‘The Judge From Hell’ K-Drama review: A terrific Park Shin-hye brings oodles of sass and charm

Park Shin-hye is not the first actor that comes to mind, if I had to cast someone in the role of a maniacal, swashbuckling demon banished to Earth. And yet, after watching The Judge From Hell, I can’t think of an actor who would have been more suited to embody Judge Kang Bit-na on screen.

When Judge Kang Bit-na (Park Shin-hye) dies after being stabbed in a park, she is erroneously condemned to an eternal punishment by demon Justitia (Oh Na-ra). When demon Bael(Shin Sung-rok) finds out, he banishes Justitia to Earth. She now has a mission – to find and kill ten persons who are murderers and show no sign of repentance, all within a year. Justitia possesses Kang Bit-na’s body on earth, and begins her mission with trusty sidekicks Man-do (Kim In-kwon) and A-rong (Kim Ah-young), both demons who like Bit-na are now on earth. 

As the impertinent, sassy judge obsessed with cola, Bit-na has little time for her colleagues, neighbours or other people around her. She doesn’t care for social niceties, and would much rather focus on her mission to eliminate murderers who land up in her court. This should all be easy to execute, but frequent run-ins with Han Da-on (Kim Jae-young), a detective with the violent crimes division, proves to be a barrier in more ways than one. Da-on is suspicious of criminals who after getting pardoned by Bit-na, mysteriously end up dead one after the other, and Bit-na now has to fight Da-on’s intrusiveness, as well a blossoming attraction to his charms. 

The Judge From Hell is many things — a fantasy, a vigilante drama, a legal drama, a crime procedural, and even a romance — rolled into one. And yet, it all manages to come together seamlessly. Bit-na taking down criminals one after another might become repetitive, but it is the way she goes about her mission that makes it novel and puts a new spin on a rather grim premise. 

For instance, taking on an abuser who stalks and terrorises his girlfriend, Bit-na forces him to experience what he put his girlfriend through —by dragging him into a simulation of sorts where he is on the receiving end. Park Shin-hye, in probably a career-best role, embodies Bit-na with a maniacal glint in her eyes and a chilling smile through these sequences. She’s agile and extremely convincing in the show’s many stunt sequences, taking on a host of villains of the human and fantastical kind. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the plot point about how demons shouldn’t cry or fall in love — much has been said of the actor being saddled with roles which require an overuse of the tear ducts. In The Judge from Hell, however, there is a great build up to the moment when the tears finally arrive, and Park Shin-hye aces this.

If we had Song Kang embody a demon who protects, charms, and fights evil in the K-Drama My Demon, which released earlier this year, the roles are rather nicely reversed in The Judge from Hell. Here, the slo-mo shots to establish a romance are reserved for Da-on, and Bit-na’s heart thuds faster everytime she sees him. He is the one who needs saving for the most part, and even the one time he tries to beat someone up, Bit-na brushes him away to throw in some punches of her own. All the big moments in the show are thankfully reserved for Bit-na and while she does embark on a journey of discovering love and empathy, the writing never attempts to magically change her core traits. She is, after all, a demon who often chooses a path that is morally grey and this is a conflict that remains until the end. The romance on the show thankfully stops short of making her bland and boring.

In a show that heroes Park Shin-hye’s Bit-na, Kim Jae-young is effective in making his presence felt as the smart, kind-hearted detective. The two actors share a great chemistry on screen from the start — both as a duo immersed in investigations and later on, as a romantic pair. In Da-on’s initial idealism and faith in the judicial system, Bit-na finds her faith in her vigilante mission questioned. Despite the fantasy context, the show attempts to explore this moral conundrum, even if it doesn’t delve very deep. Apart from trusty K-Drama regulars Kim Jae-hwa, Kim Young-ok, and Kim Hye-hwa, Lee Kyu-han, who plays seemingly shady businessman Tae-gyu, is the show’s other acting surprise.  

Among the show’s many strengths are debut writer Jo Yi-soo’s fantasy world-building — the earth seems to have a lot more angels and demons than one might think, and the presence of an angel makes for an interesting reveal midway through the show, especially how it ties together several happenings around Bit-na.  There’s also some interesting lore, involving Satan and a missing artefact that unravels as the show progresses. While the violence and gore is expected of the grim premise, I wished for less gore onscreen during the constant moving back in time to showing serial killer J’s victims from the past. 

The Judge From Hell also makes a case for keeping shows to less than 16 episodes; there simply isn’t time in its 14-episode run for a sustained dip in pace. With a devious, morally-grey lead and a fusion of genres, the show is a welcome, much-needed addition to a year that has otherwise been largely rocky for K-Dramas. And after an excellent performance in Doctor Slump as well, this truly is Park Shin-hye’s year.

All episodes of The Judge from Hell are streaming on Disney+