EntertainmentStreamingNetflix’s new no.1 show deserves more than its 44% Rotten Tomatoes scoreHello, player: Squid Game The Challenge, Netflix’s new gameshow, will keep fans of the original series hookedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentStreamingNetflix’s new no.1 show deserves more than its 44% Rotten Tomatoes scoreHello, player: Squid Game The Challenge, Netflix’s new gameshow, will keep fans of the original series hookedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Hello, player: Squid Game The Challenge, Netflix’s new gameshow, will keep fans of the original series hooked
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Netflix)
(Image credit: Netflix)
As November comes to a close,Black Friday dealsnow behind us, this week sees yet another newNetflix number oneseries rise to the top of the streaming service (in both the UK and USA – it’s that popular). It’s aNetflixOriginal gameshow derived from the original series of Korean classicSquid Game– a show that was wildly popular during lockdown, the legacy of which clearly lives on.
However, whileSquid Game: The Challengeis certainly proving popular in viewer numbers, the critics are less than generous in their reviews – with the show landing a mere44% on Rotten Tomatoes(the well-established review aggregator site). Seems harsh? Many of you agree, as the very same site shows the all-important audience score is double that figure, at 88% positive (at the time of writing, at least).
Squid Game: The Challengeechoes the original show’s premise: 456 ‘players’ are entered into various games in which they must survive. In between those games – in the original show players are actually killed; the gameshow version instead gives them an explosive inky end, to mimic a gunshot, and the players have to play dead (however reluctantly) – they are housed in an open-prison-like sleeping quarters.
You can see how that translates well for TV: many are comparingThe ChallengetoBig Brother– the fly-on-the-wall series, which commenced in the UK way back in 2000, as a social experiment – and while I can understand the comparisons,Squid Game: The Challenges’s five episodes format[edit: a second part of five episodes commences 29 November, totalling 10 episodes overall]means you’ll see breakout characters inevitably come and go. For me it’s the games and the tactics that are most interesting to watch.
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Semi spoiler alert though: you will have wanted to see the originalSquid Gameto get a really good understanding of what’s coming. The original games from the series are well reproduced in the gameshow (with a few big changes, likely on health and safety grounds) and tastefully shot and edited. I know from the production team that it was a mammoth task tracking and capturing those 456 players, and it plays out well on screen.
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