With every episode, The Devil Judge keeps getting better. In The Devil Judge episode 3, we see Kim Ga On is getting treated in Kang Yo Han’s house after the bomb blast that took place in the last episode. There’s a new young character who is interacting with Kang Yo Han. His presence around her is different and seems more on the fun side. The nation is in shock after the attack on Kang Yo Han. He expresses gratitude for the nation’s concern and asks the people to keep supporting him. He also announces the second case the Live Court Show will take on.
Everyone is in a frenzy when they realize the case will take place against the Minister of Justice’s son Lee Young Min. When the press asks if a push from the Justice people can be expected he responds with, ‘Even if a dog barks, the train continues’. Well, that was well said he even manages to appear somber and showcase his injury which we later realize is fake.
Kang Yo Han knows the image he needs to portray to garner support from the people. As long as he has that he is almost untouchable when it comes to the government or the influential people. We see Kim Ga On moving around the house looking around. He meets Elijah who is annoyed by his presence. It seems an air of cold demeanor runs in the family. Though Kang Yo Han makes himself more approachable lulling the others into a false safety.
The Minister of Justice is enraged about having her son in an Open Court trial. She promises to get him out of it. Kang Yo Han interacts with Jung Sun Ah about the bomb in his office room. He states how it feels like a warning more than anything else. Jung with all her overly nice personality lets him know he should heed the warnings or else he will regret it. These two are rivals of each other. Jung Sun Ah makes herself seem like an errand girl. But speaks calculated words that make her a character to be wary of. The President does not help the Minister Of Justice as Kang’s actions seem to have a positive effect on the ruling party statistics. He knows going against Kang Yo Han will instigate the people in a bad way.
Kang Yo Han treats Kim Ga On’s wounds and the interaction is so soft. You can see the way Kang Yo Han is more relaxed at his home. His interactions with Elijah make him come off as human. It is nice to see this side of his character in contradiction with his court personality. The nanny catches Kim Ga On trying to sneak around the house. On the other hand, Yoon Soo Hyun finds a lead for the bombing and follows it. Looks like a person working under Kang Yo Han is tailing her. Kang Yo Han wants to find the culprit before the police do.
I completely love how he does not leave the dirty work for others. The alter ego of Kang Yo Han shows up to find the answers to the bombing. He gets too rough to the point of losing himself in the violence that the man working with him stops him. There are different layers to Kang Yo Han’s personality and we are slowly discovering it. The man comments on how Kang Yo Han is doing this for Judge Kim which is intriguing to note. This tells us two things, Kang Yo Han cares about Kim Ga On. And the man working with him knows Kang Yo Han personally enough to come up with this assumption.
Kim Ga On is curious about the need for Kang Yo Han to be playing this game where he is getting justice for people against the bad ones. As far as we have seen Kang Yo Han seems like a character who just does things for fun and he gets a sick sense of entertainment. But we cannot rule out the possibility that something put him on this path where he is persistent about justice in his way. The people behind Social Responsibility Foundation have a Dream project of building a sanctuary for the old and homeless. But every person is after their greed and this project comes at the expense of breaking down more homes and leaving the inhabitants without a home. It is ironic how their project will start at the expense of the cause they are projecting.
Jung Sun Ah reveals to the president that she comes from a poor background and her actions seem to insinuate that she will never be poor again. For her, it is more than just greed but the idea of becoming powerful and not going back to her roots. Kim Ga On overhears a strange conversation which leads him to investigate more about Kang Yo Han’s family. Oh Jin Joo briefs the substitute judge about the case against Lee Young Min. Looks like his victims always agree to settle before the case goes to trial. This helped Lee Young Min to get scot-free until now where the victims are not backing down but not for long as the victims are forced to settle yet again. Even though this makes things complicated you know that Kang Yo Han will have something up his sleeve.
The Chief Justice tries to dissuade Kang from handling this case but he responds by saying this case is equal to a Christmas special. Can everyone be equal in front of the law? The law says yes but the reality begs to differ. It is an interesting analogy with his words he always gets to do what he wants while tearing down certain influential people. There is joy in his actions. Kang Yo Han never disappoints me with the way he can milk the audience’s emotions. As the trial goes on we see the victim who charged the petition against Lee Young Min withdraws. As a result, the prosecutor declares the case closed.
You can see how Lee Young Min an influential man with anger issues that have never been dealt with accordingly, yet the victim, who also has anger issues, has been charged and paid his dues for it. This makes it easy to see the clear difference between rich and poor when it comes to the law. Kang surprises everyone by asking the people watching through the screen to come forward and say if they know anything regarding Lee Young Min. And then One by one each person comes forward to share their events with Lee Young Min.
Hearing all the stories, Kang notes that this is a habitual assault and needs to be on trial again for it. I swear it is a powerful moment seeing people having a chance to speak and lay their truth out. Even Kim Ga On feels impressed with what happened, and as he continues to watch the Live Court, he realizes that this is precisely why Judge Kang wanted the public to have a role in the cases.
Kim Ga On decides it’s time to uncover some secrets and lets himself in an underground bedroom. He finds a book with a picture inside which shocks him. Upon confronting the nanny he realizes the picture is of Issac who is Kang Yo Han’s older brother. It is shocking because Issac looks disbelievingly similar to Kim Ga On’s appearance. No wonder in the previous episodes we saw how taken aback Kang Yo Han is with him. Also, this explains the soft spot he could be having for Kim Ga On.
The nanny lets him know that Kang is the half-brother and talks about how he was abused by his father. But she lets Kim know that she cannot sympathize with his character because he has a penchant for doing bad things. The nanny believes he killed Issac. All of these are shocking revelations. Then we see Kang Yo Han scaring a guy enough for him to fall to his death. This guy is connected to the fire the nanny was talking about.
Honestly, I feel every bad thing Kang has done comes with a reasoning behind of which we are still unaware of. He does have a violent side to him but he is not completely the evil incarnate. This special nature of his will makes things more gripping as the drama moves on.
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You can watch The Devil Judge episode 3 on Rakuten Viki.
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