Pyramid Game (2024) K Drama 2024 Episode 1

Episode 1 of Pyramid Games opens with a flashback of a student trying to self-harm in the school around other girls from her class. When one of the girls, Myung Ja-eun, tries to stop her, the student threatens to attack Ja-eun with the knife. Jae-eun tries to stop the student but ends up with a cut on her neck as blood starts dripping to the ground.

The episode then moves on to the present day as Sung Soo-ji joins the Baekyeon Girls’ High School. Being the daughter of a military soldier, Soo-ji is used to adjusting to new schools from time to time. Soo-ji meets the homeroom teacher, Mr Lim, who tells her she will be a student in Year 2 Class 5. Soo-ji introduces herself to the class and observes how the students are not welcoming.

She also learns that Class 5 is located on a different floor compared to the other classes and is the only class on their floor. However, Soo-ji is confused when she notices that Classes 4 and 6 are both situated next to each other with Class 5 being the only exception. Soo-ji is made to sit next to Ja-eun who appears to have several cuts and wounds as well as band-aids on her body. 

Soo-ji tries to talk to Ja-eun but the latter refuses to befriend Soo-ji. Some of the other girls from class, including Ha-rin befriend Soo-ji. On Soo-ji’s first day, the class representative – Seo Do-ah asks the girls to go to the auditorium for Music Class. There she notices the teacher picking on Ja-eun for being tardy and late. 

However, the class watches Im Ye-rim’s performance next. Soo-ji learns that Ye-rim is soon to debut as an idol and is one of the most popular girls in class. The next day, Soo-ji thinks about her social hierarchy in the class and tries to befriend more students. Soo-ji has a clear disdain for Ja-eun and pledges to avoid her at all costs.

As time passes by, Soo-ji notices how Class 5 is the only class in the cafeteria and how the students from other classes do not associate with the Class 5 girls. One day, Soo-ji witnesses Ja-eun being tied and beaten up in the sports room by the school bullies Da-yeon, Woo-yi and Seol-ha. She asks Ja-eun to report the students and leaves a few bandaids for Ja-eun. 

Ja-eun asks Soo-ji to go to class as it was the last Thursday of the month. Soo-ji enters the class and learns all about The Pyramid Game. Do-ah asks Soo-ji to download the app and cast her vote for 5 students from the class. Each student can be placed in Ranks between A and D. Do-ah reveals that the student with the most number of Rank A votes will enjoy certain privileges over the other students with lower ranks in comparison. 

Soo-ji is sure she will receive at least a few votes but is dejected when she sees she has zero. The girls who were friends with Soo-ji are now ranked above her and thus refuse to interact. Being an outcast with Rank F, Soo-ji starts getting attacked by the school bullies. Given her father’s military background, Soo-ji tries to stand up for herself and refuses to let the bullies walk over her.

However, Soo-ji is pushed around and beaten by Do-yeon, Woo-yi and Seol-ha. Soo-ji goes to the restroom to clean herself up and notices how the bullies have left no bruises on her. She learns that by signing up for The Pyramid Game app, she has waived off her rights to report the bullying and hazing that has taken place with her.

One day, after an argument with Da-yeon in the cafeteria, Soo-ji decides to use the CCTV footage on their floor to gather evidence of the bullying. However, to her surprise the CCTV cameras have been taken down. She turns on voice recording on her phone but Woo-yi snatches her phone to turn it off. She warns Soo-ji about her attempts at collecting evidence against the group.

After learning that Soo-ji is on her period, Woo-yi steals the sanitary pads from Soo-ji’s locker and cuts them up in front of her. She also asks the other students to refrain from lending pads to Soo-ji to further trouble her. Soo-ji finds it impossible to survive in this environment and decides to find a solution to the Pyramid Game.

She looks into the Pyramid Game ranking and learns that Ye-rim, despite being the most popular girl in class, was a Rank B student while Da-yeon, Woo-yi and Seol-ha were Rank A students who got the privilege of bullying Rank F students. She also notices how Ja-eun and she were the only two students with 0 votes.

Ja-eun contemplates ending her life by jumping into an empty swimming pool but ignores the thought. Soo-ji tries to convince Ja-eun to pair up with her to bring down the social hierarchy of the game but Ja-eun refuses to do so. Meanwhile, Soo-ji continues to be bullied by Da-yeon and her minions trying to suffocate Soo-ji or push her around, any chance they get.

Da-yeon announces to the class that they could also bully Soo-ji for a day and all the students of Class 5 begin attacking Soo-ji. Out of all the other students in class, Ha-rin is the only one who is nice to Soo-ji and tries to help her out. Soo-ji suspects that the bullies are not the mastermind behind the Pyramid Game and concludes that the true mastermind was trying to camouflage themself.

She runs into Eun-byeol, the class loser who asks Soo-ji to meet her in the Music room in private. Eun-byeol confesses that she was friends with Ja-eun and had exchanged votes with a different student, leaving Ja-eun with 0 votes, making her a Rank F student. Soo-ji learns that Eun-byeol wants to help Ja-eun get out of Rank F.

Soo-ji is in English class as she thinks about her conversation with Eun-byeol. Eun-byeol claims that Ye-rim was the social butterfly of the class. However, after class, the bully trio force live worms down Soo-ji’s throat. Soo-ji pushes them away and spits the worms out. She wonders why the other students are ignoring her.

Woo-yi tries to pick up the worms from the ground, in an attempt to stuff them back into Soo-ji’s mouth. She hums a song which reminds Soo-ji of something. At the same time, a student from Class 5 is smoking in the school board member –  Choi Yi-hwa’s office. Ja-eun shows up there and the student tries to poke the burning cigarette into her eye.

Ja-eun asks the girl to stop and agrees to do anything to get out of being an outcast. A flashback from one month ago shows the school principal talking to the mysterious girl about Soo-ji, the new transfer student who’s going to join the school. The girl asks the principal to place Soo-ji in Class 5.

Back in the present day, the mysterious girl enters the class with Soo-ji on the ground. To Soo-ji’s surprise, the girl is none other than Baek Ha-rin, the class’ most popular girl who orchestrated Soo-ji’s entry into Class 5 as a replacement for Ja-eun.

The Episode Review

Whew, the episode was extremely nerve-wracking and confusing to watch. While I am sure most of the viewers believed that Ha-rin is actually a good person, the final moments turn the tables on this information. From what we saw in the episode, it looks like Ye-rim was the actual bully hiding behind her picture-perfect image since she was an aspiring idol.

The scenes of Soo-ji being bullied are extremely hard to watch and I wonder if bullying to this extent happens in South Korean high schools. This show is in no way a light-hearted watch which has me worried for the remaining 9 episodes left in this one. 

It looks like this show is going to be about betrayal and the first episode makes me believe that this one will be an uncomfortable but intriguing watch. With three more episodes that have already been released, I am looking forward to seeing what the makers have in store with this psychological thriller.