Death's Game (2023)

Heartfelt, Meaningful, and Brutal— Featuring Some of The Most Insane Crossovers In Drama History

"Death‘s Game" is one of those shows you inadvertently stumble on, get hooked on the first episode, and end up devouring the entire plate in one sitting; greedily overwhelming your tastebuds with all those flavors all at once.

It’s also one of those really good shows that emerge once every six years or so and leaves you feeling like an entire different person after, like you’ve just lived a once-in-a-lifetime experience solely just by watching it. Everything from the casting, cinematography, storyline, and overall production, are brilliant. Not only did the drama do an excellent job at making a strong impression right at the get-go, it also manages to maintain your attention throughout the drama through its atmospheric setting.

Don’t underestimate those 8 episodes, as you’re going to experience a roller coaster of emotions for each one of them. At times, you’re going to feel like you’re watching a melodrama; at other times, you feel like you’re watching a gripping tale about revenge, or even a psychopathic thriller. I find that the most suitable word to describe the overall plot is by using the term "mixing-pot." now, throwing in a plethora of ingredients (in this case, genre’s) may sound like a call for disaster. However, it can also produce an extraordinary concoction— one that allows the taster to experience flavors of sweetness, bitterness, disgust, revolt, and numbness, and Death’s Game is just that!

Since I haven’t read the original work, I don’t have much of a day in regards to how faithful the adaptation was to its source material. However, Death’s Game was an incredible watch nonetheless. Cinematography, soundtrack, acting, and overall production were brilliant. No complaints there. Plot-wise, it has an original and unique premise, solid pacing, and manages to captivate the audiences attention throughout with its excellent plot execution. Just when you’re a sobbing mess, the plot hits you with some thrilling scenes that’ll leave you with your butt clinched. Sure, there might’ve been a few plot holes and worldbuilding could’ve been focused on a bit more (SPOILER: reincarnation is a difficult genre to tackle. In this case, more clarification was needed to explain where the original hosts souls go after it gets occupied by our main character’s). In addition, the ending didn’t really make any contextual sense and completely disregarded the drama’s worldbuilding. However, I can overlook the first two for the most part because the experience of watching it alone was so mind-blowing and completely destroyed me.

Not to mention, this drama features some of the most ICONIC and UNEXPECTED crossovers in ALL of kdrama history. If you’re a seasoned k-drama veteran like me, you’re going to have a lot of moments where you’re like: "Ariana, what are you doing here?" since you’re going to be seeing characters like (SPOILER) Baek Hee-Seong encountering Mo Tae-Gu and find yourself stumbling for a bit.

All in all, among the 2023-2024 drama lineup, Death’s Game definitely takes the spot for the most memorable, and will remain one of the most highly-regarded masterpieces in (possibly) all off k-drama history.

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JUST GO AND WATCH IT ALREADY!!!!!

Deaths game was a thrilling drama about a man who commits suicide and so death punishes him by making him live twelve more different lives and dying in each one of them.

But this drama was more than a fantasy about reincarnation..it was a thrilling and exciting yet emotional journey filled with lots of heartwrenching and heart warming moments.

The cast was the reason why I anticipated this drama and I don't regret doing so because they all devoured in their specific characters...the characterisation was spot on and even those with the least screen time managed to live an impact regardless...

The acting was insane the rage each one of the characters had was an absolute delight and it was a strong factor that added to the beauty of the series.

The story was exciting intense but emotional and also a bit funny ( but not so funny) it was mostly an emotional roller coaster but I loved the dialogue and the life lessons the drama was trying to put across.

What more have I not said, I highly recommend this if you are looking for a short yet satisfying drama to watch!!!

You should go in with a box of tissues though because you'll need it other than that I ABSOLUTELY LOVED EVERY BIT OF THIS DRAMA.

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Death's Game: An Overview

This show is genuinely the most heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, action-filled series I have watched in my entire life. I cried throughout the entirety of Episode 8 from start to finish. I was shocked by all the twists and the amount of plotlines that collide so nicely just makes it that much better.

From Episode 1 I was a bit like, hmm how is this gonna go, you have 12 characters to go through and the first 2 just got cast aside very quickly. Episode 2 was the first cry I had when he was Hyeok-su, not gonna lie I felt his character was just a shock one to throw in, seeing as the only real plotline it creates is the one with his Tae-sang reincarnation and Jin-sang, but when he saw his mom through Hyeok-su's mom I genuinely teared up so much.

The end of Episode 2 and the Ju-hun reincarnation was some of the best cinematography I've seen in a non-action movie. The intensity was just perfect considering how heartbreaking Hyeok-su's death was. Plus the way Ju-hun dies was such a gag, I had to pause the show and walk away because I did NOT see that one. Tae-sang's death was also pretty sad, but considering his intentions were to give the money to Tae-sang's mom, who we didn't have a connection with, it just didn't hit hard enough. I feel Tae-sang, Geon-u, Gyu-cheol, and Ji-hyeong's characters were all just for the Tae-u plot and to show Yee-jae's selfishness, but it was good for tying in future plot points near the end.

Episode 4, I was bawling my eyes out so much. It's incredibly sad to realize that this is a pretty common occurrence, maybe not the infanticide, but the abuse is. It was such a quick reincarnation but it was the one that was a lesson for Yee-jae for sure. Not being able to get out of the situation and being forced to just let it happen was so emotional and it's just a horrible thing to happen to anyone.

Also in that episode, when that fucking car hit them I SCREAMED. I was so fucking mad like Geon-u and Ji-su was the only reincarnation that I probably felt a connection to and I just really wanted him to live on much longer and have a life with Ji-su and THEN die. But the pen being a common motif later on in the story was just so wholesome and I'm happy the show ended the way that it did purely because of that fucking pen lol.

Episodes 6 and 7, are not really a lot if I'm honest. It was definitely the dud plotline which pissed me off because at the end of the storyline, it just wasn't necessary? Like, Death rewinds time at the end and so Tae-u would never have had those things happen, so he just carries on being a psychopathic killer (potentially)? So that was just action packed and omds Gyu-cheol's death actually made me squirm that's just fucking awful. Also, the speed they just killed off the 10th and 11th reincarnations made me giggle a bit.

Finally, Episode 10. For a full 40 minutes, I just had tears streaming down constantly. The cinematography, 10/10, the acting, 10/10, the story, 10/10, the emotional fucking-with, 10/10. Honestly, I would rewatch this entire series just to bawl my eyes out at this episode again. I called my mum straight after and told her I loved her it's changed me as a person. If you're thinking of not watching this show because it looks boring or from what I've said you don't like it, it's so worth it for this ending. Plus the final shot of the text right before the credits made me kinda spooked out like, yeah, there is ONLY one of me in this world.

Overall, I rarely think a show is an overall 10/10, but even with episodes 6 and 7 they were still amazing just not in comparison with the rest of them. I think everybody should give this a watch, it's so enjoyable and so worth like 6 hours of my life.

(PS: My fav shot is when he visits the Columbarium as his mom and then it shows his memory of her and there's the parallel shot in the glass of him as if he was standing on the other side of the columbarium. Ugh it was so perfect in a satisfying mirror way.)

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A Drama that SHAPED my Life :-)

LEARNING has no End !!!

At any stage of Life , each and every second , from each and every being , We can learn something .

I am a person who believes in that.
So I always questioned myself -

"What did I learn from this drama ?"
"What did I learn from this situation ?"
"What did I learn from this person ?"
"What did I learn from my Experience ?"
"What did I learn Today ?"
etc. etc.

But never ever,
Not even in my dreams,
Even for once,
Did I question myself -

"What can we learn from DEATH ?"

This DRAMA has taught me that !!!
.....................................................................................

I always heard and believed -
"We get to live only once ! "

Never did I think about -
"We have to DIE only once - was muchhh more of a blessing than living once ."
.....................................................................................

Although this drama talks about DEATH
I'm really really grateful for giving it a watch .

Because it taught me - " THE VALUE OF LIFE !!! "

P.S.- Also , It's hard to Rewatch it , because It's not a drama you can forget easily ;-)

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Not for me

I'll say up front that you should give this show a try yourself and come to your own conclusions.

This was a really hard one for me to rate. My rating is based on the way this drama made me feel. I found myself unable to separate my feelings from the overall intent of the show, thus the low rating. As I feel I have to say so people don't attack me, this is just my personal feeling/opinion. This rating serves the purpose to remind myself what I liked and didn't like about the drama.

Story: Very interesting concept. I thought the way the story was woven together, with people's lives intertwined, was well done. As you go further into the story, we find Yi Jae inhabiting bodies of people that he's encountered before. We also see that his downward spiral was the result of his first encounter with someone's death. This drama embodied the concept of "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". I thought the story became more meaningful when it was personal, concerning his girlfriend and his mother. I just couldn't get past all the evil/darkness/bullying/violence. I probably would have enjoyed it more if time was taken to develop some of the characters more, to see why they became the way they did.

Acting: Can we just talk about the cast? I'll admit, that's what drew me to this drama. Each person was excellent in their own right, but the standouts for me were:
1)Kim Mi Kyung as Yi Jae's mother. I love this actress in everything she is in. Here, she embodied someone carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders after her son's death. Her slightly stooped posture, her slow, mincing gait, and her facial expressions (or lack thereof) showed us that she was walking through the world by herself, after losing the person most important to her. I felt her despair. Watching her face, her flat affect, a lone tear running down her cheek, it seemed that it was all she could do to just keep living.
2)Seo In Guk as Yi Jae. I'll admit that he's one of my favorite actors. Here, he hit all the emotions (even if there were only brief moments of happiness shown in flashbacks). Anger, fear, frustration. Watching him moving from hopeful to hopeless, wow.
3) Kim Ji Hoon as Park Tae Woo. Sociopath? Psychopath? His portrayal of an evil man masked as a successful businessman just gave me all kind of creepy vibes.

This was filmed in a very dark way. I understand that it was part of the whole experience, but some scenes were so dark, that if you watch it in a well-lit room, you won't be able to see what's going on. So, watch it in the dark.

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