I will see Nam Joo-hyuk again on his next Kdrama after his discharge from military. Still have a safe, healthy military career and good luck, Nam Joo-hyuk!

My favorite drama this year. I have uncritical love for it. Vigilante knew that his actions could lead to his death and he was ready for it. In my opinion he "died" years ago when his mother was murdered. It was similar with the journalist. She was ready to die, because the unjust death of her father also "killed" her to have a normal life. Their driving force in life is to fight against similar people who killed their loved ones and thus destroyed their lives. For them there is nothing else. I read opinions about the drama that the finale led to nothing because the evil "boss" is still active. But that's not true. It is enough that Vigilane helped many people whom the law could not help, and he did, and this already means that his methods make sense. Besides, he has something more planned. He wants Vigilantes to become commonplace. If he dies, other Vigilantes will continue to act, inspired by what he does. He wants to destroy the system that exists. He doesn't do anything new because it's basically a Batman type story.

"But despite their best efforts, President Eom is posthumously honored for “fighting against corruption,” other corrupt officials carry on with their usual corrupt practices, and it all just kind of blows over."
It was similar in Nolan's Batman trilogy. It's almost like the story of prosecutor Harvey Dent. Recognized posthumously as a hero, even though he was a murderer, associated with the mafia, etc. Years later, it came to light that it had been covered up so as not to tarnish the name of the prosecutor's office. In one film he died and was buried with honors, in another it was revealed who he really was. So I think that if the drama has a second season, the truth will come out. If not, it's still a good ending. Realistic, because evil (the criminal world or generally the evil that exists in people) is like a hydra or an octopus. One tentacle or head is cut off, the others remain, etc.

The ending was realistic and depressing. I suspect that its a setup for a possible season 2. How it ended left any remaining shred of hope Jiyong had for the system. Which can be explored further in the next season, if it will happen.
As it is, how it ended was thought provoking and left more questions than answers. The system is so corrupt and Jiyong's method failed. What could fix it then?
Seon Wook's death was hard on Jiyong. I wonder what his next actions will be after he cooled off his rage and grief.

I think the drama needed a little more to suck me in thoroughly, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

I really liked it but unlike many dramas that would benefit from having 3 or 4 episodes cut so they don't drag, this one could have done with at least an extra couple to flesh things out more and prevent it seeming so abrupt. There were a lot of interesting twists and unexpected alliances between people who approached things differently but were still able to accommodate each other, and a better exploration of some of this would have made it a little less clunky. Most of the threads were tied up in the end, but it still felt like someone broke into the editing suite and snipped chunks out of the footage. Not enough to make it incoherent but enough to make feel that parts were missing.

Great acting and such a sad sad ending for Seon-Wook. I like the questions posed about failures of the Justice system to protect the good people, as well as the hopelessness those good guys must feel trying to work within the system. I agree keeping characters (esp the reporter and faux vigilante) at arms length was frustrating. I hope we get a season 2 although I also hope we don’t as i like the open ending here.

I wonder if others a sensing an Americanization of the kdramas on Disney. I love kdramas because, to me, they are like books. They tell a story within a set number of episodes, and the point is the story, not the violence. Korean movies are violent, yes. Dramas, less so and within the dramas, the violence is more a part of the story rather than most of the story. Women in the above 3: We have seen a lot of progress with the way women are portrayed in kdramas these days, but in all three I just watched, the women were sidelined (less so in Moving). Here, we had a crazy lady. In First Responders 2, our paramedic was basically non existent and chief was rescued by police chief. Again, korean dramas are also sexist and violent at times. I just feel like all three of these that I just watched had too many of the never ending fight scenes that bore me to tears and too few female characters with substantial roles (except for 1 mother in Moving, and she was a mother willing to go to extreme measures to protect her kid).

Could be just these dramas so I am genuinely curious if others have noticed this trend.

Thank you for the weecap, @mistyisles! I love this show! I consider Heon promising Ji-young that he will make sure no more injustice in the future as my hope. But then, the award to President Eom might have really unhinged Ji-young. I think they're gearing up for a season 2 so let's see what comes next.

This was so pointless. Characters and story were so incredibly flat.

The only thing that is "impressive" is the Vigilante's gargantuan naïveté to think that a single student can take down a kraken of organised crime all by himself. What is next? "I am Jesus and will deliver you from all evil"?

This show lacked substance. A lot of things didn't make sense at all like he never hide his face, in the country of the cameras everywhere (dashcam, in the street, shops, etc. it wasn't a smart choice. A lot of people knew his true identity.

The conclusion was what? Nothing changed at the end. The villain cop was still the chief, the other villain cop died in the honor, the nice student cop died as scapegoat... The Police was the villains when it started that the justice system was the problem by being too lenient and ignoring the victims. But the show did the same and ignored the victims too.

The Vigilante couldn't change things, some bad people are out but innocent ones too.

I liked Yoo Ji-Tae in this role, he was physically impressive and very intense. I didn't like the other actors.

After watching the final episodes, I kinda just felt numb and I didn't know what that meant. Did that mean I didn't like the ending? Was it unsatisfying? Did it ruin the overall experience of watching the show in the first place? Was it good show in general?
In the end, I still really don't know the answer.

Like I said, I felt numb over the ending, not depressed and I'm wondering if that's cause I'm a jaded cynic pessimistic who already sees the worst in people so seeing a "realistic" ending wasn't *that* affecting. I truly don't know.

What I do know is I thought there were many good performances especially the monster cop. Whenever he was in scenes, he was such a presence and it was one of those times I understood what people meant by a good actor can elevate a script or scene. I can't put it into words but that was what came to mind during many of his scenes especially when paired with Ji Yong.

Even though I felt numb, I did feel a spark of something during the graduation scene when Ji Yong didn't participate and just remained stoic. It was kinda heartbreaking(?) cause he just seemed so completely broken and done. And his teacher seems to know it too.

Poor Seon Wook. I don't even know what to say.

The reporter is kinda unhinged. I mean how else can you laugh as you're being tortured? I thought her backstory made sense for why she is so pro vigilante and trying to reveal cover ups.

The fanboy is another one that I don't really have words for. Most of the time he just seemed to have this manic energy as if he was living out his comic book fantasies and it was giving him such an adrenaline rush and then there was the moment when he seemed as if he did have an actual goal/target in mind who deserved to be taken down.

I wondered if this series would've benefitted from episodes.

I did wonder if this was a The Glory situation and if 8 more episodes were coming down the pipeling eventually but no, I think this was it. Should I watch the webtoon now?

"@minnie: That is exactly the problem here: what exactly is "evil"?

Vigilante is only going after petty criminals (after all, they are the only ones he has access to), with excessive force. So in the end there is no difference between him and those he chases.

Also, every drama needs a protagonist the viewers root for. So, in a way they need to support the protagonist's actions, otherwise: why watch the drama?"

In this drama it is very clear who is evil. Vigilante attacks people who have killed or destroyed the lives of others. All these evil people are people who murder, torture, mutilate, rape. Absolutely evil people who have no intention of changing and make fun of the law and their victims. There is not a single person who was attacked by Viglante who deserves mercy, which the viewer sees clearly, because the manner of action, murder and persecution of the victims by these evil ones is shown. They exclude themselves from society through their behavior and Vigilante only cleanses society of the toxicity of these evil ones. This is the premise of the drama. Normally, if this were reality, there would probably be no evidence, etc. to assess the situation. But this is a drama in which the evil of these evil characters is so clear that it cannot be any clearer. Of course there is a difference between Vigilante and his targets. Vigilante targets are murderers, rapists who harm innocents. Vigilante punishes/kills the guilty. This is the fundamental difference. The viewer has full insight into the fact that the Vigilante's targets really were evil people.
The purpose of fictional works does not have to be to support the actions of the characters. There are many books, films and dramas where not a single character "deserves" to be called the one whom the viewer should wish for success. For example, series such as "The Sopranos", "Dexter", "The Fall", which are about bad people, the mafia or serial killers. Or series about characters that are controversial and fight criminals, but with questionable methods, because, for example, they sometimes kill their targets, for example various series (or films) about Batman or "Arrow". Or even comic books, where the main characters are antiheroes.

"@Kurama: There are a lot of ways to change things.

In the same theme, Taxi Driver was far better. The question about what are doing with the villains was better addressed. But overall, there were there for the victims.

In this drama, they were just using their own trauma to do whatever they wanted."

Taxi Driver had its methods, Vigilante has its methods, they are two different dramas. Some methods could work in one universe, but they do not work in another universe, or the characters choose different methods. I don't think that the creators of Vigilante wrote the drama so that all viewers would approve of their characters' behavior. It is a world they have created, in which the characters act this way because they think it is the only way, because other methods have failed. And in fact, they failed, because several honest people who wanted to act in accordance with the law existing in the drama paid with disability (e.g. a burned policeman) or death (an honest policeman) for being on the side of the law. This is a world where the bad guys have unlimited money, connections, white trucks that kill in seconds, bandits who burn corpses or give them to pigs as food. It is a world of absolute and ruthless evil. One where acting less ruthlessly towards them doesn't work to defeat them.