Tuesday, December 2, 2014
KDrama Review: Liar Game
The Gist: A new reality show has hit Korea. Liar Game pits real people against one another in the hopes of winning absurd amounts of money. When painfully honest and kind Nam Da Jung (Kim So Eun) is selected to participate, she sees it as a way to get out of her father’s debt and reunite with him. Yet, in a game where lying and backstabbing are rewarded, Da Jung is quickly on the losing end. Desperate to not fall further into debt, she seeks out genius conman Cha Woo Jin (Lee Sang Yoon), recently released from prison, to help her out. Woo Jin takes pity on Da Jung, who reminds him of his mother. As Woo Jin and Da Jung combine his wits and her ingenuity to climb the Liar Game ranks, it becomes apparent that their participation in this game is no accident and that game maker and host, Kang Do Young (Shin Sung Rok) may have more up his sleeves than first appears.
I feel mixed about a lot of aspects of this show, but still feel strongly about many pieces. Therefore, I’m abandoning my Love/Meh/Hate format because I just don’t know how to break it up. So, I’m just going to dissect it and go from there. Let’s go!
Character Development
I think one of the places where the Korean version shines is the time it takes to flesh out its characters. From the Japanese version, I remember the conman, the girl, and mushroom head. By the end of this show, I felt I had a good grasp not only of our main people, but also of many of our secondary contestants. Characters I thought would be write-off one notes, like Bulldog, actually got fleshed out. I loved the twist of making Jaime a girl (not that watchers of the Japanese version wouldn’t spot her a mile away) and I really appreciate the growth that character is afforded. Yes, she’s out for number 1, but she has some morals.
That said, I don’t know why the romance of this was so overhyped, when you literally don’t get any of it. I think that Woo Jin has a very solid protective role and he feels sorry for Da Jung, but they never really cross any lines. There’s not even a hint. If you’re watching this for the romance, it will leave you a bit starved. I think a lot of people will be OK with that, since it’s not so much in the source material, but it leaves me feeling a little disappointed all the same.
Let’s talk about Kang Do Young for a moment. Oh man is he delightfully evil! Sung Rok plays evil so well (just watched My Love from Another Star), but this is an even more nuanced evil. The tension this character is able to bring is a real driving force in the show. The Japanese villains were always so faceless, that it was nice to get a character to be the face of the problem. Also, him getting totally unhinged at the end was my favorite. Love it.
The Game!
I think making the Liar Game into a show was a smart move. It made more sense to me than underground battles (though spoilers for a possible season two may be moving in that direction?). I was a tad disappointed that they didn’t invent more of their own games but lifted most of them straight out of the Japanese version. That said, first time watchers will be delighted, and second time watchers will still love seeing the characters triumph - “I have a winning strategy!”
The show does grow into its own as time goes on. I didn’t remember the presidential candidate game, which either makes it an original or something I didn’t see. That’s also the game where SPOILERS our winning duo finally takes a hit, so it’s surprising all around. The final roulette was also original, I believe, and had so much suspense!
The pacing of this show was dead one. The games typically took two episodes to complete a round: one episode to dig our main crew into a hole and one to twist the tables back into their favor. It’s not totally unpredictable, but certainly keeps the show moving at a pretty good clip.
I praised the sets of the Japanese version and I think the sets on the Korean version blew the JV out of the water. I especially liked the building they used for the smuggling game. The architecture was very cool.
The Ending
Spoilers. Obviously.
I think I have the most mixed feelings about the giant reveal at the end. So, Woo Jin, Da Jung, and Do Young were all at Woo Jin’s mom’s orphanage and she essentially sold some kids including Do Young for money. Yikes.
While it makes Do Young sympathetic on one level - I mean child experiments? It’s like robot children - it also is sort of nonsensical. I get that he wants to show that not everyone is as nice as they seem, but it’s sort of cruel to pull Da Jung and Woo Jin into it since 1. Da Jung could have been sold and 2. Woo Jin has pretty much suffered a whole bunch already.
That brings us to a really big plot hole. There is no way that Do Young could have known that Da Jung would bring Woo Jin in. In fact, it would have been more likely for her not to reach out to him and for him not to accept.
I am not sure how I feel about Woo Jin’s mom effectively selling children as a plot line. While it is shocking and pulls things together, it also just reinforces what we’ve been working a whole season to get Woo Jin to believe - that it is OK to trust people. If he can’t trust in his mom, why should he trust Da Jung? They’re so similar.
I also felt that as much electricity as that last episode had (oh man, we need a season 2!), the characters had too quick a wrap up. Da Jung and her dad get an off screen reunion, the guy who fell down the elevator is somehow not dead (yay!), Da Jung and Woo Jin don’t really sort out their relationship, and a new big bad is set up. Too much, too quick. I wanted some time spent giving our characters a second to breathe!
OK. Speaking of that last guy being alive. Does anyone else find Do Young essentially disappearing and maybe killing contestants after they leave the game totally unbelievable? That part just didn’t sit quite right for me. Those people should have been all over interviews and such. The media would have noticed. It’s ridiculous.
So:
So… I am not sure if this version is more or less successful than the Japanese version. They’re both delightfully suspenseful, but this one has a more cohesive back story and a more solid villain. It made some smart choices and I love the chemistry between Woo Jin and Da Jung and Woo Jin and Do Young.
Final Grade: A-
Hey! My opinion is so different from yours, wow. I thought it would be closer, because previously I agreed with the reviews I read on your site. But I guess not this time.
ReplyDeleteFor me, one pro the Korean version has it that the lead actress doesn't portray a dumb girl. She is way too sensitive, but not dumb. In the Japanese version the girl was not just naive or sensitive, she was certifiably a fool, which made it hard for me to emphathize with her.
But otherwise, I feel like the Japanese version blows this one out of the water.
The show format killed off all the tension and made it impossible to feel sorry for participants. They weren't going into debt, they weren't threatened by criminal collectors, so why would I care if they lose or win? Even fleshed-out, they didn't create any tension. And I felt nothing about the girl's generosity, because she wasn't saving anyone (except the teacher, but the whole thing was probably staged?). Neither I rooted for anyone, because all of them were in it for money, rather than forced to participate our of fear and being placed in dire circumstances. I can't cheery for greedy people, I dislike them. Remember Kang Do Young's decison to donate a large chunk of prize money to a budding politician? Lol! It didn't feel generous, it felt like he should've donated it to some orpganage if he really wanted to show off kindness. Definitely not a politician. That was absurd.
Logic is not the best part of this show, really. Why would you create a test to choose 50 people of Japan who wouldn't steal a large sum of money, and then have those people compete in a game for a large sum of money? Logic tells me that it makes zero sense.
The host of the show is disgustingly ugly, although I'm aware that it's my personal opinion, but not only Kang Do Young reminds me of a non-cute monkey, but instead of portraying emotions properly he makes a poker face all the time, which makes him plain boring to watch. We already have main lead guy who wears a poker face 100% of time, and now this one, too... Two expressionless people with so much screentime given to them is way too much for me.
About the story I agree, it was such a load of juvenile drivel I felt ashamed for people who wrote it. It's worse than any bad soap opera.
So in the end, I would give this a final grade of D+, a plus for the main girl not being an idiot. But overall I feel bad for watching this show, fangirlism of the Liar Game made me do it, but I couldn't enjoy it.
Sorry for mistakes in writing, it's night time here and it was hard to reread and check my text because the window for reading was so tiny.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this review! I haven’t seen the manga or Japanese version to compare it or anything but I think this show was great.
ReplyDeleteThe characters were amazing, 3D and very well developed as the episodes rolled by. I came to love them all, even Do Young as he made a fantastic villain. The romance was perfect in my opinion too because there was none of it. Its really gratifying to find kdramas where the main characters don’t have loads of unnecessary romantic angst and soppyness. I really enjoyed watching Da Jung and Woo Jin develope their own unique friendship of trust instead.
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I could go on but I won’t because I’ll start rambling.
So anyway, it might not be for everyone but it was absolutely perfect for me who has very specific and picky tastes sometimes. :) <3
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