Death's Game (2023)

A faux-deep show with a harmful message

I’m actually surprised to see how much praise is being sung for Death’s Game. Death’s Game is by no means philosophical, nor does it bring anything new to the table in terms of discussion around the subject of suicide. It simply offers the common - and harmful - rhetoric of “You should feel guilty about (thinking of) killing yourself because your death will hurt others.”

Living to avoid causing pain to others - and by proxy living FOR others - is no way to live at all. In fact, according to this rhetoric, if no one would mourn your passing, then it should be fine for you to die by your own hands. Your desire to live has to come from yourself because the minute it depends on other factors you lose any semblance of control over it.

Death’s Game tackled its message wrong from the start. In my opinion, an anti-suicide show should focus on the “joys” rather than the pains of life. If you’ve ever said something along the lines of “I’m feeling down/sad/upset” and been told “well others have it worse,” did that really make you feel any less upset? Probably not. This is why reincarnations such as the baby’s don’t work as substantial support for the show’s main message.

On the topic of support for the show’s main message: this support is thin. Why? Because so much of it is just pure shock value. There are multiple instances of this. The baby. But also the prisoner reincarnation. One would think this particular story would end with the hit-and-run daughter’s father killing who he believes to be the perpetrator BECAUSE this would tie in with the idea the show was pushing about the consequences of Korea’s lenient juvenile laws. But no, the main character is then stabbed a SECOND time by another twist villain. Did this add anything to the show? No. In fact, it lessened the impact of the previous scene. So why did it need to happen?

On a side-note, the twists in this show are so random. Some I predicted from the start, like the brother being behind the airplane crash. Other twists just exist to be twists. That is not good writing.

Additionally, logically-speaking, why does Death target our main character specifically? Does she give this same experience to everyone? Surely there are others who fit her criteria more explicitly. And, on the other hand, imagine someone who has suffered much worse than Choi Yi Jae. Does said person deserve to experience more suffering (multiple deaths) simply because they sought to put an end to their own? Definitely not.

I really can’t tell what this show wants to be. It feels so ungrounded from reality that I find it hard to take it seriously. The tone feels a bit all over the place. It doesn’t help that the special effects look cheap, and that the dialogue sometimes sounds incredibly comic book-y. All it was missing was some text bubbles. I’m assuming that might be because the show is an adaptation from a Webtoon, but what works in comic format won’t always work in live action. Also, I’m not usually one to comment on bad acting, and I’m sorry to say that despite the cast being visually stunning, this show is chock-full with it.

Lastly, I felt no emotional connection to any of the characters? I wasn’t sad about any of the deaths. Which I find surprising given I’m very empathetic and often have no trouble doing so. Nor did any character relationships particularly stand out. The main character and his gf have the stock template, textbook start to their relationship, and their dynamic isn’t particularly interesting.

If Death truly cared about the main character’s respect for “death” she would show him how to love living again instead of torturing and potentially emotionally traumatizing him for the remainder of his existence.

Death’s game is not as deep and thought-provoking as some laud it to be, and it's honestly worrisome how well-received such a show is. It presents its singular perspective on suicide, which negates and ignores the mental health aspects that come along with suicidal ideation.

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Butterfly Effect

Talk about the butterfly effect.
I know everyone has written a review on how good the drama is and how the actors have embodied the roles. However, can we talk about just episode one.
Everything in Yi Jae life would have turned out much better in a sense if he hadn't witnessed that man's death. That one thing was what literally spiraled everything out of place. Because he became traumatised he messed up in the interview.
It was almost like a bad omen. Everything after that kept going wrong. And we can literally see that DEATH was gripping unto Yi Jae since that scene. The dying man's grip on his blazer was soooo strong and felt very ominous to me at least.
So yea, everything after that one encounter with death set up the events that occurred after.
Which had me thinking what if? What if he hadn't encountered death that day? What would've happened? So that was just something I found very very intriguing.

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When death is NOT the end but THE BEGINNING.

"What have i done to DESERVE this? What is my SIN?"
"You went looking for DEATH even before DEATH came looking for you."

PLOT/STORY LINE
It's the story of a young man who's greatest sin was to go looking for death before it even ever came looking for him.[commits suicide]
Death angry at his audacity and insulted by his flippant attitude towards dying, comes to punish him with her game and mindfuckery: He is to be reincarnated into bodies of 12 people 12 times just to ultimately die, he must experience death over and over again through 12 other lives. But the only way to change is if he can find a way to survive the imminent death coming for these lives, he gets to live out their lifetime in the same body.
The ML is not A PERFECT HUMAN, no he is just as selfish, greedy, stupid, overconfident. And he is also sensitive, emotional and sentimental. He has faults and i think thats makes the story even more better.

The DRAMA has everything. It has THRILLER, ROMANCE, COMEDY, very DARK HUMOUR[surprisingly], ACTION SCENES.

CAST/ACTING
Holy shit, can i say this cast is like INSANE. Like it screams A MILLION BUCKS and has HIGH BUDGET written all over it in bold. Dare i say this might be the most iconic cast in a decade, like imagine all the famous and amazing K-actors of recent time all coming together to create a big bang with this.
And not only the cast is giving the VISUALS but that acting is a slay. The way each actor portrays the character and story is just chef's kiss.

The way you see the protagonist goes through thousand different feeling during the whole trail makes you feel like you are living the character.
The feeling of hopelessness, sadness, betrayal, pain, anger, frustration is so potent in the series that you feel it in your bones.
THE CINEMATOGRAPHY, THE VISUALS, THE OST, THE BGM, THE PLOT LINE, THE ACTION SCENES.
Everything seems like perfection.

Like i have nothing more to say other than that NOT WATCHING this is a loss. It is damn near the best kdrama i have potentially seen this year.

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Great premise, stupid characters

Was really excited for this as the premise seemed interesting. Then we were introduced to Death. She's an annoying child throwing a tantrum because, according to her, humans don't deserve to kill themselves. She says there are way worse pain than living a crappy life. I guess people being sexually trafficked, liked the gangster's girlfriend, should just go on living no matter how hellish their life is. Oh, and she doesn't like being "disrespected", as if people killing themselves are doing it for fun.

The action scenes and the different lives are interesting, especially the gangster one. Sadly, this Death is not as cool as they could have had her be. She could have had a better reason for the game. Instead she just comes off as petty and silly. I just can't take her seriously with her constant threats, aka constant whinnying.

I know it's based off a webtoon but I honestly think it could have been much better with a different, more interesting reason as to why the game happens.

No hate to the actress. At least she has a cool look.

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Felt like a state sanctioned anti-suicide infomercial

Ok. So I know the rating and review title might be confusing.

This show has some great acting, the quality of production is fantastic. The music was great. Some of the stories were really interesting and it’s for the most part well-written.

HOWEVER, if I hadn’t been watching with someone else I would have dumped the show. It felt like I was being lectured about suicide but in a very strange way. Korea has a very high suicide rate and maybe that plays into it, but some of the message delivery was clunky and anyone with an ounce of common sense can throw the reasoning out of the window. Maybe they hoped to make people think again about giving life a chance, maybe scare them into carrying on. I dunno guys, it just fell flat.

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A storyline that tries hard to justify itself but fails to do so.

spoilers are there, read at your own risk.

As from synopsis, the story is basically about an ML who gave up on life due to unemployment and getting turned down from most jobs which leads him to feel useless and kills himself. In turn death punishes him, saying he will be transferred in bodies of people for twelve times and these bodies are someone fated to die soon and if he manages to survive in any of those twelve times, he can escape going to hell for sin of committing suicide. The whole plot is about death asking ML does he realize anything from the lives he lived, had he learnt anything and every time hero says I will beat you in this and survive against you.

Like so the hero goes to live in bodies of 12 lives who are destined to die soon. Now each episode is filled with star cast who acted those 12 lives, and it was really entertaining. It wasn't boring at all and all those lives are connected to each other in the storyline and the wrap of those lives to the whole plot made so much sense, even though these 12 lives people are strangers to each other character, yet they all are tied up together brilliantly to make sense. For that alone I gave this show 6.5 rating.

The only reason I'm disappointed is the that even to the end death punishing ML didn't justify in slightest sense. At the end hero realizes he made mistake by killing himself because he gave the people he loved to live with the pain of his death. Which is a very valid reason and I agree the ML is at fault to an extent because the only thing that put him down and depressed is his unemployment, he had other things that most people won't even have. He had a girlfriend who wasn't ashamed he couldn't find a job but was rather supportive and proud of him and was ready to take care of him always. He has a wonderful mother who didn't pressure him into finding a job. Most people who actually kill themselves are someone who is totally alone unlike ML. Maybe ML failed to recognize this and killed himself without realizing how it would impact his close lives. Which is something some of the depressed people who still have supporting families fail to realize and end lives. I agree they shouldn't do that, this is why awareness of seeking help for mental health is very important. but other half of depressed people are someone who are abandoned to live in agony.

Anyway, by my above paragraph you might think death was right punishing him because ML ended his life without thinking about loved ones, but here is the twist. As you have read, ML goes to live in 12 bodies, during this time death says she won't interfere and also says I don't kill people, people are bound to die by the fate that was written to them. All along she tells ML he committed a sin by killing himself instead of dying at the time the fate was written. She says one shouldn't choose death but should die at fate written by god.

Let me tell you, in all those 12 times ML got to live, he witness his girlfriend death who gets murdered tragically, his mother is also supposed to die in a hiking accident but got to live because ML finally won against the fate of surviving in at least one of the twelve times and last life is he possessed his mom's body. Which means ML if he didn't commit suicide, not only would have witnessed his GF death but also his mother death and still live in unemployment.

You might think if he didn't kill himself, he may have protected his gf and mom by being near them. But death clearly says their fates are destined like that. Whether any change can happen to their fates is like a roll of dice, and no body can know.

Not only that, all the ten lives ML lived, are mostly innocent lives who got killed except for two or three lives where ML entered into evil people bodies who actually deserve to die.

So in conclusion, the drama major reason of death giving punishment didn't make sense because even if ML lived he had to live in misery of losing loved one's, if he kills himself, he has to face punishment of death god and get's killed 12 times. For me, the whole series I agree ML is at fault for not thinking about his loved one's and dying, but death is the most evil person as she punishes ML whose fate is already cruel even if he doesn't kill himself and another evil is god who wrote fate of innocent people to die soon in most painful way.

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Because you came looking for me, before I came to find you

Take notes because this is perfect execution on all fronts.

Choi Yi Jae, at the lowest point of his life as he sees it, chooses to end his life, only to meet Death who is angered with his flippant attitude towards her and is now putting him through a punishment of undergoing 12 reincarnations, each person on the brink of death, Choi Yi Jae is given the chance to save their lives. If he succeeds, he gets to live out the rest of their life, if not, he goes through his trial again.

And punishment it is because he has to not simply find a solution to prevent their imminent threats, but also go through the feelings of sadness, betrayal, pain, helplessness and more when his reincarnation eventually succumbs to their situation. Choi Yi Jae nevertheless goes through his lives with his personal agenda and goals, but with each passing lifeline, his attitude towards life slowly shifts as does his personal goal.

It's such a great beginning honestly, not just with the story, but the execution and the cinematography. And most importantly the cast. Wow. Seo In Guk is honestly such a good actor, plus each of the actors who play one of the reincarnations is brilliant at picking up on the little quirks that Seo In Guk brings to his character so that it looks like each of them is actually Choi Yi Jae. Just the guest cast is stacked, Choi Si Won, Sung Hoon, Kim Kang Hoon, Jang Seung Jo, Lee Jae Wook, Lee Do Hyun and that's just the first part. I haven't even gotten to Park So Dam yet, every expression and dialogue of hers carries the weight of her character. Every single one of them just brings something great to the table.

This was a really good 4 episodes, the plot honestly wrote itself and I can't wait for the next part.

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Just finished the series. As a loyal Kdrama fan, this drama was a beautiful addition to my favourite dramas. It was indeed a fun ride filled with twists and turns, I loved how fast-paced it was. It felt like it had everything a show needed, The twist after twist had blown my mind and heart again and again throughout all episodes. This series is the mixture of drama, fantasy, comedy, suspense, thriller and action. Full of crucial life lessons, realization and tackled different issues happening in our society even right now.(child abuse, bullying, corrupt law authorities, injustices, unemployment, not giving importance and enough credits to the workers etc) Also currently reading the webtoon version. So far, I personally prefers the series more than the webtoon (though it's just me, still recommending y'all to read the webtoon if you're interested, I'm enjoying it rn). The series has more depth and emotion put into each of the characters story and the whole plot in general. The casting for Yee Jae, his mother, Ji soo, Jin Tae, Jae Seop, Hyuk Soo, Joo Hoon, Tae Sang, Geonwoo, Death, etc... was too good to be true too. (I have a love-hate relationship with the casting crews, they're doing their jobs real good).

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Death's Game is a refresh button to k drama

Part 1 of Death's Game is pretty good. I have watched all four episodes and I can say it is a refresh button for k dramas. The story of Death's Game seems pretty unique like how the protagonist has 12 lives and he has to live through it and survive. The ending of Death's Game Part 1 was a shocker to me which is good for me but I can't say for everyone. The main protagonist can die at any time and at an unexpected time, which gives this series a feeling of thrill and suspense. I can say this series is pretty good and I can't wait for part 2 which is on 5th Jan I guess.

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