The Judge from Hell Episode 1 Review: Demon Judge Justitia Becomes Kang Bit-na!

The Judge from Hell Episode 1 begins the journey of the demon judge- Justitia, who is sent to the human world to serve her punishment after she makes a mess in hell.

-Spoilers Ahead-

The Judge from Hell Episode 1 Recap

In a conference room, sitting on the podium with doctors asking her questions, Kang Bit-na reveals that she is a demon and the real Kang Bit-na is dead. Going back to some time in the past, Bit-na lay dead in a park with her blood staining the white snow. Her soul then sees a door appear in front of her, leading her to the hell she wasn’t supposed to go.

The demon explains that Bit-na was supposed to go to fake hell, however; she ended up in the murderer hell where she presided over the judgment. In the face of this glitch, the demon Justitia doesn’t listen to Bit-na’s pleas and sends her to Gehenna, where the punishments are given. Right after she sends Bit-na to Gehenna, the director of hell- Bael arrives and punishes Justitia for sending Bit-na to Gehenna.

He tasks her to take over Bit-na’s mortal body and kill 10 murderers who deserve to be sent to hell within a year. If she fails, he will kill her. With this, Justitia enters Bit-na’s body and begins her mission in the human world. Coming back to the present, she is sent back with a diagnosis of delusion, PTSD, and so on, as no one believes a word she says.

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Bit-na thanks them for their help and leaves for work; she makes her way to handle the case in hand which is of a police officer- Han Da-on. She takes care of the case fast and efficiently as she points at the politics behind the scenes, and acquires the officer who was wrongly sued. She then hurries off to somewhere but is stopped by some teachers who have brought some children on a day trip.

They ask Bit-na why the Lady Justice statue is blindfolded and she tells them that it is because she is playing hide-and-seek with the bad guys. The sword in her hand is to teach them a lesson and the scale in the other hand is to measure the sinner’s deeds. They ask her name and Bit-na tells them that she is called Justitia.

The questions about justice keep coming and Bit-na shouts the slogan- Justice is Dead and Justice, Who needs it! The children follow along in shouting the slogans, leaving Da-on who has been observing them, speechless and enchanted by Bit-na. He follows behind her to talk to her but Bit-na is in a hurry and hands her items to him to leave them in her office before speeding off.

Bit-na’s destination is a church where she meets Cha Min-jeong, whose case she will be handling. Min-jeong’s parents have sued her ex-boyfriend who has been physically abusing her, but she has submitted a non-punishment letter which can save him. Bit-na is trying to persuade her against it but Min-jeong is hell-bent on letting go of the matter.

Bit-na is not ready to let go of this easily and tries to follow her but officers stop her and when she tries to get away with her identity as a judge, they take her into custody when her diagnosis falls out of her bag. Bit-na soon meets Da-on at the police station which helps her in the situation, and she explains to him the reason why she followed Min-jeong.

Da-on is the lead detective in this case, and hearing Bit-na’s wish to find the truth, he is further enchanted by her. The next day, the trial for this case begins and Bit-na is annoyed with how hard the man is trying to act in court, trying to get out of punishment. She is completely annoyed by him and already has a plan in mind on how to punish him.

The court is soon adjourned and the man walks out while mocking the parents of the woman he abused. Da-on sees this and plans to meet Bit-na soon. Meanwhile, Bit-na is worried about how she will complete the task she has been given within a year if things are going to go at this rate. Right then, she gets a call from Da-on who asks to meet.

He informs her that the man- Moon Jeong-jun, is probably planning something from what he observed outside the court when he met Min-jeong’s parents. He tells her that there is a probability that he will commit a bigger crime if lets go easily; this strikes a cord in Bit-na’s mind as she thinks about her original plan.

Bit-n’a original plan was to let prisoners go and wait until they committed a bigger crime so that she could kill them and send them to hell. Now, the opportunity is knocking on her door and she is ready to make use of it. She meets Min-jeong’s parents and soft-talks them into giving all information about their daughter’s relationship with Jeong-jun.

They look at her with the hope of giving them justice, however, during the final trial Bit-na shocks them by letting go of Jeong-jun on the basis of the non-punishment letter submitted by Min-jeong. Da-on questions her about this later and she tells him that she made the decision according to law and that Jeong-jun will get what he deserves soon.

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The next few days pass with Jeong-jun doing nothing while Min-jeong locks herself inside her house due to fear. Da-on keeps an eye on her situation while Bit-na is getting impatient from the wait. Min-jeong is assured that he will not return and asks her father to take her home while Da-on is told to check on her only once a day.

However, Bit-na’s wait soon comes to an end when she takes a peek into what he is up to and finds him preparing to assault Min-jeong again. She is excited to see him ready to commit a bigger crime and lets him barge into Min-jeong’s house and assault her. She sees him leave her apartment after which Min-jeong prepares to die.

With the deed already in place, she approaches Jeong-jun and is ready with her knife to send him to hell.

The epilogue shows the real Kang Bit-na trying to escape from fake hell as the monsters there chase her. The chase pushes her into a corner and right when she is to be caught, a sudden light saves her life.

The Judge from Hell Episode 1 Review

Episode 1 shows a promising start to the show which brings out the unserious attitude of a demon who already has us hooked. Kang Bit-na may have been a weak human, whose death is surrounded by mysteries, but the demon judge Justitia is not to be messed with. She knows that she is above and beyond the mortals surrounding her and she is not hesitant from facing what may come.

Meanwhile, Da-on’s character is just like us viewers- hooked to the demon judge who has us enchanted, and his fight for justice is as human-like as it can get. The duo is surely going to bring about endless entertainment in the upcoming episodes and there is a chance that Da-on is going to find out her real identity and offer his help to ensure the demon judge doesn’t go crazy while finishing her task.

Altogether, the story holds a lot of potential and I am ready to see how the plot develops.

Watch The Judge from Hell on Disney+.

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