Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 has already lost steam – just like the Netflix Original series
· TechRadarTechRadar Verdict
I hate to say it, but Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 is nowhere near as good as its first season. Boring games, bland new details and a weak cast don't make me want to watch more episodes, which is the exact issue the original show had.
Pros
- +Still a surreal reality TV show experience
- +Flawless attention to detail when replicating the original show
- +A few good twists and turns still shock us
Cons
- -No Red Light, Green Light
- -The games that are included are mostly boring
- -Weak casting
- -No likable players to follow on the typical 'journey'
- -All new details that are introduced don't add anything of value
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When the first season of Squid Game: The Challenge came out, I thought it was the best reality competition show I’d seen in years outside of The Traitors. But in just two short years, the Netflix gameshow has fallen from the best to the worst.
The recipe for why is actually very simple – in 2023, we were enthralled by the idea that Netflix’s biggest K-drama could be replicated with everyday people and exceptionally detailed gameplay following in the footsteps of what we saw in each episode of Squid Game season 1.
The new games that were introduced fused dynamic action with familiar tactics (e.g. the use of Battleships in the third game) and we genuinely grew to love the alliances and band of characters we saw on screen.
Almost none of that is represented in Squid Game: The Challenge season 2. The original show's games are still well replicated, but they’re mundane compared to the big classics we saw in season 1. New twists and turns mostly fall flat, and our cast is too weak to be memorable or build an invisible rapport with the audience.
And if that all isn’t bad enough, where on earth is Red Light, Green Light?
All of the reality TV sparkle has gone in Squid Game: The Challenge season 2
Squid Game: The Challenge | Season 2 Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube
Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 has taken a risk by getting rid of the show’s most famous games (think Red Light, Green Light and Dalgona) and replacing them with brand-new gameplay. Half of our cast of 456 players are immediately eliminated by the new game Count, which is merely comprised of two teams counting 456 seconds before pressing a button.
It makes for the most anti-climactic premiere episode of TV I’ve seen this year, and I’m absolutely baffled for why Netflix would choose to use a counting game over the brutal run-and-stop elimination we’re all looking forward to. Annoyingly, it’s not coming any later in the series either.
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