Its a psychological torture
This drama is so intense, if you decide to watch it make sure you are mentally prepared by it This drama is like Squid Game and its also like Big Brother House wit a horrible twist. 8 different people were chosen to play this game . 8 different people with different personalities combined in one place, but all have one aim, to be a winner of the said gane and take away the prize money. If I will play in the said game it will surely drive me crazy, because I dont know who is my enemy, its hard to trust someone in this kind of game.How far you will go or haw far you will do for the sake of money? All of the have different struggles including money, so they are willing to do anything for the sake of it. Doesn't matter if they hurt someone as long as they win. Some players have a heart wherein they mind others feelins but some players have no heart they dont mind if they hurt others. I can say that its a psychological torture because they experience torture which affects them mentally.
All the cast did their best in portraying their roles, they are effective on it because all your emotions you will feel in this drama. Its a good drama because its very unique but its a bit dark.
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"Blurry Game: The Confused Quest with an Unknown Host"
Trying to be cheap version of squid game and not up to it's level. It was frustrating to watch this show , it was so lagging in many areas and the host of game what is he wants from them is very unclear, it is not like squid game too like punishing them or making them to do some difficult tasks like that! The host is existing or not, i feel sometimes it is big boss game show and i feel that so entertaining than this. I wasted so much in this bullshit series. It is only 1 time watchable , if you have so much free time you can waste your time on this series or else just watch some other ongoing kdrama which are much better than this. It is torture for them or for us, idk it feels torture for me to watch this show.Was this review helpful to you?
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Why… ?
I don’t know what to say about this show…I didn’t read synopsis, articles nor reviews about it so I didn’t know what to expect from this (I wanted to watch it just because of Chun Woo Hee).
And hmmm… It was a disturbing show and I feel a bit uncomfortable.
This is a critic about power of/and money, hierarchy in society, human nature/behaviors, survival, etc…
So we quickly understand the message behind this show but I feel uncomfortable about the way it has been delivered.
I’m probably a bit too sensitive but I think it could have been delivered with lower level of sadism, brutality, cruelty, torture… (I agree with another reviewer, it made me think to movie « Saw »).
I don’t like this kind of shows but if I’d have to watch a similar show I’d prefer Squid Game which is a bit « fairer » regarding status of each character.
Casting and acting were good (tbh I prefer Chun Woo Hee portraying nicer characters).
Directing/prod good as well (8 episod is enough).
Didn’t pay attention to music.
No rewatch value for me (too much free violence)
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A psychological thriller with a simple set-up
Binged all 8 episodes in one night after seeing a tiktok about it. What interested me more were the comments being split so 50/50 on whether it's a show worth watching or not. After completing the series I will say, if you're a fan of psychological thrillers then you'd likely enjoy the show.STORY:
It's a very simple set-up, all of them are poor or struggling when they come across this "show" that lets them earn money each minute. I won't spoil too much but the show starts to slowly complicate this simple set-up which is what kick starts the psychological thriller aspects. This is a story heavily carried by the characters. It's interesting (and disgusting) to see how a group of 8 different characters work together to earn money in a confined isolated space. There's crazy, smart, immoral, kind, and most importantly, there's so much misfortune. The characters are truly something else. The story itself is not that interesting when you take out the characters hence the 8 stars
ACTING:
10/10 seriously they brought their characters to live. There are some top notch actors who have been in this field for a long long time. You forget that the actors are playing characters....that's how good they were. Listen, Ryu Junyeol might be a shit boyfriend, but he is and always has been an undeniably good actor so as expected he did very well in this show. Though, the 2 actors that caught my attention was Chun Woohee and Bae Sungwoo. Phenomenal acting, they deserve plenty praise.
MUSIC:
I don't really watch shows for their music score so I don't thave much to say. I didn't think anything was out of place so the music does fit the scenes
REWATCH VALUE:
Yeah well as with all psychological thrillers, rewatch values is quite low. The charm of these shows is seeing the story progress. Once you know how it progresses it's not that fun anymore so I personally wouldn't rewatch it.
OVERALL:
A good short watch for anyone who likes premises like this. Power through the first episode where our main character laments about how broke he is and it starts to get better.
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My opinion on this recent drama “The 8 Show”
tbh i LOVED it. the acting, casting, and story was so captivating. i usually point out flaws but i wasn’t even paying attention of the small flaws of the show. if u like a show that the characters have to fight for survival like “Alice in Borderland” and “Squid Game”, then you’ll definitely love this. the cinematography was amazing and the story omgomg AHHH! the acting was actually amazing. you can tell that the actors really wanted to act good and rlly went deep with their character. the characters each have TOTALLY different personalities and they have to work together to survive. however as in every show, there comes a multiple problems throughout the show and conflicts which makes the show been more captivating.Was this review helpful to you?
Beware if you can't stand cruelty
I truly loved the first 2 episodes. Until about episode 4 I found the show exciting and then things took a turn for the worse. Life can already so miserable so if you're looking for an escape, this show isn't it. It depicts the worst of human nature, frustrating characters, the insanity and of course the sadistic aspect. It was extremely hard to stomach. It hit me like a gut punch and that's where I started to lose interest and had to speed up just to get through to the end.Would a show with pleaasant people have been as entertaining? Perhaps not for such a genre. But then I also do not find these kinds of horrific shows entertaining and I keep forgetting to check details of Netflix Korean dramas which tend to contain nudity (male in this one) and extreme forms of violence (torture) compared to what ordinary Korean dramas would consider depicting. Basically I just read the synopsis and went in blind.
Another aspect that I disliked is the awful ending that is quite underwhelming but teases a second season. I'll pass thanks.
I have rated it a 6.5 because I thought the concept was quite good (a bit like Squid Game - similar set-up but worse in many ways). Also because I enjoyed the first half as well as the mystery behind each character. However I still don't understand the actions of some of the characters while some were just a victim of lazy writing or ignored entirely. The only positive is the unpredictability of many characters and the perspective and conundrum of a very ordinary unspectacular male lead.
If you aren't triggered easily then you might find this show more enjogable than I did. Personally, I will never be able to rewatch this.
I didn't notice the OST other than the "i'm so lonely" sped up as the intro. It was meh.
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How far will you go to reach your (money)goal?
A good written thriller that is a reflection of how society works. I first thought this was a reality show, little did I know. As soon as I saw Korean actors I knew it was based on a webtoon.In the first episode when they needed to change their clothes I thought will it be something like Susunu Denpa Shonen? Although I think certain stuff have been inspired by that show. 8 totally different people (who are a representation of society) will be living together earning money by being in the show, everything is being recorded (and aired as well), yup just like our capitalistic world.
If they want to extend their time there they have to ‘earn time’ so they can earn money (by participating). But soon they find out they have to find different ways to earn time, which includes behaving is ways that are usually not acceptable/ethical. It drives people to the edge just to survive for the money. You see how greedy human beings are and how their “higher status” makes them behave and look down on others. Just like in society were having more/earning more money makes you have a higher status and power.
It is a very interesting psychological thriller that makes you guess what everyone’s motive is for acting in a certain way. I was blown away by the first 4 episodes and after those episodes I was wondering how everything will enfold. Overall very well written script and 8 episodes were enough to get the main message, but I also have so many questions unanswered.
Similar shows: El hoyo (Spanish movie), Squid game, Night has come, Happiness (Korean movie), , Alice in Borderland (Japanese series)
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'This is not art'
The 8 Show might seem like a pale nod to Squid Games, but to an extent it’s more nuanced and extravagantly structured, sans all the unflinching fatality because the small sample size naturally precludes elimination by death. rather than being packed with conflicts that highlight the friction between the good and bad, T8S is thematically predicated on class demarcations in a controlled microcosm of the society. far from being a mere depiction of moral erosion by virtue of greed, it simply mirrors the hierarchical propensity socially wired into us through eons of evolution. the paralel is uncannily resounding, as much as it’s painfully redolent.my interpretation of such parallel is as follows:
Floor 8: The wealthiest, holding in possession an abundance of resources, and given the scarcity of the resources, vested with shot-calling powers and the authority to dictate everything underneath them.
Floor 7: Government/Legislator, formulating laws and regulations at the behest and in the interest of the affluent few.
Floor 6: Police, enforcing brutality in the event of opposition or protests in service of its tyrannical government.
Floor 5: Pacifist who tries in earnest to strike a happy medium and go to bat for the common weal, but mostly stuck in between with resigned helplessness.
Floor 4: fence-sitting, slimy sycophant who’s ready to jump on the coattails of the dominant when it benefits them.
Floor 3: the down-and-out proletariat who works their fingers to the bones only to be perpetually trampled upon.
Floor 2: the heroic and altruistic figure who wants to defend the weak but finds themselves powerless anyway against the domineering coalition up top.
Floor 1: the physically disabled, habitually scorned and considered dregs of the society.
Ranking the Characters from Best to Worst (Spoiler Alert: None of Them Are Good People):
Floor 7: He may be the smartest in the room, but he's not very clever. There were plenty of solutions to problems that he was too lazy to consider.
Floor 3: Pure neutral. Despite being guilt-tripped into taking Floor 1's place, he shows his strong moral compass during the King incident.
Floor 8: A controversial opinion, but the group's initial alienation of her led to their downfall. She was overly helpful at first, figuring out how to add time and contributing the most to the talent show. Yet, they voted to punish her the next day? She was right to rebel against the system, in my opinion. Floor 6 is to blame for turning it into something more sinister.
Floor 2: Despite what eventually happens, her villainizing of Floor 8 set the tone for discord. Throwing a tantrum when free money is being thrown at you came off as petty.
Floor 5: She wasn’t fully aware of her choices.
Floor 4: Made her decisions to survive.
Floor 6: Self-explanatory. Horrible character all around.
Floor 1: This character frustrated me the most because everyone gave him so much grace. He's worse than Floor 6 because he knows what it's like to feel helpless and still chooses to act selfishly. Plus, going after Floor 4 instead of Floors 6 or 8 shows his lack of moral character since she clearly wasn’t the brains of the operation.
The title above is the true message of the show. This show mocks us, the viewers. It's because we always crave more. Like, even in harmless rom-coms, we want to see characters hold hands, then hug, then kiss, etc. We don't like to see this in reverse, or just them holding hands in most of the show, do we?
The acting, music, sets, and costumes are just perfect. Yes, the plot does derail because of its dependency on torture porn and there are some noticeable plot holes as well, but they didn't bother much as I watched. "The journey is better than the execution."
And, the ending is very meta: Philip, 7th floor, who is an unsuccessful screenwriter, finally understands what viewers love to watch.
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STORY LINE GREAT BUT ENDING...
It started off so good!! like it had everything, from amazing characters to toe- curling plot, it had all of it. also had brilliant casting and build-up. I bing watched the first 5 -6 episodes. And honestly it should have just ended there only. It felt like a drag. The show could have been a 9 if it ended around 5-6 episode.it is similar to big boss if you really think about it
It is a one time watch.
pretty interesting...
should give a try
PROS
Acting
Storyline
triller
CONS
Ending execution
Not for someone looking for rom
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Society in 8 episodes
Note: the rewatch value is only low because i dont rewatch this type of shows.I have enjoyed every second of this show. True it is a mash up of the platform and squid game , so maybe i m being subjective by saying this show was better because , this exact cast hit the nail perfectly for me.
In a very detailed manner, this show depicts life as we know it.
From the moment we r born, our life is partially dictated by our social class, An important factor that gets assigned to each one of us randomly.
Just like the characters picked the cards with no pre notice of the consequences, that absurdity and randomness of that moment is really what we all share in life. A moment that is familiar to all of us. A moment we have no control over, even though they made the choice themselves, we can hardly pin the responsibility of that choice on them. If you believe in luck , then that just might b the answer to this controversy.
Life starts off by randomness and absurdity. Like a cards game, the cards are dealt by chance, what you do with the cards later on is up to you. But if we r being honest , what can you even do when u r dealt a losing hand, just like the 1st floor man. He had his hopes up , just like all poor people, dreaming of climbing the social ladder, and changing their fate.He was dupped by the organizers , and thought that he could change rooms if he had 1 billion. Just like how the bottom class in society is sold fake dreams of going from rags to riches if only they work hard, if only they save up a certain amount of money. Only to find out , their dream is not really attainable. The 1st floor man walking on a tight rope -literaly- was a beautiful metaphorical image of how poor people struggle between life and death , in their journey to the top of the pyramids. The way he kept jumping only to fall in a fiery pit -literaly- and burn away to his death, was a devastating image of desperation.
I find the 3rd floor man the most intriguing one, i assume he reflects the common man in its most common aspect. During the talent show, he had no talent to show, he s not the smartest compared to the 7th floor man , he s not the strongest compared to the 6th floor man . He s not the most candid as the 5th floor woman , he s not the most sly like the 4th floor woman, he s not the bravest like the 2nd floor woman and he s not the cruelest like the 8th floor woman. If he was a drawing , he would be the stickman. easy to draw , with nothing to catch the eye. Simply trying to fit in within the crowd , his strategy was based off not attracting attention, to stay invisible. And i think it s brillant how he was the one to destroy the cameras. By doing so , he stayed true to his motto, to stay invisible.
Throughout the show we see the different ways people within a society organize themselves. They displayed many political regimes and economical currents.
Capitalism: each room had a different income , and the whole concept of the game "time is money" , the consumerism displayed by 8th floor woman ...
Socialism : sharing the work load when they climbed the stairs aswell as sharing the food..
Democracy: voting and sharing ideas as a whole community...
Totalitarianism / dictatorship: When the elite was making all the decisions , while the rest were merely suffering the consequences....
And plenty other concepts were referred to, like slavery, weapon acquisition , technocracy and others... A theme that was most memorable to me , is when the 8th floor woman bought the CCTV tapes of the other players. Just like the elites in our modern society gather data of us , track us, and have us under a microscope through social media, street cameras and satellites ...
The 8th floor woman was the perfect illustration of the rich category. The best part was when she started painting people s pain and then quickly moved on and bought a cute dog. As you may know, the high class people take interest in stupid paintings , spending fortunes of a couple of splashes of paint, pretending that they have deeper meanings, and possibly reflect someone s suffering. They love to run donation parties to help the poor, pretending to sympathize and care, but at the end of the night they all go back to their high towers, to their spoiled cute little pets who get groomed and fed 10 times the salary of the lower class man.
Now, since the game was a show meant to entertain, who r these people that are being entertained? and what were the acts that entertained them the most ?
I dont have an exact answer for the first question, that should be left to
everyone s interpretation.My theory was that the audience were the gods, because when the 1st floor man was floating in the sky, it seemed like he was ascending to the heavens. But this theory seems so far fetched since i can confidently say , the audience was entertained by the most immoral and heinous acts like sex and torture. Which doesnt align much with what
gods represent.
In conclusion, there are alot of things to analyze in this show, many human traits to study, and so much of the human's tragic comedy to think about.
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Waited for so long and… IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT !
I BINGE WATCHED IT (IN 3 DAYS) AND WOULD TOTALLY RECOMMEND IT !I already knew the series before even knowing it because I’ve read the webtoons from which it was adapted (money game and pie game by bae jin soo and both available on the WEBTOON app if y’all want !). I’ve waited for so long for that series to be released and two days ago, on the first day I started watching and immediately recognized the essence of these WEBTOONs : I clicked when I saw the money counters in the rooms.
But in this review I won’t deal with whether it’s a loyal adaptation or not !
I love the concept of showing us rough yet realistic things using this series because eventhough everyone knows a group of people can’t stay still for a long period of time especially when money is involved, writers found a way to make it entertaining AND realistic. They showcased how people would grow greedy and the toughests will ended ruling and that’s what the show demonstrated ! We saw gradually, as each episode went by, the downfall of the serenity, the downfall of each character !
(Btw I loved how each episode -the intro and the first minutes- was always dedicated to one character, to getting to know them better, their lore).
The fact that the levels of the flats and the space of which each person disposed of was a reflect of society is even more deep in my opinion.
The characters winning time from being progressively violent to each other (they quickly went from the ´cute ´ version of the king game to tasering each other then hitting each other with bats…) was also accurate considering humans under pressure and with the illusion of gaining money would do anything.
Also, don’t get fooled by the synopsis that might make you think of squid game ! I’ve watched both and they have nothing in common except them showing humans being greedy, being guided by their will of money, to escape their debts !
Besides, I might sound weird or psycho but a few parts in the show really made me smile or giggle out of nowhere ?
Before I break down why I did like or not each character, I would like to say the intro and especially the song used is such a good idea. And that part where it speeds up is genuinely addicting, I don’t know why !
The acting/ the cast : I loved them all. Every one did such a good job, for example floor 1´s actor playing the pitiful character, floor’s 7 playing the intelligent one and helper to turn his back afterwards or even floor’s 8, who really embodies the apparently naive yet very controlling and manipulative character ! I also saw people boycotting ryu Jun yeol because of what’s going on with Han so hee and tbh I still don’t get the goal of this (I don’t support him dating shortly after breaking up especially if it’s to date Han so hee tho) but I respect your choices .
The characters :
- Floor 1 : I don’t know why but I adore him so much and from the beginning ! He is so sweet and caring but he also knows why and how to step up for himself ! I was gladly surprised by his performance during the talent show lol ! ?
He is so talented as a clown and mime ! May he rest in peace because even when he lost it, he stayed human in a way !
I loved him so much ?❤️.
- Floor 2 : That woman is so badass and doesn’t let someone else decide for her (ex : before the vote for to decide about who will get to keep in their room everyone’s feces). Maybe once or twice she would lightly lowers under the pressure but she always knows how to bounce back.
- Floor 3 : He seems rather realistic and by that I mean he always let what others will think of him and how he might looks like to them rule how he acts (ex : when he helped floor 1 during the days they had to go up and down the stairs to gain time or even when they had to write down the amount of pieces they want and the only condition was them receiving the amount they were willing for if the addition of what everyone wrote made the number they would have to partake from the beginning. Another example would be him choosing to get tasered to not look like a depraved or even him refusing floor 8´s favors for the same reason).
- Floor 4 : I hate that woman so much I swear ! Her trying to sound ´cute ´ with this voice really pisses me off to be fair… As well as floor 8. It feels too unnatural to me.
Then her character in itself is so much self-centered ! She acts like a clueless and naive character but when the leaders stand out she would willingly follow them and harass the others ugh.
- Floor 5 : I don’t know what to think of this woman to be honest lol. She felt like if we had to choose a not-so-well-written character, it would have been her but she was cute among all those people. It was funny seeing her always hitting at not being bothering doing spicy things etc..
She might looks stupid, naive etc… but she’s actually the most human among them ! And her avenge against floor 6 was so good !
- Floor 6 : This man is so exhausting. He is one of the reasons of why everything went downhill… He thinks with his d!ck and his knuckles to put it down mildly… I really hate him. BUT at least he paid tribute to floor 1 by sending flowers and not coming to his funeral after all he did to him !
- Floor 7 : I had faith in him is all I can say… BUT he still is my favorite character because even when we thought he would continue betraying he would end up helping. Overall he was a really good character, loyal even when he was threatened with a gun by floor 6 for example. The only time he deceived me was a moment of weakness compared to other characters (esp 6,4,8 that will always be the real villains to me !).
- Floor 8 : Even if I hate this woman I have to admit SHE is the QUEEN here. She controls everything eventhough she might seems naive and stupid at first sight (what the actress really embodied !) !
For example, when she got them changing the politics after they voted her off to be the one keeping everyone’s trash and then she punished them and got them waiting for food and water for days. Or even escaping the taser’s sentence and then with the help of inferior floors (7,6 and 4), taking the lead other the others.
I loved her duality despite her being a really despicable person in herself. Maybe the system of winning money being different (the sound of money won per minute being different from a floor to another) etc… but once again the series reflects society and it’s difficulty !
The 8 that is a number really present in the series even in the title is really symbolic to me. It is showed as the number of the power (floor 8 is in a way the powerful one here) but also symbolizes how this game is made for no one to get out. They are stuck in for infinity (if you turn the 8 to the side it looks like the infinity sign ♾️) since there will always be someone who will want to stay in due to their greed (like floor 1 did and really disappointed me on this eventhough I always had the feeling he was the one who did these horrible things to elongate the time they will have to stay in). There will always be also the powerful one deciding and stopping everyone to get out just for their interests as floor 8 did. I was genuinely scared and horrified by how far she went for her own pleasure (depriving many from sleep and forcing floor 5 and 4 to heal everyone and keeping them ´enough ´ alive to keep the game going on)….
At ep 6, I remember how I was so glad floor 2 said louder what I always thought of, leaving since everything was for once going on good but then floor 1 destroyed everything for what ??? Changing room. My jaw dropped at him explaining why he always wanted those 1 billion just to change room ?.
I loved their revolution otherwise because the whole time (approx. 160 hrs) by themselves without those toxic leaders, they were genuinely enjoying each other’s company and living life ! I was so relieved at first when they were 10 hrs from the liberation but guess what ??.
Btw something doesn’t click : weren’t they not supposed to not be out of their rooms from midnight to 8 in the morning ?? because at the end (from ep5/6 to the end) they kept doing that ?.
Watching the show made me feel like those psychos that were watching from behind the cameras. Idk the way it’s filmed, the POV we had in each single of those episodes made me feel that way.
The end got me so emotional and everything ended ´well ´ in a way. May Floor 1 rest in peace !
Would have liked to see floor 7 at the funeral but he did something really important on his side as well !
To sum up, my faves were floor 1,2,3,5 and 7 !
The question is why didn’t they buy something after the two first months they decided to stay ? They could have used the amount of time the creators kept adding so that at one point the time would have came to 0 yk…
I know I wrote so much. If someone has read that much then congrats lol !
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