▲ This photo provided by tvN shows the poster for drama “The Devil Judge.” (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
▲ This photo provided by tvN shows a scene from the drama “The Devil Judge.” (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, July 10 (Yonhap) — The top priority of Dark Hero, who often appears on the small screen recently, is vicarious satisfaction.

While it is easy to relate to the background of the “The Devil Judge,” however, the main character's capabilities are unrealistic, which can also be seem in dramas such as. "Model Taxi," "Vincenzo," and "The Uncanny Rumor.” 

However, tvN's new weekend drama "The Devil Judge" has chosen a slightly different storyline. The background is a virtual dystopia in Korea and Kang Yo-han (played by Ji Sung), the main character, is also invincible to make the owner of a company sentenced to 235 years of imprisonment with the support of the justice minister and the help of the Foundation for Social Responsibility.

Although Kang has a righteous side, he is the typical dark hero who has the ruthless viciousness of the devil like the title of the drama. It is clearly cathartic to see him punishing evil by committing various violations without surrendering to pressure from people of the upper class in the social hierarchy.

Moon Yoo-seok, a former judge who drew good heroes in his previous work "Miss Hammurabi," first challenged the dark hero play in this work, which makes the audience think that the character he forced reflects the absurdity and frustration he felt when he was in office.

Of course, the reason to why Kang was forced to become a sociopathic has not been fully revealed, and the background and detailed settings of dystopia have only partly been shown. However, considering that, it is still a question of whether "The Devil Judge" can win the public’s sympathy like the other existing dark hero dramas. 

However, each cut of the scenes focus too much on the splendors and the overall connection feel somewhat insufficient and distracting.

"The Devil Judge" succeeded in surpassing 5% of viewership from the start. However, the previous  drama "Mine," which ended at more than 10 percent, is still seen to have a lasting effect on the audience. The audience rating has fallen slightly from 5.6 percent in the first episode to 5.1 percent in the second episode.

Yoon Seok-jin, a professor of Korean literature and drama critic at Chungnam National University, said on the 10th, "The narratives from the characters are very distracting, and the production of them was too hard. The message of the drama wasn’t too clear from the start and rather than explaining the character or message kindly, it’s focused on proving the power of the characters. 

 

Kim Sung-soo, a pop culture critic, also said, "Since ‘The Devil Judge’ is based off of an imaginary setting, the drama seems to concentrate on the visual aspects. It also seems a little out of place when the judge’s character is emphasized while the other characters are still not introduced."

 

 

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