The Judge from Hell

It's kind of bad, but not the worst.

The only overwhelmingly positive part of this drama is the FL's fun characterization, which Park Shin Hye clearly had a blast bringing to life. In the early episodes this was enough to carry the show, but as the episodes went by the increasingly declining plot with all the asspulls & absolutely insane sequence of events made it very difficult for me to keep enjoying the drama.
Boredom is also a problem, I for one did not enjoy that every other episode had 10 minutes worth of torture scenes/fillers. All the procedural parts were on the boring side as well.

There is not that much romance in this show, but what there is it's really not working for me, the chemistry is not there & the whole romantic plot feels incredibly forced.

As I said before the plot is crazy, but it's not like they suddenly piss off the viewers with something really annoying, it's more of a perpetual eye rolling situation.

As for why is a show that's just barely hitting mediocre so successful? I think similar to Squid Game the audience that is normally watching regular kdramas found all the action scenes & bloodletting a new-ish experience that's still different -in my mind far worse- than now aging American shows of this type. -\_(ツ)_/¯

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Slightly overrated if you ask me

So there are many reviews gushing about this drama. I feel a little meh about it.
The drama delivers what the summary/introduction promises. Just that its almost only that much nothing more. plot-wise.

The world building in this drama was really lacking and left my head scratching.
It seemed really christian cosmos inspired, and what bothered me that they seemed to be using legit demon/-ve christian cosmos characters (idk really cause im not christian). I feal that they couldve made the names up for the 'aesthetic' that they clearly wanted instead of using actual ones- cause names carry power. And on the other hand they used only one +ve one.
Putting that point aside, many major plot points where left unanswered.

The show really showcases vigilante justice - tit for tat instead of reform. Large parts of screentime is given to FL just beating up various villains. The gore and blood are supposed to probably elicit a feel good response from the viewer. That made me a uncomfortable- especially since the pain of the survivors ('victims') isnt really the concern- their closure isnt really the concern, but just 'u did wrong so u'll pay for it' is. There arent many emotions involved. Its all very cold. And in this regard- there is a story arc, a character arc. We witness her becoming a feeling demon judge from a cold unfeeling judge from hell. She acknowledges that just beating criminals up and punishing them in the shadows of the night isnt enough to provide justice - closure to grieving families.

The romance in the show gets very little screentime, and is more present just to be a driving force behind her character arc. Her forbidden 'human feelings' for the ML become the reason she starts feeling empathy for aggrieving families and the people around her. All other side characters (including ML) are just present and doing their thing. There isnt much focus on them at all.

You should watch this show if-
1. You like vigilante justice, are ok with skipping forward or watching scenes of criminals just being beaten up, tortured and killed for their crimes.
2. Like wacky FL
3. ML is very smart and persistent. He is so secure that hes fine with dating a demon who's actions are quite often in direct conflict with his job. He's very clear with himself about his ethics system and boundaries.
4. Want to watch a mock- mystery thriller. the only thrilling part was the score. No need to apply brains. Infact it is better if u dont apply brains, otherwise u will notice too many plotholes.
5. The 'action' genre mention refers to the torture scenes ig.
6. Openish HE

Special mention to FL's character- why i watched the show-
I was obviously very unimpressed by the show. It also got really boring past few episodes. But what kept me from dropping it was Kang Bitna's sass. It was very fun and almost inspirational (minus the vigilante justice part). Especially the way PSH smiles/smirks with the score playing in the background, or her boredom and straightforward mannerisms of dealing with everyday boring situations was very endearing and refreshing. Kang Bitna is a 'psycho' , is a little socially challenged, but she is smart, not dull. There is also some comedic effect in the show with its various side characters, mostly in the scenes outside the courtroom and torture.

Special mention regarding 'vigilante justice'-
TBH what's shown in the show isnt really what comes to my mind when i think of vigilante justice - like robin hood. They mostly try to pass on torture as VJ. Criminals who are unrepentant, dont have ability to feel empathy or even comprehend why what they did was wrong, just torturing and morbidly killing them isnt going do anything. I wasnt going to type this out since this is just a show, but unfortunately this is the axial of the show which is baffling. Major screentime is given to these scenes. There remain lot of actual real world questions regarding this particular form of VJ, but be warned that it takes center stage in this show.

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Best 2024 thriller k drama

Okay its worth it to watch it ...so go for it I won't give a spoiler if it's a happy ending or sad ending....but I was so satisfied to wach this drama drama ..I would like to watch the season 2 as well with same cast
The male is so damm hot and I can't even take my eyes off ...I would love to him in more dramas like this ...the chamestry between the female lead and male lead was so good like they don't have that much romentic secens in this dramas but they look so good together so this didn't need any High intimate sences like other k dramas ... it was fun to watch and the female lead was so good like if there would demon..the demon definitely would be like her. I just loved this drama a lot

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A perfect story

As Justitia gets punished by Bael and is forced to live on earth in the body of Kang Bit things start getting haywire at the court. And the close observance of Detective Da On is only making it worse. Kang Bit na is a beautiful judge who speaks cutthroat in court and releases criminals with a meager punishment. But people around her are unaware that she is a demon who has been secretly killing sinners she is identifying in court to fulfill her job given by Bael.
The unique and fresh concept of the story successfully draws the audience to the first episode. Park Shin Hye in a completely different avatar and her chemistry with Kim Jae Young is only making the ride smooth.
So.....go to gehnna....

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This is a rant and reason why I would never recommend this show!

I don't get the hype of this show! I watched the show while it was ongoing and sure for the first 4-5 episodes it was quite interesting but boy after that it was a painful watch till the end!.. The story seemed all over the place, the characters and their intentions did not make any sense and the romance angle was totally unnecessary and forced. There was no explanation as to what happened to the real Kang bin na as in the first episode they said that she was a lost soul and was wrongly sent to the hell..so what happened to her later on we don't know!! The Villains of the first 4 episode were interesting to watch and felt way more real and wicked than the main villains who were fought of way more quickly and easily.. Also I did not get why they had so many side characters (the people of the building), who were quite honestly irritating to watch and the angel was also unnecessary to the story.

Most of all, I was irritated by the fact that they saw/judged supernatural entities through the scale of human morals. I mean why was the ML angry at kang bin na when he knows she is The Devil! It's her Job to put bad guys away..why do he want to punish her for killing the bad guys and the hypocrisy of the ML that the minute he was the one who suffered a loss and needed her suddenly he was ready to understand everything she did??

In all I felt the plot had a lot of potential but they wasted it!.. The characters were not at all reasonable (including KBN love for HDE), side characters were not fun to watch and the plot and dialogus felt very obvious and robotic, there was no feelings and felt no emotion for the characters what so ever (they tried to make most of the characters pitiable)!...

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Not all Kdrama require Romance

This one started great, but I was disappointed after they tried to make Justitia human. I have seen no reason for Justitia to fall in love with Han Da-on. It felt very forced, and I felt zero chemistry between FL and ML. Justitia is introduced as a cruel and ruthless demon judge from Hell. But all of a sudden, with no actual reason, she starts loving a Human. It didn't fit well with her character at all. It would have been far better just not to include romance in this series. The main villains were so predictable from the beginning, and the way that female police officer went after a cruel serial killer all alone is the stupidest thing I have seen in any Kdrama, but since it's needed for the weak plot, so I guess many such things should be ignored. Park Shin Hye has improved a lot in her acting I liked how she portrayed her character cant say the same for Kim Jae-young though. I absolutely loved the side characters. They felt like the life of this story.

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EXTREMELY OVERRATED DRAMA

This is drama had a high rating, i really wanted to watch it, i even subscribed to disney plus again to watch it.. only to be very disappointed. EXTREMELY OVERRATED DRAMA.

Firstly, the female lead, Park Shin Hye, i don't think this role suits her at all, she did not portray a demon. Maybe this was the directors vision, but i could feel that she is acting, she did not embody her role at all and consequently, it did not convince me either. However, now that i think about it, i never really liked any of her roles ( i haven't seen a lot though).
Secondly, the relationship. Why are the main leads so damn awkward with each other? and to the people saying they had great chemistry.. WHERE? in the story, 2 years supposedly passed and they kissed like they are both 16 and it's their first kiss. Where was the grand love that made her, A DEMON, become human and stay in the human world? it was an absolute snooze fest. Maybe the awkwardness comes from the male actor, Kim Jae Young, i have only seen him in Love in Contract and he left no impression so i don't know really where the problem lies in this boring relationship..
On the other hand, now Choi Dae Hoon, the random police officer that was a demon, now he embodied a demon and did an absolutely great job. This reminded me that i really want him finally to have a main role in a drama, because he never has a main role ;(
Now the story itself. The thing is, it was not convincing at all. The hell visually was very cliche, and their job was to send murderers to hell.. I am sorry, but is the only sin murder in this drama? why is it so black and white? this type of plot is boring and offers absolutely no nuance. For a contrast, there is this drama, the devil judge, where this kind of topic is explored in a much better way. The judge from hell just felt very childish and was not for me.
Overall, this hardly deserves a 5/10.

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Demanding season 2 !!!

I'll keep this review for once short but strong... I DEMAND A SEASON 2 this was very good in my upinion , there was action , there was comedy , there was angst , there was drama , there was mystery , fantasy and excitment basically everything a good kdrama requires.
Yes not everything was perfect like the CGI sometimes had some lackings and some little bits and pieces might have been better if stretched a little more to explain in more details but overall this series was incredible.
I loved watching it and i have already re-watched twice so in my upinion defenitly worth the watch.

There are some questions remaining unresolved wich leaves the possiblilty for a second season open for more. The ending altho i won't go into detail as to not spoil anything was indeed left dramatic and unsolved in some points leaving us all hungry for more. Perhaps another season might come to answer all our remaining questions?
Nothing has been stated yet but they did say the possiblility is there for a second season. So i personally hope that we will hear a clear and loud confirmation soon that they will renew this incredible series for a second season wich it defenitly deserves ! The cast did an incredible job and im hungry for more !

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Many unwanted elements.

This my first ever review from this profile and I especially wanted it to be "The Judge from Hell" since I followed this drama while on air every week.

Note: This review is not to discourage anyone from watching this drama . Personally I gave this a try since I liked PSH's Dr.Slump and this was airing at that time.

First ,I would like the summarize what I liked about this drama first before my critics or ranting:

1. Park Shin Hye acting - Imho she pretty much carries this drama with her performance. Considering that she got majority of screen time, I would argue that she justified her role and hooked me into watching this drama.

2. First 8 Episodes - Keeping aside the fantasy setting, the first 8 episodes were really interesting, which shows ruthless or how much evil the each criminals were and how they were punished, which was really satisfying to be honest.

3. I really liked the Music in this Drama, though it was a bit dramatic at times.

Now onto the my rants:
As mentioned in the tittle "Many unwanted elements" :

1. The Romance plot was very forced. There were no hints that the ML is interested in the FL for 8 or so episodes then suddenly push a dire situation on to the leads to force Romance. Forcing romance like this is not the best option to bring emotional changes to a character.

2. I am sorry to say this but the ML went on from being persistent cop to a Damsel in distress in the later half of the show. They made his character slow witted just so the FL can save him from dire situation and force the romance plot.

3. The Criminals shown in the first 8 episodes even with limited screen time were more interesting than the main villain of the Drama, who I found very weak whatsoever he did.

4. The plot was all over the place during the last 4 episodes and there were too many plot conveniences just to conclude on a happy note. But I would rather have bittersweet or sad ending with no loose ends.

5. Apart from 1 or 2, the supporting cast was not memorable along with the ML.

That pretty much wraps up my review or rant about this Drama which pretty easily engaged me with its initial episodes and let me down at the end.
Personally I would rate 8/10 for the first 8 episodes and 5.5/10 for 9-14 episodes.

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UPDATE: Started strong, but fizzled out.

Original review after 4 episodes: I wish Disney listed it as ongoing. At least where I am however many episodes are up, look like they that's all there is. I thought it was complete and watched the four released episodes in a night and was left so mad at myself, because I wanted more. And now I have to wait until November to see it all play out. 😭

Honestly though, it is good. The main female character reminds me of Sim Eun-Seok from Juvenille Justice or Koo Ryeon from Tomorrow, but at an unhinged level. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about how it would be. I hadn't thought much of Park Shin-Hye as an actress. It isn't that I thought she was bad, it just didn't seem like she had a lot of range based on what I'd seen her in. Apparently that was the writing or direction, because she has shown much more range in these first four episodes than I can really recall from most of the dramas I'd seen her in previously.

I can't wait to see where this goes. I do worry a littttle bit that it might try to do too much. Like I see threads for different plots it could follow popping up and like...if it tries to grab all of them I think it will end up more a knot than a braid. Not my best metaphor, but my point still stands.

Side note, I do feel like spider guy should cut her a little slack. I mean, the guy confessed to killing three people. How was she supposed to know that was more of a childhood guilt thing than an actual confession? She's not psychic, she's just a demon sent to torture and kill murderers and there was a guy in front of her telling her he was a murderer.
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UPDATE: after the first like 7 episodes of supernatural revenge it fizzled out into a forced romance. Whole subplots seemed like they were dropped and the world building was lacking.

A-rong's whole purpose of being a demon punishing demons who fall in love came up once when she killed that random demon from the demon support group. But the group never comes back and her purpose quickly fades to the background in favor of the romance. She went from having her own purpose to apparently just tagging along as Justitia's underling. Man-do's whole thing about him attending church was never expanded on. A high-level angel who apparently was able to just peace out on his heavenly responsibilities to babysit a detective, though mainly in the form of vague warnings. The ultimate evil was scrunched pretty easily once they tracked him down. Honestly, her peer and co-second-to-Bael seemed more threatening than Lucifer in the end. Bael's character confused me entirely since it seemed like he wanted her to fail. I thought it would end up being the big twist/villain situation (since Lucifer was a little underwhelming) that Bael set her up because he was her worried her "I'm the demon of all demons" attitude meant she might try to challenge him and he wanted to basically smack her down before she rebelled. But, no it kind of went nowhere and ended with him being like "I'm glad you're my successor and would be disappointed to lose you". Her being a serial killer leaving bodies of criminals the justice system didn't punish branded with "hell" just kind of get dropped from the plot.

I liked the parts where she made the killers suffer the same fates as their victims. It was not only kind of satisfying (though I personally liked the psychological aspect of them having to feel what their victims did more than the just-straight-beating them up), especially the stalker who almost drove his ex to take her own life, but it really showed off how talented an actress she is when given the right scene. Honestly, I would have preferred to drop the romance and have it be more like Youth Justice where each episode is a different case and then her balancing being a human judge and demon judge to give them justice. Maybe still keep her paired up with a detective to balance the justice vs. vengeance aspect.

As for the romance...I mean, I don't get it. He was drawn to her first from their first trial but then was pretty quickly against her and only following her in the hopes of taking her down and proving her a killer. He wasn't even like trying to be nice to get the information, he made his suspicion 100% clear. He also accused her of killing the other demon after she had basically stepped in to save his life from being killed by that demon. And lectures her about like "oh, just 'cause you're a demon, you think you get to demon things". So, other than his looks, I'm not sure what she saw in him to become so obsessed with him that she was basically ready to risk everything to keep him around. And then he goes from being all "killing killers is bad and makes you bad" to "kill this killer for me" in less than 24 hours. And he then transitioned from capable cop a bit over his head in a supernatural situation to just kind of being a damsel in distress.

I feel like it tried to so much from the start and then had to let things go. Like, if they dropped the whole Lucifer thing and all the moments of Man-do going to church, that would have given them time to establish the romance more.

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