Too many people want to give either 1 star or 10 stars to everything. But this is exactly 6 stars. The cast, amazing. Every actor (except maybe the woman who invented the game) did a fantastic job.
But then the writing for those characters, pretty bad. If they had literally just cut out episode 5 entirely, which added nothing to the story, and spent that time developing the characters, it could have been an 8 star. With a worse cast, could have been 4 stars.
The tone, very well done up until episode 5. It did a good job at explaining the premise, explaining the stakes, and showing character motivations organically. Then it goes so off the rails at the end its just unbelievable. The last episode literally makes no sense if you stop to think about it for 10 seconds. Even the geography and distance between things is nonsense.
And Im not ashamed to say that the nudity is, again, at first fantastic and becomes a symbol of character growth. Plus, not hard to look at. Then at some point (especially the ending, wtf was that even all about. I feel bad for the lead actress in the one scene tbh), its apparently under the assumption you will get bored without a boob or butt every 10 minutes.
Its weird to be passionate about a 6 star review, but it has so many fatal flaws with such a great premise. Its rare to find something where you arent grasping at straws to give it credit, theres a lot to like here. And yet I wouldn't recommend anyone watch it, especially someone struggling with mental illness. It builds you up just to let you down.
Final note. Seriously, someone please give all three of the lead young people great roles in the future. Such great acting. And to the director, dont try to be M. Night Shamalan or something. Character development goes a lot further than weird twists that go nowhere and ultimately dont matter.
