Brief Story Line
Jin Su (Ryu Jun-yeol - Alienoid: Return to the Future, Lost TV series etc) was a man who had been down on luck for years and was getting very desperate with his life. As he was getting ready to do something drastic, he got an offer to play a mysterious game that would provide him a large amount of cash. Though reluctant at first, Jin Su decided to go ahead and found the rule did not seem too difficult.
In this closed place, there was a building of 8 floors where Jin Su chose to stay at the 3rd floor. He met with other players who were all known by their floor numbers. They consisted of the man with a leg disability on the 1st floor (Bae Sung-Woo - The Great Battle, Live TV series etc), the tomboy woman on 2nd floor (Lee Joo-young - Believer, The School Nurse Files TV series etc), the cheerful 4th floor woman (Lee Yul-eum - Nevertheless TV series etc), the patient woman on 5th floor (Moon Jeong-hee - Pandora, Vagabond TV series etc), the aggressive and violent 6th floor man (Park Hae-joon - 12.12: The Day, The World of the Married TV series etc), the intelligent man on 7th floor (Park Jeong-min - Hellbound TV series, Smugglers etc) and last but not least the selfish and spoilt woman on 8th floor (Chun Woo-hee - Unlocked, Delightfully Deceitful TV series etc).
It did not take long before conflict began arising in this place and what started as a seemingly innocent and simple show quickly turned to the opposite as each person had his and her own ulterior motive to extend the time and gain more money. So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this series.
End of Brief Story Line
Well that was pretty awesome! I got to say that although I was intrigued, but I thought it would be like a reality TV show which I was not too keen. But as I watched the first episode (which took me some time to really understand the basic rule of the game), my interest started to grow, especially with the story development. I began to watch the third episode on Saturday noon and was so hooked that I could not stop watching till finished on that night. It had only 8 episodes with around 45 minutes to a little over 1 hour so it would not take that long to complete the whole season.
The reason I kept on saying season was because the series did seem to have a possibility of future, with some hints shown in the final episode. Although, by the time I finished this, there was no indication yet if it is going to be renewed. There was a mid end credit scene in the 8th episode for you to watch. Out of the 8 episodes, my favorite was the 5th which felt like a culmination of all the things happened previously. Like any other series though, sadly the suspense after the peak felt lessen and also lacked of intensity. I even thought the 7th episode was a bit too depressing. Luckily the 8th episode was entertaining enough and the ending was quite to my expectation.
The best qualities of the series for me personally was the multiple twists and shocking moments that made me view this with high regards. However, I did feel the last two/three episodes were less exciting and had a much stronger drama feel, but did not have any major melodramatic moments. The supposed emotional scene somehow did not move me either. It did not change the fact that I still enjoyed the series though. It might not be as violent and ruthless like Squid Game but it had similar effect in term of providing entertainment. And just like that series, this was also based on a webtoon titled Money Game & Pie Game by Bae Jin-soo. The series itself was written and directed by Han Jae-rim (Emergency Declaration, The Face Reader etc).
This series could also be classified as psychological thriller as sometimes the strong thrill was present during the time when the people's actions were so extreme. Some people seemed to feel it has dark comedies attributes which might be true when involving Jin su at certain times. But other than those, I thought it was a lot more serious and actually a bit heavy. It showed how people could turn to their worst if they were desperate enough. I personally felt this more like a social experiment on human behaviours.
Btw, the cast to me did a wonderful job in portraying their characters. They were able to raise our emotions and gave us plenty of surprises too. For those who prefer more violence and larger cast might not be too satisfied as the series was set mostly in that confined space and very limited support cast in minor roles. But if you are looking for some extreme psychological thriller drama series, then you could certainly give this a try. I myself was truly entertained till I reached certain point where it felt a bit overwhelming. Perhaps if the 7th episode was done a bit differently, I would be less stressful. Anyway let's see if this is going to be another big hit for Netflix.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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