Brimming with lessons about life and death, this new series smartly explores how humans are prone to disheartening choices.
With these “giving up decisions”, experiencing the harshness of life seems the catalyst that drives a person to the point of no return.
abbyinhallyuland watches Death’s Game on Prime Video
Opening Week Rating: 
5 Reasons Why “Death’s Game” Should Be On Your K-Drama Watch List
Death’s Game Part 1 Highlights
Once a promising job seeker, Choi Yi-jae’s (Seo In Guk) life did not turn out the way he wanted. Thinking he was ahead of the game securing a job interview at Taekang Group before graduating at a top school, his life journey takes a downturn.
After witnessing a man’s death on his way to the interview, he was not able to focus and flunked the interview.
In the next seven years, he takes side jobs one after another. On the day, he managed to have another final interview at Taekang, Yi-jae’s already dismal life meets a series of frustrating setbacks poured in one day.
“There’s no hope for me. It is life that I’m afraid of. I’m not afraid of death at all. Death is merely a means of ending the pain I’m in. I refuse to struggle to survive anymore.”
He learns that all the money which he invested in his friend is gone. It happens to have been put in a scam and his friend went off the grid already.
He also breaks up with his long-time girlfriend, Ji-su, declaring he feels pained that he cannot do anything for her.
The place he is renting is also off-limits for him and his things are soaked by the rain. Capping off his spree of unfortunate situations is a notification that he did not pass the final interview at Taekang when all along he thought the main interviewer (Kim Ji Hoon) understands his predicament.
Without something to look forward and with a bleak life that won’t improve, he decides to die.
Jumping off from a building, Yi-jae wakes up in a dark place and meets Death (Park So Dam). His suicide is a mockery of the being who hated how he sought her before she sought him.
Because of that, she declares that he will experience 12 imminent deaths and if he can survive one of those, he gets to keep the life of that person.
Albeit a tempting offer for some people who unexpectedly die, Yi-jae who deems death as a way to end his sufferings is adamant about accepting the offer. However, he does not much have choice.
1st Life
In the first life, he assumes the life of Park Jin-tae, the successor of Taekang Group (Choi Si Won) who dies while aboard his private jet. Picking up details about his situation, he analyzed it like a live game.
As soon as he dies, when he wakes to a new body, he gets the abilities and memories of the person.
2nd Life
In the second life, he becomes an extreme sports celebrity, Song Jae-seop, (Sung Hoon) vying for another record for skydiving without a parachute. Seemingly in control of his target landing, he ends up falling to the ground and dies on the spot as soon as he lands.
3rd Life
Next up, Yi-jae becomes Hyeok-su (Kim Kang Hoon), a middle school student raised by a single mother in his 3rd life. Realizing he can turn the class bully’s protector against the bully Lee Jin-sang (Yoo In Soo), Hyung-suk claims peace at school. However, it was only momentarily, as Jin-sang followed him one night and killed him out of rage.
4th Life
Taking his 4th life, Yi-jae becomes Lee Ju-hun (Jang Seung Jo), a gang fixer who rides a motorcycle like a professional. Cleaning up people takes the bulk of his job and he can kill people nonchalantly. When he helped a woman and stole money from his boss, he was chased and escaped luckily. But, the woman he tried to help betrayed him for the 10 billion money he stole and hid by mercilessly killing him.
5th Life
On his fifth try, Yi-jae wakes up to the body of Cho Tae-sang (Lee Jae Wook), a poor aspiring mixed martial arts fighter who took the jail time of a crime offender for money. As Yi-jae meets Jin-sang who claims he’s a psychopath criminal, he straightens the record so he can no longer act as boss.
Due to being released in four days, he holds back on his initial demand to get more money from the lawyer who proposed for him to take the fault for a hit-and-run incident. He plans to get the 10 billion his 4th life had hidden.
Unfortunately, on his way to see Tae-sang’s mother, he got stabbed by the father of the hit-and-run victim and was betrayed by a friend he met while serving jail time.
6th Life
Upset at what happened, he asks Death to shoot him quickly. His intention to keep the money he’s hidden is his big motivation. With a smirk, she obliges and Yi-jae wakes up to the body of a baby who was abused by his parents.
Sadly, the baby dies giving another frustrating moment for Yi-jae.
7th Life
On his 7th try, Yi-jae assumes the life of Jang Geon-woo (Lee Do Hyun), a handsome model. On the brink of losing the bag of money he acquired from his 5th life, he heads straight to the subway locker and luckily gets the bag.
When Geon-woo is asked by his brother to tend his cafe, he sees Ji-su, his ex-girlfriend, again. Later, he also realizes how she has always been a devoted lover to him despite his misgivings.
As hinted by Death, Yi-jae will face tormenting moments. As Geon-woo, he was able to see his mother grieve painfully because of his death. The same goes with Ji-su who shared his story of living and dying while she stayed at the cafe.
Confessing to Ji-su of who he is, a raging car hits them and they both die on the spot. He also recognizes the man behind his death is the first son of Taekang Group, Park Tae-hoo.
As soon as he gets back to Death’s lair, he pours out his emotion and rushes to point a gun at Death. He is determined to hunt down Park Tae-hoo to kill him.
Death’s Game Part 1 Musings
Sprinting to an exciting and ruminative story, Death’s Game weighs on sensible arguments connecting life and death.
Each life that Yi-jae missed claiming, Death provides straightforward lessons relevant to how he has lived his life.
The series has such a solid back story on why viewers can understand Yi-jae’s suicide decision. At the same time, it rings the truth that even at the peak of his harsh life, he could have still survived if he had held onto his life’s motivation.
Death’s Game expertly maneuvered the momentum of its narrative by capturing the emotions and lessons from each character Yi-jae woke up to.
At first, he is doing the game without much enthusiasm. His interactions with people he loves in his assumed body have now reached a level where the next lives he will take would be desperate chances for him to win against Death.
Seo In Guk and the actors who have played in their respective lives with looming death characters impressively decorated their characters with balanced emotions and grit. It will be easy for viewers to stay hooked on this series.
More importantly, the messages on finding genuine human connection and appreciating life amid constant disappointments would be the driving force of the narrative.
Can Yi-jae get better and use his remaining lives to win Death’s Game? Episodes are streaming on Prime Video! The second part premieres on January 5.
Photos TVING Drama
