The Judge From Hell – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Judge From Hell starts with us in 1999 as we get a look at Daon’s history. As a kid, he was traumatized when he showed up back home and found his parents killed, and the killer still in the kitchen.

This cuts us back to the present, as Bitna chuckles after stabbing Daon and urges him to go to Hell. Only… she hesitates at the last second. Her knife disappears and the Director of Hell, Bael, shows. He calls out Bitna for punishing the wrong person and warns Justitia that her mishap now means her initial target of 10 killings has been doubled.

Daon’s injuries are reversed, presumably because the knife is cursed, and he awakens long enough to see the cut on his side completely disappear.

Daon takes Bitna to the police station, but his story brings the Director over to make him do a breathalyzer. Of course, he’s been drinking so they just chalk Daon’s crazy story up to him being drunk. And the handcuffs? Well, Bitna claims that she went willingly because she just thought this was something Daon was “into”. There’s some humorous jokes here before Bitna is let go and Daon is left reeling.

At a local diner, Bitna is threatened with a knife by the waitress. She claims that it’s Bitna’s fault she’s here on Earth and that she’s a demon from the underworld called Gremory. She tells Bitna to leave if she doesn’t want anyone to know she’s here, believing she’s a runaway from Hell.

In reality of course, we know it’s Justitia and when the penny drops for Gremory, she suddenly changes and bows deeply, claiming that she’s a big fan.

It seems Gremory (called Lee Arong on Earth) is tasked with a similar gig to kill several people. Gremory believes Bitna needs to make sure Daon doesn’t talk so her initial idea of never seeing him again may not be the best option.

Bitna’s assistant, Koo Man-do, leaves the pair talking and runs straight into a woman sporting a bible. She brings him to the nearby church, believing she can help save him and allow God to accept him. It’s pretty funny, and he goes willingly.

As for Bitna, she shows up to see Daon and tells him everything. She conjures the knife right in front of the guy, smashes the cameras and makes sure there are no witnesses to what she’s doing. She even stops him secretly recording too.

Bitna warns Daon off from pursuing this and retorts that she didn’t lure him out to kill him, all of that was accidental based off what he said. Bitna tells him not bother and to drop the case, and to stop wasting his energy. The thing is, Daon has never been good at letting things drop, and after his parents died, he’s been on a crusade to do right.

Meanwhile, Jung Jae-gul looks over his current plans for a new apartment complex but there’s an issue with the villa. Now, Kang Bitna is one of the people living there, and given she refused to sign the document last episode, Jae-gul wonders just how to handle this.

The company involved is Taeok Industrial Development. For now, he speaks to Tae-kyu, his son, and broaches the idea of speaking to Bitna soon.

This plot isn’t elaborated further this episode, as instead we get our first look at the case of the week. Disaster strikes that night in the middle of a lake. Jiho and his mum escape from a car that crashes into the water,  but unfortunately Jiho’s father is drunk and stuck inside. Consequently, he ends up drowning.

In the wake of this, a custody battle for Jiho ensues. The mother, Ba Jayeong, and her mother-in-law fight over who should be raising Jiho. The mother-in-law is on trial here for illegally taking Jiho without a guardian’s consent. However, there’s more to this case than first meets the eye.

There’s a hefty sum of insurance money involved and apparently the man Jayeong lived with before her current husband died suddenly. This, of course, piques Bitna’s interest as she believes she’s onto a winner here.

Outside, Daon shows up with a megaphone, demanding that Bitna come out and talk to him. This rattles her as she’s actually in the process of meeting with Jayeong. Given she’s ignoring his calls, Daon decides they should see each other for the next week.

Bitna is not happy. She scoffs and leaves, heading to the school Jayeong works at. She’s afraid of her mother-in-law, and isn’t sure what to do. Jiho was actually a student in her class last year. His mother passed away from an illness when he was two. She started paying more attention to him and as such, started caring for him. Eventually, she adopted him.

Alas the plot thickens; it turns out the mother-in-law actually left Hyeonsu (her son) when he was five. She showed up 30 years later asking for money. And now she wants the insurance money after his death, hence why she’s sniffing around. This also puts Bitna in somewhat of a dilemma.

There’s at least 2 billion won on the line here, plus death benefits, and Daon confirms all of this when he meets with Bitna again. He wants them to work together and believes he can be an asset to her.

The next day, Bitna tries to get a head-start over Daon. Her target is Mrs Bae, intending to see what the grandmother may be hiding. Only, Daon is actually outside waiting for her.

The pair continue to trade banter, with Bitna showing her skills as a demon. They arrive to see the grandmother and she ends up throwing over her housekeys to show Jiho isn’t there. Only… he is. He’s in the cupboard and hiding so he’s not taken away.

In the middle of this, the front door ends up having a bell on it which is very similar sounding to Daon’s parents’ house, and Daon is visibly affected by this. Bitna doesn’t notice and she doesn’t pry on the issue either.

According to the mother-in-law, Jayeong fooled around with another man at the funeral, and 3 days later was nowhere to be found, leaving 5000 won for little Jiho and leaving him alone with the house completely trashed. It would appear that Jayeong is using the money to buy herself nice clothes while Jiho is left with nothing.

Daon presses on the issue and decides to ask about the death benefits. The truth is, she’s worried that Jiho will be left with nothing and took him to try and save the kid.

As for Bitna, she’s off with Jiho by the shore. He shows off his drawings, and Bitna scoffs, claiming that they’re all bad. Only, one could actually be used for evidence. It’s a picture of him and his step-mum.

Now, it turns out that Jiho actually witnessed Jayeong gluing the seatbelt shut before hitting the road. She intentionally swerved into the water, and she let Hyeonsu drown. In fact she even shut the sunroof too and threatened to kill his grandmother if he spoke up.

Bitna is going to do everything she can, and tells Daon that she believes Jiho and every child’s testimony – even if that kid happened to be Daon. She knows children aren’t sneaky or have alternate agendas. It’s enough for Daon to suddenly start crying, as he realizes that this demon actually does have a heart after all.

In the courtroom, Judge Kang makes her ruling. The grandmother’s case is suspended. Now, that means she won’t be punished for the offense of taking Jiho away, but she also needs to make sure she doesn’t commit any crimes for the next 2 years to be in the clear. The lightest sentence a judge can give.

Unfortunately, parental rights still stand with Jayeong despite everything. This is all part of Bitna’s plan though, as she uses her mirror and notices that Jayeong is on the verge of drowning Jiho in the bath. With the kid dead, Bitna shows up to see her and with a knife drawn, prepares to unleash Hell. Figuratively speaking of course!

The Episode Review

The Judge From Hell returns with another solid episode, this one adding in elements of intrigue as the Jiho case takes on an extra dimension.

It’s a good one to follow-up with because there are shades of grey here with Bitna’s morality, tying into her idea of being a merciless demon. However, there are clear signs of humanity starting to slip through, like her little glances or awkward retorts within the case.

The subplots work surprising well to flesh everything out too, with Bitna’s assistant attending bible class a humorously ironic twist of fate. It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this, and whether he does end up going to Heaven after all.

As for the Jiho case, it’s all wrapped up by the end and the motif about not judging a book by its cover is echoed by that of Daon and Bitna too. The pair have good chemistry together, but similarly they also have skeletons in their closet too.

It’ll be interesting to see what direction this one takes next, but for now, everything is left on a decent note ready for episode 4.