just dismiss the script? it did something to you, didn't it? was it all realism, of course not. but i already accepted that Asian dramas suffer from lack or realism, logic, even common sense. part of the "charm" if you will. like when Jeon Seon-a goes to the hospital, she suddenly melts, feels sorry for these girls, but i did not believe for a moment that she actually has the capacity to feel compassion. none. or when she kills herself in the last episode. from what we saw from her, she would first kill the president, yes, but then she would kill Yo-han and then probably all the rest. that would be more in line with her character.
all in all, "the devil judge" drama - spectacular, intoxicating, thought provoking, mesmerizing, instantly addictive, insanely engaging and most of all RELEVANT. RELEVANT WHY? the most important to me was the message that this story tries to convey, a kind of moral and ethical directive. if you think that this is a dystopia, think again and look at politics in general. do you remember what the president said about a clean korean race, about emigrants, about a new republic, about his own power... i had goose bumps, i wanted to throw up... did you hear some of the speeches of our own previous american president - that was eerily familiar, same words, same expressions, same sentiment. and he is not the only one. the attacks on the american congress on January 6 this year was not much different than Jukchang (the bamboo stick group - self proclaimed patriots). and in general, there are different democracies now that are simply crashing and burning. if humanity can not gather it's wits and put a stop to it, if they allow these forces to manipulate them, then we are not that far from the dystopia depicted in this drama. we were almost there on january 6, 2021 in our capital in washington. and it seems like this is a call for action. a message like this is much more than a flaw in a script.