Death's Game Part 2 (2024)

LIFE… IT IS DEEPER THAN YOU THINK.

The story at the start seems like a simple thriller in which a man is given a challenge by death itself after he took his own life to escape the problems of his life (quite a common act nowadays). Though this series starts out as being a thriller it smoothly transitions to talking to us on an entirely new emotional level. It does not just pop into a moral lecture it slowly comes together and talks about the results of death and how foolish it is to take one’s own life.

As a controversial topic, I do agree that the ending was unsatisfying, but I will forgive it. As someone who themselves have a history of self harm and attempts, I enjoyed this. I have been given life lessons on the topic more than a few times but the talk is always a talk, forgotten easily. So watching a drama which so sneakily explores this topic was refreshing, at no point in time did I feel like I was being lectured but after the end when I think back I realise, I wasn’t just being told a story, I was being told a life lesson, hidden behind a supposed murder mystery and revenge.

An unforgettable journey, An unforgettable show and finally A must must must watch.

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"내 죽음이 참을 수 없이 부끄러웠다".

Are there ANY lives not worth living? Any at all?
🔸️In comparison to Tomorrow that could only offer the cliche "tomorrow will be better" and more or less noticable victim blaming for giving up on your life, Death's Game, on the other hand, acknowledges the personal struggle and responsibility while encouraging you to continue fighting, to win this horrible game and rise from the ashes. Because while you continue living, you are already winning each minute of your life.

It's interesting to watch one actor playing several characters in one show, but to watch several actors playing one character together? All the Yi Jae cast had to layer Yi Jae's nature and behavior on the host personality, the owner of the new body. This task is exciting on its own, and the acting turned out phenomenal. Kim Jae Wook playing psychopath rival? That scene gave me chills, let alone the brilliantly adapted screenplay.

🔺️Watching the drama won't help severely depressed and suicidal people. And of course it's not meant to do that. If you're in such condition, please, try seeking help from mental health professionals.
But it can and does help those who are struggling. It killed me and put me back together piece by piece, just like Yi Jae, in the final. Immersive af.

Did you know? The name Yi Jae sounds identical to "right now" in Korean. I enjoy so much the wordplay in character names in K-dramas.

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Why what his drama split in two?

I reviewed the first half of the drama, and it was for the entirety of the drama. So, here, I'll give the Cliff's Notes version of my thoughts.

My recommendation would be watch it and decide for yourself, since everyone seems to have loved this drama. My rating is based on my feelings and does not reflect the actual quality of the drama.

Excellent cast. If you've been watching Korean dramas for any period of time, these faces will be familiar to you. I would have liked for some of the stories to have been more in depth, to develop the characters a little better. This drama was a Who's Who in drama land.

The concept was interesting. Some people had a problem that it seemed to be an anti-suicide PSA, but to me it was more about how choices we make affect others.

My biggest problem with this drama was the overabundance of violence. Many of the characters were not well developed, because of the number of bodies that he inhabited in eight short episodes.

But again, I will say, this is all just my personal opinion. Watch it, you'll probably like it.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Death's Game '' is a webtoon adaption of an action packed story.

The drama has multiple layers, as it goes from a melodrama, to a tragic love story, to a family emotional drama, to a murder mystery, to a fantasy philosophical story. And, as it follows multiple stories, it provides the main plot with many elements that come together in the end.

And even though the start of the story is hectic, the drama settles to its rhythm in the episodes to come, giving the story a nice and original ending and plenty of emotional scenes.

Finally, the performances were all great by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, eight out of ten.

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broo this had me mad crying... ugh jisu dying rly put me over the edge.... DAMN ok like i get how the message was like dont kys ppl love u youll regret it but like sjfkjashfkha i didn't relaly like the way they showed it. it was cool, THE CAST WAS STACKED!!!!! and i loved seeing all my fav actors. it was just so emo lmfaoisjoijoi!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🥲im crying rnnn.... kinda predictable that the mom woul db e last. i like how it was all full circle... but that murderer guy??? that was weird. but yeahhhhhhhh so emo stuff. JISU IS SO SWEET I LOVE HER AND THE MOM. great great acting. not a def fav, but pretty good

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Nothing different but good enough for what it is.

- Will review the drama as a whole (including S1)
- Will have some "social commentary" so if you're not into taking things too "deeply" this isn't for you.

This is my first review. I was compelled because of the main subject matter of this show: desperation leading to suicide.

Let's start at the opposite end.
1. Rewatch Value
It may be good to rewatch to see clues but personally the show is too heavy to rewatch so I gave it a passable 7.0.

2. Music
It was excellent especially the scenes with the main antagonist. It really made me feel like he was dangerous.

3. Acting/Cast
I liked the idea that we have the true protagonist (Seo In Guk) but he rarely shows when he is in the body of someone else. Most of his scenes were either flashback or with Death. In this way, it showcased the acting chops of the other actors (his reincarnations), who portrayed their parts excellently. Special props to Yoo In Soo. He played the pathetic bully to a tee. I love that he can play antagonistic (All of Us are Dead) and comedic (Good Bad Mother) roles very well. It really shows his range. Also, Kim Ji Hoon, who played the main antagonist. Roles like that really make me want to play villain roles even though I'm not an actor.

Mind you, even though Seo In Guk's scenes were mostly with Death, he was still able to portray his party extremely well. When he was laughing after being killed by Park Tae Woo, I really felt how good he was. I was having a slump with good-looking yet not very skilled actors recently, but he brought me back to believing in Korean's acting skills which I was impressed by when I started watching Kdramas. I used to be apprehensive because I thought they were all handsome/beautiful faces with no substance, but I was proven wrong before.

Now on to the main portion of this review.
4. Story.
I liked it for what it was. But it was nothing new. Plenty of stories like this have been told with that end in mind---for the protagonist to realized what he/she did/thought wrong and they are always wrong in them. Other tropes/gimmicks of this kind are 1. body switch stories wherein the two people in misunderstandings get to understand each other; 2. I wish I was never born stories wherein a spiritual being of some kind will help the MC realize that he/she was actually loved all along or that his/her life wasn't that bad. And while stories like this have good intent and have a place in media, it is overtold and lacks nuance. The end goals of these stories are "What about them," which is the case in this story. It shows, yet completely glosses over the pain and troubles that the MC goes through because "What about them."

In the case of this story, it (and major spoiler here though it wasn't really a big twist) was about his mother. What about her struggles and what about her love. The whole point of the story was Death, who I believe wasn't sadistic but only trying to teach him, was to make the MC realize that he was too caught up in his issues to see who could be hurt with his passing. In as much as I appreciate the value of that in storytelling and as it relates to real life, (because stories are made to relate to real life and say something about it no matter how fantasy-oriented the story is) it, just like other stories, have always been "But what about us," completely failing to fully recognize the plights that the MC experienced. Yes, it showed us his trauma and his messed up state of mind, yet it completely was disregarded that in favor of other people. By no means am I saying the emotions of the people we have relationships with don't matter, but ours should be as equally validated.

This, as I said, related to real life. Often times, those going through a tough time or those with mental health issues or trauma are told to just suck it up because what about other's feelings or because others had it worse. Their feelings are not validated and they are guilt-tripped. They are expected to be better without help just because "what bout them." I recognize the fact that the MC wasn't given a diagnosis or depression or whatever, but it was still shown that he wasn't in a healthy state of mind. What healthy person, who studied in a prestigious university, goes SEVEN YEARS without a full-time job? Yet he was still blamed for his final act of desperation (taking his own life). I have heard it many times in real life as well. "They were selfish, they never thought about how we would feel." My thoughts were aren't you selfish for failing to recognize the desperation your loved one must have felt to do what he/she did. I personally relate because I had an uncle who did the same. All that came out of my mother's mouth were that he was selfish and he didn't think about them. Not once did she say what could she have done to help him. These stories always fail to acknowledge that the MC's were truly desperate and feel like there's no way out. Not to justify what they did and not to say people will not get hurt, but to just understand and empathize without saying they were wrong or selfish.

These stories also often fail to acknowledge the shortcomings of those around the MC's and mostly center on the MC's shortcomings taking the form of "They were selfish." In this case, the mother and to an extent his girlfriend's failures weren't truly under the spotlight, only his. Actually, only the GF's was really shown on one scene when she told him couldn't he just try harder. It was as if he wasn't for all those years. Mind you, I don't consider neither the mother nor GF to blame nor to be awful people. It was just portrayed that they were such lovely people while diminishing the loveliness and thoughtfulness of the MC himself. Sure it was shown he was sweet in the form of the pen for his GF and the shoe for his mother, but it wasn't such a big highlight as their love and sacrifices for him was.

Going back to the mother, her failures were never shown. She was this overwhelmingly good force who only loved her son the best she could. And she did. But this not take away from the MC's own desperation. Sadly, Death could not care less about the MC's own feelings. If his mother truly was this paragon of motherhood, how was it that she allowed her son to get to such a low place? Again I am not tainting her. My point is just to keep both sides into perspective not to justify, not to side with, just to understand and empathize which these kinds of stories never really do. It is always how dare you! Your pain and desperation does not matter. You are selfish for not thinking about them when you are in such a low place. I wish their would be more stories that took a more "balanced" approach to these kinds of stories, not to blame but to seek to understand.

To add to this, I saw a comment saying these kinds of parent-centric storytelling are often based on culture. I agree. I am also an Asian in a parent centric country wherein even if the parent actually does you harm (unlike the MC's mother) you must still respect, love, and repay them for having you.

That was the end of the "social commentary" part. Now on to some loopholes or things I found weird.

a. Why did he live in his mother's body for 32 years to keep her alive? Didn't Death already say that when he goes into someone else's body, they were already dead. So isn't it pointless for him to say that because she was already dead by that point. Though I understand it, sort of, from the point of repentance. It was him punishing himself. If that was the only reason it seems slightly acceptable, I guess.

b. When did she die? Did she die 32 years after already and he was returned 32 years prior (because it was shown Death can return him to 7 years earlier) or did she die recently? I know it doesn't really matter but I wonder if his death lead to her dying soon as well.

c. His memories were inconsistent. With some characters he only knows little about them. Like he didn't even know his model reincarnation's brother. But in some cases, he knew everything when it was convenient. That to me was an odd choice. Like he suddenly knew what his other incarnation's were up to so he could capture the antagonist and he knew his mother's whole life too.

d. How did he not know his girlfriend's big brother? I think someone said they dated for 3 or 4 yrs? I didn't really care to read that part. Social media is so popular in South Korea and hello even if he didn't have one, didn't she show him a picture of her brother to him?

5. Overall Score: 8.0
I actually rated it a 9 in my own list because the story made me want to finish it as soon as possible, but I wanted to be more objective in this review because this story really isn't anything different. Regardless, I was having a slump finishing dramas recently but I actually didn't drop this one. I also liked the shifts in tone. It was very well done; it wasn't weird; it made sense. It goes from dramatic and depressing to thrilling and action packed to wholesome and lighthearted and back to dramatic. I also liked that the end he was reincarnated to his mother's body. In the end I was thinking hmm will his last be his own body so he can change things, since he was reincarnated into the man who killed himself, but when I thought about it, that was too easy. Still, it wasn't a major shock. I knew they wanted a "twist" of some sort. Everything was leading to it after all so there was only one other body he could end up other than his own. They tried to hide that by only making him incarnate into men's bodies. In addition, I thought that it was nice that they were trying to mislead us into thinking that he was being punished because he killed someone else when he feel from the roof. I liked how that was done. But I did realize how easy it was to see how absurd it was that he had a photo of himself when he jumped. They also tried to add to this the man whose daughter was killed in a hit and run to confuse us even more. Still, Death, itself, wasn't very vague when it was trying to tell him about his fault. It really was just about the people he left most especially his mother.

Overall, it's one of my favorite dramas. But I'll never rewatch it alone because it's too heave like Hi Bye Mama which coincidentally stars Kdrama's Mother too. Hopefully in the future there will be more nuanced stories of this kind.

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The message is not helpful... but the acting and the action scenes were exciting.

I really had high expectations about this k-drama, how not to get excited with such a good cast and the performances really met my expectations, but about the story itself I do have some things to say. First of all, I consider that it is obvious that this is not the right k-drama to prevent and give knowledge about such a delicate subject as suicide, if that was one of its objectives it failed to achieve it, because at the end (as well as other kdramas of this style) they show this act as selfish and almost senseless, and that the one who commits it should be punished, which is very ineffective in most of the real cases. Using this resource is a bit risky and delicate, but leaving that aside and from my own point of view, I found the first part quite exciting and intriguing, the chase scenes were probably my favorite, however, in the second part it took a turn, although it was not my favorite, it still managed to capture my attention, unfortunately in its last two chapters it became a little boring and personally failed to move me enough, as it seems it was intended. I don't think it was totally bad, in fact it was okay, but I think some things could have been better executed (I clarify that I didn't read the webtoon, so I don't know how well adapted it was).

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So this is a show that clearly should not have been cut in half because the first half on its own really doesn't deliver any cohesive narrative at all and is just a prolonged rising action. Then again, it's sort of good that it was separated because if it wasn't, I would've had to consider the mediocrity of the first half with the quality of the second and give it six stars which is really not the rating it deserves. So ultimately it works but it comes at a cost. Because I don't see why anyone would naturally pick up season 2 after finishing that first season even though it would be a good choice to watch the second half.

Plot: Season 2 doesn't have the majority of the pacing and goals issues that season one had. In fact, it's so good at setting small stakes that not only do the first two episodes have a separate revenge-style agenda set for the main character but the final episodes also have a clear sense of risk and drive. While the main character is still an unpleasant dumbass, the show is finally more at pace with it and it comes across as an inside joke between the viewers and Death than just a badly written MC. Plus, the emotional connections that season 1 lacked are here galore and it can really get to you by the end of the show. I actually liked this part a lot. I guess the issue was always a pacing problem but I give the writers some credit, it feels like a difficult plot to balance. There was still plenty of melodramatic violence and I want to say some was gratuitous but at least this time it worked with what the plot was trying to achieve.

Acting: I feel like maybe this half also had a stronger cast? They brought the characters alive and sure, we had more time to connect with these characters (thank goodness!) so it was easier to have emotional investment in them but the good acting helped too.

Music and production: Same as season 1

Rewatch value: Hmmm still none.

Negatives: The MC really is an absolute idiot! So it didn't ruin the show this time but he does frustrate a lot. And the jump from episode 4 to 5, there is such a dramatic shift from fighting death to revenge plot that I was a little skeptical at first but it was well-executed so it wasn't so bad. But they sure took their time to make a very simple point!

Overall: This half was actually good. I know it wouldn't be a meaningful show without the first half though. So this is a conflicted review. I can't tell you to watch the first half because I really disliked it and 50% is a lot of a show to tolerate for the longest build-up. But if you're willing to sit through that, this half of the show was very enjoyable so definitely keep watching. I mean, it's not a top ten show of the year or most loved or anything for me but it was watchable.

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Dorama anti-suicídio necessário

A história gira em torno de Yee-jae, que está insatisfeito com sua vida, seja no sentido pessoal quanto profissional. Por conta disso, ele acaba se suicidando, porém a entidade da "morte" o pune, de forma que ele terá que aguentar mortes em 12 corpos diferentes para que ele não vá ao inferno.

O dorama trabalha de uma forma muito linda o suicídio (tópico sensível para mim, que me acabei de chorar, principalmente nos episódios 4 e 8) e deixa diversas reflexões para os telespectadores.

A atuação, produção e roteiro simplesmente impecáveis, já estou criando muitas expectativas para o próximo drama da Amazon Prime.

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"life itself is an opportunity. it's okay to fail as long as you keep going"

Death's game for sure has one of the most creative storyline out of all kdrama I've ever watched.

At first I wasn't really sure what to expect. I was kinda skeptical about the idea of having to follow 12 different people throughout the whole show. I wasn't really sure how they could even make a good story out of it. Despite that I was very pleasantly surprised by how good everything was about this show.

Not only is it a very well written and original story, the show has very good acting of all 12 characters that the mc got to live, very stunning, beautiful and realistic visuals, and surprisingly interesting side characters that make the story so much more appealing. What shocked me the most about the story tho wasn't even the revenge plot (even tho it was a very nice addition to the main plot), but the death's themselves. In his 11th death we find out that the mc is actually the person that killed himself in front of his past self, resulting In him killing himself years later what lead to the same events (a paradoxical loop). The connections between the death's u see throughout the story were very fascinating to me and made the story even better than it already was.

This show was very meaningful in the sense that it's not only fun to watch but teaches you something. This really changed my view on suicide and death in general. It made me realise how less life is being appreciated nowadyas and how much we shouldn't take it for granted (as cheesy as that sounds). Death is a very good character imo. Despite her cruel actions, is death a very smart character who mostly tried to teach the stubborn mv how wrong he was for ending his life. Litterly almost every line of Death has some real life meaning behind it. Its only after dying 11 times that he's aware of his mistake, but by that time it's already too late.

This kdrama is overall very unique and interesting. I'll definitely be recommending this to others💯

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