Early Access: The Devil Judge E2 (Patreon)

E2. This show is definitely giving me some Vincenzo vibes, only darker, because this time, our antihero actually seems to relish exerting punishment, and violence too, when he deems fit, on others. I am duly, morbidly, fascinated.

This episode, interestingly, I find myself gravitating more towards our devil judge than Ga On, who's our earnest good-guy judge. Given that I've traditionally, instinctively, always leaned towards rooting for the good guy, this is a somewhat discombobulating turn of events for me. I think it's mainly because of Ji Sung's charisma and magnetism, rather than me being in danger of abandoning my moral compass; he's just so compelling and intriguing as Kang Yo Han. Ok, and I hafta admit, his wink is deadly sexy.

Every time Ga On tries to go up against Kang Yo Han, it feels like a confused kitten trying to swat at a grown tiger, and said grown tiger is trying to make up its mind whether to be patient, and indulge the kitten coz it's cute, or just fling it against the wall with a single swipe of its mighty paw, because how dare the ignoramus not know who it's dealing with; it was annoying and not all that cute anyway. 😆

That's exactly how I feel, every time Kang Yo Han has a conversation with Ga On. It always feels like we're teetering on the fine line between patient indulgence, and, well, mortal danger. I get the sense that Kang Yo Han could literally kill Ga On, if he decided that he wanted to.

The things that Kang Yo Han says about his passion for hunting, during that dinner with Ga On and Judge Oh (I think I'll call her Jin Joo now; I like her and she feels like a friend, heh), feel so loaded with double meaning; it feels like intimidation that's barely hidden. "It's truly thrilling. When it rushes at you, with its teeth bared and you shoot it between the eyes."

And then, there's what he says about not being able to taste, and how he experiences his food, "I can't taste too well. To me, food is more about the feel of the chew.. I cut food with my incisors, crush it with my molars, and my fangs do the tearing. That feeling. That's how I feel my food."

Altogether, Kang Yo Han feels like such a predator, and one that's really comfortable in his predator skin, too.

However, we are getting glimpses of his childhood, through fragmented flashbacks, and just from those alone, we can see that he didn't have it easy, as a kid. First, we see what looks like physical violence, inflicted by an adult. And then, later in the episode, we get that extended flashback to when he'd been a kid in school.

I have to say, I find it uncomfortable and dissonant to have that priest talk about why he saw Kang Yo Han as a devil. Based on what he says, the adults didn't do anything to intervene, through the entire process of Kang Yo Han being targeted and bullied by the other kids, and just stood by and watched, while he found his own way to retaliate. That's not cool, and I think, this makes it feel wrong, to have him talk about Kang Yo Han as the devil, when he himself had done nothing to at least try to stop all these things from happening.

From an objective point of view, I don't actually blame Kang Yo Han for how he handled the situation. First of all, it looks like he hadn't meant to kill the bird. He'd swatted at it, because his desk-mate had been so frightened of the bird in front of her, on her desk. At this point, the teacher should have intervened to tell the kids that he hadn't killed the bird on purpose, but no; the teacher just stood by and watched, while the other kids targeted him and bullied him for being a freak.

Subsequently, the way Kang Yo Han turned those kids against each other, is quite brilliant, if you think about it. They'd ganged up on him, when all he'd wanted was to be left alone. All he did was make it such that they wouldn't have a desire to cooperate with one another anymore. He'd distracted them so that instead of turning on him, they turned on one another. And that's how he got them off his back, when they shouldn't have been on his back to begin with. It's really smart, when you think about it. And, it does look to me like he wouldn't have done any of it, if he hadn't been provoked to begin with.

..Could this mean that Kang Yo Han, as our titular devil judge, is the product of his environment? I do wonder if that's what Show means to say.

As for Ga On, it seems like he just bristles against Kang Yo Han by nature, meaning, it's as if his moral compass is so strong that he's offended at a core level, by Kang Yo Han's radically different way of looking at things. I do wonder how much of Ga On's investigation into Kang Yo Han, is because of his own sense of right and wrong, and how much of it is because of a sense of duty towards the Chief Justice. From the bits and pieces of conversation that we get this episode, it feels like there's a sense of assignment to this, like the Chief Justice had placed Ga On there, in order to spy on Kang Yo Han.

This episode's introduction of Lee Young Min, the maniac driver of the yellow sports car, gives me Vincenzo vibes as well, because he comes off about as crazy and as angry as our Babel villains in Vincenzo. Even though the concept doesn't feel all that fresh because of this, I still balked at the casual cruelty of Lee Young Min as a character. I mean, he calls the act of terrorizing innocent people "going on safari"? That's bizarre and absolutely appalling. And, judging from the way this is introduced, it seems that he does this as a matter of habit, too. And then there's the thing where he forces the diabetic manager to eat all the desserts, just to vent his anger.

I have to say, though, Moon Dong Hyeok does a good job of portraying Lee Young Min, in that, aside from the angry psychopath angle to his character, he also makes Lee Young Min come across very effectively as pathetic and cowardly.

It's a logic stretch that Ga On and Soo Hyun would have been able to keep up with the fancy car chase, over such a distance, with both sports cars going as fast as they were, but I'll let it slide because I suppose Show needs a way for Ga On to show Soo Hyun just how dangerously deviant Kang Yo Han can be.

I hafta say, though, Show does such an efficient job of establishing Lee Young Min as a terrible person, that I took quite a bit of relish in watching Kang Yo Han frighten Lee Young Min, while casually smashing up the fancy car via which he regularly terrorizes people.

I am quite intrigued by Sun Ah as a character. Kim Min Jung's doing a thing with Sun Ah, where she makes Sun Ah come across as a mix of schoolgirl innocence, dexterous sex appeal and smooth manipulation. I can't tell whether she's just doing her job, or whether she takes things personally, but there's definitely a whiff of personal offense that I pick up on, when people don't take her words seriously. For now, she comes across as reasonably restrained, but I can't help wondering what kind of havoc she'd be able to wreak, with more determination, and more power in her hands.

I don't know what to make of Chairman Seo. Why does he look so sickly? He strikes me as someone with a very diseased liver, with that startlingly gray pallor of his face. Add on the shock of wild gray hair, and from certain angles, he literally looks like Frankenstein's monster's father. 😆 And for all of the meditation that he supposedly does, he sure is quick to sexually harass Jin Joo, at that fancy party that Kang Yo Han takes her to. I don't trust him, right away, and I am wondering what Sun Ah's game plan is, since she's his secretary.

The fact that Kang Yo Han actually seems to know that Ga On's on his tail, and even has people watching, as Soo Hyun tries to interview witnesses, makes everything feel extra intriguing. He even knows that Ga On is wiretapping him, and instead of confronting Ga On about it, casually uses this knowledge to mess with Ga On, by saying things that throw Ga On off the scent.

There's something tantalizingly brazen about Kang Yo Han. The way he goes after Lee Young Min is so casual and so bold; he doesn't even care that Lee Young Min recognizes him as the judge from TV. And, when Sun Ah attempts to warn him, during that dance at the party, that the sponsors of the foundation hate unexpected twists, and that men who enjoy things alone aren't charming or useful, he is completely unfazed. He simply smirks and tells her that it's unfortunate, because he's having a lot of fun. It feels like Sun Ah's going to have a very hard time, if she's trying to get him to toe the line.

Also, that was a pretty great reveal, that Lee Young Min is actually the son of our Minister of Justice. Hrmmm. I guess Minister Cha must be the prey that Kang Yo Han's really after, since he's pronounced that Lee Young Min's just the bait.

What a dramatic note on which to end the episode, with Kang Yo Han's office literally blowing up. Of course Ga On would instinctively look to protect Kang Yo Han, even though he's deeply suspicious of Kang Yo Han. That's just the kind of decent guy that he is. I wonder whether this act of his, would endear him to Kang Yo Han in any way? I mean, he does help an unconscious Ga On out of the office, which is the first time we've seen him do something to actively help someone else, so that's something?

I also wonder who planted that bomb in Kang Yo Han's office. I mean, there are probably more than a few people who would be keen to blow up our devil judge?

And what about Kang Yo Han's answer, when Ga On asks him why he's doing all this, is because he can. "Possibility is like a drug." Such casual, laidback flippancy. Is all of this, just our devil judge testing the boundaries of what's possible?