We’re back with a new K-drama review, this time about the series ‘Juvenile Justice’. Let’s take a closer look at the 2022 Netflix series.
‘Juvenile Justice’ was released on Netflix in February. It was written by Kim Min-Seok and directed by Hong Jong-Chan who also directed ‘Her Private Life’ and ‘Life’.
Plot
The series centers around judge Sim Eun-Seok who works as a judge in the juvenile court of Yeonhwa District Court. Starting off the show, we see her say how she hates juvenile offenders. During the ten episode run time we see her handle cases in her own unique way. She digs in and tries her best to get to the truth.
Sim eun-Seok is such an interesting character! She’s both cold and rigid and empathetic towards the victims. Her moral compass is high until it comes to a case that hits a little too close to home. She lost her son and has never fully recovered. Kim Hye-Soo does a marvelous job portraying the multi-faceted character.
Her co-judge is Cha Tae-Ju portrayed by Kim Moo-Yul. He’s a lot more empathetic to the juvenile offenders as at a certain time he was in their shoes. HIs empathy causes some problems here and there because he assumes their innocence. I wish we had seen a bit more of his story.
Overall
‘Juvenile Justice’ is a really well-created series. The stories are engaging and tragic at the same time. I like how we saw a balance of juvenile offenders as we see stories where the children are more victims of their circumstance and had no other choice.
I think the series would have benefited from a slightly longer runtime as I believe certain characters could have been more developed and fleshed out. I hope that there will be a second season where we get to see the backgrounds of the rest of the team like Joo Yeong-Sil (Lee Sang-Hee) and Seo Beom (Shin Jae-Hwi) for example.
