⚰ Death Don't Play °7.8° °Excellent°
‘All I ever wanted was a clean death, so I can't die like this.’ Things aren't great for “Jae”. Then we jump back 7 yrs. First of all, what is /wrong/ with a person, if s/he says “all I want is a clean death?” That ain't normal. 7 yrs back, Jae witnesses a horror. A man gets hit by a car and dies, practically in Jae’s arms. Jae goes on to watch his own demise - in slomo. In the present day, he's been job hunting for 7 yrs. Now, he might be unemployable.
DG is a 2023 release that is rated 95 on AWiki. It is 1 season (2 parts) consisting of a mere 8 55-minute episodes. In ep1, Jae realizes that life scares him more than death. Death is only an ‘end to my pain’ he yells to the darkness and jumps. So he thought. So, why is he opening his eyes again? What's that his ears are hearing? “You mocked me.” Death is talking to him. “You will be punished. You will enter the bodies of people about to die and you will die 12 times for what you said about me.” Death Don't Play. There's a loophole: If Jae can avoid death in one of those bodies, he will live out his life as that person. (But I don't /want/ to live,’ he thinks).
Special effects, all-star cast, elaborate sets… This is no small budget show. In ep1 there's an elaborate scene in purgatory with thrashing reanimated beings. Then there's a big plane crash. In ep2, school kids' faces morph into creepy zombie looks, and they did an exceptional job with it. There's also a thrilling fight scene. In one incarnation, he's an international assassin taking us on a 🏍 chase.
It's mostly well conceived, but not issue free. DG is making a philosophical point; it's not trying to explain the where/why/how Jae got into this insane mess. What happens to the souls of the poor bodies he's taking over? They are gone. He doesn't want to kill off one of his incarnations - more than anyone, he wants that person to live. But that person is already gone. That human is Jae, now. The first half of ep8 hurts. It really hurts.
Seo In Guk (The Master's Sun, Doom at Your Service) plays Jae. This is my first look at him. Kim Mi Kyung is his mother. She has been in about a third of everything produced recently, it seems. She looks great. I had to do a double take. Some of my favs she's been in are Her Private Life-8, It's Okay to Not Be Okay-9, & Saimdang, Light’s Diary-8.5. “Had he been born to a smarter woman this wouldn't have happened," mourns Jae's Oma. It's painful. Then she looks at the plaque on the wall: "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother.” So says the quote attributed to Napoleon. Her performance is strong in DG. It's heart-wrenching.
Park So Dam (Parasite-9, Record of Youth-5.8) portrays Death. This actress excels at playing a strong woman. In ROY she plays a sweetheart, but the show doesn't work. She's right in her wheelhouse, here. Nam Kyung Eup (Crash Landing on You-9.1, Misaeng-9.1) portrays Chairman Nam. Go Youn Jung (Moving-8.5, Alchemy of Souls-7.9) is Lee Ji Su, Jae’s girlfriend. She's a keeper. The rather beautiful Kim Ji Hoon makes an appearance as Park Tae U, CEO of Taekang Group. I've enjoyed him in Love to Hate You-8.9, Flower of Evil-8.9, & Flower Boy Next Door-7. He seems to be equally comfortable playing good and bad guys. How did someone who is so pretty end up playing such evil characters? He's attractive, but not simple, I guess. Ha Byung Hoon of Go Back Couple & 18 Again is the screenwriter & director.
Dying in 12 distinct incarnations requires many guest stars.
Kim Kang Hoon is growing up! I've seen him in When the Camellia Blooms-8, Hotel del Luna-8.4, Racket Boys-8.3, and so much more. He is Jae’s 3rd attempt at life. He is very much like Jae: Raised by a single mom, bullied and overlooked, no advantages, and he commits suicide. All Jae has to do to beat the game is not kill himself. So Jae doesn't die instantly, like his first 2 incarnations. But he does have to work his way through a severe bullying situation at school. He utterly crushes the bully. He does it so effectively the bully retaliates ☠ lethally. Chalk up another failure!
Jang Seung Jo plays Jae's 4th incarnation. He's been in Familiar Wife-8.5, Snowdrop, The Good Detective, & Chocolate, among others. He's truly beautiful. Often playing someone corrupted or weak, in this incarnation he is an international criminal. He's got 💰. He stole 10 billion from his boss. Unfortunately, every bad guy & cop in the country is chasing him for the massive bounty put on his carcass. This incarnation is big budget.
Then Jae’s an abused infant. It's agonizing. He's entirely aware of what's happening, but he can't communicate. “How can such parents exist?” Jae is thunderstruck. “No one is guaranteed anything in life. You've just been taking everything for granted. You didn't care for life and chose death so flippantly, but that baby didn't even get to make a choice. There are many others like that in the world.” Death has no sympathy for him. That's the drum beat: When there's life there is hope. Appreciate your life and make the most of it. Don't just think about yourself. Have empathy. Others are suffering too. Thinking patterns are like habits, and bad thoughts are bad habits. We need to force our minds to stay positive, and to not give up, or the darkness will envelop us.
Jae is now a model (Lee Do Hyun from Sweet Home & The Glory is Jang Geon U) and he actually meets his own GF, Ji Su. He's able to strike up a friendship with her. She's a writer, so he pitches his idea for a book to her. You can guess what his storyline is: Exactly what he's been going through. He tells her that he had a girlfriend for 7 years, but he was never able to show his best self to her. She's impressed by his “creativity.” She's also impressed by the level of detail and how emotionally wrapped up he is in the story, just like he's experienced it himself, she notes.
🎬
Part 1 gives way to Part 2, which is the payoff for our suffering. We aren't rewarded until the end, so hold on to the ledge and endure it. PT2 is more difficult to watch than PT1. The following is a rehash of my PT2 review.
In PT2, Kim Won Hae is a homeless man & Jae's 10th reincarnation. He's in 40% of everything made, I think. My favorite performance of his is in Black-9, but he's a plus everywhere he's seen. Most years he has at least 3 credits, many years he has 6, and in 2018 he was in 13 features! He has 133 credits on MDL. He's everywhere. Besides his many guest appearances, I've seen him in Signal-8.6, While You Were Sleeping-7.3, Clean with Passion for Now-7, The Hymn of Death-8.4, Start-up-8, Awaken-8.7, Revenant-7.4, and I'm currently watching Chocolate.
The great Kim Jae Wook (who is fabulous in Crazy Love-7.8 and Her Private Life-8), plays villain Jung Gyu Cheol, Jae’s 8th incarnation. Not a nice guy. One guy who chases him is Oh Jung Se, who appears in Part 1 but takes on a bigger role in Part 2. He plays a special needs character in It's Okay to Not Be Okay-9, and he's fantastic. In Revenant-7.4, he's a college professor. He also stars in the popular Mr. Plankton. Here, he's detective An Ji Hyeong. Jae’s incarnations get tangled up, partially because he chooses to tangle then, but fate is certainly at play, too. As his many living iterations unfold, a pattern emerges that reveals a certain bad guy who has a common tie to many of “his” lives. Soon, each of his incarnations turns into a mission in pursuit of this troublemaker.
DG gets progressively sadder towards the end of PT2, and when ep8 opens, things appear irreversibly bleak. “So you killed yourself because you felt hopeless? Think carefully, if you really didn't harm anyone.” Death is challenging Jae’s presuppositions. Jae’s been going on about his misery. In fairness, it's real. Life hasn't been pleasant. “It's over for me already so why should I?” “So that you can regret it, and repent.” “Will I go to heaven if I regret it now?” Jae is turning flippant. “Will repenting give me another chance at life? I won't do it.” “You really must not care about anything but yourself.” Death shoots straight. “What else should I care for other than myself?” Jae doesn't sound any differently than the entitled people he's been chasing after. He's been whining that the deaths are not avoidable. He usually dies as soon as he enters the bodies. “Figure out a way on your own; they are all avoidable,” Death assures him.
As life goes by, Jae begins to soften. “Now that I've seen what hell is like, I've realized that being alive in itself is a chance.” Gradually, Jae starts to adjust his outlook. “That's why I don't think it's too late for you yet,” Death isn't harsh for once.
“I don't know who I am anymore.“ Jae moans. Then he recalls Ji-su saying: “People are happiest when they can truly be themselves. In the end, life would be meaningless if you can never really be yourself.” Jae's been living other lives. Sometimes for months. He's done some good. He attends the funeral for the man whose life he just lived - whose death he just died - heroically, I might add - but no one at the funeral knows who he is. Who is he? It's ep7. He is starting to crack.
They eventually show us the despair of Jae’s mother and his GF in the wake of losing him. Suicide just can't be the right option, but it looks differently to me now, after having gone through multiple traumas, then it did before living became so painful. I hate it when people say that those who commit suicide are cowards. I understand the argument and it's not without merits, but I think suicide is more often the result of unbearable pain. Yes, the person's only thinking about h/h self and not the people who have to go on without h/h, or the people that have to clean up and bury the body, but people who aren't well, and people who are in extreme pain aren't really able to think about other people. I've learned that physical pain is nothing compared to emotional pain, and pain is always isolating. It's difficult dealing with someone who's hurting, but if you don't learn how to show them care they will feel isolated. It's not in your words but it might be in spending some time, watching a show together, helping h/h do something around the house. It honestly doesn't take much to make a person feel valued. Be prepared; perhaps what they say will be frustrating. I've also learned that part of love is learning what to ignore.
Jae finally realizes that the death of a loved one is more painful than immolation or death by dismemberment. Jae ends up realizing that he had always been afraid of failure and rejection. That fear is what drove him. Now what he fears is hurting others: “I just want to hug my mother one more time.”
Death made him realize that life is an opportunity, and a small life can be happier and more carefree than a privileged one.
QUOTES🗣
Isn't that what you humans do? You care more about the thorn in your own finger than the knife in someone else's body.
Death is contagious. As I disappeared from the world, my death remained behind with those who loved me.
IMHO〰🖍
📣7.8 📝8.3 🎭8 💓5 🦋3 🎨7.6 🎵/🔊7.5 🔚8.8 🤗4.7 ▪ 🌞4 ⚡6 😅1 😭6 😱4 😯3 🤢7 🤔6 💤0
Shazams: It's a Lie, by Sondia
Age 18+ gore, scary dead creatures with big sharp teeth. Language: d@mmit, $h!+, F💣; Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.
Re-📺? I would probably give it another shot
DG is a 2023 release that is rated 95 on AWiki. It is 1 season (2 parts) consisting of a mere 8 55-minute episodes. In ep1, Jae realizes that life scares him more than death. Death is only an ‘end to my pain’ he yells to the darkness and jumps. So he thought. So, why is he opening his eyes again? What's that his ears are hearing? “You mocked me.” Death is talking to him. “You will be punished. You will enter the bodies of people about to die and you will die 12 times for what you said about me.” Death Don't Play. There's a loophole: If Jae can avoid death in one of those bodies, he will live out his life as that person. (But I don't /want/ to live,’ he thinks).
Special effects, all-star cast, elaborate sets… This is no small budget show. In ep1 there's an elaborate scene in purgatory with thrashing reanimated beings. Then there's a big plane crash. In ep2, school kids' faces morph into creepy zombie looks, and they did an exceptional job with it. There's also a thrilling fight scene. In one incarnation, he's an international assassin taking us on a 🏍 chase.
It's mostly well conceived, but not issue free. DG is making a philosophical point; it's not trying to explain the where/why/how Jae got into this insane mess. What happens to the souls of the poor bodies he's taking over? They are gone. He doesn't want to kill off one of his incarnations - more than anyone, he wants that person to live. But that person is already gone. That human is Jae, now. The first half of ep8 hurts. It really hurts.
Seo In Guk (The Master's Sun, Doom at Your Service) plays Jae. This is my first look at him. Kim Mi Kyung is his mother. She has been in about a third of everything produced recently, it seems. She looks great. I had to do a double take. Some of my favs she's been in are Her Private Life-8, It's Okay to Not Be Okay-9, & Saimdang, Light’s Diary-8.5. “Had he been born to a smarter woman this wouldn't have happened," mourns Jae's Oma. It's painful. Then she looks at the plaque on the wall: "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother.” So says the quote attributed to Napoleon. Her performance is strong in DG. It's heart-wrenching.
Park So Dam (Parasite-9, Record of Youth-5.8) portrays Death. This actress excels at playing a strong woman. In ROY she plays a sweetheart, but the show doesn't work. She's right in her wheelhouse, here. Nam Kyung Eup (Crash Landing on You-9.1, Misaeng-9.1) portrays Chairman Nam. Go Youn Jung (Moving-8.5, Alchemy of Souls-7.9) is Lee Ji Su, Jae’s girlfriend. She's a keeper. The rather beautiful Kim Ji Hoon makes an appearance as Park Tae U, CEO of Taekang Group. I've enjoyed him in Love to Hate You-8.9, Flower of Evil-8.9, & Flower Boy Next Door-7. He seems to be equally comfortable playing good and bad guys. How did someone who is so pretty end up playing such evil characters? He's attractive, but not simple, I guess. Ha Byung Hoon of Go Back Couple & 18 Again is the screenwriter & director.
Dying in 12 distinct incarnations requires many guest stars.
Kim Kang Hoon is growing up! I've seen him in When the Camellia Blooms-8, Hotel del Luna-8.4, Racket Boys-8.3, and so much more. He is Jae’s 3rd attempt at life. He is very much like Jae: Raised by a single mom, bullied and overlooked, no advantages, and he commits suicide. All Jae has to do to beat the game is not kill himself. So Jae doesn't die instantly, like his first 2 incarnations. But he does have to work his way through a severe bullying situation at school. He utterly crushes the bully. He does it so effectively the bully retaliates ☠ lethally. Chalk up another failure!
Jang Seung Jo plays Jae's 4th incarnation. He's been in Familiar Wife-8.5, Snowdrop, The Good Detective, & Chocolate, among others. He's truly beautiful. Often playing someone corrupted or weak, in this incarnation he is an international criminal. He's got 💰. He stole 10 billion from his boss. Unfortunately, every bad guy & cop in the country is chasing him for the massive bounty put on his carcass. This incarnation is big budget.
Then Jae’s an abused infant. It's agonizing. He's entirely aware of what's happening, but he can't communicate. “How can such parents exist?” Jae is thunderstruck. “No one is guaranteed anything in life. You've just been taking everything for granted. You didn't care for life and chose death so flippantly, but that baby didn't even get to make a choice. There are many others like that in the world.” Death has no sympathy for him. That's the drum beat: When there's life there is hope. Appreciate your life and make the most of it. Don't just think about yourself. Have empathy. Others are suffering too. Thinking patterns are like habits, and bad thoughts are bad habits. We need to force our minds to stay positive, and to not give up, or the darkness will envelop us.
Jae is now a model (Lee Do Hyun from Sweet Home & The Glory is Jang Geon U) and he actually meets his own GF, Ji Su. He's able to strike up a friendship with her. She's a writer, so he pitches his idea for a book to her. You can guess what his storyline is: Exactly what he's been going through. He tells her that he had a girlfriend for 7 years, but he was never able to show his best self to her. She's impressed by his “creativity.” She's also impressed by the level of detail and how emotionally wrapped up he is in the story, just like he's experienced it himself, she notes.
🎬
Part 1 gives way to Part 2, which is the payoff for our suffering. We aren't rewarded until the end, so hold on to the ledge and endure it. PT2 is more difficult to watch than PT1. The following is a rehash of my PT2 review.
In PT2, Kim Won Hae is a homeless man & Jae's 10th reincarnation. He's in 40% of everything made, I think. My favorite performance of his is in Black-9, but he's a plus everywhere he's seen. Most years he has at least 3 credits, many years he has 6, and in 2018 he was in 13 features! He has 133 credits on MDL. He's everywhere. Besides his many guest appearances, I've seen him in Signal-8.6, While You Were Sleeping-7.3, Clean with Passion for Now-7, The Hymn of Death-8.4, Start-up-8, Awaken-8.7, Revenant-7.4, and I'm currently watching Chocolate.
The great Kim Jae Wook (who is fabulous in Crazy Love-7.8 and Her Private Life-8), plays villain Jung Gyu Cheol, Jae’s 8th incarnation. Not a nice guy. One guy who chases him is Oh Jung Se, who appears in Part 1 but takes on a bigger role in Part 2. He plays a special needs character in It's Okay to Not Be Okay-9, and he's fantastic. In Revenant-7.4, he's a college professor. He also stars in the popular Mr. Plankton. Here, he's detective An Ji Hyeong. Jae’s incarnations get tangled up, partially because he chooses to tangle then, but fate is certainly at play, too. As his many living iterations unfold, a pattern emerges that reveals a certain bad guy who has a common tie to many of “his” lives. Soon, each of his incarnations turns into a mission in pursuit of this troublemaker.
DG gets progressively sadder towards the end of PT2, and when ep8 opens, things appear irreversibly bleak. “So you killed yourself because you felt hopeless? Think carefully, if you really didn't harm anyone.” Death is challenging Jae’s presuppositions. Jae’s been going on about his misery. In fairness, it's real. Life hasn't been pleasant. “It's over for me already so why should I?” “So that you can regret it, and repent.” “Will I go to heaven if I regret it now?” Jae is turning flippant. “Will repenting give me another chance at life? I won't do it.” “You really must not care about anything but yourself.” Death shoots straight. “What else should I care for other than myself?” Jae doesn't sound any differently than the entitled people he's been chasing after. He's been whining that the deaths are not avoidable. He usually dies as soon as he enters the bodies. “Figure out a way on your own; they are all avoidable,” Death assures him.
As life goes by, Jae begins to soften. “Now that I've seen what hell is like, I've realized that being alive in itself is a chance.” Gradually, Jae starts to adjust his outlook. “That's why I don't think it's too late for you yet,” Death isn't harsh for once.
“I don't know who I am anymore.“ Jae moans. Then he recalls Ji-su saying: “People are happiest when they can truly be themselves. In the end, life would be meaningless if you can never really be yourself.” Jae's been living other lives. Sometimes for months. He's done some good. He attends the funeral for the man whose life he just lived - whose death he just died - heroically, I might add - but no one at the funeral knows who he is. Who is he? It's ep7. He is starting to crack.
They eventually show us the despair of Jae’s mother and his GF in the wake of losing him. Suicide just can't be the right option, but it looks differently to me now, after having gone through multiple traumas, then it did before living became so painful. I hate it when people say that those who commit suicide are cowards. I understand the argument and it's not without merits, but I think suicide is more often the result of unbearable pain. Yes, the person's only thinking about h/h self and not the people who have to go on without h/h, or the people that have to clean up and bury the body, but people who aren't well, and people who are in extreme pain aren't really able to think about other people. I've learned that physical pain is nothing compared to emotional pain, and pain is always isolating. It's difficult dealing with someone who's hurting, but if you don't learn how to show them care they will feel isolated. It's not in your words but it might be in spending some time, watching a show together, helping h/h do something around the house. It honestly doesn't take much to make a person feel valued. Be prepared; perhaps what they say will be frustrating. I've also learned that part of love is learning what to ignore.
Jae finally realizes that the death of a loved one is more painful than immolation or death by dismemberment. Jae ends up realizing that he had always been afraid of failure and rejection. That fear is what drove him. Now what he fears is hurting others: “I just want to hug my mother one more time.”
Death made him realize that life is an opportunity, and a small life can be happier and more carefree than a privileged one.
QUOTES🗣
Isn't that what you humans do? You care more about the thorn in your own finger than the knife in someone else's body.
Death is contagious. As I disappeared from the world, my death remained behind with those who loved me.
IMHO〰🖍
📣7.8 📝8.3 🎭8 💓5 🦋3 🎨7.6 🎵/🔊7.5 🔚8.8 🤗4.7 ▪ 🌞4 ⚡6 😅1 😭6 😱4 😯3 🤢7 🤔6 💤0
Shazams: It's a Lie, by Sondia
Age 18+ gore, scary dead creatures with big sharp teeth. Language: d@mmit, $h!+, F💣; Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.
Re-📺? I would probably give it another shot
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