The Game: Towards Zero (2020)

hold your breath

This drama has very good actors and the plot is thrilling until the end. There's murder, grief, anger, sadness and a little bit of romance that never breaks the thrill of the story. The female lead is a strong but sweet woman who works in the police and the character is well developed. Also the romance between the main couple doesn't take the stage so you can fully enjoy the chase and follow the investigation to catch the murderer. There's only one thing that in my opinion is not well developed and that's the trust that grows between the male lead and the other main characters. Nevertheless you have a gorgeous Ok Taekyeon who you don't know if he's evil or good. Totally recommended.

Read More

First and foremost as I say in all my reviews, I avoid romance Kdramas because of how sappy and cheesy they are. It sucks because if a drama is good that have romance in it I would be missing out.

IF I had known this had romance in it I would've avoided it at all cost. This is why I gave it a low overall rating plus it had some takeaways that always irk my nerves.

Remember I will be telling some parts of this series so you may want to stop reading this if anyone comes across my review of this drama.

I liked the main male lead but I most definitely loved the guys on the police force a lot better. I love how they stuck together no matter what happened. I also liked the female lead up to a certain point. She started off tough as nails but ended up becoming an idiot throughout the rest of the series.

This drama depicted on one being able to see someone's death and it's fate if one tries to change it. Too bad this sounded as good as it looked.

Here's where I will actually talk about one episode in particular. In involved the main character trying to change the villains death on order to save lives from whom the villain will kill. He purchases a bomb from the black market, set it to his car, traps the villain and then blow up the car. You would think this would be saved towards the end of the series but it happens in the middle so obviously you can't kill the antagonist and protagonist. It would end the series. But the developers made it to where both of these guys...SURVIVE a car explosion! Not only that, fire erupts through the car causing it to entirely flip once and then land in a lake and sink. All the main character received was a scratch to the face and was in a coma for about a few days while the villain suffers burns to the side of his face and the back of his hand. Both are within their sound mind and is able to carry on what they were doing before the explosion....Eye roll times 10!I know it's not real but COME ON!!!
Another instance was when the MFL was unconscious from being locked up for several hours. She comes out of her coma with perfect looks, memory, oh, they had to throw in a tid bit of physical therapy but she recovers fast and goes back to work.

To add to the eye roll things went sour when the two main leads decided to fall for each other. The thing a person would do for love....really screws every thing up if it's not done right.
They fell for each other, sure, but it was so superficial. And as always the last episode which is suppose to be the wrap up dragged on.

The plot itself would've worked if these few things plus more weren't thrown in to save face. Now it's time to find something else to fill the void this series nearly left me in.

Read More

Multilayered villain and no easy cop out

The premise was very interesting, though I might be biased as I loved low/urban fantasy like these.

Romance on its own was clearly meh. It's very easy to understand why the ML got taken in, but the opposite isn't really true, so it feels like it moves very (too?) quickly for the suspension of disbelief, even taking into account the adrenaline probably pumping through their veins considering their cases and the actor admittedly being rich and physically attractive. The good thing though is that they have decent chemistry, it's not overdone to the point it becomes cringe (e.g. no "destined one true love" vibes, just a "normal" one, if fast moving), ML even admits that he has no idea whether or not they'll be together to the end or separate further down the road, he's just happy and eager to have the chance to find out. But more importantly, the romance isn't really that critical as the plot could have easily been the same if they had just remained close friends. If you're going into this for the romance, then you probably won't like it, but personally I'm getting tired of seeing romantic plotlines taking over series that had the potential to be really interesting (e.g. Memories of Alhambra or Hotel del Luna) so I was quite happy about this one. In my opinion, though it could be unconvincing in isolation, it worked very well when balanced with the other elements, only being a subdued component of the overall series rather than the main focus.

The lowkey fantasy element was nicely woven in; and I think it fitted really well into how the characters behaved and grew into. Rather than exploring his powers per say, the writers decided to focus on how such an ability would impact them. The ML's mindset, the way other characters react to the news, and debate on how to use it, or even if it's real or not, as well as how it ended up warping the main villain; overall, I felt it was very well done

I found the thriller aspect quite compelling. I admit that I was quite taken aback by the pacing however. It's not that it was bad, but I felt it was a bit non-standard. The villain is identified quickly, but gathering the evidence turns out much more difficult than expected. It wasn't a full series rush with constant cliffhangers like 365 Repeat the year for example, nor was it a constant roller coaster like he is Psychometric. It was moving forward, but with some lulls at time. I don't really know how to explain it; it was ok but it did throw me off a bit.

The villain is the one who carry the show in my opinion. The conflict, both within and without he portrayed was really interesting. He was both a victim and then a perpetrator, and the people around forcing that distinction got him. It was really interesting in that this gave him several layers. And what I really liked about this series is that the writers didn't take the easy way out, they didn't try to downplay one element or the other, but instead the conclusion is that he is BOTH a victim and a killer. His pitiable circumstances do not excuse his murders in any way, but conversely (and the final insistence on that was surprising) neither should his wrongdoings make his struggles disappear or become any less important. He killed, and he needs to be punished and repent from that, but he was also genuinely wronged, and he earned the apologies from the police, state and people who unfairly made his life hell growing up. His actions were understandable, but never justified. He was a criminal who took lives, but still human.

This can be very tricky for writers, which is why villains in series are often black or white, or die at the end. But he didn't get killed either, nor did he have one sad sappy scene before sacrificing his life or anything. No, he stayed fucking alive to pay for his crimes, and genuinely embarked on a thorny path to redemption for the reminder of his life. The writers managed to do it rather gracefully overall, and the series ended that plotline in a very satisfying way.

Now the main problem I've had with this series is that near the end, subverting the death visions came a bit too easily for my taste. It wasn't necessarily easy, but I still think the series would have benefitted from another unavoidable death after Mi-Jin, to really hammer it in that changing the visions is really, really difficult.

But overall, still a good series I enjoyed

Read More

Im Ju Hwan

I remember nothing about this thriller except Im Ju Hwan. I remember only how he stole the show, and how his character was the only fully developed one in the whole drama. What an amazing actor! He also stole "Oh My Ghostess" and "The Bride of Habaek" in much the same fashion, with his multi-faceted characters, even though all thise characters were antagonists!!

He is a character actor inside a gorgeous man's body. Why on earth hasn't he been the ML in most of the dramas he has been in so far??! Maybe it's his choice to continue not to be cast as the handsome ML, but I hope to still see him as the ML in the future.

Read More

The Game: Towards Zero is Great

The story is quite amazing where the main character can see the death of people by seeing the picture or face itself. Not only seeing other people's death, but He can also see his death too. As the story goes on, He can change the people death and this is where the story becomes more interesting because it's like a multiverse XD

There are a lot of plot twists in this K-drama so don't be surprised if the reality s not like what you expected :)

*I found that when the car explodes, there are no people on the car. (I think this is a fatal mistake that they are not cutting/editing it but at least they are using a real car so no green screen :) )

Recommended to those who love detective vibes!

Read More

There was an attempt

The first half is what the drama should've been and the second half is what the drama shouldn't have become. The start was decent enough with a compelling concept and characters, however, everything began to crumble down after the first half. The pace significantly slowed down, an overwhelming amount of repetition and flashbacks was shoved in, the mystery was over at that point, the cat and mouse chase became boring and there was a general decrease in the collective IQ of the masses. Nonetheless, the story itself was weak and didn't explore any interesting ideas. The whole thing was infested with plot holes even after excluding all the supernatural elements. The inclusion of romance was a hit or miss at times. I'm disappointed that Park Won Sang didn't have a bigger role in the drama.

Read More

Okay, I have never before written a review on anything before actually finishing it, but I just had to with this drama. This drama is not getting the recognition it deserves and I do not understand why people are throwing this drama under the bus. The drama itself outclasses a lot of popular melodramas. It is perfect for whoever likes thrillers that aren't too dark, as this one isn't hard to watch but still keeps you intrigued. Normally I like to watch dramas with a darker plot than this, but this drama succeeded in keeping me guessing in my head what was going to happen next.

The acting as well is very good and the female lead is not your casual fragile girl, but got a likeable attitude. There might be a lot of flashbacks and scenes that replay themselves a lot, but it is bearable as they don't drag things out for long. Things progress at an enjoyable pace where they keep adding suspense to the plot rather than keeping you looking for the same answer which often ruins a plot. Instead, they solve a lot of questions fast but keeps it interesting by making new questions with the answer.

Read More

Karmic events will always lead to a mouthful of regrets?

/ Actual Rating: 7/10

/- I watched because of Ok Taec Yeon since the last show of him that I had was Bring It On, Ghost! which was before his military enlistment. He never fails to carry a drama.
/- This was not so bad. It had the action at the first phase of its episodes. But then, it came to me as the pace fell off and it was quite predictable to me. It is somewhat predictable in a way that I won't mind that it was necessary for a show to get read that way.
/- After all, good/bad karma begets the one who deserves to have it more. The message was clear in the ending of the show.

Read More

Edge of your seat suspensefull

This is a 2020 romantic crime drama with 32, 30 minute, episodes.

Tae-Pyeong (Ok Taec-yeon) has an ability he never asked for and does not like. He is able to see the events and people that exist in the moments leading up to a person’s death. Tae-Pyeong, allows few to get close to him and lives in a mansion with his mentor/Teacher/ surrogate father, Baek (Jung Dong-hwan) and Attorney Lee Yeon-Hwa (Ryu Hye-rin). Tae-Pyeong keeps to himself as he has found that he is unable to help change any of the fates he sees. When a serial killer known as the Midnight Killer abducts a girl Tae-Pyeong had just seen, he finds himself pulled into a very convuluted crime. While Tae-Pyeong helps the police with the investigation, he is stunned when he meets Detective Joon-Young (Lee Yeon-hee). She is the first person that he can't foresee their death. It is comforting to look at someone and see normal things rather than a disturbing prophetic vision. Tae-Pyeong and Detective Joon-Young frantically work together to figure out how the past has influenced the present in order to stop a serial killer dubbed the Midnight Killer.

This was edge of your seat suspenseful the whole way through. spoiler alert ** his ability to see the moments before death was very useful to the police, once they believed him. There was a lot around the topic of nature versus nurture in regards to the serial killer. Therewas an attempt to shed the serial killer in a sympathetic light but he was completely remorseless and blamed others for his actions the full way. The story was interesting and compelling and there was depth to all the relationships. Thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend.

Read More

Podia ser melhor

Felizmente ou infelismente o que se destacou neste drama foi o vilão, sim estranhamente o vilão roubou a cena e desepenhou muito bem seu papel, afinal eu assisti a isso tudo até o final por causa dele, pois o resto deixou grandemente a desejar.

O casal de protagonistas eram tediantes não me convenceram, eu não vi quimica alguma entre eles , seria mais convicente se fossem apenas amigos, pois o ramance aqui não funcionou. Foi decepcionante ver os protagonistas sempre fazendo escolhas erradas e o vilão sempre um paço a frente, impossivel simpatizar por protagonistas stupidos, eles só agiam no calor da emoção não paravam para pensar e analizar os fatos nem um momento.

Foram episódios demais na minha opnião, a história ficou massante , arrastada e enrolada era tudo mais do mesmo episódio após episódio , absolutamente nada mudava. O fato de ter revelado o assassino muito cedo atrapalhou muito a história , você não cria mais expectativas apenas se deixa levar esperando anciosamente pelo final. Confesso que só me sentia interessada quando o vilão aparecia e por várias vezes tocia por ele, pois ele era unico que despertava algum interesse em mim, não me entendam mal entendo que ele fez várias escolhas erradas e não justifica os assassinatos que cometeu porem seu personagem eram bem complexo e isso me interessou.

Em fim não me arrependo de ter assistido porém não sei se recomendaria fortemente que você assistisse, veja apenas se não tiver mais nada interessante em sua lista.

Read More