Recently Premiered tvN Drama The Devil Judge Drops a Virtuoso Ending to Episode 4 as Audience Acclaim and Ratings Jump

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• I disliked EP1 too. From the dystopian backdrop to the elite pulling strings behind the scenes to the Greek style temple court to the ridiculous papal-style robes of the judges, I found the whole thing silly, theatrical and somewhat pretentious. None of the acting performances or characters stood out. And Ji sung's Yohan was your cliche villain/anti-hero with the maniacal Joker laugh and grandeur. I was going to drop it but after this new development, I'll continue for now.

  • Funny you should mention Joker. I read online that Yohan was described as Batman who wants to be Joker and/or an evil Batman. And that the writer described the show as The Dark Knight + Hunger Games in a courtroom.

  • 1st epsiode was lackluster for me too. But I'm glad I stuck around, the plot and writing sure do seem to be steady and excellent imo. Well it IS dystopian so the writer can play around with what "reality" in that drama is, ep 1 was a bit too theatrical but I think they just wanted to start the drama with a BOOM.
    I'm enjoying it and can't wait for ep 5 :)

• So the drama started off with 5% and was stuck in that range till it managed to rise to 6% in EP4. Okay, now where are the soothsayers who gazed into their crystal balls and declared that this drama was going to start off with 8%-9% ratings and break 20%? Y'all are frauds. I want my money back. LOL.

  • Yeah tvn loses competition with tv chosun love marriage and divorce rating hit 11%!It will be broke 20% rating for sure.Ahjuma still love makjang drama they are getting bored with dark anti hero theme like vincenzo,mouse and taxi driver.

    • Then now that the competition is over, Devil Judge could rise up in ratings. Unless another makjang pops up to give it a run for its money.

• Ep 1 got me confused idk if I'm hgoing to like it or not but because of jisung I try to stay. Until ep kinda get the grip that this is anti hero kinda drama but then the end when yohan said people love this kind of stories makes me doubt him.

  • Ep 1 was a bit vague especially about the motives of Yohan. As of now (ep 4) the drama seems to be actually going in a good direction as we get to understand the characters.If you stopped at ep 1 I would recommend watching till ep 4 and then forming an opinion ! Cheers~

• I'm not suprised by this success, Koreans love extravagant shows. Personally, I wasn't convinced by the first episode.

  • Tv chosun no.1 tv cable right now.Love marriage and divorce hitting 11% in las 2 episode.

    • And?

  • Too early to call it a success. Even Sisyphus had high ratings in the beginning till it went on a steady downslope to flop hell.

• Ji Sung is one of the best actors . He may not have the popularity of a Hyun Bin or Gong Yoo but he should. The same goes for Jang Hyuk, Lee Jun Ki .Theses guys are aces .

  • The older generations..

• This drama is definitely to perform better than any of the rom-coms/fantasy/ whatever Song Kang which is available now

  • What is your obsession with Song Kang, anyway? And why are you always comparing him, an up and comer still wet behind the ears to actual veterans and legends???

    • Better to compare him to the other mediocre actors on his mediocre level. The Jang Ki Yongs, Cha Eun Woos, Taecs, Nam Joo Hyuks and so on.

• Why do fans are harsher in actresses than actors? I don't see people criticizing Jin Young's perfomance. The drama is showing his weaknesses as an actor. I think he isn't ready yet for this kind of role. Not bashing him, just an observation.

  • Wow.. have u really watched? Hmmm I don’t think so. Jinyoung is really great in this drama! His acting is superb. I’m a kdrama fan since 2008. Jinyoung made me cry it means he did great in his acting. I know he’s an idol, for me he’s in the top 5 best idol actors WHO CAN REALLY ACT. Ohhh btw, he really gave justice in this given role. Need I say more?…

    • And a delusional fan pops up like fungus to dumbly defend her lacking oppa. 'Have you really watched? I don't think so.' Right back at you. If his bland performance made you cry, then your tear ducts are leaky in the first place. Go get them checked ASAP.

    • No, his acting is really not nuanced and his expression of the way things unfolded before him is just the same. Yes, I have watched all four episodes and all of the actors are acting circles around him. He is the weakest so far in the drama.

  • @Mica

    Because the world is sexist and misogynist. Handsome oppa gets a pass for his terrible acting. But unnie is ripped to shreds. Never heard of that Jin-young person before this drama. But he's not a good actor. His performance does absolutely nothing for me. He's just there. And to that tear-prone fan, yes, I have really really really watched.

    • Agree! But I'm lol at the last line. ?

    • I am not his fan but I actually start to like him after watching this drama because he can perfectly potray a classic "hero's love interest" this good as a man. I didn't like how woman as love interest usually potrayed in action or superhero movie but after watching Ga-On I kind of understand why this kind of characters actually quite populer.

  • Huh? But his acting actually good for this "kind of role". Gaon is perfect example of classic "female lead/love interest" of the hero, pure-hearted innocent fella with poor background, too nice for his own good, have this tendencies to do something dangerous or atract dangerous people, need to be saving time to time, easy to manipulated....what else? Oh yeah an eye candy that easy to bully by other strong characters. You know, to make this kind of character not annoying is already an achievement

    • 'An achievement' lol. If anything you just prove his/her point that viewers are misogynist bunch who judge female characters for things male characters will be let off with much lesser amount of criticism.

  • I will have to respectfully DISAGREE. I have not seen Jinyoung's previous works but I do find his acting quite good in Devil Judge. Don't stereotype this actor, he genuinely has potential. He's not perfect (but 90% of the time he brings his character to life perfectly) but I would def say that he's fckn good, or else he wouldn't have landed a role opposite to Jisung (a legend himself).
    I've read non fans says he "acts with his eyes" and after ep 4 I agree. And according to Google this isn't his first role as a male lead (he has acted in "He Is Psychometric" before).... so I would say this seems to be a natural progression ?
    (Sorry if I come off as aggressive but I found myself enjoying this actor's skills and so wanted to voice my thoughts)

• I'm loving The Devil Judge. The OTT parts are symbolic and the dystopian world not that unrealistic. Ji Sung is great, of course. I wouldn't say this is his first drama since Kill Me, Heal Me that could get ratings, critical love and buzz. Defendant had them all, I think, finishing just shy of 30% in ratings. Not sure if Familiar wife had critical love or buzz but the ratings were pretty good.

  Nothing against Love Ft. Marriage & Divorce but IMO this is the much more ambitious and interesting drama.

  • Two totally different dramas, genres and subject matter. Why on earth would anyone compare them and deem one more interesting and ambitious than the other? It's like comparing DoDoSolSol to Secret Forest or Signal.

    • Ouch! Hahaha. That's mean.

    • True lol but these two share the same time slot. I hope both do well, but this one would be my choice to watch since it always boils down to ratings wars. That's all I meant.

    • @Mimi

      I gotchu. I gotchu. ?

• I can see why a commenter above mentioned this tvN drama is theatrical & pretentious. Turns out it's produced by same companies that produced DAYS, Studio Dragon & Studio&NEW. Maybe helmed by same backstage crew. Only difference is the cast, writer & director. Lots of moolah to spend in terms of production sets, costumes, special effects, etc.

  • Studio Dragon produces 70% of the dramas on tvn and is creator for 100% of the dramas on tvn and ocn. CJ owns these channels so its is but obvious Studio Dragon will be working on every single drama airing on their channel. CJ is a conglomerate much like Samsung and they have deep pockets and an ever deeper network of producers, directors, writers and actors. They own all the big writers and directors including KES, PJE, NHK and KEH as well as the director of Goblin. They've delivered almost all the biggest hit dramas in recent times including CLOY since when has that ever made them pretentious? Studio Dragon is the one production house everyone wants to work with.

    • Re-reading the 1st comment where the commenter used the word "pretentious" if I'm not wrong (I could be), the word is used to refer the Greek temple style court setting & papal robe costumes of judges. She/he could possibly be referring to the mood of the drama that is pretentious, not necessarily referring to Studio Dragon being pretentious as a production company. That's just my interpretation of her opinion of the drama.

• I can see why a commenter above mentioned this tvN drama is theatrical & pretentious. Turns out it's produced by same companies that produced DAYS, Studio Dragon & Studio&NEW. Maybe helmed by same backstage crew. Only difference is the cast, writer & director. Lots of $$$ to spend in terms of production sets, costumes, special effects, etc.