THE SHORT VERDICT:

Given this show’s title and promotional material, I’d expected this story to be all about rogue justice, meted out by our titular judge from Hell.

However, I’m happy to say that while there is rogue justice in this, our story is actually very much focused on personal journey, relationships and community.

Additionally, Show has an unpredictability about it that makes for a watch experience that keeps you guessing, which I personally liked a lot.

As a (big) bonus, Park Shin Hye is in her element as our judge from Hell, and it was fun watching her have fun, in the role.

A solid ride, all in all.

THE LONG VERDICT:

I am far from being an expert on American TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but based on the snippets that I’ve watched, and based on my read of Dark, the (truly inspired, very excellent) kdrama-Buffy mash-up Dream Drama that our very own j3ffc wrote (read it here!), I feel like I can safely say that this show vibes like Buffy.

Except that here, our resident wielder of justice, isn’t a vampire slayer, but a demon on a mission.

But the vibes are there, and big thanks to Elaine, who’d first pointed it out to me, after I started my watch, and posted my episode 1 & 2 notes to Patreon.

All that to say, if you like how Buffy vibes – which, in my mind, is somewhat violent rogue justice with a good helping of wit and irreverence – I think you’d like this. 😁

OST ALBUM: FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

Here’s the OST album, in case you’d like to listen to it while you read the review.

I have to confess that I hadn’t realized that there were this many tracks on the OST, while watching, and yet, here they are. 😅 I’d say that the music did its job, of amplifying the scenes that they scored.

I think that the track that left the deepest impression on me is Gehenna, because it’s so dramatic, with the choral voices and all, but at the same time, I can’t say that I’d want to listen to it on repeat for fun, y’know? 😅

HOW I’M APPROACHING THIS REVIEW

First I’ll talk about how to manage your expectations going into this one, and what viewing lens would be most helpful.

After that, I talk about stuff I liked and didn’t like so much, before I give the spotlight to selected characters and relationships, in a separate section. Finally, I spend some time talking about my thoughts on the finale episodes.

If you’re interested in my blow-by-blow reactions, &/or all the various Patreon members’ comments during the course of our watch, you might like to check out my episode notes on Patreon here.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are some things that I think would be helpful to keep in mind, to maximize your enjoyment of your watch:

1. There is violence in this

There is violence in this, but I personally find it bearable, in that Show gives us context for that violence.

If you find it too much to take, I do think that you can safely fast-forward through the violent bits.

2. Show makes up its own theology 

I personally don’t think Show gets too dark, but you do have to be prepared for a presentation of Hell and its inhabitants and the rules that govern the place.

I think it kind of goes without saying, but you should also put aside any existing theology that you might know and love; this show’s just making up its own stuff and its own spiritual rules, and it’s best to just accept it as part of the territory.

3. Give Show the benefit of the doubt

For all of its Hell-ish billing, Show isn’t actually promoting evil, so if you get to a point where you think Show’s crossing the line, hang in there for a bit, because Show might end up surprising you.

At least, that’s what happened for me.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-2. I almost dropped Show at the end of episode 1, and here’s the reason why.

See, on this assignment, Justitia can only send unrepentant murderers to Hell, so she has to ascertain that they are 1, murderers, and 2, unrepentant.

In episode 1’s case, we aren’t actually dealing with a murderer, we’re dealing with an abusive boyfriend, and so, at the end of episode 1, Justitia is shown watching the abusive boyfriend through a magic portal that she conjures up, and in the portal, you can see the abusive boyfriend going to town on his victim.

The thing is, the camera shows us Justitia’s face as she watches (and does nothing to help the victim). Instead, at the end of the episode, she perks up and goes, “She’s dead,” before moving to approach the abusive boyfriend.

I literally almost dropped the drama then and there, because, if she’s going to allow people to die in order to fulfill her mission, that’s just wrong on so many levels.

HOWEVER. We find out in episode 2, that the girlfriend hadn’t actually died, but Justitia still counts it a death, because, as she says, physical death isn’t the only death there is.

So importantly, she’s not actually allowing people to be killed, in order to create murderers that she can send to Hell.

That would have been a deal-breaker for me, so I’m relieved to report that it’s all good; she’s not purposefully allowing people to get killed. Phew. 😅

[END SPOILER]

4. Suspension of disbelief is required

With a fantasy set-up where our main character is a demon cos-playing as a judge, perhaps it goes without saying, that suspension of disbelief is the order of the day.

At the same time, there are times when Show gets a little loose with its own internal logic. When that happens, I found that it’s just better and easier, to shrug and roll with it.

STUFF I LIKED

Show’s unpredictability

One of the favorite things about this show, is that it manages to maintain a pretty unpredictable quality about itself, from beginning to end.

From pretty early on, I found myself feeling surprised, often when I least expected it.

And then, by Show’s mid-to-late stretch, I felt like Show had turned into a bit of a rollercoaster, where I would leave a pair of episodes, feeling slightly out of breath, because of all the twists and turns that I’d just experienced.

As a sometimes-jaded longtime drama fan, I loved that Show was able to keep me guessing very effectively, all the way to the very end.

If you don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t read this next spoiler section, but here, for the record, are several instances of when Show surprised me. 😁

[SPOILER ALERT]

E5-6. I was surprised, when, at the end of episode 5, we see Justitia (Park Shin Hye) advancing to kill Yang Seung Bin (Yang Kyung Won), but gets stopped in her tracks, when Da On (Kim Jae Young) grabs her ankle from under Yang Seung Bin’s hospital bed.

I hadn’t been expecting that! 😅😅 See what I mean about Show surprising me, these episodes? 😅

Another thing I was taken by surprise by, is how Justitia leaves her apartment to do the trial, while Da On’s guarding her front door.

I mean, I’d assumed that she had some powers to, I dunno, maybe teleport or something, but instead, we have Man Do going in old-school, via a rope, so that he can use Justitia’s voice to convince Da On, from behind the door, that she’s in her apartment, when in reality, she must’ve also used the rope, to get out of her apartment, for the job.

The idea that Justitia most likely climbed that rope to leave her apartment is quite funny to me, honestly. 🤭

Ok, or maybe she did teleport, but Man Do can’t, because he’s lower-ranked and therefore has less powers..?

Perhaps the biggest surprise for me, these episodes, is the reveal that Gremory’s (Kim Ah Young) mission has nothing to do with humans; that her mission is to find demons who’ve become humanized, and eliminate them.

Eep. That absolutely puts everything in a different perspective, and I felt quite horrified, while she eliminated that social worker demon dude, by threatening him with the safety of his girlfriend, thus convincing him that the better way out was the commit suicide.

Aw. Poor social worker demon dude. He just wanted to be happy. 🥹

E7-8. I’m intrigued to learn that the grandma from the complex (Kim Young Ok), who keeps warning Da On to stay away from Justitia, is revealed to be an angel.

I hadn’t seen that coming. 😅

I’d assumed that Gran must have loved a demon in the past, or had been a demon herself, and that’s why she’s warning Da On.

E9-10. When the new detective, Jang Mun Jae, joins the team after So Yeong’s death, I immediately got suspicious of him, because he’s played by Choi Dae Hoon, and you don’t just cast Choi Dae Hoon for a simple, innocent sort of role, right?

And so, since my thoughts have been around the character of Satan that Show has introduced in concept, but not in terms of pinning the name to a face, I immediately started guessing that Jang Mun Jae must be Satan.

After all, he’s behaving really weirdly, and giving crazy eyes from time to time, and saying pointedly mysterious things, yes?

Ha. I was so off the mark; that wasn’t the case at all. 🤭

[END SPOILER]

The cliffhangers

This is kind of related to Show’s ability to keep me guessing, but it’s not quite the same thing, which is why I’ve got a separate section for it.

Show’s got a way with cliffhangers, and manages to serve up cliffhangers that not only kept me guessing, but also kept me on the edge of my seat, and then kept me coming back.

To be fair, it’s true that Show does that thing sometimes, of jumping ahead in time to give us a very significant or dramatic scene, and then only backing up to explain itself, in the early minutes of the following episode.

I’ve found myself side-eyeing dramas for doing that too often, in the past.

However, interestingly – perhaps because I do find Show to be genuinely surprising in other areas – I don’t find myself holding that against it.

Here’s an example of an early cliffhanger that I thought was effective.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-2. Justitia stabs Da On at the end of episode 2 after he drunkenly confirms that he’s killed people, and it’s obvious that this must be a mistake, because it’s early days, and we absolutely wouldn’t be losing our male lead at this point of the story.

At the same time, even though I had full certainty that Da On would survive, I couldn’t figure out how, and that’s a great way to lure me into clicking on the next episode, y’know? 😉

All in all, a pretty great cliffhanger, in my opinion.

[END SPOILER]

When Show is funny

As you might know by now, if you’ve been around the blog for a while, the humor in kdramas often doesn’t work for me, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I felt amused quite often, at the things that Show served up.

To be clear, it wasn’t a laugh-a-minute sort of thing, but Show’s got a cheeky side to it, that tickled me quite effectively, whenever it showed up.

Here are some of the funny moments that stuck in my mind.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E3-4. I thought it was quite funny that everyone assumes Da On’s drunk-talking, when he claims that Justitia had not just stabbed him, but killed him, because really, what else could they assume (besides drugs 😅), and yet, here he is, earnestly telling the truth. 😁

I also found it quite funny that he would see a doctor about it, and get diagnosed with Delusional Disorder – just like Justitia. 🤭 Which she chirpily predicts, too, ha.

Somehow, I also find it amusing that that’s the answer to the various inconvenient truths spoken by our characters.

E5-6. I just have to put the spotlight on the monthly gathering of demons, because I was all, “Ok, ok, fine,” while Gremory was telling Justitia about it, what with all the information about Lucifer and Satan, and how Satan disappeared from Hell, and now everyone’s on the hunt for him and the Kylum that he’d stolen.

BUT THEN. The monthly meeting turns out to be in a kitchen, where all of them use their magic weapons to prepare food, which they then distribute to the needy?

Hahahaha, I totally wasn’t expecting that, that’s for sure! 😂

E5-6. The scene of Man Do going to church and wearing fire gloves and goggles, in order to be able to handle the Bible, was silly, but rather entertaining nonetheless.

E9-10. I was quite amused at how Justitia tries to deal with her growing emotions – by assuming that something about her body must be broken, and therefore going to seek medical treatment for it.

Ha. That was quite fun.

This is the kind of silly hijinks that remind me of episode 1 of this show, which I’d found highly amusing and fun to watch, so this was a nice throwback.

[END SPOILER]

STUFF THAT WAS OK

The violence

Now, to be honest with you, when I watched Show’s trailers, I’d sincerely thought that this show looked too violent for my taste.

In the end, I didn’t love the violence, certainly, but I found that I tolerated the violent scenes much better than I’d originally expected, and I do think that that has to do with the context that Show builds around it.

Let me explain.

[BROAD FOUNDATIONAL SPOILERS]

Because our Justitia is tasked to send 10 unrepentant murderers to Hell, Show needs to let us see just how bad these murderers are.

So there are scenes of abuse and murder, and that might be hard to watch, for sure.

The silver lining here, is that part of our Judge’s task, is to punish these murderers in exactly the way they’ve hurt others; so, very much an eye for an eye, sort of a thing.

This means that as you watch the bad guys do their bad things (hm, where have I recently heard a similar phrase about bad thoughts and bad things? 😂 If ya know, ya know! 🤭), you can console yourself that they will get their just desserts soon enough.

On that point, I’d like to say that it is, indeed, very satisfying to see the bad guys being punished, where they go through the exact same terrible things that they’ve inflicted on others.

And yet, I’d like to say that it doesn’t feel like Show goes too overboard with this.

You might recall that I’d personally felt like Vincenzo (review here!) had gone a little too far in its finale, in the way it had punished its bad guys..? Well, interestingly, I don’t feel the same, with this show.

Perhaps it’s because they are served exactly – like, really, really EXACTLY – what they’d done unto others..? And that’s why I don’t feel like they’re being punished excessively?

[END SPOILERS]

The rogue justice / cases of the week

I have to say that in our first couple of episodes, I had found the demon trials very satisfying to watch, because these horrible bad guys were getting exactly what they deserved.

At the same time, I have to confess that by around the episode 5-6 mark, these rogue justice trials had started to lose their novelty, for me.

Maybe my appetite for rogue justice is lower than average. 😅

That said, the fact that we get some really excellent actors doing cameos as our weekly bad guys, definitely helped to keep my interest from flagging too much; even if I found the rogue punishments rather routine, I could appreciate the excellent acting by these actors.

Additionally, I appreciated that Show took pains to demonstrate, via these weekly cases, that things may not be what they seem, at first glance. I thought that was a meaningful theme to explore.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E3-4. We get another instance of the idea that people may not be what they seem.

At first, the grandmother (Nam Neung Mi) had appeared to be the villain in the picture, since she was being charged for kidnapping her grandson Ji Ho (Yang Hui Sang) and refusing to return him to his mother, Ja Yeong (Im Se Ju).

On top of that, Ja Yeong also said that the grandmother had been absent from her son’s life for many years, and then had shown up asking for money.

At the same time, Ja Yeong had looked truly distraught at the loss of her husband, and in the first flashback of the incident, we see that she’d tried to go back to save her husband, but had failed.

As we know, that first perspective all changes, as we find out the truth, that Ja Yeong isn’t actually Ji Ho’s mother, and that she had, in fact, killed not only Ji Ho’s dad, but her first husband as well, all for the insurance money.

And as if that’s not bad enough, we even see her abusing Ji Ho, and threatening him with his grandmother’s life, if he were to disobey and call the police.

Ugh. I was not sorry that Justitia punished her in exactly the ways that she’d been heinous to the people in her life, who were supposed to have been her family.

And, like in our first week, I did get a good ol’ stab of satisfaction from seeing Ja Yeong’s horror at experiencing the things that she’d inflicted on others.

Also, wasn’t it a pretty cool effect, when the vending machine opened up, to reveal the door to Hell? I thought that was very visually interesting, for sure.

E5-6. And then there’s the murderer these episodes, Yang Seung Bin, played by Yang Kyung Won.

I have such.. conflicted feelings about him in this role, because man, the murders were hard to watch, they were so brutal, and it’s sooo disturbing that Yang Seung Bin is pretending to have a multiple personality disorder, in order to lessen his sentence.

At the same time, though, Yang Kyung Won is so compelling in his delivery, that I find myself.. morbidly gripped..? Even though I’d prefer to look away..? 😅

[END SPOILER]

STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH

When Show uses fakeouts

Show doesn’t do this a whole lot, but I felt like I had to mention this particular fakeout, because it made me give Show a bit of a side-eye. 😒

[SPOILER ALERT]

E11. At top of episode 11, I was honestly very surprised that Paimon (Choi Dae Hoon) doesn’t actually kill Da On.

The way the final scene of episode 10 had been edited, it had sure looked like Paimon had killed Da On, or at least dealt him a very serious gash, since it had sounded like a big stab.

But this episode, we open to the reveal that Gremory arrives just in time to knock Paimon to out of the way, thus saving Da On.

I was so confused by this, that I actually went back to the end of episode 10, just to check what Show had included in the scene, and I will say that the sound effect that Show had given us, had been completely misleading.

That squelchy stab sound certainly wouldn’t be needed, the way Gremory intervenes, because she’s not stabbing Paimon; she’s just knocking him out of the way.

And yes, there is no squelchy sound effect in this serving of the scene, so I’m side-eyeing Show a little bit, there.

But fine. Dramas that I’ve loved have done worse, in terms of a bait-and-switch (Money Flower (review here!) comes to mind; if ya know, ya know 😉), so I’m willing to close an eye and just roll with it.

[END SPOILER]

SPOTLIGHT ON SELECTED CHARACTERS & RELATIONSHIPS

Park Shin Hye as Justitia

I have to say, Park Shin Hye is fabulous in this role in a way that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her be, before this.

She is clearly enjoying herself in the role, and is also hamming it up a fair bit, but she’s also.. sparkling in her delivery, and it’s great. 🤩

I do love that in the early minutes of episode 1, her character Justitia, is played by Oh Na Ra, because it feels like Oh Na Ra makes her guest role a really defining one.

She breathes a specific vibe and personality into Justitia, which I feel Park Shin Hye is keeping up, and it’s honestly pretty thrilling for me, to constantly hear shadows of Oh Na Ra’s version of Justitia, in Park Shin Hye’s delivery.

I don’t know how the two actresses collaborated to give us this version of Justitia – ie, who’s following whose interpretation – but it’s working really, really well.

One of the most interesting things about Justitia, I feel, is how she’s a being who’s many hundreds of years old, and is therefore very jaded about things, and yet, at the same time, there’s an impish, mischievous quality about her.

In my head, she vibes like a little gremlin, who just happens to look like Park Shin Hye, and who also just happens to need to send 10 unrepentant murderers to Hell, and is therefore kinda bloodthirsty. 😁

It’s honestly quite fun and refreshing to see Justitia as a judge in the human world, because she’s so irreverent. She really doesn’t seem to care about rules or guidelines, or what people think.

To her, all the rules seem more like suggestions than actual rules, and she prefers to do things the way she sees fit – preferably while nursing a can of her favorite cola.

And, I actually really liked the idea that Justitia would get a growth journey, over the course of our story.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-2. I also kinda love the fact that Justitia’s so unabashed about saying that she’s a demon, instead of trying to keep it all hush-hush, ha.

It’s hilarious to me that because she keeps saying that she’s a demon, she’s received a mental diagnosis of Delusional Disorder. 🤭

Of course, it’s very convenient that the conclusion is that this is all part of the PTSD that she’s suffered from having been attacked in the park – which is when the real Kang Bit Na had died.

It’s a great explanation for everyone else to embrace, regarding Kang Bit Na’s complete change in personality, and I’m very amused by how nonchalant Justitia is, about the whole thing.

Certainly, from a narrative point of view, the fact that Justitia’s sent to the human world to punish 10 unrepentant murderers, vibes like a “lesson,” like she’s being punished for flagrantly and erroneously sending Bit Na to Hell, when Bit Na had mistakenly appeared before her, and that this “lesson” will somehow teach Justitia to care again.

E1-2. The fact that Justitia proudly stamps the body on the forehead with the Greek word for Hell, “geénna,” and leaves his body for all to see, outside the building where she’d killed him, gives me devil-may-care impish gremlin vibes.

It’s not like she’s leaving a warning to other criminals or anything; it’s more like she’s not actually too concerned about not leaving traces.

Also, I kind of love that even though Justitia says that she hates humans and couldn’t care less about them, she does, effectively, console the victim, by telling her that it’s not her fault that her abusive boyfriend died.

It’s oddly endearing, how Justitia basically claims to have no heart, but is kind of showing some heart?

E5-6. It is true that Justitia is showing more and more, that she cares about Da On.

I mean, look at her getting all upset that Da On gets hurt by the hired demons, when the average demon is satisfied that no one gets killed.

She’s definitely growing feelings, and those heart palpitations increasing in frequency seem to indicate that she’s becoming more humanized..?

E7-8. It definitely seems that Justitia is becoming more and more prone to human emotions.

For example, I don’t think that the Justitia we’d met in episode 1, would have stepped in to help Da Hui (Lee Ga Yeon) against those bullies; after all there’s no murder involved and therefore there’s no potential benefit to her.

But she gets involved now, and is basically protecting Da Hui, even though she’d hate to admit it.

Can’t lie; I got a kick out of those awful parents backpedaling furiously, the moment they realized that they were basically threatening a judge. 🤭

Plus, she gets all peeved and upset, when Da On turns his suspicions on her, saying that she hates him. That sounded like a very human-like response, I would say.

And yet, she still shows up for that hike up the mountain, even though she’s stated, very peevishly, that if Da On’s going, then she’s not going. Which is the exact opposite of what she does, because clearly, the only reason she’s there, is because Da On’s there, yes? 🤭

E9-10. I appreciate that we see Justitia showing feelings, not just in response to Da On, but also, in response to the various murder cases that we visit these episodes, while she and Da On seek out the families of J’s various victims over the years.

This makes her humanization feel more.. thorough, for lack of a better word? As in, she’s genuinely becoming more humanized, not just in response to Da On, but in general; for real.

Of course, she’s fighting it, and doing her best to keep her stiff upper lip fierce demon face, but it feels like her cover is really really thin right now, like in that scene at the top of episode 9, where she cries in the rain, at So Yeong’s funeral, while Gremory’s sitting right beside her, watching her quizzically.

That really felt so dangerous to me, y’know? 😅

E9-10. It’s kind of endearing to see that Justitia is hesitant to catch J, because that would take her to the total number of murderers required for her to complete her mission and return to Hell, because clearly, the reason for her hesitation, is because she doesn’t want to part with Da On.

That said, I did think that it was prudent of her not to jump into action, after seeing the vision of Assemblyman Jung’s (Kim Hong Pa) druggie son Seon Ho (Choi Dong Goo), standing over So Yeong’s body (Kim Hye Hwa).

I feel like Past Justitia would have jumped to punishing Seon Ho without a second thought, but Present Justitia has enough presence of mind to realize that all she’s seen, is him standing over her body, and not of him actually killing her – which means that he might not actually be J, and also, he might not actually be a murderer at all.

E9-10. I have to say that that showdown between Justitia and Paimon (Choi Dae Hoon) was a nice way for Show to inject some adrenalin-pumping action into these episodes, while veering away from the rogue justice trials.

That felt like a nice switch-up, particularly because this is not Justitia wielding her demon power against a hapless human murderer; this is a battle between equals, and thus, much more gripping.

I was pleased to see so much of Justitia’s badassery on display, in her battle with Paimon, and in particular, I gasped, when she hit him, and he literally flew through two walls, as a result. Woof. 😱

[END SPOILER]

Kim Jae Young as Da On

I am happy to say that even though I’d found Kim Jae Young rather underwhelming in his last show, Love In Contract (review here!), I enjoyed him quite nicely here, as Da On.

Personally, I thought he was less interesting as a straight-up detective, though I understand that his sense of righteous justice is a necessary foil for Justitia, as she navigates the various cases that come her way.

I found him much more entertaining when he becomes curious about Justitia, and tries to figure out what she’s about, and gets all up in her business. 😁

Of course, Da On has a backstory that is important to our narrative, and I did feel for Da On, for what he’d been through.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E3-4. As I’d anticipated, Da On’s claim to be a murderer isn’t true at all.

We get the main gist of the story there, with that opening flashback, where Da On had gone home as a kid, happily bearing paper flowers for his parents, and had found them all bloody and on the floor.

Poor, poor kid. He’d basically found his parents on the verge of death, and they’d obviously died as a result of that attack.

It’s not clear why he specifically thinks that he killed them, but perhaps the killer had dealt Mom a final blow, for the way we see her straining to tell Da On to run away?

Plus I’m sure there’s a good deal of survivor’s guilt at play here, with Da On being the only one to make it out alive.

That’s a lot to live with, and it becomes clear, these episodes, that this is something that weighs very heavily on Da On’s heart.

Looking back on the episode, I feel like the fact that he lives in his truck (which is very cutely fitted out, I hafta say), is an outward expression of how he likely feels rootless, on the inside.

We do hear that he’d lived with So Yeong, now his supervisor at work, when he’d been younger, but I’m sure that he’d moved out when he’d come of age, and I’m guessing that that’s when he’d started living in his truck, or something like that.

The point is, I get the sense that he feels like he doesn’t really belong anywhere, or with anyone, ie, he hadn’t truly been a part of Noona’s family, even though they’d welcomed him, and that’s why he’s being all nomadic, and floating around in his truck.

E5-6. I have to day, I was very impressed by Da On, in that scene where Yang Seung Bin’s acting out his other made-up personalities.

I was quite gripped by Yang Seung Bin acting out, and Da On looks rather disturbed too – but he manages to pick up on the fact that when he uses the wrong surname for the made-up personality, Yang Seung Bin is able to provide the correct surname, despite claiming that he has no knowledge of the other personalities.

In that moment, I was like, Wow, Da On can be A LOT sharper than he looks. 😅

[END SPOILER]

Justitia and Da On

From pretty early in our story, Show starts teasing a potential loveline between Justitia and Da On.

Overall, this loveline worked for me in a low-key, reasonably solid sort of way, but I have to confess that this loveline never actually stole my heart.

Essentially, I thought the concept of it was good, but in the execution and delivery, the feels were just kind of.. missing, for me? 😅

Feels are completely subjective, of course, so even though I didn’t feel this loveline all that much, you might actually love it.

Either way, it can’t be denied that these two make a very good-looking couple. 😁

[SPOILER ALERT]

E3-4. I must say, I do like it when Justitia and Da On share screen time, because right now, in this space, where Da On’s curious about her, and trying to figure her out, their chemistry has a nice, fun spark to it.

And, I do love that she’s pretty frank with him, when he wants to know what she’s about, and even shows him her purple demon eyes and her magic dagger – it’s just that she’s also careful to make sure that there are no cameras or phones recording their conversation.

It’s just really incongruous, because one would expect that someone in her position would be trying to keep their real identity a secret while he pries, but here she is, basically telling him the bald truth – and then threatening to kill him if he leaks her secret.

Although, like she points out, no one would believe him anyway – which begs the question why she’d bother to threaten him anyway as well, yes?

I think it’s mostly related to how Justitia finds herself growing quite fond of Da On, these episodes.

I don’t blame her, coz he really is quite cute and likable, in the way he’s hanging around her, and offering to drive her places, and basically acting like a legit partner, in her investigations to find out the truth behind this week’s case.

E3-4. The partnership between Justitia and Da On comes to the fore, as they go digging for the truth together.

I think one of the things that I really like about their partnership, is that Da On’s figured out how to turn the tables on Justitia.

Not only is he no longer afraid of her, because he’s deduced that she can’t kill him for whatever reason, he’s also figured out that flashing his cross at her, hurts her eyes, and that comes in really handy, for when he feels the need to keep her in line.

Hahaha. It’s quite amusing to me, that Justitia, who’s a supernatural being with supernatural powers, has kind of been cowed by a mere human, in a manner of speaking. 🤭

At the same time, I have to say that I like that Da On doesn’t try to lord it over her; he’s mostly being a little cheeky about it, and only uses the piercing cross thing, when he needs to.

E3-4. I like that Justitia continues to show us more soft edges than she’d probably like to.

Again, there’s that idea that people might not be what they first appear – or a demon might not be what she first appears.

Even though Justitia’s said before, that she hates humans, we see her being kind to, and even protective of, Ji Ho.

Not only does she believe Ji Ho’s account of events, the first question she posts Ja Yeong when she goes to meet her, is about Ji Ho’s whereabouts.

Plus, there’s also the thing where she tells Da On, that she would always believe a child, because a child wouldn’t lie – and that if he’d appeared before her as a child, she would believe him too.

Augh. That touches on exactly the wound that Da On carries, about how he’d tried to tell the police his account of events, when his parents had been murdered, but they hadn’t believed him, because his account hadn’t been consistent.

And also, there’s the thing where Da On clearly identifies with Ji Ho, and wants to protect Ji Ho, not only because of what Ji Ho is going through, but also because of how Ji Ho’s experience is bringing up all these raw memories for him too.

The way Justitia’s statement brings reflexive tears to Da On’s eyes, says everything about how she might be a demon, but she’s truly the only one who would listen to his account of events, and believe him. 🥲

And perhaps – maybe? – that’s part of the reason Da On decides to let her go, in a manner of speaking?

As in, he decides to believe what she says about being a demon, but he also decides to leave her be, instead of trying to butt into her business; that feels like a possible concession, instead of an actual loss of interest? 😅

On a related tangent, I thought it was quite amusing, the way Justitia tries to pretend that she’s perfectly fine without Da On hanging around her, but actually really misses having him around.

I mean, she even asks her new sidekick, Gremory, to find serial killers who are still at large, so that she can complete her mission earlier, and hurry up and return to Hell.

That’s a pretty big impact that Da On’s got on her, yes? 🤭

E3-4. I’d wager that the reason Justitia collapses, is because she’s experiencing feelings for Da On, and might even be falling for him.

Since Bael (Shin Sung Rok) has warned that this is a sin that’s punishable by death, it stands to reason that a heart-flutter in Da On’s direction might cause her physical pain?

Plus, there’s the grandma in the complex who warns Da On to stay away from Justitia, saying that if they stay together, one of them will die.

I don’t have any clue how Show could work around a potential romance between Justitia and Da On, but that certainly seems to be the direction we’re going in, with these latest developments.

And while I don’t fancy the idea of either one of our leads dying for their love, I have to confess that I do quite love the idea of Da On moving into that apartment across from Justitia.

For someone who’s been rootless for so long, this does feel like a situation where she’s leading him to sink down roots somewhere?

E7-8. The state of the connection between Justitia and Da On is very uneven and in a strange place, these episodes, and with good reason.

On the one hand, Da On is very drawn to Justitia, and is genuinely grateful for the understanding and encouragement that she gives him, like in episode 7, when she tells him very clearly, that he absolutely did not kill his family.

That’s something that’s so precious to Da On, that I can understand Justitia having a special place in his heart just based on this alone.

On the other hand, Da On knows that Justitia is a demon, and that she’s basically the killer who’s been leaving dead bodies of murderers in his precinct, all stamped with the same grisly stamp on their foreheads.

As a detective, Da On naturally feels that it’s his duty to prove that Justitia is the killer, and bring her to justice.

Two very, very opposing sorts of emotions and motives, for sure. No wonder it’s such a confusing time for Da On. 😅

And then on Justitia’s side, she clearly is drawn to Da On, which she isn’t supposed to be, and she’s also growing emotions, which she isn’t supposed to be either.

Justitia fully knows that the reason she’s having all these chest pains, is because of the feelings that she’s growing for Da On, and she fully knows the penalty for growing such feelings, so I feel like the internal conflict on her side is very present as well.

And yet, she can’t help feeling compassion for Da On, and we see her hesitate to touch his emotional wounds by asking about his parents, and changing the subject instead.

That’s a very human thing to do certainly, and the tears that we keep seeing gather in her eyes, is another key sign of her growing emotions.

This basically feels like a “falling in love with your enemy” story, where they know they shouldn’t be in each other’s orbits, but can’t help themselves. Put that way, there’s some poetry to the idea, I suppose?

Maybe that’s why Da On gets all drunk while they drink with the neighbors? In any case, I felt quite tickled at the sight of Justitia carrying Da On back to his apartment, without much effort at all. 😁

E9-10. It’s actually quite endearing to see Justitia reacting so emotionally, when it’s something to do with Da On.

Like when she sees that Da On’s been hit in the face, and instinctively gets all upset, and then tries to nurse him by applying ointment to his busted lip – except that it’s just lip balm, ha.

Whenever we see this little indications at how unschooled Justitia really is, in the ways of humans, I can’t help but feel a little amused. 😁

And of course, we also get all those moments of what feels like involuntary empathy, that Justitia feels towards Da On, the more she finds out about how his parents had died, and what he had suffered.

I can understand why Da On would feel so touched and comforted, that she would get upset on his behalf, and feel sad on his behalf. 🥲

It also feels like a very significant thing, that she would verify for him, that his family, including So Yeong, are in Heaven, not Hell – and that she would then declare that she will find and kill J, meaning, he therefore won’t go to Hell for killing J, and would therefore be able to reunite with his loved ones, in Heaven.

That’s one of the most selfless things we’ve seen Justitia do, and I would say that this is an expression of her true love for Da On; she would rather be forever parted from him, if it means that he would be able to reunite with his family, in Heaven. 🥲

That’s very loving, isn’t it?

[END SPOILER]

Kim In Kwon as Man Do / Valak

I just had to give a shout-out to Man Do (whom I really should be calling Valak), because I found him quite cute and entertaining.

[SPOILER ALERT]

I found his earnest desire to get to Heaven endearing, and the silly antics around him trying to go to church without being discovered by Justitia, quite amusing.

In the end, his journey also reflects the internal conflict between our his demon instincts and his growing human emotions, much like Justitia’s, and I thought this was a neat little echo, narratively speaking.

[END SPOILER]

Kim Ah Young as A Rong / Gremory

I recently enjoyed Kim Ah Young in the role of the female lead’s bestie in Miss Night and Day (review here!), so I was really quite pleased to have her pop up as a supporting character in this story.

For the most part, I thought it was quite endearing that Gremory had stars in her eyes for Justitia.

[SPOILER ALERT]

Although, it was quite a twist for me, to realize that Gremory’s mission was to find humanized demons and punish them.

With Gremory’s fangirl love for Justitia and her mission coming to be at direct odds, it actually was quite interesting to observe Gremory’s decisions, in trying to balance the two.

In episodes 9-10, it makes character sense to me, that Gremory would try to find a way to kill Da On instead of Justitia, since we’ve seen that she really has a deep and longstanding admiration for Justitia.

Rightfully, if her treatment of the demon social worker dude is anything to go by, Gremory should be punishing Justitia for growing emotions, and sending her back to Hell for her punishment.

However, I can buy that because of her deep admiration for Justitia, she would try to find a way to keep Justitia around, but get rid of the person whom she sees as being the one to distract Justitia from her rightful demony path.

..Which is why she risks her life to summon Bael, which is how we get Choi Dae Hoon’s character Paimon in the picture, in the form of Jang Mun Jae.

As an aside, I just wanted to say that I found myself having some degree of morbid fascination around Gremory’s obsession with Justitia, because she looks more and more unhinged, these episodes, trying to get rid of Da On, while preserving Justitia’s life.

She really does give me crazed fangirl vibes, and Kim Ah Young’s crazy eyes are quite unsettling to me, not gonna lie. 😅

[END SPOILER]

The cleaning duo

I was quite amused by the existence of this magic cleaning duo, to reverse all signs of wreckage, and remove all signs of blood from all the demon trials.

I thought that was very handy!

[SPOILER ALERT]

At the same time, I was quite (pleasantly) surprised to find that even our cleaning duo also show signs of growing humanized.

I rather like that Show takes the time to give them a bit of development too, in that sense.

[END SPOILER]

Kim Young Ok as Gran

It’s always a pleasure to have Kim Young Ok on my screen, and I definitely sat up with some interest, when Show introduces her character, several episodes into our story.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E9-10. I’m intrigued by the reveal, that Gran is actually the angel Gabriel, who’s on earth to protect good people.

I actually rather liked that backstory, where we learn of the various ways that Gabriel’s been part of our story, without us realizing it, including being the heavenly postman, who had delivered that letter to Ji Ho, from his parents.

Most interesting to me, is that Gabriel had actually been key, in putting Da On in So Yeong’s care, because he’d wanted to answer Da On mom’s final prayer.

It’s also within this story world’s logic, that Gabriel would now hand over the task of protecting Da On, to Jusititia, because Da On has set his heart on killing So Yeon’s murderer, and thus, is basically out of Gabriel’s jurisdiction.

I thought that was a pretty interesting angle.

[END SPOILER]

Justitia and Gran [SPOILERS]

I also just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the unexpected connection that grows between Justitia and Gran, over the course of their various interactions with each other.

I found this all as touching as it was surprising, and count this as one of the most pleasant surprises that Show serves up. 🥲

The community

It’s honestly not something that I really expected, but I also came to enjoy the sense of community that we eventually get, with the neighbors in the complex even welcoming Justitia, Da On, Valak / Man Do and Gremory into their midst.

It’s as warm as it is incongruent, and I think that’s the charm of it all. 🥰

THEMES / IDEAS

Here are just a couple of themes / ideas that I thought were pretty core, to our story.

1. Appearances can be deceiving, and that people may not be what they seem, at first glance.

2. The analogy of iced tea becoming hot when it’s been exposed to the hot sun for long enough.

Looking at it that way, Justitia’s supposed to be a cold, emotionless demon, but because she’s been exposed to the warmth of humanity for a long time, she’s growing warm too.

I thought that was simple, approachable and neat.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE PENULTIMATE EPISODES [SPOILERS]

E11-12. Pfft. I gotta give it to Show; it really manages to be unpredictable in a way that keeps me guessing, all the way to the very end.

I know we’re not at the very end of our story just yet, but we do get some very significant reveals, these episodes, and as most of you would likely know by now, my guesses are all wrong. 😅

Well ok, I guess I did, at some point, guess that Tae Gyu was likely to be J, but I was wrong about everything else.

Which, for the record, is great, because it was a fresh experience, for a longtime, sometimes-jaded drama viewer like me, to feel like I had no real idea of where Show was going, and how it was planning to get there.

I was a bit surprised that Justitia’s punishment for falling in love with a human was to lose her powers and then wait for punishment on earth, because we’ve been told before, that this violation leads to instant death.

But fine. I guess in this kind of story world, which vibes quite like a dark webtoon, some logic stretching is understandable, for the purpose of pushing our story forward.

Because, if Justitia were to be killed right at this point of our story, then.. there’s no story left, yes? 😅

I was quite amused that Justitia’s plan of attack, is to present herself to Assemblyman Jeong, as a potential daughter-in-law, and ask to marry, not Tae Gyu, but Seon Ho – so that she can snoop around and figure out whether her theory, that Seon Ho is J, is correct.

I was on tenterhooks the whole time that Justitia is snooping around the Jeong house, particularly once she unlocks the secret passageway, because she’s without her powers at this point, and therefore in much more danger than she would otherwise be.

Plus, the whole scene is filmed in a pretty creepy way, what with the use of inverted color and all; that just made me feel even more on edge. 😅

I thought the whole painting idea was cool and unexpected, and yet, within the realm of possibility, in this story world where demons can use their powers to do unusual things.

I also thought it was cool that Justitia could enter the painting, and on that note, I appreciate that Show is clear on the fact that even though she’s lost her powers, she is still, in essence, a demon, which makes it very logical, that she would be able to enter the painting, where a human wouldn’t be able to.

With Seon Ho expressing confusion about Justitia’s question about why he isn’t entering the painting, I became convinced that Tae Gyu was Satan (and J, at the same time), and again, I’m amused to be completely wrong. 😅

I was surprised to get the reveal that it had been Seon Ho who’d stabbed Bit Na in the park, but with the explanation that Show gives, it made sense to me, that he would follow Tae Gyu’s orders, if only to get the drug fix that he craved so badly.

With that, it also makes sense to me, that he would hover near Bit Na’s hospital room, because he doesn’t have a personal reason to want Bit Na dead; he’d just been following instructions.

I’m relieved that Gremory steps in to help Da On with those details about the secret passageway and how to open it, because it really did look like Justitia might have gotten strangled to death by Seon Ho, if Da On had arrived any later.

I was as confident as Justitia, when she summons Bael afterwards, and asks for her powers back, promising that she would send Satan back to Hell, but I have to confess that I was thereafter quite lost as to the closing scene of episode 11, where we see Justitia setting that car on fire with someone inside.

I’d assumed that it was Seon Ho in the car, and I then concluded that she must be punishing him for killing Bit Na, because the real Bit Na had died, after all.

Ha. That’s one of the things that Show likes to do; it’ll skip ahead to a dramatic scene to create a very effective cliffhanger, but only rewind events the following episode, to fill in the context, and explain what had really happened.

Sometimes it annoys me when dramas do this too much, but somehow, with this show, I don’t seem to mind.

It all seems to fit quite well into the entire rollercoaster experience, and also, maybe I’m giving it a pass because Show’s been so good at serving up actual twists and turns that I can’t predict, that I’m quite happy to accept it as just part of Show’s personal style?

I find that I’m a lot less patient when a drama does that jump-ahead-for-a-cliffhanger thing, but can’t prove that it’s actually clever in any way. 😅

All that to say that I was quite impressed and tickled that it wasn’t Seon Ho in the car after all, but a body that our special clean-up duo had preserved from years ago, used as a decoy, to mess with Assemblyman Jeong and Tae Gyu, while they planned to have Seon Ho turn himself in at the police station.

I did think it was very sassy and audacious, the way Justitia swans into the funeral hall, and then speaks so frankly to Assemblyman Jeong and Tae Gyu, saying all those things about them not having to pretend like they’re sad, coz she knows that they’re glad to get Seon Ho out of their hair. 🤭

I must say, it was a nicely done soft reveal that Show did, with Tae Gyu turning to him and saying that they should have killed Seon Ho along with his mother, and him then calmly replying that later was better than never.

It did blow my mind in that moment, that the two of them were in cahoots, but it still didn’t quite click in my brain, which one between them was Satan. In fact, I was half thinking that maybe they were both demons, with one of them being Satan.

And, for the record, at this point, I was still convinced that Tae Gyu was Satan.

See what I mean about my guesses never actually being correct, with this show? 😅

And so, I was quite surprised when Show reveals that it’s Assemblyman Jeong who’s Satan, while Tae Gyu really is just a murderous human, and not a demon at all.

Additionally, I was consistently quite surprised at Satan’s ability to mess with the minds of his opponents; it kept me guessing because I couldn’t quite differentiate, in the moment, what was real, and what was part of the person’s dreamscape, that Satan had pronounced for them to wander in.

Because of this, I’d really thought that Tae Gyu had shot Satan in the forehead and killed him, so I was definitely taken by surprise, when that ground crew assisting Tae Gyu stabbed him in the leg – and that broke the mirage to reveal that it had been Satan who had stabbed Tae Gyu in the leg.

I dunno; maybe someone more attuned to this type of genre might have been able to guess some of these things? 😅

I thought it was rather ungainly to have Satan tell the whole backstory to Justitia, while she paused in her effort to kill him, because that backstory felt pretty long to me, but I’ll buy that Justitia was that sincere in wanting to know what had happened to Da On’s parents.

Also, I did appreciate the backstory itself, because I was curious to know how Satan had ended up in Assemblyman Jeong’s body, and how he and Tae Gyu had ended up becoming partners in crime.

Honestly, I’d never considered that Satan would commission someone else to do all the killing for him, and bring him the body parts that he required for his quest for immortality.

Heh. Guess I’m not very crafty, am I? 😅

On a side note, I thought it was quite poignant to see that Justitia’s dream is actually to be able to marry Da On in a lovely ceremony while being celebrated by all their friends.

Aw. Justitia’s come a long way since we first met her, hasn’t she? 🥲 I feel bad for her, that Satan invades that dream and taunts her about it.

Also, I don’t quite understand the part where Satan summons Justitia’s nightmares – and then Justitia manages to kill him, in that nightmare?

Still, it was satisfying to see Justitia use his desperation for the Kylum against him, and then plunge her dagger into him, thus sending him to Hell. You go, girl!!

Afterwards, I’m glad to see that Justitia trusts Da On enough, to let him decide what to do with Tae Gyu; that if he chooses to kill Tae Gyu, she would protect him in Hell, and if he chooses to arrest him, she would see that justice is served in a court of law.

That’s a huge step forward for Justitia, and I like the idea that she respects him enough to also respect his right to choose, regardless of what that choice is.

Kudos to Da On for having the fortitude not to kill Tae Gyu, even though Tae Gyu baits him and taunts him with all the gory details of how he had killed So Yeong.

I think Tae Gyu really was trying to get Da On convicted of murder, while himself escaping his own crimes through death.

BUT. Trust Show to find a way to shake things up, as we head into the finale, by having Bael order Justitia to let Tae Gyu off in court, and then send him directly to Hell, before returning to Hell herself – or die a terrible death in Hell, for not obeying orders.

EEP. This, just as Justitia’s finally ready to honor Da On’s chosen way forward, of having J put on trial and brought to justice within the legal system?

I have no idea how Show is going to work out a positive ending here for our key characters, but Show’s surprised me before, and I’m guessing that Show will surprise me again. 😁

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

E13-14. Given that Show’s been keeping me on my toes through its run, and proving all my guesses wrong, I can safely say that I didn’t know what to expect, coming into this finale.

Now that I’ve emerged on the other side, I can say that this was a solid finale, all in all.

The big conundrum hanging over our story, that we’d come into the finale with, is how Justitia must make a choice between letting Jung Tae Gyu go and sending him directly to Hell, or face punishment by certain death.

I’d had no idea how Show would reconcile Justitia’s growth arc, since her desire to honor Da On’s wish, to have J tried in a court of law, is a key part of that growth, with this death threat, because while I wanted Justitia to grow, I didn’t her to have to die for it. 😅

In the end, though, Show proves that it’s more slippery – and cleverer! – than I’d thought. 😁

I actually found it moving, that Justitia would choose to sentence Jung Tae Gyu to death for his crimes, and give justice and closure to all the victims’s grieving families, instead of yield to Bael’s order, to release Jung Tae Gyu, and then send him directly to Hell.

Even though she knows that she will be faced with her own death penalty, for going against Bael’s orders, she makes that decision firmly and without wavering, and it’s honestly very touching to see that she’s that convicted that this is the right thing to do.

Aw. Justitia’s really come a long way, hasn’t she? 🥲

I found her goodbye with Da On very poignant, because while Da On’s clueless as to why Justitia’s saying goodbye to him like that, we know that for Justitia, this is her final goodbye to Da On; the last thing that she’d wanted to do, before accepting her punishment.

And then, I thought it was a great twist, that Justitia was saved from death, by God Himself – through Gabriel, his messenger.

On a slightly nitpicky note, I thought it was illogical that Gabriel and Justitia would be in the form of Gran and Kang Bit Na, when in the supernatural realm, but I am willing to roll with it, because of the emotional impact that we get, in seeing the characters interact in those forms.

I highly suspect that this is the reason that the scene was directed in this way, using these actors.

That nitpick aside, I did love the idea that Gabriel is the one to save Justitia, under God’s orders – which override Bael’s orders.

Even better, I love the idea that there’s an emotional connection between Justitia and Gabriel; that they are friends now, despite their rather hostile beginnings. 🥲

I will say that Show really had me going with the opening of episode 14, with Da On going to the funeral wake; I’d thought that that had been for Justitia, but it had been for Gran.

I will say though, that I do enjoy the fact that Show keeps me guessing, even this late in the game.

I did think it was quite clever, that despite Justitia’s ruling, Show would still manage to give us a situation where we have Justitia meting out her demon justice on Jung Tae Gyu, and sending him to Hell.

It made character sense to me, that Jung Tae Gyu would try to run away from prison when the opportunity presents itself, and it’s quite neat, narratively speaking, that this would in turn give Justitia a reason to put him in demon trial and send him to Hell.

I will admit that I kind of zoned out a bit at the demon trial, because by this point, I’d kind of had my fill of the rogue justice punishments, and wasn’t really in the mood for more.

But, at the same time, I do think that it works narratively, to have one last rogue punishment, because that has been the hallmark of this show.

Plus, there is a certain amount of satisfaction that comes from seeing Jung Tae Gyu get punished by Justitia, where he’s no longer smugly wielding the knife on an innocent victim, but begging for his own life.

Afterwards, I’d honestly been quite puzzled at the 2-year time skip, particularly since Justitia spends most of that time apart from Da On, with her working at her new posting in the coastal region, while he remains at his job in Seoul.

This was hard for me to wrap my brain around, because, if Justitia only has three years of vacation granted from Bael before she has to return to Hell, wouldn’t it make more sense for them to spend as much of that time together, as possible?

But fine, I’ll roll with the idea that Justitia just really wanted to live life as a proper judge, while she could.

And eventually, I realized that the 2-year time skip made sense, in that this gave all our grieving families time to start healing, and coming back to them 2 years later, allows us to see that they’re in a better place now, even though the scars will always still be there.

I thought this was meaningful, even though I have to admit that at this point I did feel like the pacing had slowed enough to make me feel a little impatient and distracted.

But all is forgiven, for the fact that Show is sensitive enough to not just move on and pretend like the families don’t have trauma and wounds that need time to heal. So, good call on that.

I also found it a meaningful beat, that we would get to see Justitia visiting Ji Ho and his grandmother; again, this demonstrates how much she’s grown, from the time that we’d first met her.

And then I also really loved that beat, where Justitia runs into Gabriel again, this time, because Gabriel’s undercover as Da Hui’s friend from school.

It’s so great, that it’s Gabriel’s words about how friends eat fries, that clue Justitia in on who he is. Yay for unexpected supernatural reunions! 🥲

Many dramas like to hint at a possible Season 2, and this show is no different. What I like about it, though, is how Show does it.

I like the idea, that Justitia is faced with a potential new assignment, handed down from Bael’s superior, Lucifer; that if she sends ten sinners to Hell in the next year, she’ll get to live as a human.

That’s a great way to introduce a possible Season 2, because it makes narrative sense, and it’s something that audiences would root for; the chance for Justitia to live as a human, so that she’d be able to be with Da On for the long term.

At the same time, I appreciate the reason Justitia gives for hesitating; that her handing out light sentences would only hurt grieving families, and she doesn’t want to do that.

Again, such growth! 🥲

And then just when I’m thinking that that’s the end of that, we see Justitia presiding over a case with a terribly unrepentant criminal – and that gives me the sense that she just might take up the offer, after all. Nice.

And last but not least, I thought it was a fun callback to episode 1, to have Justitia be asked again, by a bunch of curious kids, about why the Goddess of Justice is blindfolded and holding a sword.

It’s actually quite fun to see Justitia answering the questions properly this time – while still retaining her signature irreverent cheekiness.

I think that sets the tone nicely for a possible Season 2, and I wouldn’t be mad, honestly, if we actually get a Season 2, so that we can see more of Justitia being her irreverent self while fighting for justice – and for the chance to live as a human, with Da On by her side. ❤️

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Works out to be a pretty solid ride, with some rollercoaster tendencies.

FINAL GRADE: B+

TRAILER:

MV:

PATREON UPDATE!

The next drama I’m covering on Patreon, in place of The Judge From Hell, is Mr. Plankton [Korea].

You can check out my episode 1-2 notes on Mr. Plankton [Korea] on Patreon here.

Here’s an overview of what I’m covering on Patreon right now (Tier benefits are cumulative)!

Foundation Tier (US$1): Entertainment Drop (Sundays) + the first set notes of all shows covered on Patreon (that’s 2 episodes for kdramas and 4 episodes for cdramas)

Early Access (US$5): +Mr. Plankton [Korea]

Early Access Plus (US$10): +A Virtuous Business [Korea]

VIP (US$15): +Tell Me That You Love Me [Korea]