Kavya (Shraddha Shrinath) is a talented gaming developer, with an award-winning game about women escaping toxic situations behind her and an upcoming one called Glass Ceiling. This feminist, who is also a do-gooder plus an inspiration to her niece, takes on another responsibility when she survives a brutal attack: private detective.
The assault follows trolling and misogynistic videos for Kavya’s pushback against sexist remarks about her abilities and the advantages to being married to another gamer, Anoop (Santhosh Prathap). The couple works at the same company, where Anoop is a star even if his new treasure-hunt themed game has already become controversial.
Kavya’s case is being handled by police officer Bhanumathi (Chandini Tamilarasan), who is facing her own variant of workplace sexism. Rather than trusting Bhanumathi to do her job, Kavya and her colleagues, including Anne (Syama Harini) and Dani (Mukund K Rajesh), conduct their own inquiry into who is targeting Kavya. A sub-plot revolves around Kavya’s niece Tara (Hema), who gets involved in an all-too-familiar online nightmare.
The Game: You Never Play Alone is out on Netflix. The Tamil series is an adaptation of the French-language show Le Jeu (2019). The Game is directed by Rajesh M Selva, written by Deepthi Govindarajan and co-written by Selva and Karthik Bala.
The seven-episode series is a passable thriller, with enough developments to keep all its characters busy, most of all Kavya. The show’s interest in the unseemly aspects of gaming culture or generalised misogyny itself is ultimately shallow, a contrivance to increase Kavya’s workload.
Kavya’s decision to play Sherlock is rash, risky and arguably a hindrance to Bhanumathi’s efforts.
Sharing vital information with Bhanumathi might have speeded up the investigation. But the seven-episode show’s heroine is Kavya, not Bhanumathi.
Shraddha Srinath is an apt casting choice, played the over-worked, often over-wrought Kavya with intelligence and courage. Srinath deftly portrays Kavya’s domestic troubles and her runs-in with her thick-skulled boss (Dheeraj Kher).
Most of the actors are serviceable, some of them pushed into the background to maintain suspense. Chandini Tamilarasan makes a solid case for Bhanumathi – whenever permitted. Syama Harini stands out among the secondary cast.
While The Game stands firmly in the corner of independent women who storm male-heavy bastions, the script glosses over the horrific violence that results from Kavya’s principled stand. Women who set out alone at night, drink by themselves or openly express their views nearly always find themselves in disastrous situations. Tucked into the well-meaning, earnestly progressive narrative is a cautionary tale about being mindful of your limits.
