A judge uses morally questionable methods to fight the corrupt government in a dystopian version of Korea.
The premise is what grabbed me. Chances are, I'll find dystopian works at least watchable. There's the whole "fight the power" thing going on, and sometimes you get interesting worldbuilding. Well, there's not so much of that going on here, but there's so much "fight the power" energy that you could power an entire city for a month.
Ji Sung plays Kang Yo Han, a judge who's willing to do pretty much anything to topple the corrupt leadership of Korea. You get the feeling that if the country collapsed in ruin around him, he'd congratulate himself on a job well done as long as the president was dead. These kinds of characters are often intriguing. A charismatic actor can make you want to believe in the character's insane plans and feel kind of bad when they're foiled. Ji Sung pulls that off in this show. He's really great.
There are some clear Good Guys who help little old ladies cross the street and rescue cats from trees. Their naivety can be goofy at times, but they're played well. If the actors weren't so likeable, it would probably be a bit annoying. I might have rolled my eyes a few times, but I did feel invested in their moral dilemmas. Judge Kang seemingly always has some crazy and morally dubious scheme he's planning, and he tries to draw them into it, sometimes successfully.
Besides Judge Kang's nemesis, a cold-hearted woman with a stalker crush, the antagonists are generally like villains from a Disney cartoon, including the evil cackling. The president is an amusingly clownish (but scary) demagogue, and his hammy evilness is fun to watch. The most fun comes from watching Kang pull of improbable victories from nowhere, but if you think too much about the plots, you may start to feel like you're watching an adaptation of an American comic book or Japanese anime. It's chock full of tropes.
Even if you're getting tired of Korean dramas on Netflix, you should still give it a look. It's not perfect, but the actors really bring their characters to life, especially Ji Sung. After seeing him, it's hard for me to imagine anyone else playing Judge Kang.
The premise is what grabbed me. Chances are, I'll find dystopian works at least watchable. There's the whole "fight the power" thing going on, and sometimes you get interesting worldbuilding. Well, there's not so much of that going on here, but there's so much "fight the power" energy that you could power an entire city for a month.
Ji Sung plays Kang Yo Han, a judge who's willing to do pretty much anything to topple the corrupt leadership of Korea. You get the feeling that if the country collapsed in ruin around him, he'd congratulate himself on a job well done as long as the president was dead. These kinds of characters are often intriguing. A charismatic actor can make you want to believe in the character's insane plans and feel kind of bad when they're foiled. Ji Sung pulls that off in this show. He's really great.
There are some clear Good Guys who help little old ladies cross the street and rescue cats from trees. Their naivety can be goofy at times, but they're played well. If the actors weren't so likeable, it would probably be a bit annoying. I might have rolled my eyes a few times, but I did feel invested in their moral dilemmas. Judge Kang seemingly always has some crazy and morally dubious scheme he's planning, and he tries to draw them into it, sometimes successfully.
Besides Judge Kang's nemesis, a cold-hearted woman with a stalker crush, the antagonists are generally like villains from a Disney cartoon, including the evil cackling. The president is an amusingly clownish (but scary) demagogue, and his hammy evilness is fun to watch. The most fun comes from watching Kang pull of improbable victories from nowhere, but if you think too much about the plots, you may start to feel like you're watching an adaptation of an American comic book or Japanese anime. It's chock full of tropes.
Even if you're getting tired of Korean dramas on Netflix, you should still give it a look. It's not perfect, but the actors really bring their characters to life, especially Ji Sung. After seeing him, it's hard for me to imagine anyone else playing Judge Kang.