Bona bona my beloved injeolmi welcome back to kdrama land. Nice to see you in a school uniform again. This time you don’t have to be nice!! Smash the pyramid!!

A very interesting premise. Rookies galore. Full female cast. I had lots of fun watching this short drama. The main thing that I like about this show is that while it has so many characters involved, most of the characters are meticulously crafted, with their own motivations, flaws, and moral compass. The main protagonist and antagonist being equal monsters made the battle of wits so entertaining. At no point did I feel that one side was too overpowered and it was a chess game played by two masters who took turns to deliver punches. Every one of those beautiful ladies was capable of being an ugly monster if they had to for survival and nobody was truly on one side till the end. A thrilling war of nerves that kept me rooted. Will you conform or challenge?

Being somebody that is not very good at pairing names with faces, it took me a while to remember all of the character’s names. There were so many characters being introduced from the get-go and all of them being female names made it quite a challenge for me. However, despite the lack of “A-listers”, it was this show with a bunch of newbies that slayed.

Some people are just born to act and Jang Da A is one of them. You know how some people make hard look easy? How they seem like they are not doing much but actually delivers? Baek Ha Rin (game master) took a stroll for 10 episodes and yet she is the main impression that was left on me. She barely moved yet I felt a whole spectrum of emotions from her performance. Mad mad performance for a debutant. I enjoyed watching her descent into madness as she slowly losses her initial gracefulness and composure. Not all madness needs to be represented by loud screaming and excessive arm waving. You have to remember this is a chaebol kid who has to maintain her image in public at all times and show absolute control with class. Her facial expression for a first-timer was unbelievably good. Imo this will be an iconic character- The twitch bitch.

A weird theory struck me during the scene of BHR cutting her hair short. Unless I am missing something, that scene did not mean anything to the plot and there was really no reason to do that. What I took from that was it could be an attempt by the director and Jang Da A to break the fourth wall and send a message that actress Jang Da A is here to deliver and is stepping out of the shadow of her famous sister because of how strikingly similar they look. That would be so cool if true.

Seriously, there are just too many great performances from the rest of the girls (Im Ye Rim is my fav hehe) that I could go on and on but I shall not- this show had such a high level of acting I can only say all of them were amazing. They are one of the most talented groups I have seen in recent times and many of them here are gonna give their sunbaes a run for their money.

I have to talk about THAT paintball episode. My god that was one of the best writing and acting I have seen in recent times. The build-up to that final moment was so perfect, coupled with a great soundtrack. I am unable to think of a better way to showcase that scene of unified camaraderie amongst the underdog to break the enemy’s morale and win the psychological warfare in the most composed and collective effort. Top top tier. They won that round with such class despite being the “peasants” of the system and turning the “nobles” into absolute jokes. Winning the devil at their game, what a beautiful uprising of the underdogs. The Prisoner Dilemma. S tier writing there, I applaud.

Ngl, I fell asleep once in the middle of finishing the last 2 episodes. Thought it was just me because of how perfect the show had been up till that point but read many similar sentiments about the rather stale ending and a sudden change in the strange pacing. I was expecting a "finale" in the sense that BHR would deliver a final desperate blow but she became overwhelmed and subdued instead. I thought a lot of the key characters were being sidelined and had no proper conclusions. Do Ah (class president) felt like a much more complex character than what the show portrayed and I wish she along with the likes of Da Yun (girl abused by daddy) were given more storytime. The ending was being wrapped rather lethargically imo and did cause it to drop 0.5 level down in my book.

Overall a great concept with the Pyramid game that when you zoom out it reflects a tiny version of today’s society but when you zoom into it deeper, it is reminding you to eat Subway. Baek Ha Rin lost cause she did not had that bread.