I realized I talk about The Victim's Game ALL OF THE TIME, but I have never done a review of this crime drama. If I want more people to watch this wonderful crime drama, I better spread the word by writing a blogpost/record a podcast episode on the drama. SINCE WE ARE IN THE MONTH OF HALLOWEEN, WHY NOT RELEASE THE REVIEW DURING THIS MONTH!? It is perfect! So, I am going to review both seasons of the drama. I will reference specific things that pertain to one season or the other. I will spell those individual things out but overall, most of what I dislike and/or like are overarching themes that cross both seasons. I hope by doing this review, people will get interested in checking out this crime drama OR if they already like crime dramas but maybe they have never watched a Taiwanese drama, they will take a chance and check this one out.
Now as per usual with any review I write, I will not be including any spoilers in the first part of this review - you will get a spoiler warning before we move into spoiler territory
A QUICK SYNOPSIS OF BOTH SEASONS:
SEASON 1 SYNOPSIS - After discovering his estranged daughter's link to mysterious murders, a forensic detective with autism spectrum disorder risks everything to solve the case.
SEASON 2 SYNOPSIS - A forensic detective is embroiled in a series of deaths, becoming a prime suspect. The incidents link back to a murder case he responded to 15 years ago all while trying to establish a relationship with his estranged daughter.
I have been talking about this drama for the last 4 years. I was so excited that we FINALLY got a season 2 for The Victim's Game in 2024. After I rewatched Season 1 and watched Season 2, I did end up liking Season 1 just a little bit more than Season 2. Just by a little thought - I gave Season 1 a 9/10 and Season 2 an 8.5/10. I wish Season 2 had made some different decisions in their story and how it handled some characters. OVERALL, THOUGH - I still think this drama series is an AMAZING crime series, and more people should watch it. As I said A BILLION TIMES, The Victim's Game is SO MUCH MORE than just another crime drama. I explain more about this below in the spoiler section. Also, TRIGGER WARNING for violence, gruesomely detailed crime scenes and autopsies and suicide. It was really nice revisiting this series after 4 years with Season 2.
⚠️THIS IS YOUR SPOILER WARNING!!!! WE ARE ENTERING SPOILER TERRITORY BEYOND THIS POINT!! ⚠️
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THIS DRAMA
FATHER/DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP - A highlight from both seasons of The Victim's Game is the father/daughter relationship. In Season 1, you are introduced to the relationship and learn about their past together. What the male lead did to protect her in both the past and the present. In Season 2 since she now lives with him or around him, you see their relationship take a big leap. You see them attempt to build a relationship that they never had but also learn mor about each other. They both learn to coexist and eventually grow to appreciate each other. That definitely takes some outside advice and reasoning to make them look beyond their own assumptions and prejudices to build the relationship, but I loved that. It mirrored societal issues and conversations that were needed to discuss these issues. The drama used their relationship to approach and have conversations about these issues. It was also just a delight to see their relationship grow and change over two seasons. Even if the male lead has Asperger's, you can tell that he still cares about his daughter and is trying to make an effort. He also has the unconditional love in season 1 where he can't accept that his daughter might be a criminal which works in his favor and for their relationship.
IMPORTANT/SOCIETAL ISSUE DISCUSSED - I have mentioned many times that a lot of important/societal issues are discussed and examined in both seasons of The Victim's Game. There are definitely trigger warnings for topics such as suicide, mental health, mental illness, violence and the usual goriness you come across when watching crime dramas. I have said this countless times that I love when dramas use their platform to discuss these important issues. I think the Victim's Game does a very good job bringing these issues up and discussing them. The drama discusses these issues in a respectful way and even brings up some of the stereotypes and discredits them. The issues don't take the viewer out of the story because the issues are expertly woven into the story. The drama highlights the issues, makes them a major of the story and even provides resources that could help someone with these issues in some cases. I think The Victim's Games brings these topics up in a respectful way and executes what they want to say about these issues in a meaningful and impactful way through their drama.
ACTING - Honestly, when it was announced that the male lead of this drama had Asperger's, I was really hesitant how this drama would portray that in the drama. I think this drama does a REALLY good job portraying that through the male lead. Joseph Chang doers a fantastic portraying Asperger's but also making the audience still connect and resonate with him. The rest of the cast does a great job acting through both seasons as well. You cheer on the father/daughter relationship. Your heart aches for the daughter and her story through both seasons.
GROWTH OF CHARACTERS FROM SEASON 1 TO SEASON 2 - I think because we got 2 seasons with these characters, we got to see MAJOR growth with multiple characters from one season to the next. We even got growth within the seasons itself. Within Season 1, we see Joseph Chang's character having to bend and work with people. He had to accept that he has a daughter and fight to get through to her and start that relationship. We have the reporter who at first is for herself and no one else and she needs to be open to this relationship with Joseph Chang's character to work with him. eventually they form a friendship and in Season 2, even more than that. In Season two, these two characters need to navigate a possible romantic relationship and the hardships of that with a person with Asperger's. They also need to grow and navigate a relationship with his daughter who is now living with him. The daughter grows from being along in the world and taking care of herself to having people who are there for her and are trying to support her. She grew to accept her father and grow to accept that they can have a relationship and start to build that relationship. It also highlights one of my favorite tropes, found family, which we got to see in various ways. We got found family with the father/daughter, the cop boss and Joseph Chang's character and Joseph Chang's character, the reporter and even the cop boss in Season 2. Even the cop boss from season 1 who does not get along with Joseph Chang's character learns to work with him. he learns to trust him and then is his friend and confidant in Season 2 which I did not see coming.
STORY/CASES - What I love about both seasons of this drama is that the cases/story are not what they seem. The drama pulls you in one direction where you make assumptions and think you have things figured out. Then the drama throws in a curveball, and you are back to square one again. The story/cases keep you on your toes. The drama also uses the story/cases to talk about important/societal issues, so the cases/stories bring the emotions as well. The audience relates to the cases/story that is happening. There is something in this drama for everyone to connect with whether that is the father/father relationship to the discussion of suicide or mental health. This tory/cases grab you and does not let go ever.
OSTS/INSTRUMENTALS - I LOVE the OSTs/instrumental of this drama series. The OSTs are addictive. The instrumental of the drama supports what is going on the screen very well. The instrumental brings the emotions and heightens the suspense and action that is happening on our screens.
PRODUCTION TEAM CARED - I have said this before, but I will say it again. THE PRODUCTION TEAM CARED ABOUT THIS DRAMA! I know I have said this already but when I love a drama, I watch all of the bonus content. I have watched interviews about The Victim's Game. What is great about Season 1 of The Victim's Game is if you stick around for after the credits within the drama, you get to watch interviews with the cast and crew. They answer questions about how they went about building a certain scene/set or their thought process around a certain character. In one of these interviews, multiple crew members talked about their thought process of bring this drama series to life. They touched on the f act that they debated even doing the drama because they knew this drama would be talking about tough topics and they didn't want to harm the audience even more by bringing up those issues. Ultimately, they decided the topics were too important to not make the drama. THE FACT THAT THE CREW EVEN HAD THAT THOUGHT PROCESS SHOWS THEY CARED! They did their research. They wanted to portray this drama, characters and topics in a meaningful and realistic way but also were conscious of the message that the audience were going to get from this drama. THEY CARE ABOUT THIS DRAMA SERIES AND IT SHOWS!
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
NEEDS ANOTHER SEASON - It is very clear that the production wants to do a Season 3. Now, it doesn't end on a cliffhanger where you will be throwing something, having to wait years for an answer. The ending introduces topics and characters that Season 3 could explore. Would I watch a 3r season of this drama - ABSOLUTELY! We will have to see if it is actually made. We had to wait 4 years for Season 2 so, I can wait.
SEASON 2 DIDN'T NEED TO ATTEMPT A ROMANCE - I wish Season 2 did not try to introduce a romance between Joseph Chang's character and the reporter. I liked their friendship in Season 1. I liked their companionship. The romance just seemed forced and wedged into the story. I just wanted their found family and friendship to continue. I think you could still have those conversations about dealing with a relationship with a person with Asperger's without adding romance into the mix. It just didn't 100% make sense with what occurred in Season 1.
DEEPER CONVERSATIONS - I think Season 2 had some missed opportunities with deeper conversations. I wish the daughter/father relationship was highlighted more in Season 2. There were some great opportunities to have deeper conversations between these 2 characters in Season 2 and the drama didn't take that. A lot of things seemed skimmed over or not talked about in favor of the case that was happening in Season 2. Yo0u even had some missed opportunities with deeper discussion with Joseph Chang's character and his character expressing himself more or his thought process having to deal with everything he was dealing with between both seasons.
ACTORS UNDERUTILIZED IN SEASON 2 - I think some actors were underutilized in Season 2. Either they were brought in and not used well, or they were given less screentime in Season 2. Dean Fujioka I think was VERY underutilized. His character actually annoyed me in the beginning and then was magically redeemed. He could have had a deeper story and context around him. Tiffany Hsu, I think took a BIG back seat in Season 2 which I did not like at all.
DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE TO WATCH - I have said this before, but I will say it again. This has many trigger warnings. So, it might be difficult for people to watch. It is also a crime drama that is very detailed. It shows everything in autopsies and crime scenes and that is not everyone's cup of tea at all. So, this drama might not be for everyone and maybe even turn people off from even checking this drama out because of all of the trigger warnings but that is fair.
THAT IS MY REVIEW OF BOTH SEASONS OF THE VICTIM'S GAME!
The Victim's Game S1 - 9/10 & The Victim's Game S2 - 8.5/10 (NETFLIX)
Ultimately, I may have liked Season 1 a little more than Season 2 of The Victim's Game. Even if this turned out to be the case, I still think both seasons of this Taiwanese drama are worth checking out. I hope more people check this drama out now I have a review out for this drama. I know this drama might be difficult for people to check out and I understand that. I mean as I said, even the production knew this. I just want more people to know about this wonderful (but dark) crime series. I also just want people to check out more Taiwanese dramas in general. If you aren't watching more Taiwanese dramas, you are really missing out in my opinion. If you want a drama that is SO MUCH MORE than just a crime drama, PLEASE CHECK THIS DRAMA OUT!
Did you watch The Victim's Game?
What did you think of the drama?
Is it on your list to watch?
Will you watch this drama now after reading my review?
Do you agree with my review?
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