Recap Korean Drama "The Devil Judge" Episode 12

Episode 12 of The Devil Judge picks up right off the back of that shocking reveal. Soo-Hyun’s hands shake, watching Ga-On standing over Kyung-Hee’s body. Yo-Han is calm, telling her the woman commit suicide and they have nothing to do with this.

Unable to obtain the files, the pair leave as Soo-Hyun makes her choice and phones in the suicide. Thankfully, no other assumption is drawn up off the back of this.

Back at the mansion, Yo-Han tells Ga-On to forget about what’s happened and focus on another plan. He’s convinced that the file is now in Seo’s hands and they need to find another way to take the Foundation down. As it turns out, the file in question was actually hidden in the cigar Kyung-Hee was smoking.

Meanwhile, Soo-Hyun slaps Ga-On outside the station, angry and betrayed that her friend would be there. Given she destroyed evidence to clear his name, Soo-Hyun is ashamed and hurries away. Only, she confronts Yo-Han down in the parking lot.

Soo-Hyun is enraged and tells Yo-Han to leave Ga-On alone. She can see the dark path he’s being led down and is worried she’ll lose her friend forever. Yo-Han however, simply drives away.

When Yo-Han heads back to the mansion, a drunk and angry Ga-On stands waiting for him. Yo-Han tells him he needs to cut Soo-Hyun out of his life but Ga-On is having none of it. He pushes Yo-Han away and tells him Soo-Hyun is his entire world. It’s the final straw. Ga-On packs up his gear and leaves the mansion.

Elijah is obviously not happy and confronts Yo-Han about this. He simply shrugs it off though, reminding her that Ga-On is not her Father. It’s enough to really hurt thee girl and she takes herself away, shutting the door in his face and refusing to talk. As the camera pans out, we see Elijah has actually drawn up a beautiful painting of Ga-On.

Meanwhile, the Foundation concoct their next diabolical scheme. This time, they decide to challenge the idea of a presidential campaign. They’re going to come up with a crisis to grip Korea, causing the elections to be shoved aside to keep them all in power. This doesn’t sit well with Sun-A, but when Seo lashes out at her, it’s enough to swallow her pride and bite her tongue so she doesn’t lose her grip on the power she wields.

Back at the office, Min Jung-Ho shows up to see Yo-Han. He’s convinced as well that the man is leading Ga-On down a dangerous path. Although he shrugs aside the concerns, he can’ help but feel an empty void now that Ga-On is gone. He does, however, eat the food that Ga-On has made and savors every mouthful.

Determined to find out the truth, Soo-Hyun heads off in search of the church. Specifically, she wants to know what happened in the past. While she does, Jung-Ho takes to the stage and decides that Yo-Han should be stopped and the court trial dissolved.

Well, the people immediately rebel and even worse, Jung-Ho is attacked outside his house. He’s rushed to hospital too, prompting Ga-On to hurry and see him.

This is all part of the Foundation’s plan, as they take to the stage and question whether Yo-Han should continue on given his “crazy fans” are the ones causing this.

Sun-A rings Yo-Han and requests they head out for “a date.” This turns into a life or death situation though when she holds a gun up to him and has K dangling precariously from the roof. Although Yo-Han saves himself, he can’t save his friend, who’s shot and left to bleed out.

While this is going on, Ga-On receives a call from an anonymous caller. They give him an ultimatum; if he wants to save Jung-Ho’s life, he’ll have to come to the Hyungsan-Dong slum immediately.

He does just this and notices the place rioting. A virus has broken out, and Jin-Joo is the public face of this, declaring an emergency. Remember that “critical event” the Foundation mentioned before? Well, this seems to be it.

Everything then hits a dramatic crescendo right at the death of the episode. Sun-A drops K from his suspended position and lets him fall to his death. Yo-Han promises to kill Sun-A in the worst way possible as a smile breaks out across Sun-A’s face. While she turns and walks away, we cut back to Ga-On where we see him attacked by a group of thugs.

The Episode Review

Echoes of Vincenzo start to bleed through this week as the dark and light tones blend together to harmonize into a really solid and dramatic episode. The end scenes with Sun-A finally show her true colours and although we knew she was a bad guy from the start, the glimmers of hope that she’d work with Yo-Han seemed to show her in a more favourable light. Welp, not anymore!

Instead, the show doubles down on her wickedness and it seems she’ll do absolutely anything to get to the top, Meanwhile, Yo-Han pushes away Ga-On which causes a whole load of issues at the mansion.

The central theme of this show is quite clearly loneliness and the effect this has on different people. The subtle colour differences in the mansion, going from lighter shades to much more darker and unforgiving colours, really reflects how much Ga-On has “brightened up” the place. Poor Elijah though, she’s lost another father figure and has had quite the ordeal.

Meanwhile, the crisis across Korea seems to be this fabricated virus. Now, that’s obviously quite a taboo topic right now, especially given what the word is facing. However, it’s clearly been done to rile up the people and cause them to accept a stable government in times of crisis.

Will this establishment be toppled? We’ll have to wait and find out. For now though, Devil Judge bows out with one of its best episodes so far.