The Judge from Hell: Episodes 9-10

by DaebakGrits

Our drama finally deviates from its previously established formula to focus on some of the major plot lines, namely the mysterious serial killer from our detective’s past. These episodes aren’t without their fair share of violence, of course, but it’s more of the demon-versus-demon variety.

 
EPISODES 9-10

Da-on’s grief over losing his adopted mother is on full display in this week’s opening scene, as he and his fellow police officers hold an extremely formal outdoor funeral for So-young. For obvious reasons, the atmosphere is extremely somber, but Ah-rong, who crashed the funeral to pester Bit-na, talks through the whole ceremony while dressed like someone who dug through a pile of dirty laundry for an outfit to wear on her midnight soju run at the corner convenience store. Ah-rong has always been a little extra demented, even by demon standards, but what was previously an amusing character quirk has now been amplified in such a way that makes her increasingly obnoxious. She’s more obsessed than ever with getting Bit-na back to hell and away from the human who has made her soft and emotional, and as Da-on breaks down mid-eulogy, with rain pouring for added dramatic effect, her always watchful eyes spy the tears trailing down Bit-na’s cheeks.

I know Da-on’s character is going through some major shit right now, but I rolled my eyes over the theatrics of his public — and totally inappropriately timed — declaration that he would personally hunt down and kill So-young’s murderer. Once again, I find his behavior incongruent with his earlier characterization. I get it, he’s grieving, and So-young was the arrow in his moral compass. Without her, he’s untethered — except… what about his adoptive father and sister? Given how little screen time they’ve gotten since So-young’s death, it’s like the drama wants us to conveniently forget that Da-on still has two other morally righteous adoptive family members who would hate to watch him lose himself on his quest for revenge. Not to mention, way to disrespect So-young’s memory, and make her funeral about you, Do-an.

But maybe there’s still hope for our (former) lawfully good hero because even Bit-na is regretting her agreement with Da-on — not that she’s ready to acknowledge her new emotions yet. She’s back to being comically in denial, and tries to brush off her doctor’s suggestion that the cause of her leaky eyes are due to her being in — *gags* — love.

And yet, despite the unbelievable diagnosis, Bit-na’s actions bely her feelings. She takes care to ensure Da-on is eating and comes to his defense when he aggressively confronts a man graphically speculating over the details of So-young’s murder. Unintentionally, Bit-na steps up to be Da-on’s guardian demon, and it’s a good thing, too, because his guardian angel can no longer fill the role as his protector.

Yeah, that’s right. Basement Halmoni is actually the angel Gabriel in disguise, and because of Da-on’s dying mother’s last prayer, Gabriel has been watching over Da-on and ensuring he found a new family in So-young. However, because heavenly law dictates that Gabriel can only protect those who are “good and poor,” he can no longer watch over Da-on. Apparently, just thinking about murder gets you assigned to the naughty list, so Gabriel tells Bit-na it’s up to her to protect Da-on. Oh, and by the way, Gabriel adds, I’ve had this prophecy that states that only you or Da-on can live, so if you save him, then you…*slices hand across neck*

And here we believed demon logic was convoluted, but it doesn’t hold a candle to laws ruling the Good Place. For starters, if Gabriel is on earth to protect the “good and poor,” then where the heaven was he when So-young was fighting for her life? Even if we chalk So-young’s murder as a fated event and that it was “her time” to go, what in the Minority Report is this BS stating the mere thought of killing someone is enough to revoke your guardian angel privileges? How loosey goosey are the angels with this law? Because if it is as black and white as Gabriel paints it, then hell must be overflowing with people who’ve been cut off in traffic or fantasized about killing their boss.

Then again, Da-on is doing a little more than fantasizing at this point. He’s gone from trying to prove Bit-na committed the forehead branding murders to actively hiding evidence that ties her to the killings. Since our detectives are without a murder-of-the-week case to solve, they and their new team leader are given Bit-na’s string of killings their full attention, which means Da-on has his work cut out from him if he wants to keep his new partner (Choi Dae-hoon) from figuring out he’s covering up Bit-na’s crimes.

Da-on’s new partner, however, is suspicious in more ways than one. Not only does he see Da-on delete the CCTV footage of Bit-na’s car driving past one of the murder scenes — and is, therefore, suspicious of Da-on’s motives — the man himself is totally sus. From the moment he transferred to their team, he only had eyes for Da-on, and it turns out his creepy obsession with our leading man is because he’s the demon Paimon in disguise.

Let’s rewind a wee bit because Paimon’s introduction to our plot is all thanks to Ah-rong, who idolizes Justitia and is equally invested in ensuring Justitia completes her assignment and returns to hell. So when Bit-na puts the brakes on her plans to kill J, Ah-rong assumes Bit-na’s feelings for Da-on are to blame. Extremely disappointed in her idol and hoping she can remind her of her true objective, Ah-rong summons Bael with a pentagram and tattles on Bit-na, but she’s not given the honor of killing Da-on. Instead, Bael has Paimon possess the body of a recently deceased detective and assigns him the glorious task of eliminating Da-on and — unbeknownst to Ah-rong — Bit-na. Given Paimon is Justitia’s biggest rival, he’s extremely eager to ruin her plans and send her lover boy to hell.

As much as I’ve grown to dislike Ah-rong’s erratic and obsessive behavior over the course of these episodes, I guess some grace must be given to her manipulative and backstabbing behavior because she is a demon, but she is only partially correct in assuming Da-on is the reason Bit-na isn’t moving forward with her plans. Yes, Bit-na is hesitating because she’s done the math and doesn’t want Da-on to be the final kill that helps her meet her quota of unrepentant murders, but her feelings for Da-on aren’t the only reason she’s hesitating.

You see, after So-young died, Bit-na and Da-on visited the morgue so Bit-na could use her demon powers to see So-young’s memories, and the face Bit-na saw standing over So-young in her final moments belonged to Tae-gyu’s younger, deadbeat brother. Without human Bit-na’s memories, though, she doesn’t identify Deadbeat Brother until he appears in his courtroom. Call it demon intuition, but Bit-na doubts Deadbeat Brother is capable of committing the serial murders. Just because he was present at the scene of the crime, it doesn’t mean he’s the killer, so until she can confirm (or disprove) he’s J, she gives him a light sentence and sends him on his merry way like the rest of her “victims.”

Given Bit-na’s connection to Deadbeat Brother’s family, her latest verdict causes enough of a stir — thanks to one unbiased reporter who can’t be bought off by Tae-gyu and Deadbeat Brother’s father — that her boss is forced to give her a one-month suspension. Not that Bit-na cares. She views the suspension as an extended vacation, giving her the freedom to investigate J’s identity and interview the surviving family members of all his victims to ensure none of them have forgiven the unidentified serial killer.

Unsurprisingly, the cold-blooded serial killer remains unforgiven by the thirteen victims’ families — including Bit-na and Da-on’s overly religious landlady. Although Religious Landlady lost and then rediscovered her faith following the murder of her middle school-aged son, she has not found it within her to follow her religion and forgive her son’s killer. Instead, she wants answers — why her son? So while she isn’t exactly wishing the killer would burn in hell, like Da-on, she does want him caught and brought to justice.

Bit-na still plans on serving up her own brand of justice, but she’s changed her mind in regards to Da-on. She doesn’t want to stab him with her demon knife and sentence him to an eternity in hell — not when her cleaning crew confirmed on her behalf that his whole family is in heaven. Instead, she’s going to protect him in Gabriel’s absence and ensure that Da-on is the one who survives Gabriel’s morbid prophecy. Bit-na believes the loophole to said prophecy is for her to complete her mission and return to hell. If she (Justitia) returns to hell, then human Bit-na will die and Da-on should, theoretically, live. Of course, Basement Halmoni/Gabriel refuses to confirm that this plan will work, which infuriates Bit-na and causes a random good samaritan to step in before she’s arrested for elder abuse. (Say what you will about the absolute randomness of The Judge from Hell’s theology, but watching Park Shin-hye and Kim Young-ok bicker as a demon and angel is pretty dang hilarious.)

Keeping Da-on out of hell might be a task easier said than done, though, thanks to Paimon and Ah-rong’s interference. Together, they blackmail Man-do into using his voice mimicking demon power to lure Da-on to a secluded location, and working under the false pretext that Bit-na is in danger, he hastily comes to her rescuing — driving off in such a rush that leaves his campfire burning and triggers every forest park ranger who’s preached wildfire prevention commercial.

Man-do, the little demon that turned good enough to receive aid from Gabriel, may have reluctantly assisted with Paimon and Ah-rong’s plan, but at the first chance, he escapes Ah-rong and warns Bit-na that Da-on is in trouble. Thankfully, Man-do had the forethought to bring Bit-na her combat boots, because when she reaches Da-on’s side, she proceeds to hand Paimon an epic beatdown full of CGI, glowing demon weapons, and wall smashing.

It was a nice change of pace from the weekly gore porn, and in this instance, Bit-na finds herself on the other end of Paimon’s mindfuckery when he casts an illusion that makes her believe Da-on is attacking her. The real Da-on yells her name and helps her break the illusion and skewer Paimon with his own weapon. He appears defeated, but one does not simply kill a demon. As soon as Bit-na turns her back on her foe to check on Da-on, he unpins himself from the wall, yanks his weapon from his chest, and sends it hurling in Bit-na’s direction. Annnnnd, that’s when Da-on steps in and heroically shields her with his body.

Whew, talk about a cliffhanger! But the last seconds of Episode 10 aren’t the only thing making me look forward to next week. Overall, I’d say these were my favorite episodes of the series so far, and a lot of it can be attributed to the fact that our drama is finally delving into the meat of our story and the mystery behind the elusive serial killer J. Our characters have begun to suspect — as viewers have for several weeks now — that the killer is probably Satan, given the ritualistic nature of the murders.

As for the identity of Satan, I’m with Bit-na on this one in believing it’s not Deadbeat Brother, but given he was at the scene of the murder and was later shown accessing the killer’s knife, Satan is likely a member of his family. Age-wise, the assemblyman seems more appropriate, given how long ago the initial murders occurred, but I suspect that Satan committed those murders in a different body and has since taken up residence in Tae-gyu’s body. For starters, if he jumped into a child’s body, that would partially explain his twenty-five year hiatus. Secondly, I imagine Satan is the vain type, so if he’s on the hunt for eternal life, he’ll want to spend eternity in a young, attractive meat sack. And finally, Tae-gyu accused Bit-na of not being the real Bit-na — and not in an oh-you-haven’t-been-the-same-since-you-almost-died kind of way. Instead, his statement was very accusatory, as though he was aware she was demon possessed.

And speaking of the real Bit-na, the drama keeps dropping breadcrumbs about her that makes me extremely curious about her character — and equally worried that the drama will never circle back to her in a satisfactory manner. We’ve been told that she was sent to hell by mistake, suggesting she was a good person, so I’ve been running with the assumption that she called off her marriage with Tae-gyu — and was subsequently murdered — when she realized he and his family were corrupt. However, Tae-young suggested human Bit-na was too bougie to associate with poor people — a trait that’s usually reserved for K-drama antagonists, or the lead’s love interest. (But we’re not going to go down the rabbit hole of what that would imply for our ending if Justitia returns to hell and the real Bit-na resumes living in her body.)

 
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