Vigilante (KDrama, review)

Vigilante centres around a man with a secret identity: By day Kim Ji Yong is a police cadet, by night, he hunts down criminals who have escaped the law or received mere slaps on the wrist. When he was a child, he witnessed his mother beaten to death by a man and then saw him get a light sentence for the murder. As the Vigilante, Ji Yong swoops deliver the justice these criminals truly deserve.

What I think about the drama

I was really taken aback by how violent you show is.

I don’t know whether this is a recent thing with KDramas, especially now that international streaming platforms are buying them, but I am not really enjoying this more violent aspect.

I never realized how much I kind of appreciated the fact that censorship tones down violence. Chinese dramas and Korean dramas have very strict censorship laws, and I always chuckle when knives are blurred out in Korean dramas, which I thought was damn hilarious.

In Chinese dramas, the censorship can be over the top, but you’re not supposed to show too much blood and gore, though blood spitting is a thing. It took me a while to realise that I truly appreciated that, because after one year of watching almost exclusively Chinese dramas, watching Vigilante felt like a slap in the face, because oh, wow: Violence, violence! Ouch!

And the violence was so repetitive. Here is an episode with our hero beating up a bad guy. And here’s another. And another. And it disturbs me that he seemed to take pleasure in beating up his targets, so much so that I almost feel sorry for his victims! And he doesn’t just beat them up but kills them.

At first, I thought they’re going for a more Dexter-like character: A serial killer of killers. (That would’ve been intriguing to watch.)

Yet, Ji Young doesn’t give me that vibe either. So, I wasn’t sure what to think about his actions. I felt like his character isn’t fleshed out properly. Although we know why he is doing what he is doing, the lack of a moral arc makes him difficult to root for.

However, this is a slick, high quality production. And maybe you’re in the mood for a dark, cathartic drama about bad guys getting the justice they deserved.

But for me, it felt like watching an endless reel of people being beaten up. It wears you down after a while.

Final Verdict: 7.5

A slick production without much soul. Watch it if you’re really mad at somebody!