A powerful revenge thriller, Vigilante (2023) will have you mesmerized watching your television screen from beginning to end. If you don't work weekends then settle down for a Saturday and Sunday, like I did, and immerse yourself in its addictive, action-packed story, with possibly the most impressive last episode in the history of Korean dramas! I don't say that lightly: my jaw must have dropped down a foot in length in shock during the last scenes! It almost looked like half the population of Seoul was involved in making this last episode! I kept wondering if all those thousands of extras dressed as vigilantes got salaries! LOL! Amazing! Usually I love the romantic Korean dramas the most but this one stirred me on many different levels, especially intellectually. With each new episode I wondered if it could possibly top the previous one -- and it consistently did! The writer of the webtoon and screenplay, Kim Kyu Sam, is one creative fellow! No word yet on a sequel but I'd love to see one.

I decided to check the series out initially because I loved so many of the actors in it from other Korean dramas and films I had seen over the years. Our leading man was the hard-working, popular Nam Joo Hyuk (Radiant, Start-Up, Scarlet Heart Ryeo, Cheese In The Trap, School 2015, and films Josee and The Great Battle). In many respects he had to play a double personality: a law-abiding cop in training on the weekdays, and a private vigilante on weekends, and he pulled both off perfectly. Previously he had played mostly romantic roles so this must have been a nice change and challenge for him. He was terrific!

Then I could also enjoy several of my other favorite Korean actors in lead and support roles, actors whom I've been very impressed by over the years. Ji Tae Yoo (Healer, Different Dreams, Star's Lover, When My Love Blooms, classic films Ditto and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, and Midnight FM) plays to perfection a broadly-built police chief with almost supernatural muscle strength (whoa! he looked amazing with his shirt off!). Then we have handsome Lee Jun Hyuk (Love Scout, City Hunter, Our Beloved Summer, Naked Fireman, Worlds Within, Han Yeo-Reum's Memory, Stranger) who played a copycat vigilante, hoping to team up with the main one getting all the publicity via the media. Actress Kim So Jin (films Emergency Declaration and Escape from Mogadishu) played the news reporter who kept the vigilante constantly in the public's eye because she knew it would mean astronomical ratings for her news station. I was very impressed by her performance here; she often had me smiling when she would have to light a fire under her rather dumb male station boss in order to convince him to keep covering the vigilante's actions. Another familiar face in the cast I was happy to see again was veteran actor Kwon Hae Hyo who had played Bae Yong Joon's best buddy in Winter Sonata. He's been working as an actor since 1992 and can play any role, villain or good guy. Here, thankfully, he's a good guy, the lead professor at the police academy.

The Story:

When he was a child Kim Ji Yong (child actor Lee Joo Won, adult Nam Joo Hyuk) watched in terror as a thug murdered his mother just for the "fun" of it. The murderer only receives a 3 and 1/2 year sentence for that horrendous crime from a liberal court just because he claimed mental illness. Once the killer is let loose he goes on to commit a whopping eighteen more crimes but each time the "woke" court system let him go free again! (Reminded me of the woke judges in America appointed by Joe Biden who let thousands of criminals off, only to have them go on and commit more heinous crimes in future!).

Now a young adult in a police training academy, Kim Ji Yong has access to law enforcement computer systems others don't have access to: what a powerful resource! Therefore he can track all the crimes his mother's murderer has committed over the years which were also given a pass by the corrupt woke justice system. He decides to finally do what the woke court system refused to do: follow his Mom's murderer in the shadows as a vigilante and stop him from hurting anyone else, ever again. His two roommate friends at the police academy have no clue about Ji Yong's secret activity tracking his Mom's murderer: neither the serious Min Seon Wook (Lee Seung Woo) or the funny Hwang Jun (Jo Han Joon). Neither does his police instructor Professor Lee Joon Yeob (Kwon Hae Hyo) have any idea about his double life. The domineering police chief Heon Jo (Ji Tae Yoo) is suspicious of Ji Yong but bides his time in confronting him, wanting to have definite proof before acting to stop him from taking the law into his own hands.

Then Ji Yong watches the news and checks the police computers for other criminals who have hurt or killed other people and basically gotten away with their crimes by the corrupt justice system. Especially if they show no remorse for their crimes he will trail them until the right moment when he can stop them permanently from hurting anyone else in future. He is a master at judo and basketball so his physical prowess helps him succeed.

His vigilante activity soon alerts the media about the power of this story, especially the ambitious reporter Choi Mi Ryeo (Kim So Jin) at broadcast station MBS, who humorously has to pressure her clueless male boss about the importance of covering the vigilante story. The public seems just as frustrated by the woke court system and they begin protesting in large groups in front of courthouses about all the light sentences given the criminals. Almost everyone thinks the vigilante is justified in his actions.

 

The vigilante news story reaches a bold new level when copycat vigilantes pop up trying to compete with the still secret identity of the original vigilante, Ji Yong. The main copycat, who by a miracle learns Ji Yong's identity early but keeps it secret, lurks in the distance following Ji Yong everywhere: the dashing corporate chaebol Jo Gang Ok (Lee Jun Hyuk). He even helps Ji Yong on occasion, in an attempt to butter him up: for instance, in one case Ji Yong's face had been badly beaten up by the criminal he was enacting revenge on, and Gang Ok pays a young woman to come forward to claim he had saved her life from a rapist and that's why his face had cuts on it. The fake confession temporarily fools the police superiors but leaves Ji Yong wondering who exactly is covering for him, and why.

Eventually there is a dramatic face to face encounter between both vigilantes, with Gang Ok smilingly suggesting that Ji Yong accept him as a vigilante partner. Sensing that would compromise his own vigilante mission he turns Gang Ok down. That emboldens Gang Ok to try even harder to win him over. Meanwhile, police chief Heon Jo becomes convinced Ji Yong is the secret vigilante on his own police force. Will he protect him or expose him to the public? If he does terminate him as a vigilante how will that affect his tenuous relationship with the fiery reporter Choi Mi Ryeo? If the vigilante is stopped her high news ratings might plummet. She doesn't want that to happen! She's not averse to riling up the public on the issue on her broadcast program, to keep the passions flowing on the subject. The stage is set for a huge confrontation on the city streets for all the regular citizens who are angry at the woke court system and who want to support vigilantism against criminals.

It becomes more obvious to Ji Yong that he is going to have to choose between becoming a full fledged, legitimate policeman, or remaining a solo vigilante instead. Which will he choose? His head tells him one thing, his heart another.

The series builds up to a final episode that is quite spectacular, with a huge fight at a very photogenic location near Seoul. This climax takes place in a somewhat surreal environment, where there is still an inscrutable plot twist teasing us around the narrative's corner, but one which will thoroughly delight the audience. :)

Don't miss Vigilante. If you don't have Disney+ then wait till they have one of their frequent advertising blitzes for joining at reduced rates. They often combine these sales with membership in Hulu as well, and there are many exceptional Korean dramas available streaming on both platforms. Enjoy!

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