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Juvenile Justice (2022) is a legal drama written by Kim Min Seok and directed by Hong Jong Chan. It’s an original series produced by Netflix.
It’s a legal procedure drama that looks into the negatives of the Juvenile Act in South Korea. This law ensures more “soft” sentences despite some of the crimes having huge consequences for the victims/victim’s family. It looks into the ways that there are potential benefits to the system, but the general view is less than positive. We see several cases of juveniles who are repeat offenders due to the lack of punishment or respect to the judicial system.
Shim Eun Seok (Kim Hye Soo) is a new arrival to the Yeonhwa District’s Juvenile Court. Her stance on juvenile criminals is simple and clear: she hates them.
Her dislike is offset by her fellow judge Cha Tae Ju (Kim Mu Yeol) who has a gentle approach and truly cares for the wellbeing and reform of the children he oversees in court.
Both of their stances on how they treat and approach their cases is based on their personal history with the courts. Cha Tae Ju’s history felt more impactful in the way that they integrated it into the plot. Unfortunately, Shim Eun Seok’s history felt distant and drawn out in a way that wasn’t interesting. It feels wrong to say, especially due to the circumstances, but there wasn’t enough emotional impact. Her character is moralistic and mostly cold so her shift in behaviour didn’t feel natural. There are definite moments where she shines and I wish this drama was longer so her personality could be more fleshed out.
It suffers the Netflix trend of only being 10 episodes long. The first 4 or 5 episodes were very interesting as we truly delved into the cases. We we were given a better understanding of the juvenile, as well as seeing the consequences to the victims/families involved. In the second half, there wasn’t this full impact as most of the cases felt rushed and overshadowed by the plot of our main characters.
I enjoyed several of the side characters, such as Lee Sung Min as Kang Won Jung and Lee Sang Hee as Joo Young Sil, the former being woefully underused!
Overall, the production values are great, which isn’t surprising considering the amount of money that is being used for Korean works on Netflix. The only real issue I had was that sometimes the “drama” felt forced due to the intense music that played (as well as Kim Hye Soo welling up at every possible moment).
For the most part, I was riveted so I’m not sorry that I watched this, especially as it’s the first Kdrama that I’ve completed in what feels like forever! However, I am disappointed that it lost its momentum and rather meandered to an end.
My Rating: āāā
images: Juvenile Justice (Korean Drama, 2022, ģė ģ¬ķ) @ HanCinema
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