This was...ok? I think someone mentioned below the first half was really captivating and it was really slow and…
if you look at it from a more meta perspective, it makes sense. was the mere eye for an eye punishment the only goal of the story? the important line from ep. 13 outlines the drama's main message pretty well: "the law shall not forgive what the victims and their families do not forgive." "let's bring them to justice via the law" is important and the ultimate goal of the narrative because the story was written to be a commentary on the faulty justice system in south korea. yes, the story chooses to employ vigilante justice (like in other dramas such as vincenzo, taxi driver, etc.) and it never once says that the culprits don't deserve what bitna does to them, neither does it villify daon for wanting to kill J with his own hands – but the drama ultimately ends with the notion that the law needs to be improved and it's shown through the FL's development. if the drama only wanted to show satisfying punishment scenes, kang bitna would have never gotten significant character development by learning how to empathize with humans - and victims, so unlike those other dramas, who choose vigilante justice as the only choice in a hopeless & corrupt society, the judge from hell goes a more hopeful route by saying that there is possibility and hope for a corrupt system like this, and that it's worth fighting for it to make it right.
where else will you get a drama where the male lead says "don't go back to hell, or, let's go together" like it's a casual afternoon trip to the grocery store? han da on you crazy bastard. i miss this drama sooooo much 😭
some fun notes about ep 13: bitna's time of death is september 21, 2024, 23:47 >>> sept. 21 2024 - the day the first episode of tjfh was aired 11:47 PM/23:47 – reference to the bible verse luke 23:47 “surely this was a righteous man.” the absolute attention to detail by the writer 🤌
so? he's the one who commissioned and needs to be aware of shit like that. coffee shop isn't some unknown song. if he doesn't own up to it then it means he doesn't care, point blank period 😘
rewatching some scenes again and man i love this show so much??? 😭 will definitely need to do a full rewatch because there's so many details to love. so many great parallels too (which i'm always a sucker for) but this one stood out as my absolute favorite: in episode 1, when bitna and daon face each other in the courtroom and she asks him if he's confident in winning the case, he answers: "i believe that if justice is alive, the law will protect me." fast forward to episode 13, and again, bitna and daon face each other in the courtroom as he pleads "show us that law has not abandoned us." and she ends up finally handing out a fair judgement, finally putting the victims at the forefront and highlighting the most important message the drama has to offer – the law shall not forgive the crimes that the victims and their families do not forgive, and it shall not abandon but care for and protect those that need it most. kang bitna that used to say "justice is dead!" proves after all, that this isn't the case at all.
final confirmation of season 2! it's being written as we speak 💯 target date for the filming is 2026
"let's bring them to justice via the law" is important and the ultimate goal of the narrative because the story was written to be a commentary on the faulty justice system in south korea. yes, the story chooses to employ vigilante justice (like in other dramas such as vincenzo, taxi driver, etc.) and it never once says that the culprits don't deserve what bitna does to them, neither does it villify daon for wanting to kill J with his own hands – but the drama ultimately ends with the notion that the law needs to be improved and it's shown through the FL's development. if the drama only wanted to show satisfying punishment scenes, kang bitna would have never gotten significant character development by learning how to empathize with humans - and victims, so unlike those other dramas, who choose vigilante justice as the only choice in a hopeless & corrupt society, the judge from hell goes a more hopeful route by saying that there is possibility and hope for a corrupt system like this, and that it's worth fighting for it to make it right.
bitna's time of death is september 21, 2024, 23:47
>>> sept. 21 2024 - the day the first episode of tjfh was aired
11:47 PM/23:47 – reference to the bible verse luke 23:47
“surely this was a righteous man.”
the absolute attention to detail by the writer 🤌
https://open.spotify.com/album/6jl0R8ZiWr1gCIHxNgCncJ?si=wWEESaaKQzeefFWcyIySgw
fast forward to episode 13, and again, bitna and daon face each other in the courtroom as he pleads "show us that law has not abandoned us." and she ends up finally handing out a fair judgement, finally putting the victims at the forefront and highlighting the most important message the drama has to offer – the law shall not forgive the crimes that the victims and their families do not forgive, and it shall not abandon but care for and protect those that need it most. kang bitna that used to say "justice is dead!" proves after all, that this isn't the case at all.