The Game: Towards Zero (2020)

To summarize, it was a drama I was glad I watched. It went uphills and downhills like most dramas do but remained true to its plot and characters. When we choose any drama to watch, we look for good chemistry, a nice plot, and some heart-touching moments. This drama passes on all the parts. What I liked about the drama was the ending which is generally hard to be perfected but this one has one of the most satisfying endings in my watchlist dramas.
It started with very strong plot possibilities and excitement, which made me wonder what would be the best possible route
I would like the plot to take. But after a few episodes drama works its magic and you fall into its flow of tone and instead of imagining all the scenarios, you just look forward to the drama.
The acting was the stronger aspect to look for in the drama as Im Joo Hwan totally nailed it. There were times I was frustrated by his character's decisions to continue the revenge and all but well his character is a killer and t would be strange if I understood all his decisions :)) . Even until the ending his character was well expressed.
What catches you most is the editing and drama style with great use of slow-motion and subtle scenes with equally good music in the background. The drama followed this way throughout the episodes and it engages you in the story more emotionally.
As all dramas have some backfall it does have its own. Well, the scriptwriting was done good but I was tired of hearing the same sentences again and again. It would have been great if they had been a little more creative while delivering the same dialogues.
As a drama junkie, I felt the chemistry between leads developed a bit faster than in other dramas. but they wrapped around it well enough because of the continuous plot which slowed down and picked speed but never stopped for fillers.
This drama was satisfying in many ways and made me look forward to the next episode every time. With a well-written ending and the last couple of episodes, it wraps up with a smile on your face and contentment filling your heart.

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A good plot executed poorly!

A compelling synopsis. One more korean fantasy rom-com which I love a lot. A good casting. Handsome and wanna-know-him kind of serial killer. Still, it didn't make me fall in love with this drama. What went wrong?
It has two interesting aspects - Fantasy and Romance. I would have loved it even if one was poor and the other was great.

First, Romance:

The leads fell in love very quickly as it seems like they were forced to love each other. Ok, I kind of accept the reason that ML had, but FL has no reason other than he can see the death of other persons. It was like - he sees death, I kind of feel pity for him, It seems he loves me, and the director asked me to like him, so from now on I'm going to love him. More or less I felt like this when they started to date. If some unknown person who can see the death follows me wherever I go and asks me to stay in his place, I would BLOCK that person forever from my life. But still she UNDERSTANDS him when she knew nothing about him and befriends him and little later fell in love with him.

And the story goes like they love each other to the end of the world and are willing to sacrifice themselves for the other but I couldn't find how they fell head over the heels for each other and why! Don't even start about the chemistry between the leads. They just started to date for all the sh**ty reasons they can find but there was no chemistry what-so-ever. I know, It was not THAT bad, still this is not the romance I would have expected to see after watching many romantic Kdramas.

Next, Fantasy:

I would have loved this drama if the fantasy plot was done correctly despite its romance. But there was full of potholes in the drama that there was no space in the plot without holes! lol If I started to explain, then I would end up by telling the whole story so let me just say that if you have any switch off mode in your brain, then watch this drama. Otherwise this drama is not at all good for your mental health. There's little to no help to the story with ML's ability - a non fantasy murder investigation drama would have moved much faster than this drama. The frustration that this drama gives you is no joke. Especially if you have any expectation. The drama did move much better and use the fantasy plot better at the end of the 15th episode. But isn't it too late?!

Third, Characters:

As I said earlier, not only the leads have no chemistry but the story was also designed like they had no brains too. The idea that ML had to stop the serial killer and the way FL went to CATCH the serial killer were dumbest moves that I have ever seen in dramaland.

The only character that seems interesting enough was the killer who was introduced pretty early. He seemed like he has so many layers that we will get to know about him slowly and Wow! that's a huge disappointment. With all the build-ups they give for him at the beginning and the wonderful acting of him with the face full of conflicts - he was a refreshing role in the drama but they made him nothing but a psycho as the drama progressed. And I seriously don't know the concept of the other characters pitying the serial killer and telling that they're trying to understand him. For God's sake, the writers should wake up from the dream. They are the ones who never explored his character and they wanted us to pity him for now. The only thing I can pity for him is that all those golden acting he gave, got wasted in this drama.

It has a nice setting for the supporting characters but not even one character was explored fully. Thus I felt no connection with them even when their lives were in danger.

Overall:

It has it's own sweet and nail-biting moments, but that was very little that those scenes alone couldn't make this drama better.
If it was one of my first few Kdramas, I would have given a ten. But after watching many kdramas, I can surely say this is not worth that much. So many plot holes, no character exploration and the scenes which were repeating itself made this drama an uninteresting one for me.

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