Deaths Game is an emotional ride that grabs you from the first moment. Choi Yi Jae's life is basically a series of unfortunate events—unemployment, a betrayed heart, and the classic falling-for-a-bitcoin-scam disaster. But when he decides to take a dark turn, Death herself steps in with a wicked game. The top-notch cast delivers performances that hit the right emotional chords, and the cameos add extra flavor. The storyline, with its mix of genres, keeps you guessing, and the concept of experiencing death through 12 other lives adds a unique twist. The ending, though somewhat expected, feels just right for the narrative. What's impressive is the intentional cut after the final scene; it's like the creators want us to focus on the emotional weight rather than wondering about the future. Deaths Game is not just about dying and living—it's a gut-wrenching exploration of life's complexities and the resilience to start anew.
A must watch for a ride that'll tug at your heartstrings and leave you contemplating the layers of existence.
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Anti-Suicide Messaging overboard but Still Amazing!!
Do not get me wrong I really loved this show, but I was really put off by how much the show reiterated that Yi Jae needed to be punished for his decision. I think that it has to do with the fact that this show was sponsored by the Korean government like the sports and culture I think. Korea is known to have high rates of suicide due to work culture (not only Korea). I understand the messaging of finding purpose and wanting to show there is good in life, but actively punishing someone after they have made a decision to literally die and feel guilty is not really beneficial. As a person who heavily identifies with Yi Jae it made me really uncomfortable.Despite this I found the acting in this drama to be absolutely amazing and it really evoked strong emotions in me. The last body he takes made me BAWLL!! I totally forgot that it was not Seo In Guk playing all the different characters, it really felt like he was just wearing their faces.
The story line was also really interesting, I personally have always wanted to be able to live in another person's body so it was really fun and interesting to see how the director worked with the plot. Also the fact that there is another plot that Yi Jae is solving aside from his death was also really cool.
Overall, it was a great show and I recommend it but if you are struggling mentally some of the messages are a bit tough to swallow.
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Darker, deeper more bloodey ok 2nd part.
The second part of this drama took the otherwise "light" plot and turned it darker, much darker and wondered in to the depths of the psychopaths mind in a beautiful display of blood and art. Giving it a completely different feel to it and making it smart, kind of disgusting and pretty interesting... Consequences of actions unfold as the screen is covered with blood, lots and lots of blood.But then came the cringe of the last episode a long with some cliches so I found myself lowering the score a bit.
It is still a relatively good watch that does not take the issue of suicide lightly while exploring it from a whole bunch of angles... one of the better attempts but it just misses its mark...
There is a clear difference between the 2 parts, not enough to motivate splitting it in two but the two parts are indeed very different. the guest actors keep on impressing and there is still just a little bit to much yelling and crying out loud for my personal taste...
What can i say, get ready to explore some gore... And watch out for that last episode.
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Meh, it was good, not amazing
Death’s gameI thought the concept was interesting. I like stories that take on the supernatural, so it picked my interest quite fast. The main downpoint for me would be the whole suicide is a sin thing, I’ve never been a fan of this and it comes as insensitive most of the time. This time, surprise, it’s the same, it annoyed the crap out of me. Still think it did better than tomorrow on that subject, but barely. I still find myself enjoying quite a lot of this drama woudl probably rate it higher if I went with feeling, but objectively there are a lot of points that must be talked about.
-My life was hell every day (MC)
-How about the real hell ? (Death)
The ending was predictable. I wished it to go in another direction, but it chose the most predictable path.
The Story:
The main character sees himself as a failure. He ultimately kills himself after a series of hardships and misunderstandings. Death is not pleased with this at all, intercept his soul before going to hell, to prove a point, I guess. He is destined by Death to die 12 other times. Death puts his soul in the body of a person about to die, if he can prevent his death, he gets to keep living the rest of his life in the body he saved. Simple enough.
Some points are unbelievable, especially in the 4th episode.
1- He was in a relationship for 7 years, but doesn’t know his girlfriend’s brother ?
2- 7 years and he is not living with her? it’s easier to be two, than one on rent.
I disliked that the baby story was only there to point out that at least MC has a mom who loves him. It could have been easily the most horrifying live in any episode but was brushed aside so quickly it made no impact.
The moral of the story could have been better than blaming the MC for the heartbreaks of the people he left behind. He took control of many lives where money was a key point in their life and ended up killing them. The 11th life should have been an eye's opener for MC ; the man lived the life he wanted, job, marriage, and kids, but it didn’t mean everything was going well for the guy. He wasted his chance and triggered his misfortune by killing the guy.
It was also ridiculous to put him in the body of his mother. 1-Nobody wants to see their mom naked (just kidding) 2-he lived more years as her than he as himself lol. Why, because he doesn’t want the body of his mom to die, not his mom, just the body, she is already dead.
I get it was to connect him with his mother, but I still laughed and it failed to bring the tears where there should have been.
Will his girlfriend die like she was destined to on the side of the road? will the Evil Chebol and the serial killer go unpunished? Does he retain the 32 years and 12 deaths in his memory, or just the feeling of it remaining, pushing him in the right direction? Unclear.
Suicide is a heavy topic, and this drama is not doing a good job of tackling it. The Problems that the MC faced are never put up front, never brought to light to help him fix them.
The resolution boils down to ‘’Dying = people sad = by the way you go to hell too’’
The ending is quite underwhelming.
Pro :
+good actors
+The concept is interesting and original. (it feels webtony, guess it was a webcomic)
Con
+ The chebol plot point was unnecessary.
+ Suicide is seen as egoistical/ sin.
+ the constant gaslighting of the character about his problem not being real.
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Why are the ratings so high ?
Maybe my review is too subjective but I really don’t understand how this drama got so much liked nor do I understand the ratings here.The only 3 really good things are : SIG’s acting - the gorgeous cinematography - interesting topics within the main topic
But then it is lacking in a lot of aspects. The top review on it said the ditector was too narrow minded about their opinion on suicide. To me it is not a problem. In order to convey a message, directors often need to be narrow minded… Then if it meets the public’s opinion it is a win. But what troubles me is the lack of originality in the main topic and that, with all those cases and beautiful scenes, we are waiting somehow for an ending twist which we do not get. Let the end be very open is not what I consider an ending twist as it is not surprising.
It is ok if you don’t want to be original but when you decide to make a series in order to convey a message so simple or seen over and over there is a disappointing feeling in the end. That is where originality is lacking to me.
You get sometimes engaged in one special case but hardly on his own fate.
GYJ is great and some others I didn’t mentioned but I am not convinced one inch by the female lead here… I might get so much hate but it is the first time I want to call out an actress telling her this is quite a bad performance..
Anyway, I apologize if you find this too subjective but this is my honest opinion on it
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A stellar cast comes together to deliver a flawed message
Before I get into what I loved about Part 2, I wanna touch on my overall main issue with this otherwise good drama. So getting right into it, I never expected this drama to move the needle as far as addressing the societal problems SK has that leads many to commit suicide. However, I also didn't expect the overall message to lean towards blaming the victim for doing such a "selfish" misdeed either.
Continuing from Part 1, the theme has been pretty consistent in wrapping things up in Part 2: the ML is so preoccupied with his own troubles that he didn't stop to take a look at the suffering of those around him. It is this misstep that has led him to do the very selfish act of taking his own life in the first place. After all, it's his fault for not continuing to endure his suffering for the sake of his loved ones like the rest of us. Hahaha loser. Of course I stated that in jest, but that isn't far off from what was depicted.
Let's make this clear: the ML is pretty selfish (but not for THAT reason) and has taken life for granted. However, these character flaws shouldn't have been the crutch of why he took his own life. Furthermore, he shouldn't have received punishment because of this. He couldn't see the struggles of those around him because he too was suffering. This doesn't invalidate his suffering, though. This isn't some Christmas Carol Scrooge-like situation where a nasty mean old man gets confronted with his misdeeds and is forced to change his ways or meet a grim fate. We feel empathy for the ML because he is a good person who has a hard life. Those of us who have been in the trenches of depression and suicidal thoughts know what it's like to struggle to hold on. It's not his fault for giving up.
The ML has worked hard for years only to not see the fruits of his labor because society continued to beat him while he was down. Not only that, but once he took his life, he met death who damn near guilt tripped him to hell (literally). Why? Because he's selfish. He treated "meeting death before death comes to meet him "as no big deal. He should've lived and continue to take what life throws at him. It's a good concept on paper, but in action it fails to see suicide from a broader perspective. This is not quite the message someone who has worked hard but still struggled for many years would want to hear and sadly there isn't enough positive thinking in the world that can solve deep rooted issues that society has caused. Don't get me wrong, I see the intent behind depicting the ML go through so much when he was alive, but to enter into the body of someone who got "thrown away" by his family and society (The 11th life where the salaryman loses his job he gave his youth to and his family), only to have the message remain "don't be selfish you loser! Think of your loved ones!" is hard to understand.
So, the few surface level criticisms on the pressures society place on its citizens were nice, but it never attempted to scratch beneath that layer of comfortability to get to the real uncomfortable conversations about why folks consider suicide in the first place. Of course no one's gonna call out or point the finger at the culprits and again, wasn't expecting them to. But to outright pull the victim blaming card was...a choice. There were better options to convey the point but I get the writer wanted to play it safe by doing what is considered a less controversial/ narrower depiction of suicide.
All of that out the way, I still love this drama. I'm not so jaded by life's many struggles not to enjoy every piece of content that misses the mark on depicting sensitive subject matters. The acting and cinematography were top notch. And the music, while not highlighted in every episode, was pretty good as well. Overall, there's enough to love about this drama that'll keep you tuned in. Twists and turns leading up to the finale should keep most satisfied.
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Death's Game toys with some very sensitive topics
Hm. Huh. Much to think about.I feel like this critique is less of an examination of whether I enjoyed Death’s Game because I did, I had a lot of fun with it in fact. No this is more of a critical analysis of how K-Dramas continue to mishandle the issue of suicide.
As far as my actual review goes, I think this is a more than competent show. The premise is fresh and out there, the acting is overall very solid. It’s a visually stimulating and flashy drama. At times actually too flashy. Sometimes more is less, I feel, especially when it comes to sub-par CGI. I’m not going to fault the series for looking a tad cheap at times because I find that somewhat endearing, but occasionally it felt like they were throwing every visual effect in the book at me for no particular reason. So, there’s that. Other than that I really like the look of Death’s Game, I felt the gore especially, which shocked me every single time, was somehow still really tastefully done, if you can call dismembered bodies tasteful, that is.
The plot structure might have been a tad wonky. I kind of felt myself preferring the first few episodes for their pace, that being one person’s life being dedicated to roughly one episode. And the revenge subplot kicked in a bit late and then ended a little early, in my opinion. But I mean, I wasn’t bored or anything like that. Death Game was an overall thrilling drama and it most definitely made me think. But my thoughts might not have been entirely in line with what this drama was trying to convey.
This was a show which clearly considered itself to be very witty but more often than not, that attempted wittiness felt more smug than actually intelligent. Considering what prevalent and pressing subject matter suicide is in Korea, it’s rather strange that I can’t think of a single piece of Korean media that I think handled the topic well. Maybe it is the fact that that would warrant a more nuanced discussion about systemic issues. About stigma around mental health, the insane pressure Korea puts on its students and workers, outdated structures etc. Maybe that would not necessarily make good television. But for a story that I assume is supposed to function as some type of suicide prevention, Death's Game felt incredibly judgmental.
Our protagonist is literally sent through hell and back for struggling with his mental health. He is punished with physical and mental pain for feeling alone. How dare you feel this way? See the anguish your feelings have caused? You’re selfish. You’re cowardly. Cho Yi-Jae wants to die, and the best alternative this story seemingly had to offer was: Noooo don’t do that. Which, fair enough, I agree, you shouldn’t kill yourself. Suicide is bad for a variety of reasons, shocker. But what Yi-Jae needed, what this show needed was compassion. Someone killing themselves might seem like a choice. But the human mind is deceptive. What appears to be a choice often is not truly a choice. This story frames it as if our protagonist willingly abandoned his mother and girlfriend. And he selfishly decided that their love wasn’t good enough to stick around because he had failed in his career. But to presume and then perpetuate that those who fall victim to suicide did not have concern for others is wrong and harmful.
I don’t think that every story needs to be an after-school special. I don’t think every narrative has to be centered around what would be the morally correct answer. How dreadfully boring would that be? But suicide is a topic so incredibly delicate and if you get it wrong, there are actual repercussions. Imagine someone having those thoughts that Yi-Jae is having, watching this show, and the answer that they get is that they’re arrogant and that hell is waiting for them. Granted, if that deters them from taking their life, that’s good. There are no bad reasons NOT to kill yourself. But I don’t think that this was a super productive approach. Choi YI-Jae spends this show ironically enough literally living for other people. And sometimes that’s enough for a while. But that conclusion can also feel like a heavy burden to carry. I feel like Yi-Jae deserved the conclusion that he should stay alive regardless. Not only because you don’t want people to be left with the grief, you’re going to inflict, but because life is simply always worth living. Stay alive because your mom is making your favorite food next week. Stay alive because you’re not caught up with your favorite TV show. Stay alive to finish the book you’re reading. Stay alive because you’re not out of shampoo yet. Stay alive because honestly, most problems in life are temporary.
By the end of the drama, nothing has changed for Yi-Jae except for the fact that he has been through additional trauma he didn’t need. He had all these different lives to try and live out and nearly every single one was more terrible than the last. How much more powerful would it have been to reclaim life because he genuinely wanted to? Because he was reminded that no matter how hard it gets, on some days you get to see people you love and sit in the sun or see the city lights? Yi-Jae stayed alive because the alternative was hell, but what we needed to see, was that life on earth can be heaven sometimes.
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Thought-Provoking Drama with Mixed Suicide Messages
I must admit, I found this show to be quite captivating, yet I couldn't ignore the excessive focus on penalizing Yi Jae for his life-altering decision. It's worth noting that the show is backed by the Korean government, specifically in the realm of sports and culture, and given Korea's high suicide rates tied to work culture (a universal issue), this messaging felt off-putting. While the intention to convey the importance of finding purpose and the beauty in life is evident, the active punishment of someone who has chosen to end their life seems counterproductive. As someone who strongly relates to Yi Jae, this aspect of the narrative left me feeling uneasy.Nevertheless, the stellar acting in this drama deserves applause, evoking powerful emotions within me, especially during the portrayal of the last body Yi Jae inhabits – a truly moving moment. The versatility of Seo In Guk, making it seem like he effortlessly stepped into various characters, is commendable.
The storyline also held my interest, with the concept of living in another person's body being a personal fascination of mine. Observing how the director navigated this plot added an enjoyable and intriguing dimension. Additionally, the inclusion of another plotline that Yi Jae is unraveling, beyond his own demise, brought an extra layer of complexity.
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the message of this whole show feels like a boomer telling that depression is made up and mental health problems don't exist.the way they depicted suicide in this was very weird.
the issues yeejae faced were very relevant and true problems faced by many young adults which they could have tackled in a better manner. here they have shoved everything aside and said 'hey u have 2 people who care abt u'. yeejae was suffering so much and is in such a bad mental space, the current situation of the world drove him into death and death comes out all offended over him saying death is his way of escaping pain. a person who is considering suicide is not in the headspace to see through the fog in their mind. and in this show, the main reason they give for him to live is his mom and gf but by death's timeline they also die within a few weeks, so will it be okay for him to die then? yeejae, a person who worked hard all his life faces 12 punishments for his decision but an evil person like taewoo (who btw is responsible for almost all the deaths) gets to live comfortably for so long?
i really liked the plot of living through 12 different people and avoiding deaths and learning about their lives. even the way all 12 of them were connected to each other was amazing.
the drama could have worked better if the mc was someone evil who used death to escape punishment on earth OR if death was purely an evil entity who was just punishing him for entertainment. death was too preachy, always so superior. and her giving him a chance to re-live just destroys all the superior act she pulls in the series. i would have enjoyed her more if she was just pure evil.
im not saying suicide is the answer(it never is) but giving this as a solution to it? nah
the drama had so many familiar faces in it, it was a fun to see people pop-up here and there. all the actors did their characters full justice (even the baby)
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1A good conclusion to the story with some predictability but impactful with its great cast
This is the second part (and conclusion) to the drama Death's Game in 4 episodes. I quite enjoyed the story, it took some very interesting turns with once again the incarnations being the main stars of the series. There was some predictability with the ending and I wish as a viewer to have been treated to a longer epilogue but there is a certain beauty in ending the series like that.The cast remains fabulous with some of the new incarnations shining through in various ways depending on their backstories. I particularly enjoyed the 8th and 9th reincarnations which were the most developed with the expected 12th reincarnation as well. Kim Ji Hoon really once again impressed me, so far I have seen him playing extreme characters and I'm curious to see him in other type of roles because he was crazily impactful here.
The production value is as stated in my review of Part 1 quite outstanding and I still enjoyed a lot the ending song for each episode (which was kinda the unique music of the series). I loved the titles of each episodes, super insightful and I found the gore and violence really well done with some truly horrific and frightening sequences.
I would recommend this to people that have seen Part 1 of course. It is a proper conclusion to the story, it does not aim for subtlety but is impactful. The performance of the cast (from both Part 1 and Part 2) makes it a very good watch even if there are some little things I wish would have been a bit more developed regarding the lore itself. As Part 1, be aware that this series is super violent and graphic, so you might want to check the tags if you have any trigger.
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Perfection
To be honest, I've never written a drama review, but after watching this I decided to write my first review. A very beautiful drama teaches different perspectives on death and life, even I was not aware of the meaning of death when he blamed the main character for selfishness at every opportunity he was given to start a new life. The storyline is very fresh, even my guesses always fail every time I guess what will happen in each episode, it closes with a very beautiful ending. Perfection, watch this drama at least once in your life, this drama will change your perspective on life.Was this review helpful to you?
A masterpiece for everyone
Couldn't wait for Part 2.Let me start light: it has all my favorite kdrama actors and they made me feel every bit of their charachers emotions. Well, Kim Jae Wook with long hair tottaly throw me of the meaning of the first episode (ladies will understand) and seeing Kim Ji Hoon as a bad guy after "Love To Hate You", just proved that he can be more than a second-male lead (Do stick to romances though, chebal!) . Park So Dam as Death is... well, if you have watched it (OR WHEN YOU WATCH IT), just great.
Now, to the heavy stuff: we can go around the Butterfly effect and everything being connected, but let me share a personal story.
I have a friend, who's brother commited suicide around my frieds birthday. He is over 40 and still refuses to celebrate it, because he never saw it coming: his brother being in such a dark place. I had not met his brother while he was still alive, but still, everytime around my friends birthday, we all feel it: how one's choice could affect strangers even after death.
We all have had hard times and difficulties to face, but I refuse to believe that there is not a single soul in the whole world, we could reach for help: it's the matter of asking for it. Maybe pride gets in the way or we have become too independent and do not want to burden others with our troubles and pain, but if you feel even a little bit like this, PLEASE, WATCH THIS: there are more people in this world that love you, care about you, love spending time with you and do want to see you again than you can imagine!
Starting crying in episode 2, so I am still a bit emotional about this, but that is my take from these series.
And his last incarnation, once he gets the memories back... (Well, I know whom I will hug super hard tomorrow).
There will be Part 3, right?
Get the tissues ready and enjoy to have another look at the people around you.
Maybe one of our New Years resolutions (that we actually keep) should be: Be more caring and loving to the people around and remember, that you are loved too.
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