Pyramid Game

A Fine Chess Match Between Two Masterminds

A series where a new schoolgirl tries to overcome the class hierarchy under the shell of a great game of chess where Song Soo Ji has to beat Baek Ha Rin who is the queen and the rest of the students are her pawns. Show full of betrayal, bullying, violance but also frienship that captivates the viewer until the last moment

Story: Phenomenal

Acting: Most of the times solid but there are moments where it's exaggerated

Music: Amazing and what's more important it fits the drama very well

Characters: Everyone was ok, except of course Song soo ji, she stood out quite clearly in a good way, and Bona's acting certainly helped with that. The second character who stood out was Go Eun Byul because she was just sooo annoying

The only criticism I have about the Pyramid Game is that any scene where they're not in class is a little boring. Other than that the show is a must watch.

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Something feels off

I would like to start off by acknowledging how all the actors acted their parts so well in this drama. But something feels off about the plot.

I can't take the show too seriously. The bullies seem aggressive, but only because the victims are freaking doormats. We later learn about the greater bully, Ha Rin who psychs you out by manipulating and playing with power. Her motivations are:
1. Force everyone to play the pyramid game where she emerges as the very top of the structure.
2. Make her childhood friend turned foe the permanent victim.

What is insane is the way she wields power to set all the things in motion to play the pyramid game like getting adopted conveniently by the Baeks to deciding who joins her class in school to influencing literally everything she can in her power with whose help idk, definitely the principal because of her chairman grandma, but outside, how? She has dirt on her "father", knows her "mother" is a doormat to the grandma, and holds favor in the eyes of her "grandma", but none of them seem to be actively helping her other than ignoring the things she does but how does she get them done to be begin with is not shown. And this is kind of important because she is just an adopted freaking highschooler. Why do all these girls participate in the pyramid game barring the elite few? Do they all not care that one of them will be victimized by being a participant and a bystander? This kinda feels dumb considering the show shows how some of the girls are manipulative and strategic but most of these girls just look dumber than rocks for going with Ha Rin's games. It takes Su Ji for these girls to understand how democracy works.
The whole motivation for Ha Rin to play the game also feels very weak and is mysterious to us until the very last episode where the reveal falls very flat. I guess psychopaths dont need strong motivations. The first victim and her brother don't really need to be interwoven into the plot, and the brother being a genius coder is also not super necessary since he really didnt do any high level tech stuff: just installed a camera and uploaded the videos to social media; these things dont really need a genius in this day and age.

All in all, the show seems to present the story as a high stake, psychological game, but honestly feels like teenage shit that could be solved by just by the girls using brains and communication. There is power and corruption but the victims had plenty of proof to bring them down easily. There are a lot of similar shows that showcases bullying in high school like The Glory, Weak Hero, etc, but they all felt more serious and believable or as in Study Group, presents itself like a live action comic.

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With such an excellent cast, every second of this thrilling show slays

Sincerely there's nothing better than when a show has a lot of characters, all of them possessing diverse, remarkable qualities and you just know that no matter how long their screentime is, they contribute to the plot heavily and you end up being fond of all of them, no matter how black or white each individual is. (although most of them fall into the grey zone)

Personally my 11/10 thing of this show is the OST (especially the songs "Higher", "In the Dark", "The Judgement"). Not just because it's gripping and intriguing but also because it never fails to do the trick, always appearing at the right time in every episode. Hearing just a bit of the OST makes the whole story unfold in front of me again, feeling all the emotions I felt while watching it.

As for the actresses (and the few actors of course), they did an exquisite job. I can't believe it's the first time acting for Jang Da A and Shin Seul Ki, they're very talented and portrayed their characters well, I hope to see both of them again, whether in season 2 or other dramas!!

Sung Soo Ji is an amazing protagonist. I love that she isn't a monotonous character and goes through changes, fitting into the already mentioned "grey zone" and almost falling into the pit of being the same as the other classmates at first. When you finally start climbing the pyramid scheme, of course you don't want to go back down there and being a bystander is alright as long as you aren't a bully, right? Luckily the lead gets to know better and decides to put an end to the insidious Pyramid Game altogether.

The story also didn't disappoint, 10 episodes of 50 minutes each was just good enough, it dragged only minorly, most of the time it was thrilling and kept me hooked as I was excitedly waiting for the next Thursday to watch another two episodes. And how I will miss these Thursdays!!

In conclusion, if you haven't watched this drama yet then I assure you, you won't be disappointed!!

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My most favourite 2024 kdrama

First of all, my ratings for every kdrama based on plot and how not dumb of most characters are. Because the dumbness of characters' action really make me irritable and ruin the mood to keep watching, but this kdrama has none. They are very smart!!

Every actresses act so well!! They have a very good chemistry. They are the best and so into their characters either main role or support role, my favourite is baek harin.

The only complain I have that make me rated 9.5 instead of 10 is the story behind baek harin why she want to harass jaeun, kinda too weak for me because they nerfed it from the webtoon version. Would be perfect if it's more impact and make me feel the even higher violence harin have faced.

A very picky little complain is they kind of overused the song on some scenes (not The Judgement one, this song is the best and so harin's coded). Would be even better if they produce more song to use in more specific scenes of this drama.

This is very worth rewatching because you might not understand what harin says to jaeun and why harin does that to jaeun at first watch. But if you already know the background, you understand everything.

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Not even four months into 2024, I think I've found the best K-drama this year

When I initially came across pyramid game on my TV, I completely ignored it, thinking I was tired of dramas with school settings but boy was I wrong for that. The interesting edits I came across social media ultimately motivated me to pick this gem of a thriller up and that was probably the best decision I've made all year.

Every week, in fact every episode left me on the edge of my seat, distressed about what could happen next. The story is well-paced, smart, intriguing and engaging, perfectly embodying the thriller genre. Another aspect I loved about this story was the fact it was female centric in an all girls' school, more than physical strength,mental and emotional strength were the key points used by our main character to overcome the abuse she faced in school. I also admire how the writer has shown us how miniscule things that we do even when we're children can manifest into something more sinister and eventually become a major consequence for us in the future(regarding jaeun being a bystander when harin got bullied as orphan when they were in 9th grade). Besides that, the representation of queer characters openly in a major K-drama like this one without censoring the original work also left me impressed, they definitely did justice to the webtoon on this one!

Can't submit this review without taking about the acting, Kim Bona outdid herself on this one. She's quickly become one of my favourite actresses even though it's my first time watching one of her works. The rest of the cast too, did such a good job! Each of them portraying their respective characters very well whether as bullies or bystanders, they all evoked many emotions within me when I watched the show. If I'm not mistaken, this is jang da ah's first role in a K-drama and I'm thoroughly impressed, she did so well despite Baek Ha Rin being a very difficult and complicated character that's quite the challenge to understand.

The review is getting too long but there's too much to talk about when the show is too good. I loved the music and ost they had on this one as well, higher by Ava grace and in the dark are both in my playlist now. They're fitting for the show and are catchy at the same time, it's not very often that I get interested in a show's ost but pyramid game has some stellar music and ost collection. The costumes and the set were also beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, very otherworldly and totally unrealistic to be a school but I loved it a lot.

I think there was no disappointment for me while tuning in on this one. However, I do wish they don't keep continuing the game lmao, I want my girls to be in peace finally 😭

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Mindblown

For this series it will depend if it’ll suit your style, I am enjoying this series tbh and I can’t wait for the final two episodes 9-10. I’m not full on romance fluffy kind, I enjoy a wide array of genres from fantasy, crime, thriller, romance etc. What pulled me in the most is how well most of the Actors portrayed their character, and how intriguing it is wanting to read their thoughts but couldn’t.. how utterly creepy and scary the antagonist is. But also having thoughts of how ridiculous the whole thing was wherein Adults had very little to no say at all with all the crazy happenings. But again it’s a series some scenes are so realistic because it does happen in real life especially how bad bullying is in general.

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Perfect characterization!!

Considering the amount of casts they have in the show, it's amazing how every single one of them contribute to the plot with their own personality. Sung Soo Ji as the protagonist is just flawless (imo). The way she fought back against the entire system, we can't help but rooted for her. She was thinking about saving herself only at first, but I wouldn't call her selfish for that. Not after seeing how the other classmates gave her a cold attitude. But, Soo Ji changed and so were we (the viewers). We wanted them to succeed and destroy the pyramid. Their genuine feelings to be free from power abuse reached us.

Now, let's talk about the antagonist, Baek Harin! SHE IS FVCKING CRAZY [praise]. Idk why but I was reminded of Coach Kim from Sky Castle when I saw her character. She is calm and collected (most of the time) which is usually a BIG warning to not piss off people like them. She is violent but not doing it through brutal physical assault. She is manipulative and twisted. She showed no sign of guilt even until the end. Her presence in the show was what made this drama memorable and thrilling!

Gonna give my big applause to Jang Da Ah for bringing Baek Harin character to live. This is legendary for her acting debut.

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WATCH IT!!!!!!!!1

this show was exciting from start to finish. it's a well-written story, with well-written characters and excellent acting! the only thing i didn't like about the story was the past of harin and jaeun. their storyline and connection seemed unnecessary to me, especially when harin burned down the school. i mean i get that's the reason why harin wants jaeun to stay in grade F forever. but still, i find this "shared past" storyline uninteresting in most kdramas.

other than that, i dont know how to feel about the ending. the students were responsible and they got what they deserved. but what about their parents? those kids turned out the way they are because of their upbringing. for example, dayeon. what happened to her father? will she be abused like this forever? kids learn from their parents and she learned violence from her dad. same goes to harin. yes she was a psychopath. but at the same time, she was a kid who never felt loved. she was always neglected by her parents. her mother didnt even consider her to be her daughter. her grandmother was manipulative and self-seeking, hence why she loved harin only until she fucked up. that old bitch liked her family members as long as she could benefit from them. so what happened to her? im not justifying harin's or other girls' acts. im just saying that adults were the real villains of this show. and ironically, nothing happened to them at the end. maybe that's the sad reality. we blame the kids but never ask how they turned out to be that evil.

i only criticised the drama but these parts couldn't make me dislike the show. i really loved it. i had low expectations but even after the first episode i was intrigued. i didn't know bona was good at acting, she really did a good job - i mean all of them did! i always saw bona to be very feminine and charming on stage but i like this genius student style on her too.

other than the storyline and acting, i also enjoyed yelim and eunjung's "friendship" too hahaha. they were lovely tbh

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it was not perfect, but it was perfect for me

this was what it exactly promised to be, not too dramatic, and not too unrealistic, I loved the characters, and their friendship
the bullying wasn't shown as too severe, the game was like The Genius/The Devils Plan, the girls made alliances, there were betrayals and there were great plot twists that warmed my heart

I really loved the cast and characters, each one had their charms and the friend group easily became a friendship everyone envied enough to want to join, not to break xD

the backstory of harin and jauen was predictable, I knew it from harin's first words "do you know the orphanage", and that story was too flat to explain why harin went crazy.. so the main problem was the teacher, I wish they dived deeper there, like yeah adults do effect kids, and yeah orphans are easily miss treated cuz the adults think they're teaching them survival skills
what confused me was, was that teacher the orphanage teacher or the schools? and why were they different
I also wanted more about her adoptive family, her grandma loved to play games, and the parents never treated her as their real daughter, especially since the dad/son was put in a coparision game against young harin

sooji always lived by a pattern, she never made any deep connections and always played a social game to fit in, and that's why in ways, she enjoyed breaking the pyramid game as much as harin enjoyed making it

jauennie was too precious, she was genuine, she was awkward and she had a heart of gold, I loved how her first impression seemed like the outcasted bully, I loved how sooji was sucked into that game
I wanted more of those things, more misunderstanding and more "mind" bullying, they didn't want it to be too graphic, so overall the atmosphere of the drama was youtful, though I do hate too much extreme gore, but still she was the daughter of an army guy, he should've taught her how to fight xD

so I wanted more tension, more side games, games they lost and games they won, and I really wanted more screentime for their friendships, I was lowkey waiting for that amusement park date

this became my "March" fav drama and easily joined my best of 2024
the ost was great, makjang drama lvl quality, and I wouldn't mind fast binging this again, I LOVE female centered plots, i feel like in the last year they became more scarce, especially diverse and well layered female characters
I'm also interested in the webtoon a bit, I read that many things were different, maybe it'll give the heavy angst this was missing, though I wouldn't change a thing

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If you're into school dramas, a must watch for you.

Wow. Literally this show gave everything I needed in a while. Nothing less, maybe a bit more. Pyramid Game brought me back to the Kdrama world. I don't really remember when was the last time I was THIS hooked for a drama . My main reason for wanting to watch was Bona, Kim Jiyeon. But after reading the plot i was looking more forward to this. Like everyone, I got worried about the acting, because of the many new names. And let me tell you something. Every one of them did great jobs portraying the characters. About the adaptation, I did not read the webtoon so I don't have much to say about it. But everyone should give this one a try. It's not that long, only 10 episodes. And episodes will go super fast, you won't feel how time passed.

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