This review may contain spoilers
It deserves all the hype... and more.
The biggest irony is underestimating something (or someone) and then being slapped into the pavement with a reality check. This is me after watching Death's Game.
When this show was released back in 2023, it was all everybody could talk about, so much so that I was absolutely convinced it was some kind of aggressive marketing push aimed at capturing the super average, easy-to-please masses. With that said, I avoided it like the plague (joke's on me, right?) all the way into 2025. Then, I finally decided to give it a watch out of boredom. On the bright side, season 2 had also been released by then, so I was able to binge all eight episodes in one go. Yes, I said binge, because it was that good.
Every single actor did a wonderful job. My eyes even got watery at Choi I Jae's final incarnation, and by that time I had to admit that I had been feeling all kinds of emotions with every incarnation. I am particularly ashamed that I couldn't take my eyes off Kim Jae-wook in season 2. That man is so attractive that it was hard to reconcile he was portraying an incarnation of one of the worst kinds of serial unalivers. I remember seeing him in "Dear Hong-rang," but somehow his presence (or aura) didn't quite click like it did in "Death's Game." Lee Jae-wook's performance was also so stellar that it reminded me to follow-up on watching season 2 of "Alchemy of Souls."
What's even more ironic is that for more than a year, I had been watching only c-dramas and nothing else. And while c-dramas do have a unique appeal, nothing hits the spot quite like a well-executed k-drama. And if I'm being completely honest, sometimes c-dramas can get so nonsensical that it's like NPC logic, but k-dramas usually have more developed, sensible plots. "Death's Game" definitely deserved all the hype it got back then, and anyone who hasn't seen it is 100% missing out. Don't make the same mistake I did.
When this show was released back in 2023, it was all everybody could talk about, so much so that I was absolutely convinced it was some kind of aggressive marketing push aimed at capturing the super average, easy-to-please masses. With that said, I avoided it like the plague (joke's on me, right?) all the way into 2025. Then, I finally decided to give it a watch out of boredom. On the bright side, season 2 had also been released by then, so I was able to binge all eight episodes in one go. Yes, I said binge, because it was that good.
Every single actor did a wonderful job. My eyes even got watery at Choi I Jae's final incarnation, and by that time I had to admit that I had been feeling all kinds of emotions with every incarnation. I am particularly ashamed that I couldn't take my eyes off Kim Jae-wook in season 2. That man is so attractive that it was hard to reconcile he was portraying an incarnation of one of the worst kinds of serial unalivers. I remember seeing him in "Dear Hong-rang," but somehow his presence (or aura) didn't quite click like it did in "Death's Game." Lee Jae-wook's performance was also so stellar that it reminded me to follow-up on watching season 2 of "Alchemy of Souls."
What's even more ironic is that for more than a year, I had been watching only c-dramas and nothing else. And while c-dramas do have a unique appeal, nothing hits the spot quite like a well-executed k-drama. And if I'm being completely honest, sometimes c-dramas can get so nonsensical that it's like NPC logic, but k-dramas usually have more developed, sensible plots. "Death's Game" definitely deserved all the hype it got back then, and anyone who hasn't seen it is 100% missing out. Don't make the same mistake I did.
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