The 8 Show (2024, South Korea)
Original title: Deo eiteu syo
psychological thrillermysterious reality
Running time: 50 minutes per episode
Language: Korean
The 8 Show 2024 South Korean mystery classic movie review
The main protagonist, up to his eyeballs in debts, has to flee his apartment to avoid the debt collectors. Desperate for money, he is being targeted by someone, who invites him to take a part in a game and sends him some decent money to show that the offer is legitimate. The man agrees to join and is taken by a limo to a building. Before he can enter, he has to choose a card with a number between 1 and 8, but some of them are already taken, so he chooses number 3. Inside, the building is a one large room with a stairwell attached to it. On each floor, there is one room, opened by the card that was given before the entrance and number 3 is assigned to a room on 3rd floor. Inside the room, there is nothing but a rule book, explaining the basics of the game. The contestant is being given money he will take with him while leaving the building, but his room is completely empty. The only thing that is available to him is a door leading to a lift and intercom panel, through which he can order things other than food and drinks. The food and water will be provided for free, everything else will cost him about 1000 times more than it would outside this building. The amount of money he gathered so far is updated every minute, but the bare necessities will cost him dearly. In the morning, he discovers there are 7 other contestants in the game and the game itself has another catch.
South Korean TV series based on a webtoon, has basic concept quite similar to once very popular Squid Game, people desperate for money, forced (or rather coerced by circumstances) to take part in a game with unknown rules. But apart from that basic premise, The 8 Show is a completely different piece of entertainment, based mostly on interactions within the group, not the manipulation from outside. And the first part of the series was interesting, the characters trying to find the way to survive in this enclosed environment, after one point the show began to fall apart and the decisions made by the characters stopped to make much sense (other than to push the story towards the ending that was planned).
The lack of depth when it comes to characters, the rules that at some point were more or less abandoned for no particular reason, the sudden swings of the characters between good and evil, made the whole thing feel rushed or written by two completely different set of writers. The first part of the show seems well-structured, the second one seems to going off rails and heading towards the disasters that were easy to avoid.
Overall, it was an interesting show, with a bit more depth than Squid Game on one hand, but lacking the depth in other parts. But, with better writing in the second half, could have been far more interesting.
Do you like unsolved mysteries?
Our rating |
5.6 / 10 |
Movie value |
6 / 10 |
Realism factor |
3 / 5 |
Adventure factor |
2 / 5 |
Story complexity |
3 / 5 |
6 |
Cast of The 8 Show
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as 1st Floor | |
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as 2nd Floor | |
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as 3rd Floor | |
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as 4th Floor | |
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as 5th Floor | |
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as 6th Floor | |
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as 7th Floor | |
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as 8th Floor |
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