The 8 Show (2024)

THE8SHOW IS NOT BAD!

As someone who LOVES psychological thriller, this one is not bad! But I don't think I would recommend this too much, because honestly, everything is just crazy. The plot, the characters, everything! But then, it's not that horrible compared to the bad reviews they are getting.

At first, I thought it was like SQUID GAME in terms of plot. A game with players, all wanting to go home with money. But in the first episode, the rules were "the show will automatically end once killing is involved"(or something), so I THOUGHT it was kind of LIGHTER than squid game. BUT I WAS WRONG. IT WAS NOT LIGHT AT ALL. Due to the fact that the players can't straightly kill each other, they went with torture. Which for me, was 10x worst. You get to watch the players suffer. From them playing human piñata everyday by hitting the players with a baseball bat in their head and then healing them afterwards, to putting clips in their EYES to keep them from BLINKING and SLEEPING for DAYS, it was a little traumatizing.

Plus the fact that they didn't really showed everyone the real reason why the game was made, except for the fact that someone is watching them. (BUT WHO ARE THEY??)

But although I have a lot of questions towards this drama, I still kind of enjoyed watching it.

The actors were good and portrayed their characters well!

CHUN WOO-HEE U SLAYED!!!!!

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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.

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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.

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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 was such a difficult watch. I can understand why some people have rated this so poorly. I honestly couldnt stomach the violence after some time and by the end i just watched on x1.5 speed to find out how it all ends. I like the premise of the show and there were some scenes that literally had me laughing out loud, floor 3 played by Ryu Jun Yeol was HILARIOUS. His inner monologue was comedic gold - (that scene where he boasts about how he can best the game because he is so good at being poor and then sleeps on a bed off newspapers & cardboard??. And that time he inserts a bidet into his mouth because he thinks its an electric flosser ?). the dark comedy was done so well. I saw the humanity in all the characters except floor 8 honestly. I found her character to be a caricature and it didnt make any sense. Even floor 6 made some sense to me, we know people are capable of torturing people for money & power but floor 8 was shedding fake tears, prancing around, behaving erratically, - she was not a real person and i hated her so so much. I am gutted she wasnt once slapped or punched in the face. Overall, i didnt hate the show but it could have been less gratuitous. Also epsiode 7 scarred me so bad and by the end i wanted someone to die just so floor 3, 7 and 2 could leave and the game could end. In some ways i felt like the sadistic people behind the cameras watching them because i couldnt turn away from all the gore -- which was probably why the writer made the decision to not reveal the ppl behind the camera

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The most realistic show ever

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.

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An low budget Squid Game

I can't help but compare this to Squid Game in terms of the game show form of a thriller. More accurately, this is like Squid Game meets Survivor meets Lord of the Flies.

I don't know why this has such a low rating. The show starts off slow but that's because they're figuring out the rules. Once they have, then it's about competition and strategy - betrayal, alliances, and backstabbing are inevitable.

This show is about the experience of humanity and what it means to be human - in all its raw ugliness or stark beauty. There's never a dull moment but full attention is required to watch the show. It is a highly intelligent show but only after much reflection. It's probably commentary on the state of politics and society at large -about the failure of democracy, the down trodden and the different classes of society. But for now, I'm just going to take it at face value and say it's a bloody (literally) awfully good show.

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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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