Onedine

After 15 episodes, in some aspects of the drama, I feel references to movies like "Truman Show" (1998) with Jim Carrey and "The Devil's Advocate" (1997) with Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino. If anyone has seen them, they probably guess what I mean. Both are about manipulation on a different scale. Also "Infernal Affairs" (2002) with Andy Lau, a film from Hong Kong, fits very well with the atmosphere of this drama. https://kisskh.at/2664-infernal-affairs

I don't think anyone is innocent in this world, and I think that's the conclusion of the drama. They are all either executioners or victims. Or both. The main theme it seems is manipulation and that no one can resist it.

But also Yo Han wasn't always who he is now. 10 years ago, he still had to have goodness in him and believe in someone close to him. Perhaps Ga On is now in that point in his life where Yo Han was 10 years ago. Except Yo Han had at least Elijah then, and Ga On doesn't seem to have anyone.

Ga On is at the beginning of his professional career. He was thrown into a herd of vipers, they bitten him, destroyed his life. The world presented in the drama is terrible. All other characters that are much more clever than him learned ruthlessness much longer. Emotions affect people, but we can see they can defeat even the strongest, like Yo Han. This world is too horrible for normal people (who have feelings) to live in. Either you are a beast or a victim. I wonder what moral the screenwriter will give in the last episode. Is it possible to be a human being in this world, or everyone has to be rubbish to live.

I like the way things have turned out. A lot of my predictions did not come true, and this is what I like when watching a drama. Everything that happened is rather logical. Episode 15 managed to bring out the truth about the characters. They were very human, which is a huge plus for drama. I have special applause for the writer for writing the role of president. This is my favorite supporting character. I like when drama surprises me. In addition, the best villain in the drama, the smartest of all characters turned out to be (...). Many characters went through hell over the course of the episodes, so I'm curious how it all ends for them. This is my favorite drama of the year. So far. I love how all the actors play their roles, they are perfect. I have liked everything very much. Just one more episode, the final one, and I'll start watching the episodes again.

In my opinion, the intention of the creators is to show the whole truth about the events and characters at the very end of the drama. Hence the inability of viewers to understand the behavior of some characters. Because they are used to a different narrative. The "holes in the scenario" will be filled with the storyline at the end. It's pretty mean of the drama makers, but they wanted to show how viewers/people can be manipulated when they only know some of the facts. In addition, they deliberately emphasized certain scenes to create a misleading impression about the characters. In my opinion, they deal with the viewers of the drama the way the president of The devil judge deals with the citizens. But it has a goal to shake viewers up and show them that manipulation is everywhere.

I don't know how anyone can call Soo Hyun an unnecessary character in a drama when she is the one who finds out the truth about Yo Han. She is a key figure. Her search for the truth about the fire shows who Yo Han really is. The perception of Yo Han's character probably will change completely after the truth about the fire is revealed. This must be relevant (and the truth discovered by Soo Hyun, not in any other way), otherwise the script would not contain the sentence: "Yoon Soo-Hyun (Park Gyu-Young) is a detective. (...) she chases after Kang Yo-Han’s secret." Such a sentence in a scenario always means discovering something that influences the plot. This fire is the key to Yo Han's personality. The most important event in his life that returns in his inconclusive nightmares. Since we don't know the whole truth about that event, we don't really know Yo Han.

Korean media
"... In TDJ, Jinyoung's character is the one that shows the clearest change through a severe inner conflict. Jinyoung carefully shows Gaon's transformation and at the same time, a heartbreaking romance with Park Gyuyoung (playing Yoon Soohyun), sharp confrontations with Jisung, and he is raising people's interest."
source: https://twitter.com/dainty922/status/1427676174700793861?s=20

Top 3 Ongoing Dramas With The Best Plots You Need To Watch Now
"Summary: In an imaginary Dystopian Korea, Kang YoHan is the "The Devil Judge" who appears in the live trial show involving the whole citizens of the country. Is he the hero wanted by all or the devil wearing the judge's mask?
Reasons to watch: At the time of writing this article, we're in the final week of the drama, with two episodes to go. The plot of "The Devil Judge" is intricately woven, with absolutely no scope for loopholes. The drama does not shy away from being straightforward with the values it posits right from the beginning. Expect mind-blowing twists and turns, a heart-warming push and pull between Ji Sung's Kang YoHan and JinYoung's Kim GaOn, and one of the best character developments ever. This drama deserves high praise and accolade."
source: https://www.kpopmap.com/top-3-ongoing-dramas-with-the-best-plots-you-need-to-watch-now/

Cruel City, Justice, Man to Man, Two Cops, Chicago Typewriter, Confession

"You keep acting like your pov is the real one and others who disagree with it are wrong." If my point of view is true for me, other points of view must be untrue to me. It is rather logical.

He was on a typical hero's journey. He asked everyone about everything because he wanted an answers. You can't tell that he always trusted everyone in what they said, because that's not true. He neither believed the priest, had doubts, nor did he believe the story about the maid's jump until Yo Han said something like this had happened. Ga On doubts, looks for the truth, makes mistakes, changes his mind, tries to find himself in new situations. First he was against Yo Han because he didn't know him. Since his boss, whom he has known all his life, had given him a job, he wanted to do it. He had his doubts, he got to know Yo Han better, he began to doubt what was right and what was not. Then came the truth about the death of Ga On's parents. This truth shook his world. He wanted to fight corruption, but never promised to hurt the innocent. The minister's suicide made Ga On aware that he might have blood on his hands. Then came the death of a beloved woman and his world shook again. At this point, Ga On just wants to do as he planned when he finished law school. He does not want to harm people, but to fight for justice for them. In his opinion, the live court has gone too far and is doing harm to the nation, and that's not what it was supposed to be. Many people write that in a dystopian world one should forget about normal human principles, be more ruthless in the fight against criminals. But in my opinion, that's not what drama is about. No times can justify actions that destroy humanity.

The drama is over in a few days. I write what I know based on 14 episodes. If Yo Han turns out to be the unconventional savior of humanity in a fictional drama world, that's great, but I doubt it.

We don't always know what Ga On is really thinking at the moment. In the case of the priest, only a few episodes later it turned out that he thought differently than some accused him of. The drama specifically shows certain situations differently than they were in order to deceive the viewers.

The review is not mine, I just quoted it, because maybe someone would like to read it.

As for me, I just hope a certain person doesn't kill another person who is close to Ga On. Everything some people feel about certain characters will turn 180 degrees in the next 2 episodes.

In my opinion, the title is about Yo Han or Sun Ah, or both. Sun Ah must have killed someone in her family (her mother when she was 12 and her father when she was 20), and Yo Han rather too, at least he feels guilty. I think he rather killed his brother and sister-in-law, because the intention of the creator of the drama is to show how ordinary people misplace their hopes in the leaders. Each subsequent leader of the people turns out to be bad.

Before killing her sons, Medea had also killed her brother, many years earlier.

https://ikigaipop.com/the-devil-judge-episode-13-what-a-shocking-ending-high-intensity/

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She is not my favorite character and I have to admit I struggled with her actions. But thinking about the impact of this on Kim Ga On is scary. It could go either way, he could go completely berserk and do questionable things in revenge. Or he can choose to follow what Yoon Soo Hyun wanted and not engage in bad things. Also I wonder what this means when it comes to the information she acquired from the man she was looking for. Hopefully she kept a recording so Kim Ga On can come across it.

I love how the The Devil Judge episode 13 gives us a shocking death and then adds to the shock factor by making us see the characters’ reactions to it. Kang Yo Han’s reaction to Yoon Soo Hyun dying feels wrong. Who was the attacker trying to aim at? She was kind of closer in the line of sight of Kang Yo Han, but still away from him that if the attacker wanted to aim at Kang Yo Han it should not have hit her. Looking at Kang Yo Han’s reaction though, a scary thought pops up what if he orchestrated this? Though Yoon Soo Hyung being there is a coincidence.
Still, Kang Yo Han is good at planning things ahead so he could have calculated Yoon Soo Hyun’s reaction if Kim Ga On was hurt on TV. A lot of things seem to have been left for chance. It does not look like Kang Yo Han to follow up on this kind of plan. Also, can he hurt Yoon Soo Hyun knowing how much she means to Kim Ga On? The answer is he can. But still, maybe Kang Yo Han’s expression is based on how he will use the unexpected death to forward his agenda. Rather than seeing the result of his supposedly cruel plan.

After everything, if Kang Yo Han ends up being responsible for Yoon Soo Hyun’s death then the whole relationship building with Kim Ga On would be for nothing. Honestly, I do not want the prospect of Kang Yo Han’s family staying intact as in Elijah and Kim Ga On to go away. That is the most special part of the drama. So we can hope the writer will not betray us like that. But with Kang Yo Han’s personality, we can never know. Hopefully, the next episode gives us some clear answers!"

I have read some of the comments and I can see some viewers are disappointed with where the plot is going. In my opinion, this is nothing compared to what will be after episode 15 and 16. After the finale, almost everyone will probably be either disappointed (because the plot will not follow their way of thinking), or they will find this drama the saddest and cruelest (unfair to many characters) they have seen.