The Reel Review
Two years after Netflix’s South Korean fantasy series Squid Game became the most watched series in its history, it has spawned an actual reality competition based on the series’ games. Of course, unlike the series, none of the 456 competitors dies battling for the reality TV show’s record $4.56 million prize.
Despite some clunky production, the show’s producers have done a pretty impressive job of recreating the look and even the dystopian vibe of the children’s games from the original series. While the games themselves require only minimal real strategy, it is the social element, with competitors forming strategic alliances and plotting against one another, that gives the game its needed drama. There is definitely an advantage for players who have seen the original series. Read our interview with one contestant.
Highlighting the personal stories of competitors allows viewers to become at least momentarily invested in their favorites, a la Survivor and Big Brother. But the dormitory drama does drag at times and feels pretty contrived, be it the unintentionally hilarious fake “deaths” of eliminated contestants who didn’t get the memo on how properly to pretend to die when shot with an ink pellet, or the cringeworthy self-importance some competitors place in their “abilities” in a competition that is almost entirely random luck. Like real life, the show illustrates both the best and worst in humanity. As a reality show, Squid Game: The Challenge is entertaining.
REEL FACTS
• The rest of the ten episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge will be dropped weekly, leading up to the finale on December 6th.
• At least two unnamed competitors reportedly have threatened to file a lawsuit against the show’s producers, claiming they experienced hypothermia and nerve damage during the several hours of filming the Red Light, Green Light challenge in extremely cold temperatures.
• Some critics argue that the game show misses the anti-capitalism message of the fantasy series.
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