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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From the moment I started watching "The Game: Towards Zero" I was in love with the concept. The idea of a romantic thriller about a man who capitalizes off of being able to see when people will die seemed like an instant new favorite drama for me. In the beginning, the story definitely did live up to those expectations, and I was excited about each new episode. Unfortunately, the deeper into the story I got the more repetitive, predictable, and at times even boring this drama felt. This drama suffers from having a brilliant idea that I don't think they were sure what to do with, so what started as amazing ended up as just mediocre. Still, it's one of the most original dramas I've seen in a while.

I think I should start with the lead Ok Taec Yeon as Tae Pyung. I do think he did a good job in his role but since his character carries the entire drama, I wanted to love him more. He plays Tae Pyung as cool, and clever well but when things became more melodramatic and intense I felt less connected to him. I also wished I knew much more about his backstory which was treated more like an afterthought. He is matched with the equally cool, confident, and clever Lee Yun Hee as Seo Joon Young... the only person who's death he can't foresee. I think they make a great team in the beginning, especially when they are initially feeling each other out. I do think they lacked strong romantic chemistry though, which doesn't help when romance drives the story. It's not that I didn't like them together, I did. They had many moments together that I liked. It's that they lacked excitement, and even in the most heightened and emotional moments they were just too casual and cool with each other. It seemed like the plot had more passion than they did, although it also rushed something that didn't have enough time to develop.

I thought the rest of the cast was pretty good too. The officers, reporters, Tae Pyung's support team, and assorted bad guys all played their part well, but Im Joo Hwan definitely stands out as the best of the cast. His character was so complicated, and I think he did a great job of playing out the range of emotions required without being too overdramatic or unrealistic. I also love seeing him in duplicitous roles, which I think he excels at. More than the female lead, he felt like Tae Pyung's true match. I think they worked well off of each other. I also felt the same way about Jung Dong Hwan as Teacher Baek in his more supportive role. Still, I didn't love anyone in the cast enough to give the acting a higher rating.

As I already mentioned, it's the story that drew me in. Tae Pyung's dilemma about whether to stay a loner, the murder mystery, ruthless reporters, and revenge aspects of the story are super exciting for most of this drama. As the story progressed towards the ending I felt like there was a shift and that's when things started to drag and unfold as expected. There were also a lot of flashbacks, or rather flashforwards that started to feel overdone. I almost wish this drama had fewer episodes, and then maybe they would have trimmed more of the fat. I felt like I was just waiting for things to end like I knew it would which was completely different from the unpredictable feeling I had when I first started watching. The end also felt cheesy and way more melodramatic than the beginning, which added to my disappointment. Stronger character development and performances definitely would have helped.

Would I watch this again? Probably not, but I am curious if I would catch things that I missed the first time if I did. Maybe if I loved the main couple more I would, but I can't see myself watching every episode again unless I completely forget the plot over time.

Overall, this drama is pretty good but not as amazing as I thought it would be. The ending was decent, so I didn't feel like I wasted my time watching, and I like the theme about making the most out of your life in the moment instead of fixating on the end, but the writing seemed to sometimes defy all logic just to get to the ending they wanted. If you like crime thrillers I think the originality of the story makes it worth watching. If you're looking for a great romance I would probably skip this one, or at least put this lower down in your watchlist queue. If I had a power like Tae Pyung to see how this drama ended ahead of time I still would have watched it, but I really wanted it to be so much better.

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Starring Ok Taec Yeon & Ok Taec Yeon's ears.

I mean....it wasn't terrible, LOTS of plot holes. The dude that plays the main bad guy is really good at playing bad guys...pretty much I hate him in everything he's in, but that's 100% because he's so good at being bad, and you're probably supposed to hate the bad guys right? The dude that plays the male lead I was ready to hate, because his character is SO TERRIBLY EVIL in Vincenzo, it took me a few episodes to get over that and I ended up liking him a lot. This dude's ears amaze the shit out of me every time, they're MASSIVE but he wears them so well. The entire premise of the romance in this story is incredibly shallow. Like others have said, I get why the ML is into her but I 100% can't figure out why she falls for him, other than his being relatively hot. The mystery/thriller arc of the story is ok, it's pretty shallow as well but the actors help elevate it beyond its flawed capabilities.

Every side character is pretty shallowly written apart from the old dude in the wheelchair, and even him I had a difficult time believing his motivations were grounded in logical plot. Like ok, he's the typical closed lipped kdrama old dude who doesn't talk a lot about knowledge he has, I get that, but I struggle with how much he apparently did over the course of the lead's lives compared to how little he did in present day. It just didn't seem very realistic. The cop side characters are all excessively ineffective at doing anything. Like why weren't they guarding that girl's room better? Why weren't they guarding the ML's room when the bad guy was still on the loose? IDK, just a bunch of poorly developed and inconsistent characters. Like what was the point of the team leader cop's tiny romance arc...it was so out of place and poorly developed that I can't see what it even added to the story.

All 3 leads are great at acting and the 2 male leads had moderately developed storylines...the FL's storyline got sort of dropped along the way, so there's a lot of linkage with the MLs at the beginning but halfway through she just gets ignored. Even still, she did a great job working with what she had. There was chemistry between her and the ML, but it didn't seem like a "die for you" / "wait for you" type chemistry. They also switch pretty rapidly from portraying her as a badass to portraying her as a weakling damsel in distress. Her character was really poorly written with almost no personality, so any personality came from the FLs acting skills.

There is zero comedy in this show, and maybe that's the missing element here. If there had been more comedy and less baseless romance this might have been a really stellar show. The fantasy elements would have been better if they weren't so variable. Like sometimes they show you what the dude sees with people's deaths, sometimes they don't show you, and I can't figure out why. There's lots of people making random decisions with zero context.

Overall, I don't regret watching it, but it's not clever or funny enough to have such a shallow underdeveloped plot. With this sort of storyline you have to either get super intricate with the plot and character development, or you have to be funny. Otherwise you've just got people saying lines on the screen and it does nothing to draw you in. I wouldn't rewatch this, but it was good for a few hours of entertainment (though a true slog toward the end).

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The best Kdrama for me in 2020

You will never regret after watching this one.

How scary is the love of a murderer that there's one line he said, "If we can be together after death, it is not bad." I guessed I will not forget it for a while. And I am loving Im Joo Hwan for this. He is the best in acting as a villain. He fits as a antagonist more than the other. More than other characters, he is the only one who remained in my head.

He turned himself in because he was afraid of killing someone he loves. But he ended up following the foretelling.

If only someone has trusted and supported him, he would have had a normal life and if possible, he could even be with the one he loves. The society and the foretelling has forced him to become what he had become.

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I really got curious seeing the title and Ok Taec Yeon in the poster. Then after a few episodes I really felt excited and got very interested in the drama. The story is quite unique, and the actors and actresses are all great.

However, things became confusing in the later episodes. I honestly wanted to drop watching it, but I wanted to know what will happen to Goo Do Kyung (Im Joo Hwan). His story is the only thing that interest me that time. Everything became boring especially the scenes of Tae Pyung and Joon Young.

Also about the death of Mr. Baek. Though it looked like a suicide at first, the investigation done was very sloppy. Just looking how the wrist was cut should’ve been obvious to the detectives that it was not suicide but murder. His left wrist was cut from right to left, if it was suicide, it should be the other way around since he’ll be using his right hand.

Another thing, if Tae Pyung knew that Do Kyung liked Joon Young so much, why is he always freaking out? He should’ve realized that he won’t hurt him. Their overreaction is what provoked Do Kyung. Do Kyung is not a complicated person, he is not a psychopath. He just needed someone who can understand him.

I thought it would be worth it even I drag myself watching it till the end, but the ending made me feel disgruntled. Sorry to say this but I really got annoyed with Tae Pyung and Joon Young. I feel so pissed whenever they pretend to understand Do Kyung. I’m really sorry but I can really feel their insincerity towards Do Kyung. Nobody sincerely apologized to him knowing that he and his father were the ones wronged by the police and the society.

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Atrocious

One of the drama that started out with an amazing concept but fell down rapidly. It also have a dumb FL [great smile though] which I’m tired of and K-dramas need to stop making almost 80% of the FLs so brainless. She easily reveals ML identity to the killer, I get that she didn’t know about the killer but who just reveals another secret that easily which is even unthinkable for a detective who are always working with highly confidential information. After that, she can’t even remember that and put the pieces together. Then she has the nerve to tell the killer how he will die. What a way to give more chances to the killer who is forensic experts. Similar issues with ML, I feel like he was better off working alone desperately than with detectives who are half the time his blockage instead of being a help. And what were the writers thinking when they give too many plot amors to the killers? Like damn, detectives get outsmart every single times and are clearly shown to be lacking skills in investigations. Like the detectives can’t even find any traces or evidences after ML grandpa has been murder in his bathtub when the killer literally was splashing water with blood all over the place. Making a villain smart is one thing but its another thing when you have to make others stupid just so the villain can get away. I’m surprised it had an happy ending considering how it was filled with so much tragedy and despair since the first episode. Feel kind of bad for the killer, I feel like he could have live as a normal person if he met someone kind enough to change his life for the better good similarly to how FL changed ML life [ML predictions changeable cause of FL). Society really do creates more inhuman beings than the inhuman creating another one.

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" The Game : Towards Zero " was a nice drama.

The first episodes were confusing, as the drama throws the viwer straight into the story without background information about the characters of the main lead's ability. Plus, you know straight away who the serial killer is. However, the drama weaved a nice, compelling story, full of thrilling moments, intensity and twists. The melodrama was good too. So, the story can keep the viewer on the edge of their chair till the very ending. The latter was pretty great and well presented. But the highlight of the drama was the creation of an intriguing villain. They gave him a strong background story, a human side when he was doubting his own actions and wanting to change, and a some interesting connections with the main characters. The romance, however, felt a bit fake. It was more like love in the first sight, as the drama focused more on the case than the couple, as it should really. The male lead's background story was not well presented and they didn't explain his background well. Still, the performances were great.

So, overall, 7 out of 10.

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"You cannot know every single detail of your life, just because you know the last moment".

Watched this drama for Ok Taecyeon after watching him on Vincenzo.

I'm not exactly happy that I watched/started this drama, it's not the kind of drama I'd usually watch and not because it's a crime drama because the drama that got me into kdramas was a crime one. I didn't like the tone of this drama, the music, the voiceovers, the colour scheme and everything made it seem like it'd be a tragedy. The overall tone was depressing despite the fact that the only truly tragic charecter was the SML. I don't like dramas that make me feel depressed, I don't mind a sad ending, just not a drama that is overall JUST depressing. It wasn't even depressing because of the story line, but bscause of how they executed it.

I tried so hard to like the FL, I let so many of the annoying things she does slide, and at around episode 11, I finally liked her. She really annoyed me for the first several episodes and came off as the kind of 'strong female lead' that that I hate, a week woman pretending to be strong at all costs. She went too far to show her authority and status as an police officer in order to undermine a very non-cliche ML. At the very first episode she immediately and unreasonably so, trusts that the ML can in fact see people's deaths when he looks them in the eye, before knowing anything about him. But then for half the drama, after they've established a trust, she doesn't trust his foresight any more, she just goes "maybe" he's right, when he's obviously right looking at it from the evidence and not the foresight. (SPOILERS) If she had let the ML do what he first though he had to do to stop everyone's death, then they wouldn't have had to go to such extreme lengths to get the ending they got. But she didn't and so the happy ending, though happy, came off as sad.

In comparison the ML (Tae Pyung) is very easy going and down to earth despite growing in a a fairly wealthy family and later being raised by a very wealthy man. Despite the fact that he also sees death every day when he looks a person, including himself, in the eye.

There was no chemistry between the leads. Ok Taecyeon is a really good actor and he portrayed all the right emotions. He was perfect in his role. It's just the romance was a bit bland in this drama and I felt no chemistry between the leads even though individually the actors were really good in their roles. Yun Hee's character grew on me and towards the end, there was some chemistry. Thankfully, there is very little romance in this drama, it is more of a sub plot that was delved into really late. It's sort of a slow burn romance, but the ML seemed to have fallen in love at litteral first sight.

The SML, aka the villain had a really sad back story. I pitied him if anything. He was an overly emotional sociopath who felt very targeted emotions. His entire storyline of why he becomes the villain is why a person should not know how they will die in the future. I understood him to a degree as to why he blamed Tae Pyung for the way her turned out. It's why he gave up on himself as he saw his death as a criminal, to be inevitable. He didn't see the point in trying. Something that Tae Pyung himself believed in until the FL showed him that he can change the death he sees. But, by the time the SML finds out that he can change his death, he sees it as too late because he already became what he always feared of becoming.

The one thing I LOVED about this drama was that all the characters believed that the ML can in fact see people's deaths. I love how it doesn't take long for people to believe this and once they do, they'd do just about anything he suggests to prevent people's deaths. I loved how everyone slowly found all the proof of what Tae Pyung said would happen, actually go according to what he said. His foresight was really well used by everyone.

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It seems good, but it isn't...

As you might have read in the plot summary, it seems to be an interesting story. But, it is not even close to that, ans I actually don't even know what I have watched. I've seen this drama months ago, and I cal still remember clearly how bad it is.

But let's start with the good stuff:
Im Joo Hwan character (the villain): his acting was on point. He showed everything the character was feeling, and I really cried at the end when he imagines his life going the right way.
The soundtrack: the show has some good music, and all the scenes get better because of it.

Now, the bad:
Everything else! The inicial idea of the story is nice. However, the execution was bad, so very bad. The story goes nowhere ans it is so repetitive. The same thing happens again and again. The leads are dumb and the villain plays with them all the time. The first episodes are good, but then it drags until the end.
I've never liked Ok Taec Yeon that much, and now I can't see him without just hating looking at his face. Poor guy... he's a great person (or it seems), but I can't stand his acting and expressions. The female lead is equally bad, although I've seen her in The Package and she was okay there.
The romantic scenes in Towards Zero are emotionless. I can see how the male lead fell in love with the FL, but not the other way around. The ML doesn't have a personality besides having the power of seeing how people will die. I can't fell the love between them, and maybe that's why, for the first time ever, I could't watch most of the romantic senes. It felt so out of place and forced.
Other aspects are just okay or not even worth mentioning.

In the end, I was just glad I finished this and didn't drop it, don't ask me how. It was good seeing Im Joo Hwan and getting emotional with the soundtrack, and I quite liked the final minutes of the show. It wasn't all bad, but rewatch value is zero.

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