They say there are consequences to ignoring consequences that are a consequence of one's blatant unwillingness to learn from their consequences, and that to me is what The Devil Judge was all about, a story quite relevant to our present time. I am a firm believer that one man’s devil is another man’s angel. But at the same time, those who fight monsters should beware not to become the monster they fight because when someone stares too long into the abyss, it will eventually stare back, as they say. But if one can imagine what makes a perfectly normal human being become a devilish avenger, as Go-On viewed Yo Han without even knowing what drove him. It becomes apparent that it’s hard for others to understand another person’s pain if they haven’t experienced it themselves. Justice-seeking monsters or devils like Yo Han do not just appear out of thin air; they are created; they become who they are because something unimaginable happened, and the magnitude of it only matters to them.

But regardless of how others thought of him, Yo Han was always the power of the powerless, a man with a soul. Yes, his methods were unconventional, but at least he did not stand silently in the face of evil even as he lived with his unimaginable pain. Because as they say, the ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. Yes, Ga-On (kudos to Park Jin Young for a well-done job) was a man of conviction. Still, he proved time and time again that nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. The same goes for Justice Min, who thought doing the wrong thing for the right reasons justified his actions which he will have to spend the rest of his days atoning as Ga-On told him no better judgment than that for someone like him. As they say, when one dances with the devil, the devil doesn't change. The devil changes them.

Ga-On, as a character, goes through a lot of heartaches, the biggest of all was losing his best friend, and in a way, it left him vulnerable to other people's manipulation, which made him do some unforgivable things. It doesn't excuse his behavior, but it does explain his choices. In the end, he falls in the same pit Yo Han found himself in so many years ago and finds the only way out is to take extreme measures to atone for the mistakes he's made, which was quite ironic for a man who blindly followed his conviction, a lesson learned the hard way, that the law is powerless in the face of power. As Yo Han says, monsters aren't born; they are awoken, and if one wants to make a dent, they may have to become the monster they so fervently abhor. I loved that Yo Han had people like him who stayed loyal to him to the end; they are all heroes in my book who understood the choices they made came with responsibilities they never floundered. As frustrating as it was to watch Ga-On fiddle with his inexperience and flip flipping as important to witness his gradual if at times sporadic development.

I would be remiss not to mention Soo Hyun, and unfortunately, as a character, she never worked for me. I could never really connect to her, and I tried. It was almost like she really didn't matter in the scheme of things and was created as a buffer for Ga-On. She was truly one-dimensional; everything about her revolved around Ga-On and his needs. She became a Cop to protect him, started investigating Yo Han for of him; she did nothing for herself, and I think if the writer had made her less focused on Ga-On and given her more depth in her function as a COP and a woman for that matter I would have been able to connect with her as a character and an individual. It felt like she had no value added to the drama, and that doesn't necessarily speak to Park Gyu Young as an actor but more the character. Judge Oh Jin Joo was probably another character that didn't get her fair share, but I commend Kim Jae Kyung for making the most of what she had and shinning through by the end of the drama.

Sun-Ah and her goons, on the other hand, were always prisoners of their greed. They lived in its bottomless pits, endlessly trying to satisfy that unquenchable hunger to no avail. The more they got, the more they wanted, but Sun Ah was her own doom and most significant enemy. I thought it quite hypocritical that Sun Ah was moved by certain things and didn't stand silently in the harassment or demeaning of women and orphan girls, which made her appear heroic in a way, yet a monster in the way she went after what she deemed hers, including the killing of innocent souls. It's so true when they say hypocrisy is the vice homage pays to virtue. Hats off to the talent that is Kim Min Jung in how she effortlessly portrayed the complex yet compelling Sun-Ah who lived and ended her own hell and on her own terms. Her life was the sum of all her choices. It must've been torture being her.

Many believed there wasn't much difference between Sun-Ah and Yo Han, Sun-Ah herself believed that, and that was probably the beginning of the end for her. But I say there are quite different. Sun Ah's revenge was very personal if we can even call it revenge. It was all for her and about her; she was never an avenger, nor did she have good intentions. In fact, her views were entirely incorrigible because she was utterly convinced of her moral perfection and the righteousness of her own cause, which made her sadistic and pretty dangerous. As I saw it, it was never really about revenge for Yo Han as much as it was about empowering the powerless. It was fitting that the ending showed history repeating itself and that the people who created the live show to popularize their image were judged by it. It was not just righteous, but justice in action. The Devil Judge was a delightful investment. Ji Sung again proves why he deserves to be on my top five list with his tremendously fantastic acting abilities. Kudos to the many gifted cast and production team members that made The Devil Judge the success it became, standing ovation for a well-done job. Yo Han strolling in a blaze of glory gives me great vibes for a second season. The drama's musical scores were also brilliantly done.