show · 8/10
spoilers alert!!!
one of the only reality shows that i really enjoy watching. the first ever reality show i watched was the amazing race (vietnamese version). it was pretty fascinating watching players taking on crazy physical challenges to survive and become the winner.
however, this korean one hits different. instead of physical activities, all of the challenges are mental and requiring the players to be super duper smart. what makes the show even more interesting is that all of the players must have passed the initial exam to get into the show. that being said, all of the players are among the top geniuses in south korea.
it's a very simple motif: players have something called "coins." winning challenges, they earn coins. losing challenges, they lose coins. if they lose all coins, they are gone. the last-standing person wins the entire show.
what makes the show even more fascinating is that the winners of the challenges get to stay in the "main space," while the losers have to stay in prison. but, even more insanely, the prison has a challenge where the players can compete, and if they win, the prize is gonna be so powerful for the finale. the "prisoners" are also having to play additional challenges, and the losers of those challenges will have to go home.
despite the amazingness, some of the individuals in the show don't really give me a good vibe.
season 1 is fantastic for me. it's really crazy to see the top two players have completely different views toward the challenges. orbit wanted to help people because he believed that the show's purpose was for the players to eliminate each other, so he tried his best to get more people to stay as long as possible. but, this created such a drawback that some players became really dependent on him, and it was pretty weird for a show that's really individual-heavy. the winner of the show, on the other hand, ha seok-jun approaches the challenges in an individual, self-reliant way. he seeks help only if it helps himself, and while some reviews say that's kinda fucked up because it's not "nice," i personally feel like it's a pretty outstanding way to play these challenges.
season 2 is worse imo. the two finalists are amazing and smart. they both cracked the secret challenge in the main space, partnered with each other along the way, and dragged themselves to the final round. however, i felt a lil disappointed watching the couple tbh. i forgot both of their names lol, but the guy was pretty smart and self-reliant, to the point where he acted like an asshole sometimes. the girl, on the other hand, was super smart and generous, but i kinda felt like after being around the guy for so long, she started having these feelings that appeared to be somewhat "low self-esteemed." in the finale, the guy expressed he wanted to win, while the girl just felt happy for having been along with this guy and wanted him to win lol. that's why season 2 was a lil more disappointing.
still, a very interesting motif for a reality show!