The 8 Show

While the design and style of the new Korean Netflix series definitely seems inspired by squid game, the story itself is based on a Webtoon called "Pi Game".

Which was released throughout 2020~2021.

I'd say this is a Great, and even a Better adaptation of the original.

It has lots of Humor, Violence, and a sharp, deep insight in modern social structures...

Though it shares lots of similarities with Squid game, The platform, etc... The 8 show feels different and new. And clever.

While it does have some flaws, If you are a fan of survival game genre, This series is for you.

Enjoy the show.

I was fine up until characters had to be incredibly stupid, morons just for the plot to go in certain directions. They also don't do certain things, logical decisions, because then it wouldn't be "entertaining".

The premise is not bad, a lot of things could have been done with this ideea, but they had to have some lunatics and idiots to drive the story.

There are to many concepts, to many things stuffed in just to impress, to shock. It tries, for no reason at all, to be artistic, but only manages to be very annoying and a cheap attempt.

The 7th episode is a test, it wants to know how much nonsense you can handle.

It's a good idea / concept that starts really strong, but falls flat unless you drink the kool aid.

It attempts to provide some criticism and mockery of social hierarchy, along with some very "squid game" style presentation and theatrics.

But where it falls flat, is in the action of the characters themselves, you really need to have a strong suspension of disbelief to buy in to what the characters do, the way they act and their emotional responses.

All of them behave as cartoon characters, don't follow logic or reason and just do whatever the plot requires of them. The actors don't do a bad job, but are just given horrible dialogues and the script hurts them.

Not sure what the other reviews saying it's not similar to Squid Game are referring to. It's definitely not similar in quality , but its message and theme are identical. The game makers have essentially preyed upon people in difficult life circumstances to play a game for their amusement. Just like Squid Game it was inevitable that would involve strategic deception between the characters and violence.

Many of the ideas used with the games within the show are interesting , but ultimately end up feeling underwhelming. Further, while you do end up feeling some connection to the characters by the end of the series it pales in comparison to those in Squid Game.

If another season was made I'd probably still watch it, but also won't be spending any time hoping for a season 2.

The show started pretty strong, peaked at around 3-4 episode and it was all downhill after that. The characters have made illogical decisions which really makes you cringe and questions the intelligence of viewer. I would have loved if the show went slow and steady no need to create unnecessary drama by making illogical decisions, a bit less drama but with logical sequence would have been much appreciated.

To be honest after episode 7 I was totally fed up and did not watch the last episode. I watched episode 7 just in hope they will make at least some sense but I was wrong, Episode 7 was worse than 6, 6 was worse than 5, 5 was worse than 4.