Pyramid Game (2024)

Addictive & Powerful: Must Watch show that addresses social hierarchy & its impact

The drama addresses the themes of social hierarchy and school violence that is carried out via a game, against the backdrop of a girls high-school. It explores how the powerful trample on those who go against them, or keep them as their sidekicks for fun and favor, while the powerless strive to climb up the social ladder. The story focusses on the main lead - a new transfer student who aims to break free from this oppression and the 10 episodes capture how she plans to make friends/allies and break the pyramid.

⪼ Best Parts:
♥ Acting: I am seeing most of the actresses who are students and central focus of this drama for the first time - and each one of them owns their character. They each bring their own personality into the role - crazy, naive, psychopaths, kind, unbothered, sly and more. It is very interesting to see the dynamics of the students as well as the supporting cast - staff and others related to school and students. Already have taken note of these fine artists - and eager to see their next work!

♥ Plot: I binged this straight in 10 hours after work hours. Was dog-tired but the show's cliffhangers were placed so well, that I just could not keep it down. The story builds up really well and ties it up with a nice explanation on why the characters behaved in a specific way and why the Pyramid Game exists. Every character gets their due - in a realistic way, which was very satisfying and not many dramas can claim that.

♥ Music: Shows like these need to be supported well by a good, haunting, suspense and powerful BGM. Needed as it complements the twists and reveals perfectly, and when there is no action but a mind game happening on screen - you need the right music to convey the feelings of that scene and character back to the audience.

The acting and music go hand in hand - that make you love/hate the characters, plots and eventually the drama, overall - hence this was also done very well. Blended it well with the direction/cinematography that keeps us on our toes - giving us some information, but then revealing the big picture later from the same scene - is an art, and was well delivered here.

⪼ Weakness:
Honestly, there are no weakness to be honest. The reason I am not calling this a 10/10 drama is solely cause of the fact that am familiar with this genre/plot theme and hence it did not blow me away, as it would to someone watching such plot for the first time. And if I have to be extremely critical - I would say the ending though it explained things well - felt rushed compared to the earlier 8-9 episodes. But this is me being overly critical and working very hard to find faults.

⪼ Overall:
"Pyramid Game" is well-crafted drama across grounds of plot, pace, acting, music and a powerful message that will resonate with you as it is something you see in real life - the grassroot of rich vs poor, powerful vs powerless and the never-ending fight to be free! Recommend it as a must-watch for those who enjoy fast paced survival game plots, suspense, thrills, revenge.

Leia Mais

Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Pyramid Game '' is a drama about school bullying and social classes.

The drama has a strong start, with the viewer being introduced to the characters and to the pyramid system. It was interesting to follow the main lead, as she was trying to understand her new position and how to change things. It was also nice that she wasn't all good and innocent, rather, she was a grey character who was selfish and manipulative. Hence, her character development was enjoyable to follow.

On the other hand, the drama had a weak second half. It felt anticlimactic and the ending was a let down.

At least, the performances were all strong by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, six out of ten.

Leia Mais

Pyramid structure of bullying

First of all this drama was awesome. Ost , acting, director all was good.
1) this story involves a pyramid structure of bullying.Though our antagonist says this is everyone's game but Those who are from powerful family, are popular will end up getting grade A . And from grade A to grade D is allowed to bully grade F . 3 grade A , 3 grade B , 6 grade C , 12 grade D and 1 grade F .

2) I liked the fact Sung Sooji isn't a pushover , like everyone she tries to avoid problems or bullies. But end up getting grade F and tries everything to get rid of this game . And she ends this game .

3 ) the thriller is great, like--- mind games , violence, betrayal everything is top notch.
Then why didn't I gave it 10/10 ?
Reason 1: Getting everything on her side was a little weird like Woori's brother as helper and hacker( it's okay cause psychopath like Harin is uncommon too ). Though the video was published, they never revealed the rules or published something extreme. the violence except kim Dayeon beat her classmates wasn't shown in the video/ live stream, It was easier to get rid of the accusations of Baek Harin through Baek group's power and influence.There are always some violence in school but without knowing that pyramid shaped ranked bullying why would the reporters will report ? ( Baek Harin never bullied or did something extreme in front of camera so people should have been called Kim Dayeon psychopath instead! ) It's okay though, the drama was outstanding .
Reason 2: what about Kim Dayeon's domestic abuser dad ? I know it's satisfying to see her get beaten up but she became violent bully cause of constant abuse .

4 ) this drama is great and I highly recommend it.

Leia Mais

A Fine Chess Match Between Two Masterminds

A series where a new schoolgirl tries to overcome the class hierarchy under the shell of a great game of chess where Song Soo Ji has to beat Baek Ha Rin who is the queen and the rest of the students are her pawns. Show full of betrayal, bullying, violance but also frienship that captivates the viewer until the last moment

Story: Phenomenal

Acting: Most of the times solid but there are moments where it's exaggerated

Music: Amazing and what's more important it fits the drama very well

Characters: Everyone was ok, except of course Song soo ji, she stood out quite clearly in a good way, and Bona's acting certainly helped with that. The second character who stood out was Go Eun Byul because she was just sooo annoying

The only criticism I have about the Pyramid Game is that any scene where they're not in class is a little boring. Other than that the show is a must watch.

Leia Mais

Good but watered down

Reviewing this as someone who’s read the webtoon. I wasn’t obsessed with the webtoon but I enjoyed it and was excited to see a female-centric drama with such a cynical, no-nonsense protagonist.

After finishing the drama, my perspective that it’s overall a decent adaptation, but it DEFINITELY feels watered down. Harin is less subtle, the backstory is less tragic, and the stakes just feel a tiny bit lower. I think the biggest change I didn’t like was the backstory — the original was really interesting, whereas the Jaeun/Harin relationship feels more anticlimactic in the show; they also gave more scenes to an old classmate who was bullied, and I felt like this was just anecessary. Kdrama has already had a lot of these types of backstories and Pyramid Game could’ve stood out from them more without it.

In fact, I think they added a lot more “kdrama” type scenes that just overall made the show feel less claustrophobic than the webtoon.

Even with the changes, however I noticed some off pacing, which made this feel much like an adaptation; they jumped from scene to scene, some of which I recognized, but the reasoning and development felt kind of choppy and unexplained. I feel like the themes were just less clear. The climax just also felt less world-changing, though I think this one might’ve been affected by its budget.

Still, one perfect part of this drama is the casting, especially Suji, Jaeun, Harin, Yerim, and Eunjung. It’s super interesting how each character pairing has their own dynamic and it truly felt like every actress understood the assignment.

And I just want to give an extra gold star to Yerim/Eunjung and sapphic representation; it’s still very low-key, but between Yerim/Eunjung and Sol/Jiwan from Nevertheless, it’s obvious that “girl friends to girlfriends” can be peak friends-to-lovers if done well.

Leia Mais

With such an excellent cast, every second of this thrilling show slays

Sincerely there's nothing better than when a show has a lot of characters, all of them possessing diverse, remarkable qualities and you just know that no matter how long their screentime is, they contribute to the plot heavily and you end up being fond of all of them, no matter how black or white each individual is. (although most of them fall into the grey zone)

Personally my 11/10 thing of this show is the OST (especially the songs "Higher", "In the Dark", "The Judgement"). Not just because it's gripping and intriguing but also because it never fails to do the trick, always appearing at the right time in every episode. Hearing just a bit of the OST makes the whole story unfold in front of me again, feeling all the emotions I felt while watching it.

As for the actresses (and the few actors of course), they did an exquisite job. I can't believe it's the first time acting for Jang Da A and Shin Seul Ki, they're very talented and portrayed their characters well, I hope to see both of them again, whether in season 2 or other dramas!!

Sung Soo Ji is an amazing protagonist. I love that she isn't a monotonous character and goes through changes, fitting into the already mentioned "grey zone" and almost falling into the pit of being the same as the other classmates at first. When you finally start climbing the pyramid scheme, of course you don't want to go back down there and being a bystander is alright as long as you aren't a bully, right? Luckily the lead gets to know better and decides to put an end to the insidious Pyramid Game altogether.

The story also didn't disappoint, 10 episodes of 50 minutes each was just good enough, it dragged only minorly, most of the time it was thrilling and kept me hooked as I was excitedly waiting for the next Thursday to watch another two episodes. And how I will miss these Thursdays!!

In conclusion, if you haven't watched this drama yet then I assure you, you won't be disappointed!!

Leia Mais

My most favourite 2024 kdrama

First of all, my ratings for every kdrama based on plot and how not dumb of most characters are. Because the dumbness of characters' action really make me irritable and ruin the mood to keep watching, but this kdrama has none. They are very smart!!

Every actresses act so well!! They have a very good chemistry. They are the best and so into their characters either main role or support role, my favourite is baek harin.

The only complain I have that make me rated 9.5 instead of 10 is the story behind baek harin why she want to harass jaeun, kinda too weak for me because they nerfed it from the webtoon version. Would be perfect if it's more impact and make me feel the even higher violence harin have faced.

A very picky little complain is they kind of overused the song on some scenes (not The Judgement one, this song is the best and so harin's coded). Would be even better if they produce more song to use in more specific scenes of this drama.

This is very worth rewatching because you might not understand what harin says to jaeun and why harin does that to jaeun at first watch. But if you already know the background, you understand everything.

Leia Mais

Not even four months into 2024, I think I've found the best K-drama this year

When I initially came across pyramid game on my TV, I completely ignored it, thinking I was tired of dramas with school settings but boy was I wrong for that. The interesting edits I came across social media ultimately motivated me to pick this gem of a thriller up and that was probably the best decision I've made all year.

Every week, in fact every episode left me on the edge of my seat, distressed about what could happen next. The story is well-paced, smart, intriguing and engaging, perfectly embodying the thriller genre. Another aspect I loved about this story was the fact it was female centric in an all girls' school, more than physical strength,mental and emotional strength were the key points used by our main character to overcome the abuse she faced in school. I also admire how the writer has shown us how miniscule things that we do even when we're children can manifest into something more sinister and eventually become a major consequence for us in the future(regarding jaeun being a bystander when harin got bullied as orphan when they were in 9th grade). Besides that, the representation of queer characters openly in a major K-drama like this one without censoring the original work also left me impressed, they definitely did justice to the webtoon on this one!

Can't submit this review without taking about the acting, Kim Bona outdid herself on this one. She's quickly become one of my favourite actresses even though it's my first time watching one of her works. The rest of the cast too, did such a good job! Each of them portraying their respective characters very well whether as bullies or bystanders, they all evoked many emotions within me when I watched the show. If I'm not mistaken, this is jang da ah's first role in a K-drama and I'm thoroughly impressed, she did so well despite Baek Ha Rin being a very difficult and complicated character that's quite the challenge to understand.

The review is getting too long but there's too much to talk about when the show is too good. I loved the music and ost they had on this one as well, higher by Ava grace and in the dark are both in my playlist now. They're fitting for the show and are catchy at the same time, it's not very often that I get interested in a show's ost but pyramid game has some stellar music and ost collection. The costumes and the set were also beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, very otherworldly and totally unrealistic to be a school but I loved it a lot.

I think there was no disappointment for me while tuning in on this one. However, I do wish they don't keep continuing the game lmao, I want my girls to be in peace finally ?

Leia Mais

Mindblown

For this series it will depend if it’ll suit your style, I am enjoying this series tbh and I can’t wait for the final two episodes 9-10. I’m not full on romance fluffy kind, I enjoy a wide array of genres from fantasy, crime, thriller, romance etc. What pulled me in the most is how well most of the Actors portrayed their character, and how intriguing it is wanting to read their thoughts but couldn’t.. how utterly creepy and scary the antagonist is. But also having thoughts of how ridiculous the whole thing was wherein Adults had very little to no say at all with all the crazy happenings. But again it’s a series some scenes are so realistic because it does happen in real life especially how bad bullying is in general.

Leia Mais

Perfect characterization!!

Considering the amount of casts they have in the show, it's amazing how every single one of them contribute to the plot with their own personality. Sung Soo Ji as the protagonist is just flawless (imo). The way she fought back against the entire system, we can't help but rooted for her. She was thinking about saving herself only at first, but I wouldn't call her selfish for that. Not after seeing how the other classmates gave her a cold attitude. But, Soo Ji changed and so were we (the viewers). We wanted them to succeed and destroy the pyramid. Their genuine feelings to be free from power abuse reached us.

Now, let's talk about the antagonist, Baek Harin! SHE IS FVCKING CRAZY [praise]. Idk why but I was reminded of Coach Kim from Sky Castle when I saw her character. She is calm and collected (most of the time) which is usually a BIG warning to not piss off people like them. She is violent but not doing it through brutal physical assault. She is manipulative and twisted. She showed no sign of guilt even until the end. Her presence in the show was what made this drama memorable and thrilling!

Gonna give my big applause to Jang Da Ah for bringing Baek Harin character to live. This is legendary for her acting debut.

Leia Mais