The Judge from Hell

Don't judge Hell by its cover!

Without spoilers, all I can say is that this show deserve the hype, BUT it's not perfect!

The first half of the season was a HELLA FUN! Park Shin Hye as Bit Na carried the whole show, and that's not even surprising. Honestly, at first I thought we're gonna get some weekly cases, but that doesn't really happen. The overall story was good, but predictable, especially if this isn't your first fantasy Kdrama. I had some problems with the writing, because even tho I don't like when they say everything out loud, the case of real Bit Na and what happened to her would be nice to know without doing research online.

The biggest issue with the show is probably the fact that it lacks consistency. The problem with fantasy shows in general is that the writers creating a world and rules that they can't follow later on, because if they would, they need to kill the main characters. I don't want to talk about the mythological part of the show, because it wouldn't make any sense, but the plot armor helped the main characters a lot, because there's no way in hell (no pun intended) Bit Na is stronger than her leaders.

Also, even tho the main leads were cute and all, I think they were better as a bickering frenemies than lovers! I think the romance is kind of took out the fun from the show, but it's not a big deal. I just didn't felt they had a great chemistry as a couple.

The main story with the serial killer and the families were amazing, where the show really shines is the drama, the comedy, and the action.

For me, the best "couple" of the show is easily BitNa, aka "Soon To Be Dead" and the "Old Hag"! That part is still making me laugh!!!😂 Park Shin Hye and Kim Young Ok were absolutely amazing together!

The OST and a Score is also great, especially the latter, and props to the director and cinematographer, and of course the VFX team! This isn't really a big budget Kdrama, yet it still looked great!

I'm not sure if we're gonna get a 2nd season, but if we will, I'm gonna watch it for sure, because this was entertaining!

If you can look past on the flaws and just enjoy what you get, you won't be disappointed!

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Judge from Hell was a ton of fun and it far surpassed my low expectations for it. Park Shin-hye was iconic as Kang Bit-na. She was hilarious and also did a great job with the many action scenes. She really showed her range.

The revenge sequences as she sends murderers to hell were great and watching her strut away from the crime scenes was so memorable. The back and forth between her and Han Da-on was always fun to watch and they had great chemistry. While the romance felt a little underdeveloped, I still really liked them together.

The show could’ve benefitted from a few more episodes, if only because it would’ve allowed time for expansion of plot lines that felt forgotten. I really thought we were going to see more of actual Kang Bit-na in hell and that felt like a bit of a loose thread. Some of the characters also felt wasted, like Bael who could’ve been a lot more interesting but just fell a little flat. The plot also felt unnecessarily complicated towards the end, with so many different villains, some of whom were wearing other faces. I would’ve preferred to have a little more of the revenge and a little less of the convoluted plot at the end.

I think that Park Shin-hye really put on such a fun show that regardless of any plot issues I might have had, I really had a great time watching. She was effortlessly funny and over the top, but in a way that made sense for the story and character. I think she’d be so much fun to see as a true villain in another project because the energy she had in the revenge scenes could work so well in a project like that!

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A Riveting Blend of Justice and Supernatural Forces

The Judge From Hell is an enthralling Korean drama that redefines the supernatural legal genre, delivering a spellbinding mix of courtroom drama, eerie suspense, and moral introspection. At its center is Park Shin-Hye, who shines in her transformative role as a demon judge seeking justice beyond human comprehension.

Set as if it's a mockery of the current Korean justice system, Park Shin-Hye’s character, an enigmatic judge with demonic powers, emerges as a relentless force balancing the scales of justice. Her duality—a merciless arbiter of punishment and a vulnerable soul burdened by her past—creates a compelling narrative anchor. The drama explores themes of redemption, vengeance, and the blurred line between good and evil.

Park Shin-Hye delivers a career-defining performance, embodying the judge’s inner turmoil and steely resolve with magnetic intensity. Her transformation scenes, where her demonic powers manifest, are breathtaking and highlight her versatility as an actress. The supporting cast complements her well, particularly her demonic teams and the lead detective who pursues her, who add layers of moral complexity and emotional depth to the story.

Visually, the drama is a masterpiece. Dark, brooding cinematography and meticulous production design transport viewers to a hauntingly beautiful world. The special effects, especially during her own trial confrontations, are both chilling and visually stunning. The soundtrack further elevates the atmosphere, blending haunting melodies with pulse-pounding beats.

However, the series does have minor flaws. Some subplots involving secondary characters feel rushed or underdeveloped, and a few episodes in the middle stretch could have been tighter in pacing. Nonetheless, the climactic episodes more than make up for these shortcomings, delivering a thrilling and emotionally satisfying conclusion.

The Judge From Hell is a bold and imaginative drama that captivates from start to finish. Park Shin-Hye’s mesmerizing performance and the show’s unique premise make it a must-watch for fans of supernatural and legal dramas alike. It’s a haunting reminder that justice doesn’t always come from above—it can rise from the depths of hell itself.

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A different and very nice k-drama

This unique story grabs the audience right from the first episode. It really has what it takes to be one of the best of 2024. While this year has been promising for K-dramas, many have disappointed us. But "The Judge from Hell" turned out to be an unexpected surprise.
What I love most about this drama is how the male lead's character and development are tied to the female character. From the moment he enters a scene, all the women aren’t just watching him in awe with comments like, "Wow, he's so handsome!" He’s not just there to be eye candy. His role isn’t just a romantic subplot for the female lead to revolve around; it’s actually one of the foundations of the story. His journey is what drives Kang Bitna’s transformation.

This show doesn’t just promise a romantic story; it offers a sweet and satisfying love within a beautifully crafted crime narrative. The female lead isn’t just a judge; she’s like a devil. Her goal is to complete her duties and send criminals to hell, ultimately knowing she might end up there herself. However, Kang Bitna’s story and her love for Han Do-on help her become more human. If she stayed completely unchanged and untransformed, it would make the story pretty boring for us. The show has many positive aspects, starting with its impressive plot, which can be a challenge for fantasy dramas. The storyline is overall satisfying. The direction is quite good, giving us entertaining, thrilling, and emotional moments.


Park Shin Hye plays her role really well, and Kim Jae Young is a new face for me; I haven’t seen him before, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on him from now on.

The way criminals are punished for their crimes definitely got us all really excited, and it was quite satisfying.

However, I want to mention a couple of negative points about the show. First, I couldn’t really connect with the serial killer’s backstory; the reasons behind the killings weren’t very strong. Yes, we saw some of the victims’ stories, but the overall narrative felt a bit weak, with not many details.

Another issue is the music. Specifically, the “Gehenna” sound effect that plays after Kang Bitna kills the criminals really disrupted the atmosphere. I don’t think it was necessary at all.


This will contain a bit of a spoiler.

Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations for the ending. For me, whether it was a happy or sad conclusion didn’t really matter because the overall story already gave us a sense of closure. I wouldn’t have been disappointed if Kang Bitna completed her mission and returned to hell. For those who are about to watch, enjoy!

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Expectations Met and Lost

First off, the show is an absolute watch. I remained hooked from the first episode to the last... Had to take breaks though since I'm not really into the dark themes 😅.

The overall theme of justice was very moving and I found me asking myself the hard questions on my own sense of justice and that around me. I think having a 'judge from hell' showed the failings of the human laws especially in dealing with those who have the means to pay their way out... but also how the law can be manipulated for other crimes, because in all essence, Kang Bit Na made her rulings according to the law. It also depicted quite literally what it means to take the law into your own hands and the 'true justice' scenes were amazing to watch as the tables are tuurned on the criminals. I like that this was consistent throughout the drama.

Kim Da On's character was interesting in its evolution. From the easy beguilement when he liked the judge thinking she was on his side, to the rejection when their views clashed and the ultimate choice to side with a demon for his own goals...His character feels very human being that it is being contrasted against a demon who has very different rules for her own court. His cuteness was very endearing to watch.

In the overall direction of the drama, my expectations from the blub and trailer were met. The cast was amazing, the acting great, the OST (mostly the croossroads one) an earworm but the story kind of fizzled out in some areas. We're shown KBN ending up in hell by mistake and Justitia taking possession of her body, but even as the story ends we still don't know what happened to the real KBN...It honestly wouldn't have been a problem if somehow in 30secs we're shown her being sent to the right place, but there're scenes where she's running/discovering hell which gave the expectation that she'd return somewhere down the line. Also, does this mean that even for the other possesions those people ended up in hell by accident? I also expected the scene where KBN would return to hell we'd have the 'original' Justitia since she had a different face from KBN...Satan's fight was waay underwhelming, I thought he was second to Baal! I honestly expected Justitia to summon Bael to fight him since she's lower ranked than him....For all the power Bael showed at the beginning, he ended up being a redundant demon, basically playing a messenger between Justitia and Lucifer. I was even confused about the deal to make Justitia human when in the entire drama she didn't show any inclination of wanting to be one. So was Bael being a good master/plotting something?

The romance was 50/50 for me. The scenes and moments were cute and endearing but some felt out of place. When the humanizing changes started happening, it felt wrong to assume that it was love based on the character settings for the drama. Everyone telling KBN that she was in love made her beleive it too. Don't get me wrong, but I felt with the emphasis that was being placed on the lady judge statue, the development of emotions would have been developed torwards why her eyes were covered or something... Also why is love the only treasonous emotion and how is it okay for Arong get away with obsessing over Justitia to the point of interfering with her romance?

My review is kinda all over the place(sorry) and ended up being a ranting(very sorry)... But the show is amazing to watch, its just some plot holes that were left unfilled.

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Disappointed....story all over the place.

I didn't enjoy the drama as much as I had hoped. The beginning was promising, and the main female lead carried the show with her excellent portrayal of her character. However, the second half became increasingly ridiculous, with the plot taking a nosedive. It's a shame because the storyline had potential. Additionally, the romance between the characters felt forced and lacked chemistry. The behavior of the main lead was inconsistent and his character seemed poorly developed. As a result, I started to lose interest and found it difficult to stay focused on the show. Also the open ending was unnecessary.

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Fantasy justice and criticism for real world laws

Justitia is an extremely educated demon, having not only learned demon laws, but apparently all of the law and procedures of the South Korean court system in addition to memorizing the Christian bible and who knows what else. I do wonder if it was also a form of torture for her to endure in addition to being the heir to Bael, but whatever the lore about that, her skills makes her uniquely suited to play the system to her own ends. Manipulating humans while dealing with new feelings that her human body sends her is another issue. She did not understand how crushes causes dangerous impulses like fluctuating with wanting and not wanting the attention of a guy by taunting the police with dead bodies that would lead back to her being a glaring suspect. It's so ridiculous that she knows how the investigations work, but she still leaves the bodies with an extremely unique stamp on the forehead of the bodies around. Her cases draw attention to how the system both in the show and in real life can give slap on the wrists for the most horrific crimes and even in the case of serial killers, they can become "innocent" by just waiting out the clock on the statute of limitations, as well as corruption from the rich and powerful in the justice system.

Although Justitia falling for Da On is a big turning point, it's merely one part of her softening towards humanity. Her heart also pains for other people and she sheds tears for them as well. The Satan hunting Demon charity volunteer group leader and demon crime scene cleaning crew shows that this is a danger and possibility for all demons to become sympathetic to humans, so it's not only Da On causing this in Justitia. I really like that when she asks for 3 years in the human world, it's not to play house with Da On, but to live as an actual human judge full time. She's not at this point centering her life around this man at all, so I'm fine with the romance. The awkward immobile closed mouth kiss scenes never look good, directors need to wake up and accept the fact. The actors show in a much later kiss scene that they can do a normal kiss scene just fine. Also the interrupted kiss gag is also never funny, especially when it's multiple times. The ending has Justitia suddenly given another deal about killing 10 killers to remain human forever and also there is the fate of the original human Judge Kang Bit Na uncertain. It seems to suggest a second season rather than closing out cleanly with room for more, which would have been better as there is never any guarantee for a second season, especially for asian dramas.

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Basic and underwhelming

It’s like, a “mystery” that gets solved in two seconds

they think they're being "smart" by the "plot twists", two faced people that fool the law, but they're so obv, i mean why would they even take the case if that person wasn't the villain xD

for the first case, he fooled the people by claiming he "was repenting". but yeah let's say the law would've put him in jail for a year and he'd come back, but so many things that happened was eyeroll worthy
And the victim is too scared to leave her house cuz he’ll kill her so she chooses to stay alone, won't open the door for the cop who said he'll help, but opens the door for a random stranger claiming to be sent by that cop



for the second case, everyone believed her, and ml comes with her record that she killed her previous husband after he becomes blind, so yeah when there's three mysterious accidents, it starts to make fun of the law




so, the fl is being like death note's light, she is murdering ppl and creating fear with her way of exposing it like a serial killer
And then they add romance to make it look fluffy...

Yes she’s taking rightful revenge, but she also “killed” two not bad ppl without evidence, and she leaves bodies for fun..

So it can create the same chaos as death note, ppl don’t know she’s a demon judging villains cuz it’s her “role/job”, same with dramas like no way out, others would think “ah I can kill a murderer too” and start killing and judging cuz the law won’t

So they’re adding the romance to make it lighter and never go that far in their actual plot..

and this demon judge character, is so over animated, extremely comical, they had to make her so comical to lighten up the role but the over exaggerated facial expressions and extremely high pitched voice just makes it annoying
I don’t wanna compare her to IU but HDL was exactly the perfect balance, she seemed evil and scary but it kept a good comedy while still allowing her to be cute yet mythically believable as someone who’s lived for so long


After a while, she stops “judging” and it became another boring mystery chase for the worlds most obvious serial killer and satan
They had “three” big side plots:
Fl being chased by the demon that would kill her if she cried
Ml finding the serial killer
Fl finding satan

First one, even tho they killed another poor demon for it, she was “spared”
Second one was tied to the third one, the big scary demon she had to hunt, that was solved in two seconds
And they made such a big deal on all and how she didn’t want to kill the serial killer cuz the victims deserved justice

Just for him to run away from the law and her having to finish him off….


They were also talking so much about how if she didn’t kill the serial killer, she’d die… again for them to let that go
And they give her three years to enjoy her time with ml, just for her to leave him and occasionally meet him
And then she’s given yet another chance that if she killed xx amount of ppl, she’ll become human

So, she can be a murderer judge, have feelings, kill ppl and leave marks like a serial killer, get romance, and the chance to become human when



That demon who just loved a human was killed off, real bitna was left in hell without any justice, and PSH wasn’t the real justina, like if she’s allowed to become human, she should have her own face of nara


So yeah I really hated this, they had so many big scary hard to achieve plots, and half were skimmed over while the other half were forgotten…

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You could say that I’ve been waiting for this drama to come along and sweep me of my feet for some time. A gloomy fantasy with a hint of horror and humor that doesn’t take itself too seriously is something I really enjoy. And then it was kind of a bonus to get a story that gave Park Shin Hye a role that made her shine as brightly as I know she can.

The plot, or the setting around it, was a bit rough around the edges at times. It can certainly be argued that her role as a judge was not particularly necessary for the story itself – she could just as well have worked in a morgue. And as a result, the plot allows itself to play as loosely as it wants with that setting. This is not a serious legal drama, this is a fantasy about demons, and as long as it has its own internal logic that it follows to a point, and it works decently. The court was a decent plot device that moves the story along, but it did feel a tad repetitive and almost too much of a crutch to the story at times.

That internal logic doesn’t drag the story down unless you really focus on how the legal system or anything like that works and perhaps some of the logic of how the underworld functions to be a but flawed, but I don’t find myself wondering too much about it as I watch the show. The fantasy-elements don’t feel too hesitant to play around but it’s not as if things are happening for no reason. It gets a little confusing as we get further into the story, and the cop-part of the story may be a little basic, but the fantasy adds something new and fresh to that tried-and-true story.

The drama focuses a bit on the morality of humans, along with the laws they have made to uphold the justice and the people who break them. There is a certain thrill in watching our main character take revenge on the criminals with the same amount of blood and violence that they inflicted on others. But that part got a bit repetitive until the serial killer storyline really got going. And while I thought the drama did a good job of showing human corruption and how weak the justice system is at times, and getting to see Park Shin Hye in all those action scenes was fun, I wanted a little more out of that theme than we got.

The series was exciting with a lot of action and some violence - without being too gory or too cruel. They managed to balance those things with a decent amount of humor and a gentle character moment. Towards the middle, when everything truly was set in motion, there was not a dull moment to be found, and the drama managed to keep the momentum going until the very end.

One of my favorite things about The Judge from Hell manages to deliver one trope, or the role reversal, which I really enjoy; I adore evil female characters or a cold-hearted immortal female character who bring softer human male characters along with them and little by little she allows herself to open a little. Or the male character allows her feel things for the first time in a long time without her becoming too soft. Seeing female and male characters swapping traditional gender roles is always fun, especially if it’s done well.

The romance was slow, which suits the story well, but it was still full of suspense, tenderness and passion. But the story worked for every smile and every tear the characters produced as the narrative slowly moves from enemies to companions and then to lovers.

The drama seemed to have wholeheartedly embraced its wacky setting and just gone full steam ahead. The thrilling action, the exciting build-up, the internal logic as well as the character moments were something that the drama managed so well, and the acting was good across the board, which made the entertainment value of the drama truly addictive. Although for sure, the drama had its weaker moments when history repeated itself slightly and the special effects were perhaps a little lame at times but that can also be part of the charm.

But what I think makes this drama as good as it was were the characters; the spark between them and the humor. The combination of the motives of the main characters and the way they change places, one becomes warmer and the colder was well deserved within the narrative and even the secondary character was well executed, getting their moments shine and develop within the story.

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