The Devil Judge – K-Drama Episode 7 Recap & Review

Power and Corruption

Episode 7 of The Devil Judge begins with the Social Foundation reeling, as Yo-Han declares war against them. Meanwhile, Ga-On confronts Yo-Han, calling him out for kidnapping Ki-Young and forcing him to submit. Yo-Han simply tells him not to jump to conclusions.

Heading back to his office, Ga-On speaks to Jin-Joo and admits the Social Foundation are rotten. He mentions the party and the corruption that’s festering within. However, the pair are in agreement that Yo-Han seems to be playing people and his deceptions are telling.

Elsewhere, Sun-A asks Jae-Hee to delete the bankbook. While she keeps a cool head, the sight of troubled kids and runaways helps to thaw away some of that iciness. In fact, as she greets this group of kids and gives a speech, she manages to get through to them and tells stories about her own abusive past.

This eventually paves way for Sun-A to implore the girls to do what they can to survive. Specifically, she mentions how they need to bend the law to their own liking. They’re in control of their own destiny and must do what they can to survive.

Given this is drawing on Sun-A’s own past, it’s pretty telling to hear her say this. Just to put the proverbial cherry on this cake, in secret she pushes the one in charge down the stairs.

Back at the mansion, Yo-Han berates Elijah and the two end up in a big argument. However, Ga-On interjects and tells him he needs to stop treating Elijah so badly. As he takes her away for now, the pair discuss the past.

Here, Ga-On mentions how his parents died when he was young thanks to a scam artist and a pyramid scheme. He grew up alone and was forced to tough it out on the back of this. Stil,, it doesn’t stop him from from being desperate for revenge against Young-Choon. It’s an intriguing juxtaposition against what Sun-A went through.

Ga-On’s words help Elijah as he leaves her for the night. This gives Yo-Han an opportunity to try and talk to Elijah, using books on how to talk to adolescents to get through to her. Well, that gets him a slammed door to the face for his troubles.

However, the events have helped Ga-On and Yo-Han at least end up on the same page. They both discuss their next steps, eventually settling on dividing the Social Foundation. Only by dividing and shaking theme up can the pair take down all those crooks.

First up, Yo-Han arrives at MinBo Group, intent on seeing the chairman. They’re in a meeting though, prompting Yo-Han to nonchalantly wait for them to become free. He doesn’t stay long, eventually taking an envelope and leaving out the front door.

This is all a big ploy to see how long it takes the chairman to get in touch. And right on cue, the chairman rings him. Yo-Han plays the group against one another, having two meetings and finding out about the Foundation’s different members and the financial secrets they’re holding.

Well, all of this paves way for Yo-Han invited in to see the President. As they talk, Yo-Han suddenly grabs his phone and starts a livestream. In front of his fans, he asks the president whether he’s really going to look into corruption, forcing his hand and making the guy smile awkwardly for the cameras.

Another live court trial goes ahead and this time both Chairman Park and Chairman Min come under fire for their secret meetings with Yo-Han. In fact, they both handed over envelopes to him. These seem to confirm the state of their finances, including over 64 million in donations.

Yo-Han is aware that nothing seems to add up. It seems they’re embezzling the money and if they’re not – then where is it going?

However, Yo-Han goes one step further and puts up Ga-On’s family history for all to see. He puts him on the spot and tries to garner sympathy from the people. Yo-Han also confirms another court trial in a week’s time, leaving things on a sour note. On the back of this bombshell reveal, Ga-On is livid.

He hurries away from the cameras and confronts Yo-Han, calling him out for acting shadily. While he does, the Social Foundation are left reeling and wondering what they’re going to do about this big reveal. Sun-A reminds them that every financial detail is about to be unveiled and they need to act. Their only hope comes from their trump card – Mr Seo.

Meeting up with him, Seo tells the two chairmen that they need to throw a bone at the public to give them something to chew over. Seo wants to throw Sun-A to a wolves. According to him, this is precisely what they’ve trained her up for. Seo tasks them with keeping her quiet and making sure she takes the fall for everything.

Meanwhile, Yo-Han takes Ga-On to the prison in order to see the scam artist responsible for his parents dying. Only, something is wrong. The man arrested and sentenced is apparently not Young-Choon. At least, not according to Ga-On anyway. Yo-Han seems to know this and uses it as a lesson to show Ga-On that thee system can be corrupted by those in power.

Speaking of which, Sun-A figures out Seo’s game and stabs him in the gut during their meeting. He whispers that he’ll die an honourable death. And by honourable that means taking the blame for the embezzlement by spinning his death into a merciful act of suicide. This, in turn, means Sun-A is now the new Boardwoman.

The Episode Review

The Devil Judge returns this week with a solid episode of characterization as we learn more about Ga-On’s past and see how Yo-Han is going to take down the foundation.

It seems clear now that he’s going to divide the foundation up and take them down one by one. First up is Mr Seo, who meets a fitting end when Sun-A stabs him. Someone was going to take the fall for the embezzlement and it turns out the ruthlessness of Sun-A prevails again as she takes matters into her own hands.

Yo-Han and Ga-On continue to dance around their ambition and ideas, with the pair engaged in a real love/hate relationship. There’s definitely some parallels here to Beyond Evil in the way these two are set up, but the show does well to blend this in with themes and concepts from Taxi Driver too. The ensuing medley of ideas work surprisingly well and the show definitely has some stand out moments.

Quite where this one will go next though remains to be seen, but this conflict is far from over.