Today we bring you the review of the newest SBS drama starring Park Shinhye and Kim Jaeyoung – The Judge From Hell. If you enjoy fantasy dramas with morally gray characters, then this one might be for you.
K-dramaland has been so dry that I started watching The Judge From Hell, Dongjae, The Goor or The Bastard, and Family By Choice while they were all still airing – I’ve promised myself I wouldn’t once again tune into ongoing dramas but honestly, this second half of the year has been incredibly vacant. I’ve also realized that I haven’t actually ever watched a Park Shinhye (my mom liked Sisyphus: The Myth) drama but have watched four of her movies which surprised me as well. I remember Kim Jaeyoung from Hello Monster (which is one of my all-time favourites) but I wasn’t sure what to expect from their combined chemistry. The Judge From Hell proved to be a really thrilling and exciting watch, especially considering that it combines a lot of different genres and a pretty solid cast to wrap it all up. Let’s review!
Summary via MDL: Kang Bit Na is an elite judge with a beautiful appearance, but she is a demon. Her mission as a demon is to kill evil people who lead other people to their deaths and don’t reflect on their actions. She sends these people to Hell afterwards. One day, Kang Bit Na meets Han Da On. He has a friendly and gentle personality. As a detective, his mind is sharp and he has a keen sense of observation. But he carries a pain inside that nobody knows about. After Kang Bit Na and Han Da On meet each other, their lives change greatly.
Let’s get something out of the way, The Judge From Hell definitely has its flaws. There are a lot of inconsistent plot holes that I turned a blind eye to and a somewhat easy solution to most of our leads’ problems – Kang Bitna’s access to most of these cases felt a bit too easy and too convenient for a drama that was often rather serious in its approach. Another weak side of The Judge From Hell was its second half as it felt like the writers weren’t quite sure what to do with these characters nor how to end their story. I was all here for emotions but I wish it was done a bit better. However, I might be in the minority when I say that I liked the ending – when it comes to fantasy, I’m all here for open endings and your own interpretation and imagination because you can’t please everyone and sometimes have to pull a more realistic approach.
With that out of the way, I can focus on the more positive sides of The Judge From Hell. Park Shinhye was honestly great in this role. I think this genre and this style suits her a lot and her performance was the most believable for me during the drama’s run. Justitia in the body of Kang Bitna was such a fun character to follow and I think one of the best parts of the drama was the fact that she actually did earn her title of Judge From Hell – no mercy for the horrible humans she was prosecuting for a change. I loved that she remained faithful to her method until the very end and I enjoyed watching her beat up and torture everyone. Her chemistry with Kim Jaeyoung’s Han Daon was great as well. I like their constant push-and-pull and even though the drama weakened a bit during the second half when they get more intertwined with each other, I liked the fact that Daon was working with them. Kim Jaeyoung was incredibly charming and it was nice having a sweet, good character as the ML – he served as a good contrast to Kang Bitna’s ruthless ways and was leading the emotional path of the story well.
The array of supporting characters was a pleasant surprise to me. I feel like they were all interesting and while they did sometimes lead the plot astray with their personal matters, it all came back to the main plot quickly, and even those personal matters were, in the end, connected to the main storyline. The Judge From Hell has a pretty direct story – Kang Bitna has to punish criminals in order for her true form to go back to Hell. However, I liked the way she kept being tested until the end and reminded of what it means to be a judge – she doesn’t exactly have a massive character development but she does gain some new insights and gets reminded of some important life lessons.
I was, however, a bit thrown off by the serial killings case. I understood early on that they would somehow have to tie the original Kang Bitna’s story with Han Daon’s storyline but wasn’t sure how. I’m still not certain I like the way this entire plot was handled as it sometimes felt a bit draggy and inconsistent. At times I wasn’t even sure half of these things were logical in simple time and place terms. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing for the Jung family – I don’t know why but I just didn’t find any of them believable and maybe that’s why this part of the story lacked any depth for me. It might perhaps be the fact that I just wasn’t that interested in their reasons in the end. Either way, Kang Bitna’s show-down with the villains was great to see and I’m glad she took matters into her own hands and in the way she thought was right. Daon being on her side made thing even better.
The Judge From Hell is definitely a fun fantasy meets crime meets slow-burn romance drama that stands out from the rest this winter. The cast is great, the plot solid, and the characters and their mutual chemistry more than satisfying. Most importantly, The Judge From Hell makes you want to binge it all in one go to find out what happens next and I appreciate that element of it. It’s serious but also a bit on the humorous side so if you like those two moods combined together, The Judge From Hell is your drama. It gets a 8.25/10 from me but stays on the more enjoyable side of 2024 dramas for sure.
I am very well also back in K-drama land and have been watching at least one kdrama the past few months. I started watching The Judge From Hell when 8 out of 14 episodes were already out and therefore the hype for it was already enormous. I was intrigued to see what the K-drama would be about and why everyone loved it so much. I have to admit I really didn’t see the appeal of the drama when I watched the very first episode. I was mostly angry, that female rage was hitting. However, after episode 4 I kind of realised where The Judge From Hell was going and why everyone loved the female lead so much.
I have to admit I don’t have to much to say about this drama as Una already provided us with an amazing review on it. I am just happy to finally be able to write a review together with her after so long and that’s why I am here to give my 2 cents. Okay, so I already said at first The Judge From Hell just made me angry and my blood boil and, honestly, the criminals our judge deals with all deserved what they had coming for them and their crimes were also absolutely heinous. However, the female lead had amazing character development throughout the drama and I also really enjoyed that romance took a step back in the list of important themes in this drama and only became a bigger role towards the end of this drama. This was kind of a really empowering drama with a lot of heavy themes and amazing character development. I do have to say I missed some of the subplots in this because I watched this mostly while I was puzzling sometimes and not paying it too much attention as the drama was very case by case focused and the structure of the episodes was kind of the same. It was easy to follow that way but made me miss probably some cool and intricate parts. For those Una got your back!
Overall, The Judge From Hell was a really interesting watch that had me upset sometimes and the devil/hell motives in it are really well implemented. I myself am not sure the hype was completely justified because it was great and we love powerful women but it is not the best drama I watched this year by far. Anyway, if you want a justice drama with a hell spin on it then The Judge From Hell is the one for you!