psychophant
This review may contain spoilers
an informal compilation of why the writing sucked.
- mafia could have tossed everyone's phone across the boundary and win at any point; they could have injured or killed everyone at night at any point. it's a very easy win for da beom, but nope, he goes: "okay jung won, even though you're bffs with yoon seo and jun hee, i'll totally believe you when you say you'll kill them..."
- da beom, who was very determined to kill yoon seo and jun hee, just stops trying to kill them. then, he starts threatening his mafia partner and tries to kill her..? it's like that horrible and annoying trope where all the villain needs to do is pull the trigger to kill the hero, but he goes on a rant and allows the hero to find an opportunity to beat him. except this is 10x worse than that. da beom literally could stab yoon seo or jun hee at any moment and win the game, yet he just spares them? and he's screaming, running around, and sweating to kill jung won first for who knows why.
- we still don't know how or why yeon woo got stabbed, how mafia planted evidence for mina's shoe, or how they knew jun hee's plan to entrap them.
- we still don't know jun hee's backstory and why he got traumatized by pools or who had drowned in his brief flashback...
- we still don't have a full backstory for the FL
- essentially our ML and FL, whom the drama went at extreme lengths at protecting, both lack depth and a backstory... in other words, there is no reason for why these two should be or is our protagonists except that they look better than their peers?
- jung won apparently came up with a plan for doctor's (and bullies') death. are we to believe she calculated that doc would follow the two bullies, get caught, and killed once she threw the can..? how does that make sense at all?
- jun hee and yoon seo did not bully se eun and were, in fact, the few friends that she had, yet the parents go, "DURRR, send them to hell. boohoo my daughter. my daughter no longer alive" :( :( :(
- in fact, only a handful of students actually instigated and bullied her. most were either bystanders who ignored the problem or believed a false rumor and gossiped with their friend group. yet... they deserve the same punishment as the bullies? what sort of logic is that. basically, according to the parents, if you're stupid and gullible or just don't care, you are automatically complicit and deserve to get punished (*cough* everyone giving this drama higher than a 8.5 *cough*).
- girl literally committed suicide because they deep faked her face to an adult entertainer... like come on, make the bullying more believable. I was so interested in how she got bullied, why everyone was traumatized, yet the big reveal is one of the tamest and lamest bully tactic there is... there have been youtube pranks a lot worse than this.
- Mafia is a random game. you could have punished the kids with so many interesting and relevant games, but no, parents want to go, "DURR I hate you all, so you guys all get to play a detective game forever muahahahaha. that is your punishment!" like, choosing Mafia as the game setting to get "punished" is so random and doesn't make sense. I'd understand if they were stuck in a horror game or something, but what's the point of Mafia? to train the kid's sleuth and reasoning skills to recognize how they bullied a girl? to get better at lying? lol.
- frail and sick little FL literally just accepts her fate and goes back into the game without a fight. it's as if someone is robbing your house and the thief says, "shhhhh, it's okay, just go back to sleep now," and you just fall back to sleep. wtf was that?
- what's the point of killing the kids over and over if you're just going to wipe their memories? that they played the games dozens of time already may sound spooky until you realize they dont remember anything right after.
- if jung won is an a.i. in the game, then wouldnt she remember all the previous iterations? if she doesnt, then the parents, who think jung won somewhat represents their daughter, are in a sense punishing their program version of their daughter like everyone else?? it's understandable if she were some invincible host or something, but the fact that she is vulnerable and plays like everyone else suggests she's getting punished too, and not just that, but facing the same punishment as her bullies. this was really poorly thought out.
- what the hell was the point of se eun's ghost arc if the game itself was revealing everything?
- and the most important question: how are the kids eating, pooping, and peeing while they're stuck to the VR?
- da beom, who was very determined to kill yoon seo and jun hee, just stops trying to kill them. then, he starts threatening his mafia partner and tries to kill her..? it's like that horrible and annoying trope where all the villain needs to do is pull the trigger to kill the hero, but he goes on a rant and allows the hero to find an opportunity to beat him. except this is 10x worse than that. da beom literally could stab yoon seo or jun hee at any moment and win the game, yet he just spares them? and he's screaming, running around, and sweating to kill jung won first for who knows why.
- we still don't know how or why yeon woo got stabbed, how mafia planted evidence for mina's shoe, or how they knew jun hee's plan to entrap them.
- we still don't know jun hee's backstory and why he got traumatized by pools or who had drowned in his brief flashback...
- we still don't have a full backstory for the FL
- essentially our ML and FL, whom the drama went at extreme lengths at protecting, both lack depth and a backstory... in other words, there is no reason for why these two should be or is our protagonists except that they look better than their peers?
- jung won apparently came up with a plan for doctor's (and bullies') death. are we to believe she calculated that doc would follow the two bullies, get caught, and killed once she threw the can..? how does that make sense at all?
- jun hee and yoon seo did not bully se eun and were, in fact, the few friends that she had, yet the parents go, "DURRR, send them to hell. boohoo my daughter. my daughter no longer alive" :( :( :(
- in fact, only a handful of students actually instigated and bullied her. most were either bystanders who ignored the problem or believed a false rumor and gossiped with their friend group. yet... they deserve the same punishment as the bullies? what sort of logic is that. basically, according to the parents, if you're stupid and gullible or just don't care, you are automatically complicit and deserve to get punished (*cough* everyone giving this drama higher than a 8.5 *cough*).
- girl literally committed suicide because they deep faked her face to an adult entertainer... like come on, make the bullying more believable. I was so interested in how she got bullied, why everyone was traumatized, yet the big reveal is one of the tamest and lamest bully tactic there is... there have been youtube pranks a lot worse than this.
- Mafia is a random game. you could have punished the kids with so many interesting and relevant games, but no, parents want to go, "DURR I hate you all, so you guys all get to play a detective game forever muahahahaha. that is your punishment!" like, choosing Mafia as the game setting to get "punished" is so random and doesn't make sense. I'd understand if they were stuck in a horror game or something, but what's the point of Mafia? to train the kid's sleuth and reasoning skills to recognize how they bullied a girl? to get better at lying? lol.
- frail and sick little FL literally just accepts her fate and goes back into the game without a fight. it's as if someone is robbing your house and the thief says, "shhhhh, it's okay, just go back to sleep now," and you just fall back to sleep. wtf was that?
- what's the point of killing the kids over and over if you're just going to wipe their memories? that they played the games dozens of time already may sound spooky until you realize they dont remember anything right after.
- if jung won is an a.i. in the game, then wouldnt she remember all the previous iterations? if she doesnt, then the parents, who think jung won somewhat represents their daughter, are in a sense punishing their program version of their daughter like everyone else?? it's understandable if she were some invincible host or something, but the fact that she is vulnerable and plays like everyone else suggests she's getting punished too, and not just that, but facing the same punishment as her bullies. this was really poorly thought out.
- what the hell was the point of se eun's ghost arc if the game itself was revealing everything?
- and the most important question: how are the kids eating, pooping, and peeing while they're stuck to the VR?
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