Were you a strategic mastermind in high school? Intelligent enough to build and maintain your own little North Korea in your class and astute enough to instigate a rebellion and tear the empire down? Was your entire school full of lesbians? I don't think so. And that's why we have K-dramas - to see these wild exciting plots come to life!

Since the emphasis on the "game" is stated right in the drama title, I felt compelled to compare just how much of a game was the bullying system that Baek Ha Rin created. If we take Johan Huizinga's play theory, the first element of the equation doesn't seem to match. In his definition, a play:
1. Is a voluntary activity.
2. Separated from ordinary life.
3. Has a distinct location and duration.
4. Demands absolute order.
5. Connected with no material interest.

But weren't you free to not download the Pyramid Game app? Myeong Ja Eun automatically becomes one of the victims when she declines to participate in the voting. If you're punished for not playing, that's not really a game anymore, is it? If Pyramid Game was never a game in the first place, it means that Ha Rin's superiority to the rest of the class was superficial, she wasn't even a charismatic leader. This imitation of freedom is often executed in authoritarian and totalitarian states, and all of them are held up by fear, not the mythical "respect" for the dictator.

Rather than having to deal with a consolidated cult, Seong Soo Ji parachutes in a fertile soil for a coup d'etat, and it makes her task in the drama easier. The main part of the story is Soo Ji navigating her way through the new class in the all-girls school that she transferred to. The whole drama is one big trigger warning for violence and school bullying, and you should consider that before watching. The scenes of violence evoked such primary rage in me, good thing they are only on screen. The scale of violence is almost equal to The Glory, and the eerily smooth intro with cool colors and definite shapes is certainly inspired by it.

The best part of the drama is THE GIRLS. Literally every communication between any of them is low-key or high-key sapphic. Our fantastic couple Lim Ye Rim and Shim Eun Jeong steal the spotlight every other episode. Bona's fiery eyes were a whole another character on their own, but my favorite actress is Oh Se Eun playing a firecracker Song Jae Hyeong with a thing for muscular shoulders. She's such a playful and bright little fox, she caught my attention earlier with her memorable performance in Duty After School.

There are many things that felt off in this drama, including the superficial introduction of the prisoner's dilemma, and there's a lot I can't put my finger on. But I don't feel the need to emphasize the bad parts if this beautiful lesbian world is spinning and making us happy!