Critic Reviews
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Along with the usual tension of the ticking clock, the tough task, the difficult decision — all very effective — participants are made uncomfortable on a moral level; one might be called upon to choose between acting nobly and metaphorically assassinating a competitor, in front of the crowd. They may be forced to face themselves. It’s clever that way. .... But in “Squid Game: The Challenge,” the only audience is, you know, the audience, make of us what you will.
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Yet even with the distinctive design, down to the matching numbered sweatsuits and faceless “guards” monitoring the action, “Squid Game: The Challenge” perhaps inevitably falls back on traditional language and tropes of the reality-competition genre, a tale as old as “Survivor” and “Big Brother’s” invasion of the US almost a quarter-century ago.
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Its marriage of unscripted programming and the bespoke imagery of Squid Game borders on bad taste; it feels particularly gross whenever it mimics the violence found in the hit Korean drama. That said, it still manages to be entertaining.
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It’s overlong, overblown, and thinks it’s much smarter than it really is. But as a showcase for human desperation, and an illustration of the random brutality of chance, it just about sticks the landing.
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Like most competition programs, it’s highly bingeable, even addictive. Yet it’s too obviously packaged, its games carelessly designed.
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The challenges are padded out with interviews, reaction shots, and dramatic pauses that go on long after all the tension has been released. Ultimately, these are squib games that provide enough noise and motion for a passable simulacrum of the original show’s devastating drama.
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All reality television is morally questionable to some degree because the audience is getting entertainment from the struggles and often the suffering of real people, but there's something about "Squid Game: The Challenge" that feels especially insidious. .... It's fairly well-made reality television, but at what cost?
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The feuds and alliances will likely heat up as the competition gets tighter, and the possibility of other new challenges adds some intrigue. But that first batch of five episodes is kind of a snooze. Squid Game: The Challenge is no match for Squid Game itself — and in the annals of reality contest shows, it's no great shakes either.