Assessment: No Method Out: The Roulette

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Present has an fascinating idea and a really strong solid; I felt that every one of our key actors did very nicely with what they got to work with.

General, I believed the writing and execution was respectable, however personally, I discovered myself wanting extra and higher, from this sequence.

That mentioned, your mileage is prone to fluctuate, as there are various viewers who love this one unreservedly.

One factor that almost all viewers appear to agree on, nonetheless, is that Greg Hsu is kind of the scene stealer on this. 😁

THE LONG VERDICT:

Y’know, I do assume that it was a stroke of genius for this present to solid Greg Hsu, as a result of I feel I’m doubtless not the one one who checked out this present, only for the promise of seeing Greg Hsu in a kdrama.

I imply, this entire “drama worlds colliding throughout borders” kind of impact, was fairly thrilling for me personally. 😉

As a lot of you doubtless know, this isn’t in any respect my standard most well-liked style of drama; I’m not often one for darkness, grit, and exploring the potential depths of the human psyche.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t cross up the promise of Greg Hsu on my display (sure, I’ve an unreasonable affection for him, primarily based on his function in Sometime Or One Day alone 😁), and that’s how I ended up watching all of this present.

Let’s simply say that in the event that they hadn’t solid Greg Hsu, I’d in all probability have by no means checked this out – and it actually wouldn’t have negatively impacted my life in any means. 🤭

However y’know, numerous individuals actually love this one, so that you may too?

HOW I’M APPROACHING THIS REVIEW

First I’ll speak about how you can handle your expectations going into this one, and what viewing lens could be most useful.

After that, I speak about stuff I preferred and didn’t like a lot. I’m opting not to do a separate part on characters and relationships, for this evaluate. Lastly, I spend a while speaking about my ideas on the finale episodes.

In the event you’re eager about my blow-by-blow reactions, &/or all the varied Patreon members’ feedback through the course of our watch, you may like to take a look at my episode notes on Patreon right here.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Listed below are some issues that I feel could be useful to bear in mind, to maximise your enjoyment of your watch:

1. It will get fairly darkish

Like I alluded to earlier, this present leans darkish, not simply by way of the premise, but in addition, by way of how our story digs into the ugly aspect of the human psyche, like what individuals are able to, when greed takes over.

2. Our characters are grey

This in all probability isn’t shocking, in mild of what I simply mentioned, however with few exceptions, our characters are morally grey.

Figuring out to anticipate that, helps.

3. Suspension of disbelief is required

There are numerous issues in our drama world that stretch the boundaries of believability, and I feel accepting it as an alternative of preventing it, would assist.

I’m considering {that a} “loss of life recreation webtoon” lens would work.

STUFF I LIKED

The idea is fascinating

Despite the fact that this present isn’t a style that I’d sometimes attain for, I’ve to confess that I discovered the premise fairly fascinating.

Primarily, to my eyes, this seems like the conventional world meets Squid Sport (evaluate right here!), in a fashion of talking.

The general tone and really feel of this drama world feels prefer it got here from a police procedural, the place issues are grey and gritty, and much from stylized.

However then you may have this mysterious determine carrying a masks and jumpsuit, with a voice distorter, inviting individuals to kill a selected individual over broadcast, for a reward that’s greater than what a mean individual would see in like, 20 lifetimes.

That positively offers me Squid Sport vibes, and it’s an odd mashup, in a way, as a result of the place Squid Sport had its personal surrealistic kind of world, the place the Sport was contained in a devoted area, this recreation has a a lot bigger enjoying area.

It takes place out in the actual world, and as an alternative of chosen contributors, anybody can play. The probabilities are multiplied many instances over, which actually is kind of morbidly fascinating, in and of itself.

And sure, “morbid fascination” is just about the important thing that saved me going, even once I wasn’t certain Present was working so nicely for me. 😅

When Present is thought-provoking

Like I alluded to earlier, Present does appear to need to discover the potential depths of the human psyche. Or on the very least, it offers it the highlight on a fairly common foundation. 😅

I did discover it slightly thought-provoking, at the least at factors, and I counted that as a very good factor.

Listed below are some early examples from episode 1.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1. One of many first issues to hit me, whereas watching, is the query of simply how far individuals could be keen to go, to fulfill their greed.

In our opening scenes, which I actually discovered slightly harrowing, we see Yoon Chang Jae (performed by Lee Kwang Soo) operating for his life, as a result of his buddy Ji Hong – his FRIEND! 😱 – is decided to chop off his ear, with a view to declare the one billion received that the roulette has pronounced as the worth of mentioned appendage.

I imply, it’s potential that it’s extra desperation than greed that drives Ji Hong’s actions, as a result of he does speak about how they might by no means earn this amount of cash regardless of how arduous they labored, however from the seems to be of it, Ji Hong had an honest roof over his head, and a job that earned him a wage, so it’s not like he was in a really determined scenario, I feel.

In the case of the query of greed, we see how a mean, regular individual can fairly simply develop into a part of an unhinged crowd, able to trample down anybody who could be of their means of getting their fingers on free cash.

On this case, with Masked Man raining down a billion received from the sky into that stadium, you can logically work out that even when you received your fingers on a few of that cash, you wouldn’t be getting a major fortune, since everybody’s dashing to select up the money.

And but, we see individuals virtually shedding their minds over getting their fingers on as a lot of the cash as potential, and there are individuals who get fairly injured, in the middle of this entire train.

As a indifferent bystander, it actually makes me ponder whether these individuals discover it worthwhile, after the actual fact, particularly in the event that they received injured within the course of. Like, is it nonetheless value it, when you’ve gotten your head bashed in, whereas dashing for the cash..? 🤔

[END SPOILER]

Strong supply by a strong solid

I’m opting to not do a breakdown of our numerous characters, however I needed to say that I discovered all our important gamers very strong.

Particularly, I believed Lee Kwang Soo did very nicely as Yoon Chang Jae; there have been some scenes the place he legit made me wince – he was that convincing. 🙈😅

Additionally, shout-out to Yoo Jae Myung, whom I discovered very convincing as Kim Guk Ho, the prison whose life is all of a sudden value 20 billion received.

He managed to make Guk Ho suitably repulsive, whereas typically managing to make him seem nearly pitiful. I believed that was nicely accomplished.

Greg Hsu as Mr. Smile

I couldn’t not embrace Greg Hsu on this part, since he was such an enormous a part of why I even watched this present within the first place.

To be clear, Greg Hsu doesn’t get an entire lot of display time, and actually solely seems in episode 6, however I nonetheless couldn’t wipe the grin off my face, when he did lastly seem. 😁

Sure, I do know that he’s technically enjoying a foul man, since he’s an murderer, however I used to be fairly thrilled that he will get to be all badass, in a fairly laidback kind of means, which I discovered altogether fairly mesmerizing. 🤩🤩

Sorry. It’s the fangirl in me. 😁😅

STUFF THAT WAS OK

The grey characters

It made sense to me that virtually all of our characters would become grey, as a result of we’re, in spite of everything, in a narrative the place we’re exploring (or at the least, placing on show) simply how ugly the human psyche might be, significantly when confronted with simply the suitable mixture of things.

A great quantity of the time, I felt like I might at the least perceive why our characters would make the selections they did, or behave the way in which they did, even when I like the selections or the behaviors.

That mentioned, I did really feel a bit perplexed by:

1, the truth that I discovered myself actively disliking a few of our important character’s actions, thus, feeling dissatisfied with him.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E3-4. Truthfully, the way in which Joong Sik (Jo Jin Woong) compelled Ju Ho (Heo Dong Received) to lend him his new automobile, rubbed me the flawed means; I’d really feel like my rights have been violated, in Ju Ho’s sneakers.

And, because of Joong Sik promptly utilizing Ju Ho’s automobile as the brand new storage place for the case of cash, Ju Ho’s automobile instantly turns into Chang Jae’s (Lee Kwang Soo) new goal.

This additionally aggravated me, as a result of in the end, this may make Ju Ho an pointless goal, as soon as the automobile is returned, no?

I get how this may profit Joong Sik, however the truth that this motion put his buddy, who’s none the wiser, in danger, didn’t sit proper with me.

[END SPOILER]

2, the truth that it wasn’t lengthy earlier than I ran out of characters whom I felt I might root for.

General, although, I’m classifying this all as a impartial factor for me, as a result of I’m fairly satisfied that it was Present’s intention to make these characters as grey and as unlikable as they turned out to be.

STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH

The way in which Present tells its story

It is a case the place I preferred what Present was doing in idea, but it surely didn’t actually work for me in execution.

Over just a few episodes, it quickly turns into clear that Present makes use of completely different narrative angles with every episode, with a view to construct the context round our numerous characters.

I preferred the concept of this, as a result of I feel context is nice, and infrequently makes all of the distinction, in how we obtain and interpret issues.

On the identical time, I couldn’t assist however examine the writing to that in Transferring (evaluate right here!), which additionally switched views regularly, for the aim of constructing context for the principle narrative.

In Transferring, the writing had felt extra deft, like writer-nim knew precisely what he was doing, and the switches had felt very assured.

I don’t know if it’s simply me; I didn’t get an analogous sense of assured deftness, on this present’s switches in views. In truth, I typically felt just like the switches in perspective really took away from story momentum.

However maybe that has to do with Present’s pacing, which I’ll speak about subsequent.

The pacing

Expectation

As a result of Present focuses on greed and desperation, and what it may possibly do to individuals, and has a central prize up for grabs, my rapid intestine response was to place it in an analogous bucket as Squid Sport.

Nonetheless, whereas Squid Sport strikes alongside fairly shortly, this present strikes at a extra reasonable tempo.

Whereas watching, I understood in my head that it’s vital to take time to get the total context of every character and that that will, in flip, flesh out the story as an entire.

However on the identical time, I additionally discovered myself feeling impatient as a result of I felt like I used to be ready for pleasure to return, but it surely.. typically didn’t actually. 😅

Placing apart my instinctive boredom, and tweaking my lens, I trusted that Present was nonetheless constructing its context, and I used to be certain that, thereafter, there could be a spike in narrative pleasure, each from the precise occasions that happen, in addition to the pacing of mentioned occasions.

Actuality

That.. wasn’t fairly the case, sadly.

One way or the other, Present manages to nonetheless really feel prefer it’s transferring at a measured tempo, even throughout its finale episodes, when issues are transferring into place for the massive end.

I can’t deny that I discovered myself feeling slightly bored, sadly. 🙈

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

Partway by means of my watch, I noticed that I couldn’t envision a passable or satisfying ending to this story. Was there a means for this to finish nicely? I don’t assume so.

I estimated that issues have been going to get unhealthy, and lots of people would find yourself both getting harm, or dying, and.. I wasn’t flawed. 😅

I understood Joong Sik’s desperation, and why he would go berserk and steal Guk Ho, in episode 7; it’s as a result of so far as he might see, this was the one method to safe his daughter So Mi’s (Choi Myung Bin) security.

I definitely wasn’t rooting for Chang Jae, however I nonetheless winced, as a result of the loss of life that he suffered at Guk Ho’s fingers was nothing in need of brutal. I positively needed to look away. Eep. 🫣

Oh, and the reveal that “Pastor Sung” was Masked Man wasn’t shocking, given Kim Sung Chul’s casting. In truth, with the way in which Present handled him as a personality, I’d name it extra of a affirmation than a reveal, as a result of it was that uneventful. 😅

“Pastor Sung” and his entire deal, of meting out rogue justice to intercourse offenders due to how vile they’re, and the way a lot harm they do to their victims and their households, is fairly darkish.

What I imply is, it’s tragic that his mom had suffered and died the way in which she did, however it’s fairly one thing else, the way in which he chooses to punish his targets, by making them endure a dwelling hell, the place they want they might die, however can’t.

The way in which he principally has Guk Ho and Dong Ha (Sung Yoo Bin) face off to the loss of life, additionally feels merciless, as a result of regardless that Dong Ha says that he desires to kill Guk Ho, is it actually a good suggestion to pit the poor harmless boy in opposition to his hardened prison father??

As a result of, as we see, Dong Ha isn’t tremendous profitable at his try and kill Guk Ho, and as soon as Guk Ho activates Dong Ha, it isn’t lengthy earlier than Dong Ha is in precise hazard of getting killed. 😬

I imply, sure, Dong Ha does ultimately achieve the higher hand, unexpectedly, however there was a really actual hazard of him dying, sure?

Ultimately, it appears becoming that Guk Ho will get shot whereas taking Dong Ha hostage, as a result of this manner, at the least Present can justify his loss of life.

And it’s slightly poignant, that his final phrases to Dong Ha, as soon as he realizes that the jig is up, are to review arduous, and be good to his mom. Maybe he did have some traces of fatherly intuition about him, in spite of everything?

That brings Guk Ho’s grisly story to an finish, however the level that Present makes, is that this recreation is much from over.

First, we see Joong Sik receiving that envelope from “Pastor Sung” with info on the 20 billion received deposit in his identify, as a result of he’s the one who’d killed Guk Ho in the long run, and we see Joong Sik’s expression flip enigmatic; he’s getting sucked into this entire greed factor once more, I’d say.

Then, we see Masked Dude in a brand new video, spinning the roulette as soon as extra, and saying a brand new recreation spherical.

After which lastly, we’ve Mr. Smile warning Joong Sik in a video, to surrender looking for Masked Man – as a result of Masked Man is his subsequent goal.

Some viewers take this to imply that Present’s coming again with a Season 2, however I personally perceive this as Present’s means of claiming that there isn’t a finish, neither to individuals’s greed, nor this sort of lethal recreation.

Personally, I discover that to be a slightly miserable message, however I additionally assume that that’s Present’s entire level.

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Attention-grabbing premise; uneven execution. Simply okay, in my books.

FINAL GRADE: B

TRAILER:

MR. SMILE: GREG HSU CUT

PATREON UPDATE!

The following drama I’m protecting on Patreon, rather than  No Method Out: The Roulette, is Like Flowers in Sand [Korea].

You possibly can take a look at my episode 1-2 notes on Like Flowers in Sand on Patreon right here.

In the event you’re inquisitive about why I’m choosing Like Flowers in Sand as an alternative of a at present airing present, you’ll be able to take a look at my ballot on Patreon right here.

Right here’s an summary of what I’m protecting on Patreon proper now (Tier advantages are cumulative)!

Basis Tier (US$1): Leisure Drop (Sundays) + the primary set notes of all reveals coated on Patreon (that’s 2 episodes for kdramas and 4 episodes for cdramas)

Early Entry (US$5): +Cinderella at 2 AM [Korea]

Early Entry Plus (US$10): +Love Subsequent Door [Korea]

VIP (US$15): +Your Honor [Korea]

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