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Squid Game: The Challenge

Really enjoyed episode 2 - husband and I agreed to stop watching and save the rest for the weekend! Genuinely shouting and laughing at the TV :D
 
Wow, how on earth did it take 5 hours to finish the game when the timer was something like... i can't remember, but just a few minutes? :eek:. I'd be pissed off too! That studio did look enormous and being filmed in Bedford - I can see how it'd get very cold... Anyway, it's confusing as I thought they'd compete/film the game in real time...
 
This reviewer urged viewers not to give "validation to this exploitative, unentertaining drivel that showcases real human suffering more than anything remotely amusing."

The contestants are even more strung out than players on usual reality TV, where it is common for producers to withhold food, water and communication − at least “Challenge” lays that type of unethical scheming bare. But the betrayals the game forces them to enact, and the elimination of players with fake black blood and playacting death, leads to severe, sometimes unhinged outbursts that are icky and intrusive to witness. These people are hurting in the artificial environment, and I can’t even remember their names, just the numbers emblazoned on their chests.

Nobody ever thought "The Hunger Games" deserved a reality series, nor "Saw" nor "Game of Thrones," no matter how popular these titles became.


 
Wow, how on earth did it take 5 hours to finish the game when the timer was something like... i can't remember, but just a few minutes? :eek:. I'd be pissed off too! That studio did look enormous and being filmed in Bedford - I can see how it'd get very cold... Anyway, it's confusing as I thought they'd compete/film the game in real time...
Surprised me too.
 

I knew about this from in here some where. Maybe earlier on this thread? Anyway, knowing about in advance meant I could see how cold they were in the game. Everyone had their hands jammed in their pockets, their noses were a bit red, some were jumping on the spot (which was edited to look like nervous excitement) etc.


I did like how some of the contestants went down like dying swans. Only on screen for moments, and overacting like Linda Grey did to get the Dallas gig.
 
I didn’t even think of the editing, let alone find it annoying. If I have to think of a criticism it would be…. two, actually: number of players the programme is following up close is too small given how many players are still in the game: and the nationality pool of the contestants is massively US-centric- at least those being featured regularly.

But whereas I had been hoping it would be good, like many others I had feared it was going to be shit, or best mediocre and devoid of any tension, considering the premise of the series it’s based on, and that the fact that, er, obviously nobody gets killed. And to their credit they have managed to create something gripping and often edge-of-seat so. And I speak as someone who doesn’t like reality shows much.

Above all for me, this is a massive social experiment exercise. It doesn’t reveal anything we don’t already know about human nature, but it’s absolutely absorbing to see the social interactions between the players.

The cleverest thing the show’s creators have done is introduce all those new games not seen in the original series. They are having far a more devastating effect on the players than the games from the original show.

ETA: I kept thinking episode five felt like a filler, but the ending… :eek:
Agree, ep:5 we were like ‘wankerssssss’
 
They all deserved to be eliminated for that. They all knew what the marbles meant, and they all knew that it was the game coming up next. They should have been utterly on their guard against any attempt to get them to pair up. And they were fooled by picnic blankets? Staggering.
They should have realised what was going on as soon as it got down to 63. I liked it was the most yokel one left that worked it out/got lucky.
 
Wow, how on earth did it take 5 hours to finish the game when the timer was something like... i can't remember, but just a few minutes? :eek:. I'd be pissed off too! That studio did look enormous and being filmed in Bedford - I can see how it'd get very cold... Anyway, it's confusing as I thought they'd compete/film the game in real time...
The timer was for five minutes, but they've got to get all the reaction shots from the players who turn out later to be notable. And everyone else can't move because of the wider continuity shot. Tho it [the legal case] does also sound like a bit of a set up to promote it to me. There must have been a reasonably detailed explanation of what was going to be involved (ie, standing around for a long time while things are shot and reshot)
 
The prize money is insane! Better than some lottery wins - and the contestants would have been made aware that it wouldn't be easy. Episode 3 was very good! The two oldest contestants are still in there and going strong so it can't be that unbearable/punishing.

The phone elimination was comical and the thug-of-war that turned out not to be... I have a favourite now, not necessarily to win, as she probably doesn't need the money given that she is a professional game player and is very smart.

The sets are really impressive - the whole thing + prize money will have cost a fortune. They must be hoping to make this a regular thing!? If it backfires on them it'll be a very expensive failure.
 
I can't stop thinking saying you're using the money to pay to have a kid is really fucked up.

Assuming she won, imagine growing up to find out you came into being by your mum being a ruthless shit on telly.
 
The second half of the series just just dropped. Just watched Episode 6- another great one :)

I don’t think it’s a spoiler of any kind at this point to say that there are additional tests in the reality show not seen in the original drama series, so can’t be arsed to hide it behind spoiler tags. I won’t say anything else, other than to opine that the new tests seen in this reality show not just make it work fantastically well, but are better and more fascinating to watch (so far at least) than the games from the original series.
 
Quick correction before anything else. I was wrong to say above that the entire reminder of the series has dropped- the finale is not until next week.

Having watched episodes 6-9 now, I would say without hesitation the second half is much better- and I enjoyed the first half a lot. The game in episode nine in particular is so ridiculously clever and twisted, it feels like it was devised by Hannibal Lecter.

Brilliant TV, and I can’t wait for the final episode :)
 
Certainly good TV, and I loved seeing contestants plummet to their doom from the glass bridge, just as we’d been anticipating, but apparently they used stunt people for the actual falls, which is a total swiz.
 
Can we consider Phill?

The most plausible explanation for his Circle of Trust performance is that he has a keenly developed sense of smell.
 
I love this show but...
I'm totally confused as to why the group were cross with Mai when she nominated Ashley. Did they all forget that Ashley refused to play as a group and made Trey jump 3 or so times and go out?? Ashley was saying she jumped and took her turn but only after she gotTrey out!
 
It’s an okay game show but I feel a bit glum watching it because the original show was this wonderful drama about inequality and desperation — people carried on playing even when they knew they would probably die because they had no other options in life. And then it contrasted that horror with the complacency and moral bankruptcy of the rich people paying to watch it. Whereas what these program makers have taken from that incredible premise is just “that looks like a fun game show!”
 
It’s an okay game show but I feel a bit glum watching it because the original show was this wonderful drama about inequality and desperation — people carried on playing even when they knew they would probably die because they had no other options in life. And then it contrasted that horror with the complacency and moral bankruptcy of the rich people paying to watch it. Whereas what these program makers have taken from that incredible premise is just “that looks like a fun game show!”

You can get the full effect by watching it wearing animal masks over a lavish takeaway.
 
I’d be strongly in favour of Alice In Borderland: The Challenge from the same production team rather than a second series of this, though.
 
And we have a winner!

I’d have preferred Phil to have won it, but I didn’t dislike any of the three finalists. I do hope Mai does at the very least invite the other two to a fucking lavish dinner, if not give them 50k each, which wouldn’t make much of a dent on her winnings.

There’s a behind-the-scenes making of episode right after, by the way.
 
And we have a winner!

I’d have preferred Phil to have won it, but I didn’t dislike any of the three finalists. I do hope Mai does at the very least invite the other two to a fucking lavish dinner, if not give them 50k each, which wouldn’t make much of a dent on her winnings.

There’s a behind-the-scenes making of episode right after, by the way.
I think the final 3 should have shared it.
 
I think the final 3 should have shared it.
I kept thinking that if I were one of them I would certainly propose it. I doubt it’d be prohibited by the programme’s rules. I’d like to think the winner will give them something.

But at the very least, unless they don’t want to play the media circus, I’m sure they’ll benefit financially via paid interviews and whatnot.
 
I kept thinking that if I were one of them I would certainly propose it. I doubt it’d be prohibited by the programme’s rules. I’d like to think the winner will give them something.

But at the very least, unless they don’t want to play the media circus, I’m sure they’ll benefit financially via paid interviews and whatnot.

Apparently, not only was discussion of loot-sharing prohibited, but so was any attempt to solve induced disputes equitably, eg in the dalgona foursomes, where it seemed astonishing that the contestants didn’t allocate shapes swiftly through a couple of rounds of scissor-paper-stone, but it turns out that this was barred by the producers.

Enough has been said online now by participants about how the game was staged to have put me off somewhat. I will probably watch the second series but will have absolutely no interest by the fourth.
 
so was any attempt to solve induced disputes equitably, eg in the dalgona foursomes, where it seemed astonishing that the contestants didn’t allocate shapes swiftly through a couple of rounds of scissor-paper-stone, but it turns out that this was barred by the producers.
Ah! I had wondered about that specific thing.

I guess that one of my disappointments with it as a game show is that almost all the final rounds just boiled down to a random selection. That’s no doubt because in the original series, the later games became mostly about literally stabbing somebody else in the back, or otherwise trying to literally save one’s own life any way possible. Clearly, it’s not possible to reproduce that type of desperate willingness to do anything just to survive and they obviously can’t have people physically attacking each other. So instead, it was just hitting a random button or playing rock paper scissors. Which was dull.
 
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