quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Well, first two acts kept my attention, the third act though..mehhh.

I just finished watching and agree w/ this. The series takes a nosedive after ep. 6.

Too much time was spent on the VIPs that didn't advance the storyline, and their characterizations and the acting were indeed cringeworthy.

I was expecting to see at least one game where wits or being female was an advantage to being a healthy, strong male, but that never came up. At one point when they're forming teams, Gi-hun/Player 456 mentions some Korean playground games that girls are usually better at. I would have liked to have seen one of those.

My biggest gripe w/ the series is probably how Front Man made such a big deal about how the competition is to be fair and egalitarian, yet many times the rules and games weren't conducted fairly at all. For example...

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Ep. 7 w/ the glass bridge. The last few people in line were at much greater advantage than everyone who had to go ahead of them. There was nothing competitive about this; it was simply an unknown factor when the players selected their vests.

In the middle of the game, Player 101 refused to advance and challenged someone else to go forward or else let everyone perish. If there was no penalty for going out of order, then why have ordered vests at all?

You could argue that providing an entertaining competition to its well-heeled viewers was ultimately more important than providing a fair one, but the glass bridge failed at that. There was too much that could have gone wrong, such as a high probability of everyone dying (which would be uninteresting). The way things played out, the three at the end of the line survived, which goes back to my point that from a competitive standpoint, it was neither fair nor interesting nor something people would gamble on.

Have to agree that the show takes a nose dive in the last few episodes. There are a lot of parts that are dreadfully slow, like the 4th game and the conversation between the characters in the last episode. The VIPs were just stereotypical rich masked decadent pervs that didn’t add anything to the show. The ending was pretty unsatisfying too.

I think a lot of the popularity of the show is due to the shock value of adults being killed for losing children’s games, not because it’s particularly entertaining in the end. It could have easily been shortened to only 7 episodes and may have been better for it.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
I think a lot of the popularity of the show is due to the shock value of adults being killed for losing children’s games, not because it’s particularly entertaining in the end. It could have easily been shortened to only 7 episodes and may have been better for it.

Its a hell of a concept, two-thirds of the way through you're involved, there's depth and complexity not just with the players wrestling with their conscience to return but, also negotiating the games and the eventual emotional impact. The later half, while you're intrigued with the cop who infiltrated the complex, and still processing the marble-game, it really falls off with the VIP introduction, and the pathetic glass-bridge crossing. It almost seemed liked there was a different group of writers. I'm interested in s.2 though....

Consider the Japanese version. I think it was released earlier too (Korean version is a re-take?). Alice in Borderland (netflix).

There are issues with the Japanese version as well. And it goes off track at times. But it's a little more consistent in the story line.

Spoilers ahead stop reading.



The other thing about the bridge game was that the last 3 survived only to basically kill the girl with shrapnel after she beat the game. That’s like after passing the red light green light safe line the big doll randomly shoots at the winners. Makes no sense. The ending sucked as well. He’s basically a fucking loser with 38 million minus the suitcase in cash. How does he think he can take these guys on? There’s zero chance of him succeeding and a nearly 100% chance of him getting whacked. He’s a fucking loser no matter how you slice it.

Anyone watching Season 2?

We just started season 2.

Just finished Season 2. Like my opinion of S1, it starts off strong, then falls of the rails about 2/3rds through. The rebellion plan was ridiculous.

Also, as in S1, I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief that so many contestants would willingly continue in the Squid Game knowing that they had about a 33%-50% chance of being killed in the next round. Furthermore they lack control over their outcomes, b/c they're forced to team-up in games.

Thanks. Saved me time. Removed from watch list.

Just finished season 2 of Sqid Games now we’re watching Alice in Borderland.
We like weird stuff so this isn’t bad!

Spoiler warning.

I liked season 1 so much that I've watched through it two or three times. Yes, it has plot holes and yes, it kind of bogs down in places, but it had interesting characters and a mysterious story that was revealed at a pace that kept me interested. It was wildly successful because it was different. It was like Saw meets shitty reality TV, and it did it in a way that was fresh and interesting. It had characters that were compelling and were fully developed, unless they weren't for specific reasons, such as Il Nam (the old man). This season... wasn't that. The pacing is atrocious, and I actually don't like most of the characters for one reason or another. I've never been so relieved to see someone get stabbed in the throat with a fork.

This one also suffers from one of the major problems that plagues a lot of the Star Wars content, notably the prequels and the Ob Wan min-series. We know Anakin lives to become Darth Vader, and Obi Wan lives to become an old man, so when they're involved in deathly peril and conflict at every turn as young men in all those hours of content, it just... falls kinda flat. We know as we're watching it that they survive, so it can never be suspenseful in the way it's meant to be. It's the same thing with the Frontman joining in the games. He's in charge of the whole thing, we know the staff have either been instructed that he's in there, or else know who he is and so we know that he's not going to get killed. It's a poor way to use characters or tell a story. There's so many other ways they could have gone with this.

The set and settings themselves were a major part of the whole vibe of the first season. The Red Light/Green Light doll and course, the tug-of-war, the playground with the cookies, the hopscotch glass pane course, and the miniature neighborhood with the marbles were all visually impactful, and progressively more moody and intensely lit sets that were memorable. I feel like most of this season has been spent in the big dorm room watching the players voting instead of playing the goddamn games. Who gives a shit about that? When they weren't voting, it was the guys at sea. I guess building sets wasn't in the budget for this season.

Instead of menacing underworld type antagonists, we get an obnoxious purple-haired druggie douchebag, and his effeminate tag-along butt buddy popping pills and acting like retards. Instead of likeable characters we can identify with and have our heart strings tugged when they meet a tragic fate, we have a host of faces with little or no backstory and shallow character development. When eyebrow rings gets her carotid ventilated, I didn't feel anything because they opted instead to have a long, drawn-out vote after every game instead of spending more than a minute or two developing her character. What was meant to be a tragic end was more of a "so what?" The bait-and-switch that was Il-Nam is now that the ROK Marine tough guy pulls an Upham and the fucking tranny playing to fund his sex change is actually a sleeper special forces hero. Boy. Howdy. Didn't see that shit coming.

Why did Bonzo dye his hair red at the end of season 1 only to immediately shave it off for season 2? What was the point of that? Why are the games from season 2 not reflected in the pictographs of the walls in the dorm room like they were in season 1? What's with the entire plot arc of #11? Why... nevermind. The answer to all the questions I have is "because bad writing."

^^
They seemed to try covering their inferior follow-up by adding gore. The lack of blood in the first was odd to be sure, now it's gratuitous.

Yeah, I very much enjoyed season 1, and I liked this for about 3 episodes, with the first ep being the strongest for me. I actually thought it was very good and an interesting arc for the rock paper scissors participants.

I agree with all of the above for the characters being rather underdeveloped and them giving us characters we are supposed to like or dislike based on some very on the nose stereotypes and blunt force writing. Which is unfortunate considering what I thought was actually rather good writing for the mob boss/loan shark in ep 1.

I enjoyed the commentary on peoples greed which I took to be the point over their sense of self preservation or responsibility for the people surrounding them. Maybe I'm giving it too much credit but I believe this to be an intentional theme. A bunch of people gambling for different reasons some respectable some incredibly selfish, that works for me.

I dont hate that I watched it but I'd like more from the apparent upcoming last season.

Just watched season1 of Alice in Borderland and it kept my interest.
Reminded me a little bit of “the running man” and “the long walk” with Stephen King, extrapolated of course.

It crashed and burned when the VIPs came in.