The Devil’s Plan Review (Episodes 1-4): Created by Jung Jong-yeon, the Korean psychological survival reality show (블스 플랜) stars 12 contestants from varying professional fields including Ha Seok-jin from Problematic Men, Korean professional Go player Cho Yeon-woo, freelance announcer Lee Hye-sung, actress and inventor Lee Si-won, Kpop idol SEVENTEEN’s Boo Seungkwan.
Joining them, Seo Dong-joo – a MIT graduate and a lawyer in America with an MBA degree, comedian and actress Park Kyung-lim, Guillaume Patry – a Canadian gamer, now a professional poker player, Kwedo – former policy advisor to the Blue House, and Kwak Joonbin – a travel YouTuber and a multilingual speaker. Other than these famous names, two non-celebrity contestants of the show are Seo Yoo-min – American orthopaedic surgeon, and Kim Dong-jae – a college student, now a professional poker player.
The series premiered on Netflix on September 26, 2023, with its first 4 episodes (runtime: 59-71 minutes), and the remaining are to release on a weekly basis. English subtitles and dubbed audio are available for international audiences.
The Devil’s Plan Review Contains Mild Spoilers
The Devil’s Plan Review (Episodes 1-4): Discussion
With just the first four episodes out, one can claim that the new series merely establishes its stage and attempts to consolidate the presence of its contestants in the introductory episodes. While not all of these participants are able to prove their efficient brainy dispositions, each episode alternately offers them a chance to shine in their element and take charge. Some are vocally more pro-active in taking the lead from the first step, others try to maintain a united front, while the rest eventually realise that even if the show is to churn out a single victor, the arduous journey asks for alliances to be made along the way.
By incorporating this play on emotions through the process of making allies or breaking out betrayals, the new Netflix premiere proves that the show is equally as demanding in terms of testing one’s feelings as it’s about challenging their cerebral capabilities. Soon enough, alliances are made, which makes room for emotional and manipulative games for the sake of one’s survival, and the same then also introduces the challenge of always putting on one’s game face.
The series demands the viewer’s patience to show them how each contestant’s mind works in different situations. Depending on the circumstances, a few take some time to get fairly accustomed to their new switch of location and social surroundings, but some like scientist ORBIT jump into action instantly and take charge to establish a fairly peaceful ground for games to come ahead. Naturally, not everyone acquiesces to his ways, leading to some disagreements, and the eventual breakdown of the large group into smaller units of allies, one winning ahead and the other remarked as the union of underdogs.
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As expected, while some contestants may appeal to you right away, in the way they handle themselves or behave with their fellow participants, others may take time to grow on you. Some may not seem as quick to resolve issues right away, but given the time and space, they eventually shine on their own, which is why the cast works well and appears well-balanced. It’s hard to find the one and only one person who you truly root for because they all have the ability to take the lead. Seo Dong-joo is one such underdog who rises to the occasion in the fourth episode and is bound to take you by surprise.
As far as the concept is concerned, the show warrants for a common-basis series of games to determine the amount of cash prize that’ll be handed over to the winner and uses a standard use of unique currency within the walls of the game arena to maintain a ranking order among the contestants and carry on with future eliminations. The games, in themselves, will make you wrack your brain, and other forms of punishment may even banish certain players to a prison for a few hours. The looks of the show from the surface don’t add anything surprisingly new or out-of-the-box. It employs a done-before and seen-before procession of games, but is intriguing enough nevertheless.
The Devil’s Plan Netflix Reality Series: Final Thoughts
Jung Jong-yeon’s new brain competition concoction is a lot like his former reality show The Genius which now has four seasons already. Therefore, The Devil’s Plan works in a similar format, but on a more accessible platform through its distribution via Netflix and a rather younger generation of celebrities as the show balances their expertise out by opening up the doors of the show to even non-celebrity participants. Indian viewers or even other audiences acquainted with the concept of Bigg Boss will immediately be reminded of the Indian reality series, minus the exaggerated drama quotient high on the said TV show.
The new Korean reality title is vastly different from other contemporary releases in the same category because it sways away from the dating show format and concept. This equally works in the favour of the new title, but can initially also put up an obstacle for those audiences who’ve been particularly hung up on the pervasive vision of contestants slipping in and out of relationships in such arenas. It embodies a welcome switch in pace that requires your patience for it to eventually and gradually work its cerebral magic on you.
The first four episodes of The Devil’s Plan are now streaming on Netflix.