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This water arc contained some pretty fun action. For this reason, I would still recommend people watch this arc. Unfortunately, the conclusion is the worst of the three episodes. I was never a fan of the prince character, and this episode proves why monarchies shouldn't exist. Frankly, the prince is not deserving of his position and would not have survived this arc without significant help of others. While one should blame the squid for allying with the separatists, I would not blame them for their refusal to bend the knee to this entitled child. In most cases, the prince would have ended up as shark food. He only survived because the shark was stereotypically evil and caused the squid to immediately regret their decision. Akbar should very clearly be the leader of these people.

At only 80 minutes, Anaconda (2024) is worth your time if you enjoy giant creature features. However, there's not enough material here to warrant watching it more than once. The film gets off to a hasty start, it's not even clear how many people are on the boat until midpoint through the movie. It's safe to say character development wasn't a priority in this film, the closest we ever get to a character backstory is one of the female characters saying that chocolate reminds her of her late brother. One positive aspect of this film is that the main human villain seems more intimidating than the original's Jon Voight. In the original, I always thought it was embarrassing how the characters let the out-of-shape Voight push them around. This villain is a much more typical tough bad guy.

Ultimately, an Anaconda film will always be judged by the quality of its snake action. This Chinese adaptation does a respectable but flawed job. Midway through the film, I began to think that I had found a hidden gem. The initial snake attack on the boat is as good as the original's best scenes. But in the second half, you realize why the film is only 80 minutes. The action becomes very repetitive with both the main characters and villain somehow escaping death multiple times. The entire second half of the film is basically the characters sitting in a jungle and being used as bait.

Overall, Anaconda is worth having on as background noise for fans of creature features. 5/10.

This episode is peak Squid Game. The episode focused entirely on a highly dramatic and tense game of Hide and Seek. No time is spent on unnecessary subplots or filler between games. Future adaptations, such as the American one, should learn from episodes such as The Starry Night and realize that the main focus of each Squid Game episode should be the game itself. This episode features one emotional death, one death in a very shocking manner, and another that is very satisfying. While Red Light Green Light will always be the most classic game, I would put Hide and Seek up there with Glass Stepping Stones as one of the best game formats for Squid Game.

There are three reasons why I didn't give this episode a perfect score. First, I've lost a lot of interest in Gi-Hun. In Season 1, I really liked him and felt deeply invested in his character. Unfortunately, his character arc in Seasons 2 and 3 have made him much less likeable. This episode continues that trend. Second, I felt that Cho Hyun-ju's actions in this episode weren't always realistic. She's former Special Forces, yet there were multiple instances of her not being aware of her surroundings. And finally, the shaman character is over-the-top to the point that it's just bad writing.

But overall, this episode is the best episode since Season 1.