They Don't Kiss Until Episode 16

Where do I even begin?

I’ll start here: I absolutely loved The Judge from Hell. It was one of the, dare I say, best dramas of 2024, and take this with a grain of salt because I haven’t seen many dramas in 2024.

The Judge from Hell is about a demon named Justitia. She is responsible for sentencing murderers to Murder’s Hell (in this world, there are different kinds of Hells you are sent to based on your crime). She is good at her job, and she enjoys her job, but one interaction upends everything.

Judge Bit-na is murdered by an unknown assailant (well, when the show first opens). Much to her surprise, she finds herself at the gates of hell in front of Judge Justitia. Bit-Na explains that she hasn’t done anything that should put her in Hell, and Justitia informs her that she must have, that is why she is in Hell, and if Bit-Na has found herself in front of Justitia, that means that she has committed murder. Bit-Na pleads with Justitia to hear her pleas: She did not kill anyone. Justitia refuses to listen and sentences Bit-Na to Murderer’s Hell. Only to be told by her supervisor, the demon Bael, that Justitia ruled incorrectly and, as a judge, she should have listened to Bit-na. To rectify the situation, Bael sentences Justitia to inhabit Bit-Na’s human body and on earth, judge, and sentence murderers on earth to hell. This involves Justitia killing human murderers and not getting caught.

Plot and Story

The Judge from Hell, to my surprise, was only 14 episodes but 14 excellently paced episodes.

There was character growth.

I knew this show was going to be good when Bit-Na’s first justice kill was a domestic abuser who had not killed his girlfriend yet but was working his way to doing that. Bit-Na reasoned that he had killed her spirit and her will to live. I think this, being the first kill of the show, was pivotal for setting the tone of the show. Each of the crimes involved people who killed people for their own gain and simply to bring pain to another person for the joy of it. While demons can’t and are not supposed to cry, they never seek the pain and suffering of humans. The show becomes a glimpse into humanity as much as it is about the going-ons of Hell.

Another interesting plot point was Bit-na’s sidekick, Man-do, who tries to see if he can escape Hell by going to regular Bible study, and how we learn that the top demon officials know the Bible inside and out (which my mother always told me, the Devil knows the Bible too).

If I had to nit-pick there are a few plot points that I wish were better discussed.

1. Bit-na beat Satan pretty easily. I guess we are to assume that the decades that Satan occupied this old man’s body weaken him. I wish this were explained more.
2. What happened to the real Kang Bit-Na’s soul? She was never supposed to go to Murderer’s Hell and only go to Fake Hell ( I assume she had some dubious dealings as a judge engaged to a real estate magnate. When we left her, she was running around in Hell, trying to avoid being caught by Gremory. But we never hear from her again. I hope she is okay.
3. I wanted to know how a demon became a demon. Man-Do seems to think he can escape Hell, and it seems like he was sentenced to be a demon. Moreover, from the talks between Gabriel and Justitia, God is the head of hell too, he has just allotted the management of sinners to Lucifer. This might be a cultural thing. Korea is not originally a Christian nation, so when a new religion comes to a country, it becomes syncretized. Maybe the way Hell and Heaven relate to each other fits more of the Korean worldview.

Despite these issues, the plot was paced well. There were many threads to the show, but they were all tied into each other well. Moreover, the story was character-driven! I can’t say this enough. A character-driven plot is what makes a show. In the show, solves the problem of the serial killer, who is the show’s main antagonist, with both Bit-na and Da-on making decisions based on their character, not just plot points dropped in the show because the writers said so.  Even the murderers who Bit-na sentenced made their decisions to kill from their character. We knew who these people were even though we only had an episode or two to learn about them. A character-driven plot is a viewer’s dream, and the Judge from Hell had it.

Casting

I don’t have many comments on this. Many people were impressed with Park Shin-hye’s acting and usually found her a weak actress. I don’t have any opinions on this as I’ve only seen her in the famous show The Heirs, and she seemed to do fine there. But she didn’t seem out of place as the character, and she held every scene. All the actors selected fit their roles quite well, especially the actors chosen for the murders

Acting

Top notch. I hope Park Shin-Hye wins an award for her portrayal of Kang Bit-na. From her love of designer clothes to her blasé attitude and crazy eyes when she exacted justice on horrible killers, Park Shin-Hye embodied Kang Bit-na.

Shout-out to the actors who played the murderers as well. They were so good at making you hate them. I can imagine if you are a reasonably decent person in real life, it might be challenging to portray a killer who could care less if another human being lived or died, but they did it so well.

Characterization

The Judge from Hell is, of course, a romance as much as a fantasy mystery. Bit-Na falls in love with the detective, who has also fallen for her. Initially, he doesn’t believe that she is a demon but believes it and starts to get a hint that she is the new “serial killer” that he and his team are looking for. However, he doesn’t let his romantic curiosity for Bit-Na distract him from the fact that she is, in his view, a killer, but more than being a killer, Bit-Na is perverting justice by handing down lenient sentences that allow her to exact Hell’s judgment.

I think this is important because when Detective Han Da-on has a moment when he contemplates using Justitia’s brand of justice, he ultimately stays the course of what he believes. The same goes for Justitia. She falls deeply for Da-on, but it doesn’t completely change who she is and how she sees the world. They both grow if you will, and neither considers the world black and white as they had before they met each other, but they ultimately don’t make any decisions in the show that are contrary to who they are as people.

Outside of that, the addition of the character, the angel Gabriel was genius. And as I thought, Hell and Heaven are not as different as we might think. Gabriel, despite being a human, respects Justitia for who she is and the role that she plays in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, Gabriel as a character gives us a brief peek into how good assists humans.

Finally, I think the most interesting characters in this show are the murderers. Good, in the embodiment of Gabriel, is there to protect and alleviate the effects of evil, not to punish or block the actions. Demons, and we see many of them, are after their agenda and will do anything to ensure their needs are met, but they don’t influence evil. In short, the battle for good and evil occurs, not in the spiritual realm but right on earth, with each human decision.

You know that phrase, the devil made me do it? Doesn’t apply to the murderers of The Judge from Hell. A demon possessed none of the murderers who Justitia sentenced. The only demon who encouraged bad behavior was Satan, but as he said, I just show you the possibilities of your inner desires, and then you make the decision to do what you want to do. Even the evilest, the serial killer at the heart of the plot, was not possessed by a demon. He was working closely with Satan and on behalf of Satan, but in the end, he did everything on his own accord.

This characterization/plot device is the show’s most interesting and compelling aspect. The show is not about good vs. evil but evil decisions vs. good decisions.

Costumes

Whoever dressed actress Park Shin-hye needs all the awards. Central to the plot of the show are two things. First, Judge Kang Bit-na is dead; her body is possessed by a 500-year-old demon who is fourth in line in Hell. She is that girl. The human Bit-na is more reserved and held back, taking her role as a judge seriously. Thus, she is seen dressing very demure, and very cutesy. When Justitia possesses her body, you see a new Bit-na, and the fashion matches her bold nature. So much so that they realistically have Justitia/Bit-na living in a rundown apartment in an area set for redevelopment. Why? Because her government salary can let her afford a flashy car and designer clothes, but not a fancy apartment. Bit-Na settles for fabulous clothes instead of a modest lifestyle all around. Moreover, the fact that Bit-Na lives in the neighborhood becomes an essential plot point in the show, so great writing again.

But beyond that, the costumers dressed Park Shin-hye in some of the most fabulous designer threads I have ever seen. The clothes fit her body; they were sexy yet mature, and despite the haters, very fitted for work, just not dull black and gray.  Styling was top-notch; Park Shin-Hye was in her lines and colors—Chef’s kiss.

Tropes

If this show had tropes, I missed them, or as of writing this review, I’ve forgotten them. As stated, The Judge from Hell was a refreshing drama that I think hit all of the marks.

Product Placement

There were so many subtle and not-so-subtle product placements I lost track, but I did want to try those seaweed chips and, of course, the cherry cola that Kang Bit-na continued to drink throughout the show. The most obvious product placements were the designer clothes Bit-na wore. I didn’t even bother looking up some of the names but if you want to know the outfits she wore in the first two episodes of the show read this page.

OST

I loved the haunting intro. It doesn’t beat season one of Gyeongseong Creature, but it was pretty good.

Conclusion

Overall, I loved this show so much. It was cast well, acted well, and paced well. I am glad it took 14 episodes to tell the story over 12, which would have been too short, or 16, which might have been too long. If you have been on the fence about watching The Judge from Hell, run, don’t walk to your Hulu account and watch right now.