It's Night (2023)

an informal compilation of why the writing sucked.

- mafia could have tossed everyone's phone across the boundary and win at any point; they could have injured or killed everyone at night at any point. it's a very easy win for da beom, but nope, he goes: "okay jung won, even though you're bffs with yoon seo and jun hee, i'll totally believe you when you say you'll kill them..."
- da beom, who was very determined to kill yoon seo and jun hee, just stops trying to kill them. then, he starts threatening his mafia partner and tries to kill her..? it's like that horrible and annoying trope where all the villain needs to do is pull the trigger to kill the hero, but he goes on a rant and allows the hero to find an opportunity to beat him. except this is 10x worse than that. da beom literally could stab yoon seo or jun hee at any moment and win the game, yet he just spares them? and he's screaming, running around, and sweating to kill jung won first for who knows why.
- we still don't know how or why yeon woo got stabbed, how mafia planted evidence for mina's shoe, or how they knew jun hee's plan to entrap them.
- we still don't know jun hee's backstory and why he got traumatized by pools or who had drowned in his brief flashback...
- we still don't have a full backstory for the FL
- essentially our ML and FL, whom the drama went at extreme lengths at protecting, both lack depth and a backstory... in other words, there is no reason for why these two should be or is our protagonists except that they look better than their peers?
- jung won apparently came up with a plan for doctor's (and bullies') death. are we to believe she calculated that doc would follow the two bullies, get caught, and killed once she threw the can..? how does that make sense at all?
- jun hee and yoon seo did not bully se eun and were, in fact, the few friends that she had, yet the parents go, "DURRR, send them to hell. boohoo my daughter. my daughter no longer alive" :( :( :(
- in fact, only a handful of students actually instigated and bullied her. most were either bystanders who ignored the problem or believed a false rumor and gossiped with their friend group. yet... they deserve the same punishment as the bullies? what sort of logic is that. basically, according to the parents, if you're stupid and gullible or just don't care, you are automatically complicit and deserve to get punished (*cough* everyone giving this drama higher than a 8.5 *cough*).
- girl literally committed suicide because they deep faked her face to an adult entertainer... like come on, make the bullying more believable. I was so interested in how she got bullied, why everyone was traumatized, yet the big reveal is one of the tamest and lamest bully tactic there is... there have been youtube pranks a lot worse than this.
- Mafia is a random game. you could have punished the kids with so many interesting and relevant games, but no, parents want to go, "DURR I hate you all, so you guys all get to play a detective game forever muahahahaha. that is your punishment!" like, choosing Mafia as the game setting to get "punished" is so random and doesn't make sense. I'd understand if they were stuck in a horror game or something, but what's the point of Mafia? to train the kid's sleuth and reasoning skills to recognize how they bullied a girl? to get better at lying? lol.
- frail and sick little FL literally just accepts her fate and goes back into the game without a fight. it's as if someone is robbing your house and the thief says, "shhhhh, it's okay, just go back to sleep now," and you just fall back to sleep. wtf was that?
- what's the point of killing the kids over and over if you're just going to wipe their memories? that they played the games dozens of time already may sound spooky until you realize they dont remember anything right after.
- if jung won is an a.i. in the game, then wouldnt she remember all the previous iterations? if she doesnt, then the parents, who think jung won somewhat represents their daughter, are in a sense punishing their program version of their daughter like everyone else?? it's understandable if she were some invincible host or something, but the fact that she is vulnerable and plays like everyone else suggests she's getting punished too, and not just that, but facing the same punishment as her bullies. this was really poorly thought out.
- what the hell was the point of se eun's ghost arc if the game itself was revealing everything?
- and the most important question: how are the kids eating, pooping, and peeing while they're stuck to the VR?

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Massive Potential, Yet Poor Closure

Come on, who doesn't like this type of K-Drama/Series?

The thrills, the tension, the hype every episode - discussing and debating theories, It was everything.
A classic whodunnit.

A Series where everyone is trapped in a kind of mysterious events and they're working together to figure out the truth lies behind. Similar to spirit to the like of AOUAD, DAS, and Alice in Borderland.

The concept of the series is fresh, The Werewolf/Mafia game, the excitement is simple: Citizens vs Mafia, every episode we will be greeted by new things while slowly finding the Mafia and uncovering the truth behind everything.

That's the core concept of the entire series and IT'S PERFECT with the fresh casting, dynamic characters, and every other the potential that it had.
Every watchers was engaged and onboard for the tension and cliffhanger every episode - a perfect K-Drama was created.

Until the actual plot arrived...

Lee Yoon Seo, the girl who is the center of everything. There's always a lead in every K-Drama, right?
She seems to be haunted by a mysterious girl from the beginning of the series and we are all wondering:
- Who is she?
- What is her connection to the game?
- Is she a past player of the game? or the game creator?

But then...
Who would've thought that those exciting mystery plot will eventually taint the entire goodness of the series?

Well, not a single person before the whole Park Se Eun story comes to light... everything was falling down afterwards - I don't even need to recite what happened at the ending.
We all expected everything was a game or some sort, just that there's no point of a never-ending revenge done by Se Eun's parents as the watchers are not even emotionally engaged with her story that much, it was just an icing on the cake - unfortunately a bland one.

Season 2? would love to see how it goes, though it will be very difficult to make up the disappointment.

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I wish they could create a better closure, this K-Drama was great and fresh, nothing could satisfy me more than this type of theme/genre. It is very unfortunate that such brilliant idea and massive potential the series had - tainted by the pointless closure.

Props to all the cast, regardless some of their annoying characters - they're the MVP of the series, especially:
- Cha Woo Min as Go Kyung Jun - scene stealer for the earlier episodes of the series
- Ahn Ji Ho as Jin Da Beom - scene stealer for the last episodes of the series

Was it worth the watch? absolutely, wished the mafia game could stay longer - it was fun and totally enjoyable - a total 10/10 minus some flaws in the rules here and there.

Was it satisfying? not at all - at least not for everyone.

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