Death's Game Part 2

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.

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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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WOW --- Now who am I?

In this review, I will include some thoughts on Part 1 as well. I honestly wasn't invested from the start. I had a really hard time following the first two episodes, because they couldn't catch me. That's why I put the drama aside and watched others first. I am so glad, that I continued watching. The show was getting better and better. Especially when we got to see Lee Jae Wook's and Lee Do Hyun's stories. By the end of episode 4 I was devestated. And shocked to see my theory, that the two bodies we were seeing were Yi Jae and an innocent person he killed with his suicide, was wrong. I still think that this theory would have made sense for Death's reasoning to punish Yi Jae. But the Drama went a different direction. After Part 1 I was excited for Part 2... and part 2 did not disappoint.

Some thoughts:
- These "reincarnations" I found especially intriguing: Cho tae Sang (Lee Jae Wook), Jang Geon Woo (Lee Do Hyun), Jung Gyu Chul (Kim Jae Wook) and Ahn Ji Hyung (Oh Jung Se)
- I personally preferred Part 2 to Part 1, which is really refreshing to see since it's often enough the other way around
- It felt like Part 2 took more time to really explore each of the characters (even though some characters fell short in Part 1 and 2, the Baby & the homeless Man for example)
- I really enjoyed the narrative of the drama... it made you wonder why and how each "reincarnation" was going to die
- The drama hooked you to see if Yi Jae finally learned... he appears to not be the brightest star in the sky (a german saying... don't know if it's actually translatable). But the way he acted as Ahn Ji Hyung (the police officer) was really satisfying to watch
- Him being as Ahn Ji Hyung was captivating and the drama led you to think this was going to end painless and guess what ... it didn't
- The drama made me think and reflect and what's actually important and what not. It moved something inside me. And a drama that can grab my attention, hold it and eventually leads to interesting topics and contemplation, is a 10/10 candidate... and here we are :)
- Do I personally loathe people that decide to take their own life like Death does in this series? Absoluteley not!!! But this drama felt more like a personal process and message to Yi Jae as a character who was unable to see and feel the love and devotion of his mother and girlfriend. It leads attention to those people who are left behind after losing a dear person. That's the way I interpret this drama.
- I mean it could be that we have to take into consideration that in this drama God exists... but I don't want to start a religious discussion and instead interpret the drama like I said in the point before, since that's the way I watched it
- The way everything and the characters were connected is amazing. It made the Story feel more cohesive and well-rounded
- At the end the story felt circular
- I loved the OST
- Made me think "Who am I?" and "At the end, what's actually important?"

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2023-2024 MASTERPIECE NO ONE COMPARE TO THIS SHOW

THIS SHOW HAS EVERTHING THAT YOU WOULD WANTED IN A SHOW.(I mean in genre wise like thriller, action, mystery.....etc).
👇
They just nelled it this show is super Oh Jung Se(12th reincarnation as police officer)
and
Kim Jae Wook (as the pshyco murderor ) there perfomace is super ousome super
Ha Byung Hoon ( director and screenwriter ) did a super job and made a masterpeice for 2023-2024 cool man.
and i heard it was a manga adopted the manga writer (LEE WONSIK ) made a very good story super cool story
when i watching the show it feel like LEE WONSIK himself lives 12 lives or how he come up with this story it super awsome how he write it and how director make it in a show that is awsome.

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A WHOLE NEW EXPERIENCE!

At first I thought of this drama as any other highly hyped drama but even then I had high hopes for the show after watching the thrilling synopsis and trailer which is quite hard to find at atleast something which is to my liking.. bu oh lord ! this drama actually disregarded every little doubts that I had, leaving me astonished at such a masterpiece..I would prefer calling it an experience more than a drama given that I enjoyed every moment of it.
Well ngl I was quite contemplated towards the casting of the main characters, not doubting their acting skills but more like them fitting their respective roles perfectly or not and to my pleasant surprise they totally served it!! that I can't even imagine anyone else playing their roles... And ofc I don't need to mention the side characters and the guest roles, as we all know what they are capable of after being such renowned actors and actresses and we totally acknowledge it..
overall everything about the show was fav.. but what needs special mentioning is the exceptional story and the enlightening message ( though I found ridiculing the choices made by Yi jae were rather passive aggressive and demeaning which can demoralize the person suffering from the same )(to which we all know the increasing suicide rates in not only Korea but in the world as a whole).
This drama removes the dark tinted glasses of hopelessness from people who view the world and the god as someone biased towards some privileged people and ultimately gives up on living through the inevitable hardships of life..but this drama makes them see the world through a different perspective where there are both 'sunny and rainy days', where no one is endlessly happy or sad where giving up on life out of extreme stress and hopelessness is not an answer . This show shows us that life is beautiful as it is with its flaws and scars, we just need to learn to accept it.

This show for me was like an affirmation to my beliefs towards life and god and I absolutely loved it!!
Hope you guess will find something positive within, too till then bye-bye
XOXO

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I love this but...

The first part of the drama was an absolute masterpiece! It went from mystery -> thriller -> romance in such a short span yet they managed to give an emotional fulfillment with each episode. The second part was all about intense action & bloody revenge against the villain and then bam! a whole episode of life lesson and guilt tripping suicidal people. Don't misunderstand me! I love this drama, that's why I give it a high rating. But, something about that last episode doesn't sit right with me. I get that they are trying to give moral message by saying that we should be grateful for living. But, well.. not everyone has the same 'blessing' as Choi Yee Jae by having a caring mom & girlfriend as his support system.

The acting was no doubt, perfect! All these actors was living up to my expectation.

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Cherish the ONE life you got

Damn, this drama was so good. It held me on the edge of my seat constantly, and it delivered. The ending was just a chef's kiss. Everyone should give it a watch and understand how much their absence will affect others. The acting was great, and so many actors made it a masterpiece. As Ah in Jeong said, every good story has a lot of twists, and so does Death Game. 8 episodes, and every episode is a masterpiece in itself. I am probably praising it a lot because of recency bias but I recommend this to every human. Just stay quiet and watch this masterpiece without any second thought.

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An Unexamined Life

A young graduate (Seo In-guk) doing it very tough in the existential scramble for jobs, has come to the end of his tether. After several years of juggling part-time jobs and not achieving that holy grail — a corporate position at Taekang Group — he concludes that his life has been an absolute failure. From the top of a high rise, he takes the plunge, ends his life, leaving behind a loving single mother and his longtime ex-girlfriend. It is important to note that his despair is exacerbated by a particularly bad day that culminates in a break-up with his girlfriend which he initiates after seeing her with another man. One thing after another he believes that his death is the solution to all his problem and will end all the agony that paralyzes him. That is until he wakes up and finds himself in a kind of purgatorial location face to face with Death herself played by a suitably menacing Park So-dam. This begins a drawn out debate between Death and our protagonist about the value of his life and life in general.

I went into this not knowing much except the bare essentials and on hindsight the surprises increased my engagement with the plot. The element of surprise pumps an extra layer of enjoyment as there are plenty of thrills in the offing especially in the first 4 episodes aka Part 1. Be warned: It’s not for the faint-hearted. The crime elements are unyielding in this and there’s bloody violence all about in precarious situations. If violence is no barrier to entry, this can be an amazing adrenaline rush as the viewer embarks on this seemingly convoluted journey of discovery with Yee-jae who reluctantly… and often defiantly takes on each challenge to prove his case.

From the perspective of a seasoned viewer, it’s undoubtedly one of the more creative K drama endeavours I’ve seen in awhile. The plotting here is everything. On the surface it appears to be just another one of those transmigration stories that have become K drama staple but from the way it blends genres, it’s a superior work of art to all the others.

The other highlight has got to be the top tier cast. Plenty of familiar faces and the director certainly used the best of the best to optimize the storytelling. It’s also good to see the underrated Kim Ji-hoon getting a lot more work these days in these bigger high profile productions. But the star of the enterprise is the script begging the question... when was the last time a K drama had plotting this good?

My analysis — best read after viewing and not before… Spoilers ahead.

Somewhere between the third and fourth episodes, it occurs to me that Death’s Game is a darker, certainly more violent reimagining of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. And while we’re at it, why not throw in Charles Dickens’ great classic, A Christmas Carol for good measure? We know which inspired which there. So what do these stories have in common? For one they are second chance stories but the protagonists in these stories aren’t necessarily aware that they are being offered a second chance at the start. They undergo an arduous punishing journey of self-discovery that on the surface is more excruciating than edifying. If Death is to be believed, then Yee-jae is being punished for committing suicide.

But is he, really? Should we really take Death at face value or are her threats strategically made to egg him on to play the game game and force him out of his despondency? Is she manipulating him with reverse psychology. Hell awaits if he fails and it’s a terrifying thought now that he’s seen what it looks like. If punishment is really the endgame, then why take Yee-jae on this journey to solve a matter of grave injustice but to give him a glimpse of what’s life like for those who are left behind? If he was the burden he believed himself to be, why are his mother and ex-girlfriend, Ji-su still grieving for him?

Because the first “body” belongs to the second son of Taekang Group, it signals immediately that these challenges are somehow linked to Yee-jae’s life before death. But how do these pieces of the puzzle fit together? Why can’t he see the forest for the trees? Corporations in K dramas are seldom portrayed positively and yet it seems to be the dream of every university graduate to seek employment in these detached monoliths. Yee-jae attends two interviews at Taekang. The first is a write-off as a result of his encounter with a suicide victim on his way. In the second seven years later he interacts with Park Tae-woo (Kim Ji-hoon) the oldest son and CEO of Taekang Group and mistakenly assumes he has had a positive encounter with his potential employer. It’s an illusion. One of many. Park Tae-woo is a double-faced psychopath with violent tendencies. He’s a fraud. His benign public image is a cover for something far more sinister. He uses his clout as CEO of a corporation with deep pockets to pay off corrupt officials to cover up his crimes. He can use his infinite resources to engage organized crime. He sets himself above the law. He styles himself as Milton’s Satan ruling in hell. No one can get to him. Except through a miracle.

Furthermore the purpose of Taekang Group in the narrative is not only that it represents a festering merciless evil behind the facade of wealth but it is a symbol of a larger critique of materialism that drives the rat race and the participants to despair. The society in which these people live define success in terms of wealth, status, possessions. Yee-jae mentions this more than once that everyone has the same goals — a good job at a large company, marriage, children who do well at school, financial security. The reality however is that not everyone can achieve all of this. Nor might they want to. It is in the interest of these corporations with the help of governments to turn men and women into economic units — slaves of a system that tethers them to the economic engines of the nation with no regard for their spiritual, mental, physical well-being that make up the whole person. Big Business is first and foremost about profits. Governments are about control. They don’t see their clientele or electorates as individuals but entities to be exploited managed.

This perspective is given added merit by the fact that when Yee-jae finally realises that the people around him are more important to him than clinging on to wealth that’s not even his, he finally has clarity about the nature of Death’s game. It isn’t punishment per se but revelations/insights into his life that were not available to him previously. These insights serve a dual purpose insofar as they offer him an opportunity to re-evaluate his life and a compelling reason to exist. He didn’t have much by way of material wealth. In the order of things he was a “nobody” but he loved and was loved. His life had value by virtue of the fact that he was born.

In his case Yee-jae’s depression arose from unrealistic, unhealthy social values that just don’t account for individual differences and the unpredictability of life. Working for Taekang isn’t that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but it has become a lie perpetuated in his world to prop up a class based social system that devalues the “losers” based on their monetary value. This is also reiterated in the other highlighted suicide where unlike Yee-jae, the individual makes it at Taekang for a while and lives the South Korean dream only for the bubble to burst in middle age when all his accomplishments and attempts to climb up the corporate ladder are rendered meaningless in a single moment. The problem with material possessions is their transience and lifelong pursuit of them is meaningless. Our ability to cling on to them in life is tenuous at best. And no can take it with them when they die.

At the core of this is the question of what makes us human. Are we just mere bodies to be “filled” by a soul? Are we just a sum of our memories? Like in Neo in The Matrix, Yee-jae is able to “download” abilities ie. access the abilities of his “hosts” and use them for a far greater purpose that transcends the lives of any of these morally dubious men. He is able to co-opt their memories for a greater cause — justice for victims of heinous crimes.

Hence the analogue to It’s A Wonderful Life and to a lesser degree A Christmas Carol. Instead of Clarence the angel or the three Christmas ghosts, Yee-jae’s instructor and messenger is the hard task master Death who brings out the whip and cracks it with unholy glee to keep him on his toes. As with the case in these second chance stories, these men come to realise that material prosperity isn’t everything but the relationships, the people we leave behind when we die are the true legacy of our lives. It’s not punishment at all but compassion to be shown how you’ve been led astray and be given another chance to refashion one’s life not governed by the materialistic impulses of our culture.

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Overall entertaining

Good points: I enjoyed each cast performance, it was action packed without any dull/ boring moment, drama managed to deliver multiple genres action, thriller, melodrama, romance while bringing up heavy society issues in just 8 eps.
Bad points: Drama was too gory for my taste in some scenes and i`m fed up with cliche psycho chaebol villain. I saw some comments of some people having issues with ending message, but i`m just taking whole drama at face value. It`s fictional story about one character and his journey. Viewers shouldn`t expect drama to be realistic or solve society issues

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fascinating !

After the first part, this is my review : It is without any doubt a wonderful series. You are not bored a second, it is always in motion, the casting is great, the plot is original. All this is made with several tough subjects, and they managed to deal with them pretty well.
Yi Jae will face several deadly situations (all of them are original), can he change this ?
Obviously some scenes are difficult to watch but this is the price to pay to have the maximum realism.
Seo In Guk is awesome, as expected, but the entire cast is compelling (always a pleasure to see Kim Jae Wook after Alchemy of souls).
Edit : after the end of the series : it is still great ! I wont spoil, but you have so many surprises lol ! The writers play with our nerves it s very nice !

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