The Killing Vote

This is a propulsive, superior Korean thriller about the impact of when justice turning into vengence. It's violent, distrubing at times, but always compelling and thought provoding.

Presenting Korean Justice system as corrupt, manipulated, the story uses todays technology (somewhat exaggerated for effect) as providing a solution that offers vegence as an answer to satisfy the grief/anger of the victims family.

Performances are excellent, quite believable; the storyline will keep you guessing, seconf guessing and even shock. The thrill ride makes it quite entertaining, up to and including the ending, and subsequent prologue/ that sets up what could come next.

What makes it better than most justice/Vengence thrillers (The Devil Judge is in my mind superior) is it doesn't shy aay of the consequences of seeking venegence.

Its a superior thriller, very well made and very entertaining.

What is happening to Korean dramas? It's certainly not the sole responsibility of Netflix as some people think, because kdramas are now more evenly spread over multiple streaming platforms. This show is listed as a drama and a thriller on IMDb, yet some of the performances are bordering on comedic. I get you can't have intensity every minute, but the lighter moments of this show are quite awkward at best and seem very misplaced contextually.

The premise is decent. People who allegedly got away with heinous crimes when judged by the legal system are now being judged by the public. A masked person called "Dog Mask" selects a 'criminal', opens up the voting to the public, and if over 50% feel the 'criminal' needs to be punished, that person is murdered.

Most of the actors are fine in their roles. I know they are limited to the script as written and are guided by a director. The delivery of the dialogue and the accompanying physicality through gestures and movement, however, are usually left to the discretion of the actor.

One person is particular is taking me out of the story in nearly every scene she's in. It's Lim Ji Yeon, who I recognize as the evil sadist from The Glory. In that production, her performance was oftentimes way over the top. I mean, seriously over the top. I chalked it up to her interpretation of the character. But I do recall noting at the time that the performance was almost a caricature. It was difficult to watch her. She just didn't ring true to me. Now she's back in The Killing Vote and once again the physical gestures and the maniacal acting out is far too much for me.

I'm going to try to stick with The Killing Vote, but with the amateurish comedy which never lands as it should, and the lack of talent in some of the performers, I can't promise I'll finish all 12 episodes. I may just read recaps. 2023 hasn't been a banner year for Korean cinematic endeavors. Let's hope in 2024 we return to the high standards we've come to expect.

****Edit. After watching episode 6, I must acknowledge they do a very good job of ratcheting up the tension and most of the cast with the exception of Lim Ji Yeon is excellent. The story seems to have found its rhythm, but we have many episodes left.

In this drama there is the main thing I appreciate, there is the human story with dynamic of development. After each episode, I have been thinking about the continuation or possible twists in the plot, the authors have made me a participant of the events. I must tell about the perfect acting of the performers, the director was lucky with them. Park Hye-jin is an awesome actor.

With this turn of his head and a glance to the side, he managed to tell everything about his attitude to Joo Hyun . It was happening before our eyes. I hope they can find the time to each other in the second season. The finale leads a reason for the second season. Actually, any ratings are nonsense. Watch and get your own opinion.

As for now, i like the plot for this series. Keep waiting for the next episode to come out weekly!

Honestly i like all the actors especially park hae jin and lim ji yeon. But i dont know why i think the character lim ji yeon carry in this drama is not for her. It seems like the females character in this drama are just awkward (especially the siblings) and cant carry their character well.

Stars given goes to park hye jin for never disappoint me in any series he act in until now 👍🏼

But i will continue to watch this ongoing series to see the ending and maybe i might change my opinion at the end, who knows.

This show has been my insomnia fuel for the past week so I'll say at the very least it's entertaining. However, between the poorly written women characters and predictable ending, it doesn't have any replay value. Do I regret my time watching it? Not at all. Would I watch it again? Absolutely not.

There was clearly a lot of money put into this production, but it seems like the writing got the least amount of the budget. There's some serious plot holes and suspending my judgment doesn't change that. The last 4 episodes feel like a different show than the first 8 episodes which would be cool if it was intentional. It wasn't though, and it seemed as though the suspense they built was for nothing. Overall, it was just OK.