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Juvenile Justice korean drama review
Completed
Juvenile Justice
0 people found this review helpful
by puwupy
Aug 14, 2024
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

I wish they showed me more

The idea at the base of this drama is very interesting. I often see shows that tell the stories of police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, or even judges who deal with all sorts of crimes, but in these shows I rarely happen to see younger criminals. I'm not sure of how much realism is in this drama in particular, but it seems to offer a very good glimpse of what does juvenile justice imply for everyone involved: from the perpetrators, to the victims, to the judges themselves. Some of the cases that were shown in this drama were stronger than others, but they were all very interesting to watch.

What I believe was actually lacking, and also ended up lowering my rating for the series, is the overarching plot that involves Judge Sim, Judge Cha, and all the other recurring characters.
At the beginning of the story we see the protagonist, Judge Sim, as a very strict and closed off individual, who is completely focused on her job and leaves little to no room for anything else, and also "detests young offenders" with a passion. On the other hand we're also introduced to Judge Cha, who is a much warmer judge and shows empathy and understanding toward the kids he's in charge of, and seems to believe in giving them a second chance to live a "good" life.
I might have had wrong expectations from the get-go, but I thought that the show would give equal importance to both judges and their mindsets, even at the cost of putting them at opposite sides of an argument more often than not. What I actually ended up seeing, instead, was Judge Sim having such a strong and indomitable personality that Judge Cha had no other choice than to shrink in her presence all the time, only raising very weak objections to her thoughts before becoming quiet for the rest of the case. Rather than a duo with a good dynamic, it felt more like Judge Cha became nothing but a tool for Judge Sim to use as she needed. Neither changes in any significant way in the end.
Even their backstories didn't seem as important as I thought they would be. Judge Cha's past is brought up and explained all at once, and stays completely irrelevant for the sake of the plot for the rest of the show. As for Judge Sim, while her past does explain her passion toward condemning young offenders, it doesn't do much to add depth and nuance to her situation (and I'm still wondering why was there the need to show her ex husband at all, other than providing another obstacle through her ex mother-in-law).
The rest of the cast as well (Judge Kang, Judge Na, and everyone else) seemed very underutilised in my opinion.

If you're only interested in the specific cases shown in the drama, it can be a very fun watch (I know I had fun while watching them!), but I can't recommend it if you're looking for an interesting plot and well made characters.
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