The first season of Squid Game is often described as an overnight success, but if you read a little about Hwang Dong-hyuk's story, you'll realize it actually took about two decades to come to fruition. The love and appreciation that first season received were entirely deserved. Everything, from the premise to the performances, was perfect. But instead of learning about the harmful effects of hypercapitalism that Dong-hyuk was trying to convey, Netflix went overboard and commissioned two more seasons of the show (which was basically one season split into two) and also a reality show.
Influencers and YouTubers went crazy and started orchestrating their own versions of the Squid Game tournament. There was merchandise everywhere, and the result of all this wasn't good. All the "creators" who profited from the franchise's popularity were heavily criticized. Those two subsequent seasons of the series were a huge disappointment. The reality show was also widely criticized. However, none of that mattered, because the intellectual property and its derivatives were seen by millions of people. So, here we are with a second season of Squid Game: The Challenge. Is it any good? I honestly don't know.
Stars: Jennie Kwan, Nick Martineau, Phill Cain
The first four episodes of the second season have been "directed" by Gareth Birkett. By now, I assume you already know the premise of the show: 456 contestants participate in the competition, and only one will walk away with $4.56 million. In this edition, the focus is mainly on the twins, Jacob and Raul; the Australian, Jonti; the Star Wars fan, Mark; the father-daughter duo, Curt and Zoe; the hospitality worker, August; the smooth talker, Matthew; the model, Perla; and other assorted "characters" you know won't make it to the end.
Some of the games they have to play have been taken directly from the second season of Dong-hyuk's series. The ones that are original to the show are so terrible that they'll make you question the creators' creativity and imagination. Since there's no real plot, the methods used to create some drama among the contestants are quite peculiar. Interesting? Not even close. And since Netflix has decided, for no apparent reason, to release the episodes of this series in weekly installments, it's hard to know where all this is going. Anyway, let me briefly analyze the episodes and share my impressions.
In both seasons of Dong-hyuk's series, the first game the contestants had to play was Red Light, Green Light, and most were eliminated in the process. The first season did the same, but the second season eliminates it entirely. Instead, they divide the 456 players into two groups, put them in two separate rooms, and have them count from 0 to 456. When they reach zero, they have to press a buzzer. The group whose time is closest to the official timer (which the players obviously can't see) will be the winner, while the other group will be eliminated.
Since this isn't as interesting as freezing every muscle in your body when a giant doll is looking at you and running to the finish line when it's not, the contestants constantly shush each other so they don't make a mistake counting. It might have been exciting for the people in the room, but as a viewer, it's quite boring. Then they do the six-legged pentathlon from the second season of Dong-hyuk's series, and the mini-games within that pentathlon in the reality show are the same ones the characters in the fictional series have to play. That's strange, because none of the reality show contestants are Korean and therefore have no connection to those mini-games. Why? Couldn't they have invented American, Australian, or British games? Was that too difficult?
The final game of this segment of season two is Mingle, and yes, it's the same one from season two of Dong-hyuk's show. There's a giant carousel in the middle of a huge room, and there are rooms along its perimeter. Players have to get a certain number of participants into those rooms and then close the door before time runs out. Those who don't make it in time "die." This game wasn't very impactful in Dong-hyuk's show, and it's not in the reality show either because, well, I don't really care about any of these contestants.
From the beginning, Birkett and his team do a very poor job of concealing the fact that none of these people are authentic. In the fictional series, thanks to the acting and the storytelling, you come to empathize with some of the characters. In the reality show, there are so many contestants who blatantly make up fake sob stories, and they're so shameless about it that it's annoying. It gets so annoying that, even if there are some contestants who genuinely need that money, you can't believe them. And if you can't believe them, you don't care who wins the show and who doesn't make it to the end. You just become a passive observer of an unpleasant charade orchestrated by a streaming platform that wants to recreate the success of the first season of Dong-hyuk's creation.
I always finish what I start. So, even if I don't want to, I'll get to the end of Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2. But while watching these four episodes, I slowly realized that maybe I was too harsh on Hwang Dong-hyuk, as well as the cast and crew of his show. I mean, sure, seasons 2 and 3 of the series were undoubtedly an attempt to make easy money, but at least you could feel some passion in them, right? You could see them trying to connect the time jump between the first season and the next two in a meaningful way.
It's clear they're trying to tell an original story while also commenting on all the imitations, sequels, and other things the first season inspired, instead of actually motivating people to fight against capitalism. This reality show has nothing interesting about it. At a certain point, it seems neither the creators nor the contestants want to capitalize on the franchise's success or subvert expectations. They simply want to annoy viewers because they're (probably) getting paid for it. If that's really the intention behind this project, what do I gain from it? Am I paying to be annoyed? That doesn't seem right to me. Therefore, I don't recommend watching this reality show (or any other, for that matter). If you still decide to watch it, remember I warned you.
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