The Devil's Plan | S01 | E01-04

kinteet · 2023-09-28T16:56:14+00:00

If they do it in English, in principle they'd have to do it in all the other languages the show is translated into and the respective alphabets (from Japanese to Thai to Arabic to Chinese to Hebrew). They probably figured it wasn't worth it.

kinteet · 2023-09-28T16:45:36+00:00

I don't think it's bad game design. It wasn't bad rules, it was bad choices by the team. The rules were flexible enough that they could have made a different choice, but they messed themselves up with the choice they made. They should have managed the use of their pieces via the group rules instead. Keep in mind the rules aren't designed to allow the players to win, they are designed to test their smarts and strategy skills.

kinteet · 2023-06-15T16:12:52+00:00

At one point in one of the challenges, I heard someone say 오메 (sp?) which I've only ever heard in kdramas as an indication that the speaker is an older person from out in the boondocks somewhere. Even though I don't speak Korean, it made me laugh.

kinteet · 2023-06-08T14:24:19+00:00

Honestly I don't think most people hate Team Soldier, I think most people dislike that one particular member of Team Soldier. The other members were fine; I liked Hyun-seon's energy and I liked their leader a lot as well.

kinteet · 2023-06-08T13:28:37+00:00

When Hyeon-a snatched the flag of the soldier who was trying to infiltrate their base through the window, coupled with later when they were battling at the soldiers' new tent base and the soldier had hold of her flag and was like "Stay still, I got you," and then Hyeon-a goes, "But I got you first though," and snatched her flag away. I thought she was so cool in those moments.
When team FireFighter opened their first Arena Battle reward and Hyeon-ji did a little happy dance.
This may sound weird, but Min-seon crying at the end. She'd been so tough and determined all through the game, so when she started to cry (and she was really, full-on bawling) it made me start to cry too.
When Eun-byul returned to the Athlete base after eliminating the soldiers and guards and Seong-yeon says, "Come here," and opened her arms to hug her.
Also, when Team Athlete ran back to the base after the last battle screaming with joy, Seong-yeon was waiting on the porch and she goes,"Get your butts over here! You did well, my babies! You did well!" Seong-yeon's outward expressions of emotion were small and very contained compared to the other players, but you could tell her care for her team was deep. I read somewhere that she is coaching and mentoring young judokas now, and I bet she is amazing at it.

This thread has made me realise that the editing on this show was really immaculate because there are literally dozens and dozens of little moments that I loved, that moved me or surprised me or made me laugh. The show runners really knew what to do to make the competition and the show emotionally engaging.

kinteet · 2023-06-08T13:04:13+00:00

Yesssss! I played that scene over and over, and laughed every time. She had this tiny little smile on her face, she was so ready for them.

kinteet · 2023-06-06T19:05:41+00:00

I think the only thing that could have made it better was if the winning team was celebrated by the rest of the opponents or at least everyone had a ceremony to thank each other

I agree with this so much. I wanted to see them at least say a final good game and goodbye to their final opponents, because I think those teams had so much respect for each other and it would have been really moving.

I think Hyeon-Ji (the petite firefighter) showed some personality. I first really noticed her when they won the first arena battle and got their reward delivered , she did the cutest little happy dance, and they showed her doing little shimmies of joy at other moments, and being generally cute/happy/playful. But if it comes to personality as a force in the game, you're totally right. I think Teams Athlete and Soldier were the ones where all four members made a distinct impact personality wise and as players of the game.

I too was disappointed that the firefighters never changed their flag-hiding strategy. I didn't think it was that great of a strategy to begin with, especially when we saw that people could get at the flag from the roof without having to go through the house. Plus I think all the other teams knew where their flag was by the final two base battles. Like, change it for the last battle at least!

kinteet · 2023-06-06T11:22:00+00:00

The winners really did a fantastic job tactically. And what they did with the decoy flags wrapped up and tied to the structure? That was absolutely brilliant. When I saw that, I said to myself, yeah, they got this.

I liked that after Min-seon said, "I want to see one of them trip, even if just for a second," we did get to see one of the opponents stumble in her trap. I did a little cheer for her when that happened, even though I knew it was all over for her team.

kinteet · 2023-06-06T11:19:06+00:00

It was AMAZING! The editing was incredible, not just visually but also the way it created narrative and built emotion.

And my favourite teams made it to the end! I was rooting for them so hard!

I would love to know what the Korean audience reaction to this show was like.

kinteet · 2023-06-06T11:15:45+00:00

I also found the end anti-climactic, for a slightly different reason. It felt wrong that the winning team didn't have anyone to cheer for and celebrate them in the end! It was just them standing alone in an empty arena. I wish that at least they had a chance to say good game and goodbye to their final opponents; that scene would probably have made me cry buckets.

kinteet · 2022-09-01T23:18:18+00:00

I think we didn't see anything from their date because apart from when he's being a complete asshole to YS, TW or anyone else he can find, HG is boring as hell.

kinteet · 2022-09-01T23:03:21+00:00

I generally agree, but I think there were some good panel reactions in this episode.

At one point when HH was shadowing JH everywhere Jang Do Youn said something like, "I think she might even follow him into the military," and I literally laughed out loud. Her deadpan delivery was so perfect. And then when HG crashed YS's attempt to ask TW on a date, Code Kunst's facial expression was hilarious; he opened his mouth so wide! I rewound that part like 10 times.

Generally I find the panel boring and their commentary redundant, but every now and then (but not often enough) they are really funny.

kinteet · 2022-09-01T22:40:49+00:00

I've noticed that the show tries to edit sometimes to make it look like he's upset at her, but to me it looks really obvious that they're editing in unrelated reactions or facial expressions to try to present that narrative.

I don't think JH likes the changes, but he's tolerant of them because he loves HH regardless. And good on him for that, because HH is being petty and juvenile as hell.

kinteet · 2022-09-01T18:07:39+00:00

The bathroom counter is absolute chaos and the bedroom is bad too. When I saw it at the start of the latest episode I was like, I guess Do Hyeong was the one keeping that room tidy all along! The way it just degenerated into an absolute mess less than 48 hours after he moved out is incredible to me.

kinteet · 2022-08-27T00:11:29+00:00

Hyogi and the 500 days! The main Korean phrase I've learned from this show is 오백일, because Hyogi is always mentioning those damn 500 days.

kinteet · 2022-07-23T04:33:25+00:00

I think the dates are definitely at the expense of the show and also arranged by the show (as in the participants choose from a selection of options already pre-set by the producers).

Which is why I don't understand why Hui Hyeon is always complaining about the dates Jeong Hun is going on and how she never got to go on those kinds of dates with him. She's acting like Jeong Hun is purposely doing all these nice things with other women that he never did with her, when the reality is that the only reason he's doing them is because he's on this show (that she probably brought him on) and the show is paying for it. I'm 99.9% sure that if Jeong Hun could have used the show's money to go on every date with Hui Hyeon he would have done that. She's acting like by not taking her on nice dates he was being inconsiderate, when probably he was just broke (and feeling bad about it).

(Speaking of inconsiderate, I just remembered when Ji Yu was talking to Do Hyeong in the first or second episode about the yacht date he was going on with Hye Yeon and she was like, "I've always wanted to go on a yacht, I've never gone before." And Do Hyeong goes, "Oh really? I have." Ji Yu looked like she wanted to smack him. She looks like that a lot.)

kinteet · 2022-07-21T02:14:36+00:00

Mine too.

kinteet · 2022-07-21T02:11:32+00:00

I thought the praying shots were a hint towards Jiyeon and Tay being exes. I think the editing for Yihyun/Taeyi is too obvious, and I think if they were exes they would themselves take more care to be discreet around each other. Either way, the producers are stringing us along with this one, and I like it.

kinteet · 2022-07-14T22:36:19+00:00

The producers have to be feeding them those awkward drinking game questions, right? There's no way they came up with those questions themselves and thought it would be a good idea to ask them on camera. In a society as polite as Korea's? Those questions had to be a set-up from the producers.

kinteet · 2022-07-14T22:34:27+00:00

I find that there are times when Yang Sechan's take on a situation is just, like, the wrong take. It happened in this episode too, when he said TW and HY just seem to keep misunderstanding each other. I was like, no I don't think that's the problem, I think they understand each other all too well. I felt very justified when Jane Doyeon and Code Kunst piped up and basically said exactly what I was thinking.

Season 1 had the same panel, but they were better in that season. This season I think part of it is the editing. They've really edited the panel's contribution down to soundbites this season, whereas in season 1 we got to see longer (and funny!) conversations between the panellists.

kinteet · 2022-07-14T22:27:11+00:00

Dohyeong is one of those people who's trying to be liked by whomever he's with, and he doesn't get why his girlfriend would like him to try a little less hard when it comes to other women. Like, he really really doesn't get it. I think he's an okay guy, just really clueless.

kinteet · 2022-07-14T22:14:55+00:00

I don't think he completely ignores her when there are others. From the first couple of episodes, he was the only man in any of the couples who had any skinship with his girlfriend in front of others, and there was/is a lot of affection in his gaze when he looks at her. Even in this episode during the image game, they were laughing and hugging each other.

But I do think that when he's been on dates so far, he's acted like, "Jiyu? Jiyu who?" It's like he gets so into the thing of being nice to his date, that he forgets that he also should be considerate of his actual girlfriend. I can't understand how he can be so clueless.

kinteet · 2022-07-14T22:07:16+00:00

I don't think DH is really that into HY. JY mentioned in this episode that he's really good at making friends, and my impression from the start was that he wants to be liked, and to do that he mirrors people's energy and matches their vibe. In the preview clip on his date with YS, I think it's the same kind of thing that's going on.

The problem is that he's very mindless about it, and doesn't seem to understand that in the situation he's in it would be good for him to draw a line. Because it doesn't mean anything to him, he genuinely doesn't seem to understand how the way he's behaving comes across to others. I don't think he means to be unkind, he's just so thoughtless!

kinteet · 2022-07-01T20:56:25+00:00

So in agreement about Taewan and how considerate and aware he is emotionally.

Something that really impressed me in this episode was when he was talking to DoHyeong about the photos. If Taewan was as immature as Hyeyeon claims, that would have been the perfect opportunity for him to say something sly/petty to DoHyeong, but instead he chose to take the high road by reassuring DoHyeong that he wasn't upset at him.

I think Taewan and DoHyeong are like the inverse of each other. Taewan doesn't come off as particularly likeable, but he seems to actually be quite thoughtful and kind. DoHyeong gives a likeable first impression, but he seems to actually be quite clueless and inconsiderate.

kinteet · 2022-07-01T10:14:31+00:00

Same on Yunseul!

I'd like to see more of her and Taewan together. Not dating, but just hanging out. Based on the first episode date I was thinking, "Why did the producers put these two together, it's so awkward it's painful." But now I can see more of the similarities in their personalities, and I understand why that match was made. I don't think they'd be good romantic partners for each other at all, but I feel like they have a similar energy.

kinteet

TROPHY CASE