Dying’s Recreation: Episodes 5-8 (Closing)
by lovepark
A person who chooses to finish his life is plucked by Dying and thrown right into a recreation. As he experiences twelve totally different our bodies, he positive factors a brand new perspective on residing. Whereas some individuals are monsters with no redeemable qualities, others are pitiful people who have been dealt unhealthy arms. After experiencing the world by way of different folks’s eyes, Dying presents our protagonist with a second likelihood, however whether or not or not he takes it’s as much as him.
EPISODES 5-8
The second half of Dying’s Recreation opens with a grotesque scene because the present instantly introduces our hero’s subsequent physique: serial killer JUNG GYU-CHEOL (Kim Jae-wook). An artist who makes use of his victims’ blood as paint, Gyu-cheol has no qualms about kidnapping folks from harmless civilians to lowlife rapists and immortalizing their closing moments on canvas which fetch for a excessive value.
After Yi-jae’s try to kill Dying changed into a idiot’s errand, he finds himself contained in the eighth physique and decides to make use of this demon to kill a special one: Taekang Group’s inheritor Park Tae-woo. Fortunately for Yi-jae, psychopaths appear to draw each other, and Tae-woo approaches Gyu-cheol’s agent about buying a bit. Their encounter is tense due to Yi-jae’s thinly veiled animosity, however to Tae-woo, the person in entrance of him is a stranger and barely registers as a menace.
Although Yi-jae misses his likelihood to kill Tae-woo throughout their first assembly, he is aware of his handle now and waits for him at his home that evening. When Tae-woo sees the cryptic painter in his driveway, his already unhealthy day turns worse, and he pulls out his shotgun with no second thought. He shoots Yi-jae within the again, however as loopy as this all appears, Yi-jae predicted this is able to occur and wore a bulletproof vest. His preparedness provides him the higher hand, and Yi-jae captures Tae-woo.
Whereas Yi-jae manages to take Tae-woo to his studio the place he plans to noticed him in half, he faints as quickly as he arrives on account of Gyu-cheol’s mind tumor. This offers Tae-woo sufficient time to interrupt his bindings and switch the tables on his captor. As soon as Yi-jae wakes up, he stares up into Tae-woo’s manic eyes, and the latter tells him that he pertains to Gyu-cheol. He, too, skilled what it felt like being God when he by chance hit a person along with his automotive, and now, he can relive that euphoria over again.
Shaking with pleasure, Tae-woo orders Yi-jae to beg for his life, however Yi-jae spits in his face and laughs. With that, he experiences his most painful dying but, and finally ends up again in entrance of Dying’s door. Regardless of the horrific finish he simply met, Yi-jae continues laughing within the face of Dying. Because it seems, he by no means meant to homicide Tae-woo in his eighth physique, however as a substitute, he planted the seeds to catch him within the subsequent.
Thus, the present strikes on to Yi-jae’s ninth physique, detective AHN JI-HYUNG (Oh Jung-se). Although Detective Ahn joined the drive to comply with in his father’s footsteps, he made a promise to his mom to look out for himself at the beginning. His motto, as anticipated, turned him right into a black sheep amongst his friends, however for Yi-jae, this physique is ideal for him to catch his goal.
Yi-jae leads a workforce into Gyu-cheol’s studio the place they discover all of the proof they should remedy the serial homicide case, however the final recording of Tae-woo he pockets for himself. He is aware of the police are corrupt, so he arms the footage to a information station, as a substitute. Like clockwork, the commissioner calls Yi-jae into his workplace, and Tae-woo greets him with a proposal to hitch his payroll. Shredding the contract, Yi-jae tells Tae-woo that each one he needs is him and provides Tae-woo thirty minutes to resolve earlier than he involves arrest him.
Making the primary transfer, Tae-woo approaches the reporters and twists the story so he turns into the sufferer and purveyor of justice. The information stations solely launch the footage the place Yi-jae kidnapped Tae-woo, giving credence to his story, and the general public hails him as a hero. Tae-woo turns into untouchable, however as he basks in his win, Yi-jae strikes.
Utilizing all the talents he acquired from his earlier our bodies, Yi-jae set every thing up as lure for Tae-woo and obtained him caught in a reproduction of his first physique’s dying. Nonetheless, in contrast to Tae-woo, Yi-jae provides him an opportunity at survival, and with solely thirty seconds left earlier than the aircraft explodes, Tae-woo finds the hidden parachute and jumps… proper into Yi-jae’s dashing automotive.
Although Tae-woo survives the influence, it leaves him defenseless towards his impending doom. As Yi-jae strolls as much as him, he mirrors Tae-woo’s actions from the evening his seventh physique died, and he asks the way it feels to be on the receiving finish. Nonetheless, killing is towards the principles, and Dying seems to cease him. Keen to go to hell if it means taking Tae-woo with him, Yi-jae tells Dying to screw the principles, however then, Ji-soo’s pen falls to the bottom.
Returning to his senses, Yi-jae leaves, however behind him, Tae-woo lunges ahead to stab him. As if by destiny (or is it dying), a gust of wind blows him again, and a truck hits him. He wakes up days later within the hospital with each legs amputated, and every thing he constructed crumbles round him because the world learns of his true nature. Paying one final go to to his enemy, Yi-jae tells him to take pleasure in his residing hell.
Together with his revenge completed, Yi-jae passes the times as Detective Ahn till Dying finds him once more, but it surely takes some time for that to occur. As Yi-jae will get snug on this new life, a chase with a felony leaves him and his companion at gunpoint, so he sacrifices himself to avoid wasting the opposite man. When he returns to Dying, she scoffs at his deluded sense of pleasure and asks him who he’s. Her query confuses him, however earlier than he can reply, she shoots him within the head.
Yi-jae wakes up in his tenth physique (Kim Gained-hae) and watches the information concerning the detective’s passing. For the primary time, he attends one in every of his funerals, however the which means behind Dying’s query quickly dawns on him. All his earlier buddies and colleagues see him as a smelly homeless man, and even the companion he died saving treats him with contempt. Realizing that residing as another person means nothing, Yi-jae needs to finish this torture and falls to his dying whereas operating away from the physique’s crystal.
Solely two extra bullets stay, and Yi-jae decides that sufficient is sufficient. As quickly as he enters his eleventh physique (Kim Gun-ho), he quits attempting and provides into the host’s suicidal ideas. Although the eleventh physique achieved every thing Yi-jae as soon as wished, he misplaced all of it and made the identical resolution as Yi-jae again then. Fairly than rewrite destiny, Yi-jae runs into visitors with no second of hesitation.
In a shocking twist, the eleventh physique seems to be the identical man who brought about Yi-jae’s downfall in addition to the person who ignited one thing inside Tae-woo. Therefore, Yi-jae’s hasty resolution to commit suicide was the catalyst that began this mess, and historical past repeats itself as soon as extra. This flip of occasions comes as no shock to Dying who claims that people continually kick away alternatives, and she or he wonders what Yi-jae will do along with his final likelihood.
Having misplaced all motivation to combat again, Yi-jae plans to finish the twelfth physique quickly, too, however when he appears within the mirror, he finds his mom (Kim Mi-kyung) staring again at him. As her recollections flood his aware, he learns concerning the difficulties she confronted whereas elevating him as a single father or mother, however his largest takeaway is her resilience. He realizes how silly he was for not being pleased regardless of every thing his mom did for him and begs for forgiveness for all of the ache he brought about her. What appeared like a punishment at first turns into a approach for Yi-jae to meet his mom’s want, so he continues residing.
After spending thirty-two years in his mom’s physique remembering his family members, Yi-jae returns to Dying’s door one final time. He kneels earlier than Dying and asks for an additional likelihood to stay as himself. All he needs to do is hug his mom as soon as, and Dying tells him that he gained. Pulling out a bullet, she permits him another alternative however leaves it as much as luck on whether or not or not his want is granted.
Accepting the revolver, Yi-jae factors it to his head and shoots. A shot rings out, the display screen cuts to black, after which, we return to the rooftop the place Yi-jae jumped. His cellphone rings, and this time, he solutions his mom’s name.
The ultimate message of Dying’s Recreation is predictable, but the load of its significance stays resolute. As with its closing message, the present needs its viewers to know that each particular person is irreplaceable, and what may appear to be a darkish tunnel proper now could solely be a small half of a bigger alternative referred to as life. In the long run, the crux of Dying’s lesson was by no means about fixing a thriller or toppling a “massive unhealthy,” however as a substitute, Dying wished Yi-jae to be taught that he was beloved. His dying wasn’t a selfless resolution that harm nobody, and solely after experiencing the world by way of his mom’s eyes was Yi-jae lastly capable of step out of his personal footwear and understand his mistake.
Whereas the sentiment is admirable, I did discover the present’s general perspective on suicide barely too individualistic, which turned out to be a driving high quality all through the present. The story by no means delves into the nuances of the characters’ conditions, usually coloring them in easy strokes. Whereas this method works for among the extra action-packed deaths just like the second and fourth our bodies, the message will get clouded with among the different ones just like the third, sixth, and tenth physique. The present brings up points like college bullying, youngster abuse, and homelessness, however finally, they’re handled as plot units relatively than bigger societal ills.
Take into accounts Yi-jae’s unique story. His plight is handled as a momentary ache, however the actuality is that unemployment and financial melancholy are actual points with out easy options. Merely working “more durable” doesn’t remedy Yi-jae’s state of affairs, and I might argue that he was already working very arduous and his resolution to commit suicide got here from a second of despair relatively than abject selfishness. Thus, there’s a small little bit of me that feels just like the present’s message is necessary however too simplistic.
The tone of the second half of the present is a bit totally different from the primary, primarily as a result of the main focus switches to Yi-jae’s antagonistic relationship with Tae-woo relatively than “beating” the sport. He spends an excellent chunk of the present attempting to take down his enemy, and I discovered their cat-and-mouse chase entertaining. The actors within the second half have been additionally phenomenal, with all 5 of them getting to indicate off their craft in impactful scenes, and even the shorter appearances have been fairly pivotal to Yi-jae’s development. The tenth physique raised fascinating questions concerning personhood — one other central theme to the present — and the eleventh physique was fascinating not simply due to the twist however for its symbolic reflection. It highlighted how even when Yi-jae achieved his needs, it didn’t essentially assure happiness. In different phrases, what we worth as a society just isn’t at all times the issues that deliver us pleasure.
On a private notice, the ending of Dying’s Recreation feels adjoining to one in every of my least favourite tropes: “it was all a dream.” Yi-jae returns to the second proper earlier than he jumps, suggesting that he chooses a special path this time round, however which means every thing that occurred within the present was all moot. Does this imply all these atrocities will nonetheless occur or was Yi-jae’s time in these our bodies an alternate actuality that by no means existed? If I believe too deeply concerning the mechanics of Dying’s so-called recreation, there are some unfastened ends that don’t make sense (I assumed Yi-jae wasn’t allowed to commit suicide?). Nonetheless, as I acknowledged above, the present was at all times a character-driven story, and as such, even when none of those occasions truly happen, the impact they’d on Yi-jae is the essential half. Therefore, every thing that occurred within the recreation did matter as a result of they taught Yi-jae to worth his life as a result of each individual is exclusive, and proper now, I believe it’s a message the world wants.
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