Watched it all in one day. I first rated 9 but on second thought this is definitely an 8. I would still recommend. But here are my 2cents on what could have been better, spoilers all the way down so don't click if you haven't watched.
Firstly the police-brother storyline. I hadn't expected the brother to be a past winner so I'll give them(writers) that .But the whole brother is the frontman thing just made this so soapy cheesy and wasn't a shocking reveal. Wouldn't it have been much better if; after the police reveals his face on the cliff we get a mild reaction from one of the ㅁ(square) minions who we realize is the brother. Also realizing this frontman would order ㅁbro to kill the police bro. would have made much more poetic/suprising like 'You can't escape playing the game' or something. You don't just win a game then become the frontman!. Or maybe at least give us more backstory on him (the frontman episode runtime was shorter too why?). Also shame on the policeman for not catching on the morse code much earlier on. I realized it 2 coughs in lol. Not that the morse messages meant anything anyway.(another kinda pointless plot thing) The old dude. No1 was sus from the start. Like why would he vote to go home in the first place, I guess that was to maybe let the audience an early hint. & him saying stop and the frontman stopping in the middle of fighting. Too sus. Throughout there wasn't many elements of surprise (and maybe that was the intention). Could see most of the (potential?) aha moments coming a mile away; - Like how they didn't kill the non paired off lady in the marble game. - The rock-marble exchange thing. Also The games were drawn on the frickin dorm walls. I guess this was a throw back to school gyms having those kind of drawings on the walls, that was a nice touch. I realized in ep 2 after they returned and some beds were gone ;) Shame no contestant noticed.
The games had a nice level of tension. Only 3 games had the half of people must die rules; the tug-of-war, marble, squid. And yet, oh we know, we know! Still was fun to watch and think what I would have done. Would have liked to see people try and cheat (within the rules of course or death). Like maybe on the glass floor game, someone could have tried to walk on the planks holding the glass, there was plenty of foothold.
I read that a lot of people found VIPs stereotypical villainy to be cringe, but I think that was the point. didn't bother me as much (happens a lot in Korean dramas). Overall had classic Korean movie/drama feel elements to it. I find it stayed true to itself instead of pandering too much to an international audience. It was visually pleasing, did a good job of bringing the audience into its world. Sure the main plot concept isn't anything new but I still enjoyed it. Pretty sure there will be a second installment to this. And maybe leaving non explored subplots (the organ theft, the recruiter, the minions, the frontman ) was a part of that hope for writers and producers.
Review by IronaBlockedParent2021-10-10T01:58:09Z
Watched it all in one day. I first rated 9 but on second thought this is definitely an 8. I would still recommend. But here are my 2cents on what could have been better, spoilers all the way down so don't click if you haven't watched.
Firstly the police-brother storyline. I hadn't expected the brother to be a past winner so I'll give them(writers) that .But the whole brother is the frontman thing just made this so soapy cheesy and wasn't a shocking reveal.
Wouldn't it have been much better if; after the police reveals his face on the cliff we get a mild reaction from one of the ㅁ(square) minions who we realize is the brother. Also realizing this frontman would order ㅁbro to kill the police bro. would have made much more poetic/suprising like 'You can't escape playing the game' or something. You don't just win a game then become the frontman!. Or maybe at least give us more backstory on him (the frontman episode runtime was shorter too why?). Also shame on the policeman for not catching on the morse code much earlier on. I realized it 2 coughs in lol. Not that the morse messages meant anything anyway.(another kinda pointless plot thing)
The old dude. No1 was sus from the start. Like why would he vote to go home in the first place, I guess that was to maybe let the audience an early hint. & him saying stop and the frontman stopping in the middle of fighting. Too sus.
Throughout there wasn't many elements of surprise (and maybe that was the intention). Could see most of the (potential?) aha moments coming a mile away;
- Like how they didn't kill the non paired off lady in the marble game.
- The rock-marble exchange thing.
Also The games were drawn on the frickin dorm walls. I guess this was a throw back to school gyms having those kind of drawings on the walls, that was a nice touch. I realized in ep 2 after they returned and some beds were gone ;) Shame no contestant noticed.
The games had a nice level of tension. Only 3 games had the half of people must die rules; the tug-of-war, marble, squid. And yet, oh we know, we know! Still was fun to watch and think what I would have done. Would have liked to see people try and cheat (within the rules of course or death). Like maybe on the glass floor game, someone could have tried to walk on the planks holding the glass, there was plenty of foothold.
I read that a lot of people found VIPs stereotypical villainy to be cringe, but I think that was the point. didn't bother me as much
(happens a lot in Korean dramas). Overall had classic Korean movie/drama feel elements to it. I find it stayed true to itself instead of pandering too much to an international audience. It was visually pleasing, did a good job of bringing the audience into its world. Sure the main plot concept isn't anything new but I still enjoyed it.
Pretty sure there will be a second installment to this. And maybe leaving non explored subplots (the organ theft, the recruiter, the minions, the frontman ) was a part of that hope for writers and producers.