From the moment I started watching "The Game: Towards Zero" I was in love with the concept. The idea of a romantic thriller about a man who capitalizes off of being able to see when people will die seemed like an instant new favorite drama for me. In the beginning, the story definitely did live up to those expectations, and I was excited about each new episode. Unfortunately, the deeper into the story I got the more repetitive, predictable, and at times even boring this drama felt. This drama suffers from having a brilliant idea that I don't think they were sure what to do with, so what started as amazing ended up as just mediocre. Still, it's one of the most original dramas I've seen in a while.

I think I should start with the lead Ok Taec Yeon as Tae Pyung. I do think he did a good job in his role but since his character carries the entire drama, I wanted to love him more. He plays Tae Pyung as cool, and clever well but when things became more melodramatic and intense I felt less connected to him. I also wished I knew much more about his backstory which was treated more like an afterthought. He is matched with the equally cool, confident, and clever Lee Yun Hee as Seo Joon Young... the only person who's death he can't foresee. I think they make a great team in the beginning, especially when they are initially feeling each other out. I do think they lacked strong romantic chemistry though, which doesn't help when romance drives the story. It's not that I didn't like them together, I did. They had many moments together that I liked. It's that they lacked excitement, and even in the most heightened and emotional moments they were just too casual and cool with each other. It seemed like the plot had more passion than they did, although it also rushed something that didn't have enough time to develop.

I thought the rest of the cast was pretty good too. The officers, reporters, Tae Pyung's support team, and assorted bad guys all played their part well, but Im Joo Hwan definitely stands out as the best of the cast. His character was so complicated, and I think he did a great job of playing out the range of emotions required without being too overdramatic or unrealistic. I also love seeing him in duplicitous roles, which I think he excels at. More than the female lead, he felt like Tae Pyung's true match. I think they worked well off of each other. I also felt the same way about Jung Dong Hwan as Teacher Baek in his more supportive role. Still, I didn't love anyone in the cast enough to give the acting a higher rating.

As I already mentioned, it's the story that drew me in. Tae Pyung's dilemma about whether to stay a loner, the murder mystery, ruthless reporters, and revenge aspects of the story are super exciting for most of this drama. As the story progressed towards the ending I felt like there was a shift and that's when things started to drag and unfold as expected. There were also a lot of flashbacks, or rather flashforwards that started to feel overdone. I almost wish this drama had fewer episodes, and then maybe they would have trimmed more of the fat. I felt like I was just waiting for things to end like I knew it would which was completely different from the unpredictable feeling I had when I first started watching. The end also felt cheesy and way more melodramatic than the beginning, which added to my disappointment. Stronger character development and performances definitely would have helped.

Would I watch this again? Probably not, but I am curious if I would catch things that I missed the first time if I did. Maybe if I loved the main couple more I would, but I can't see myself watching every episode again unless I completely forget the plot over time.

Overall, this drama is pretty good but not as amazing as I thought it would be. The ending was decent, so I didn't feel like I wasted my time watching, and I like the theme about making the most out of your life in the moment instead of fixating on the end, but the writing seemed to sometimes defy all logic just to get to the ending they wanted. If you like crime thrillers I think the originality of the story makes it worth watching. If you're looking for a great romance I would probably skip this one, or at least put this lower down in your watchlist queue. If I had a power like Tae Pyung to see how this drama ended ahead of time I still would have watched it, but I really wanted it to be so much better.