herc-u-luis
A Good Start, with Great Possibility for Success, Alongside chances of Falling off the Rail.
This is my Initial review of the show, which I will update with passage of important episodes or at the very end of the show, As, I believe it's important to update the review and the score if a show becomes better/worse compared to the start so that the rating doesn't get overinflated or goes down unfairly simply due to having a great start or due to sheer Star power or the lack thereof.
To start with the review, I will first go ahead and compare this show with "Beyond Evil", the super hit psychological crime thriller drama of 2021. Don't misunderstand, the two shows are very different. One has pretty much nothing to do with the other. What I am talking about is the initial confusion and ambiguity of the important characters, what's going on with them? What are they doing, and why? What's the end game? What's driving the main lead? One thing that was done Extremely well in case of "Beyond Evil" is that nobody could understand what was going on in the first 4-5 episodes. It wasn't anything close to black and white, like you know who the bad guy is, who the good guy is, who is the killer, we knew pretty much nothing. It was a Crazy Unpredictable show in the beginning, then felt like it was going normally, then it became very unpredictable again. The Devil Judge seems to have started that way, and we can't be sure as to what to expect. Although it's not as Dark as "Beyond Evil", as there are characters who you can Easily say aren't really on the side of the Devil, and are trying to simply realize their ideals in a world of Injustice. Let's see how long do the writers decide to maintain the aura of mystery and unpredictability, as it's been just two episodes.
To be honest, a Dystopian Dark Crime Thriller is supposed to start that way, and over time this show can get better. The motivation behind some of the characters to pursue what they are pursuing, isn't really clear, and that's what makes it fun and intriguing. However, shows like this happen to walk on thin line. It's fairly easy to lose direction and cause massive failure in storyline, making it too unbelievable, too much to swallow and basically making it just too much to give it a free pass to. We will have to see about that as the show progresses.
The Cast is very good, with Ji Sung as the main character. Happy to see Park Jin Young getting a major role after his good performance is "He is Psychometric". I am not really gonna delve more into the cast, as I think in "Kdrama Review World", there is just too much emphasis on the cast and their """Visuals"""", something that I feel cringed by to be honest. I prefer to give ratings and reviews based on acting itself, whoever the cast is. So far, the acting has been very good by both the Main Lead and other main characters. The supporting cast has also done a good job, taking their part in keeping the aura of mystery alive.
Because this is a Dystopian thriller, there are some elements that you will have to accept as truth from the start. Like, why do everybody trust the Judge? How can somebody gain so much trust and acceptance from not just the political leaders, businessmen and media giants, but also the people itself? What has he done to gain so much trust? And how it that even possible in a digital world? Can anyone be that faultless in their job?? These are the things that you have to accept as facts, because in a dystopian alternate society, things won't always go the way things go in real life. In real life, a judge don't go shooting a rifle with incredible accuracy to a moving, crashing bus, that too in front of police squad. However, in dystopian reality, that can happen, as the society there can be pretty different in and of itself. Also, that's how many Dystopian western shows have done it for decades, so you can call this kind of exaggeration an element of the genre itself.
The music is actually Very Good, the violin notes are quite amazing. It does well to build up tension. The music actually does justice to the environment of the show, and that's what I like about it so far.
Although, the CGI and Animation could have been better, it looked very sloppy to be honest. Didn't feel the impact of some of the scenes due to that.
That's going to be my review for now. Let's see how it goes.
Edit: So far so good, the show is developing into a pretty impactful drama. I feel like there are some issues that will be made clear in the future. I am keeping the ratings the way they have been for now, I am well above halfway. Hopefully they finish well, when they finish, I will update again.
To start with the review, I will first go ahead and compare this show with "Beyond Evil", the super hit psychological crime thriller drama of 2021. Don't misunderstand, the two shows are very different. One has pretty much nothing to do with the other. What I am talking about is the initial confusion and ambiguity of the important characters, what's going on with them? What are they doing, and why? What's the end game? What's driving the main lead? One thing that was done Extremely well in case of "Beyond Evil" is that nobody could understand what was going on in the first 4-5 episodes. It wasn't anything close to black and white, like you know who the bad guy is, who the good guy is, who is the killer, we knew pretty much nothing. It was a Crazy Unpredictable show in the beginning, then felt like it was going normally, then it became very unpredictable again. The Devil Judge seems to have started that way, and we can't be sure as to what to expect. Although it's not as Dark as "Beyond Evil", as there are characters who you can Easily say aren't really on the side of the Devil, and are trying to simply realize their ideals in a world of Injustice. Let's see how long do the writers decide to maintain the aura of mystery and unpredictability, as it's been just two episodes.
To be honest, a Dystopian Dark Crime Thriller is supposed to start that way, and over time this show can get better. The motivation behind some of the characters to pursue what they are pursuing, isn't really clear, and that's what makes it fun and intriguing. However, shows like this happen to walk on thin line. It's fairly easy to lose direction and cause massive failure in storyline, making it too unbelievable, too much to swallow and basically making it just too much to give it a free pass to. We will have to see about that as the show progresses.
The Cast is very good, with Ji Sung as the main character. Happy to see Park Jin Young getting a major role after his good performance is "He is Psychometric". I am not really gonna delve more into the cast, as I think in "Kdrama Review World", there is just too much emphasis on the cast and their """Visuals"""", something that I feel cringed by to be honest. I prefer to give ratings and reviews based on acting itself, whoever the cast is. So far, the acting has been very good by both the Main Lead and other main characters. The supporting cast has also done a good job, taking their part in keeping the aura of mystery alive.
Because this is a Dystopian thriller, there are some elements that you will have to accept as truth from the start. Like, why do everybody trust the Judge? How can somebody gain so much trust and acceptance from not just the political leaders, businessmen and media giants, but also the people itself? What has he done to gain so much trust? And how it that even possible in a digital world? Can anyone be that faultless in their job?? These are the things that you have to accept as facts, because in a dystopian alternate society, things won't always go the way things go in real life. In real life, a judge don't go shooting a rifle with incredible accuracy to a moving, crashing bus, that too in front of police squad. However, in dystopian reality, that can happen, as the society there can be pretty different in and of itself. Also, that's how many Dystopian western shows have done it for decades, so you can call this kind of exaggeration an element of the genre itself.
The music is actually Very Good, the violin notes are quite amazing. It does well to build up tension. The music actually does justice to the environment of the show, and that's what I like about it so far.
Although, the CGI and Animation could have been better, it looked very sloppy to be honest. Didn't feel the impact of some of the scenes due to that.
That's going to be my review for now. Let's see how it goes.
Edit: So far so good, the show is developing into a pretty impactful drama. I feel like there are some issues that will be made clear in the future. I am keeping the ratings the way they have been for now, I am well above halfway. Hopefully they finish well, when they finish, I will update again.
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