Review | Netflix K-drama review: The 8 Show – entertaining and violent social parable that’s reminiscent of Squid Game

Eight strangers are brought together to play a violent game and earn prize money that will change their lives. Each lives on a separate floor in a giant room

Director Han Jae-rim draws strong performances from a cast including Ryu Jun-yeol and Chun Woo-hee, and this stylish K-drama makes for compulsive viewing

Reading Time:3 minutes

Ryu Jun-yeol in a still from The 8 Show, a Korean drama series on Netflix. Chun Woo-hee, Park Jung-min and Lee Joo-yong co-star, and Han Jae-rim directs. Photo: Lee Jae-hyuk/Netflix

Published: 3:00pm, 17 May 2024

3/5 stars

Lead cast: Ryu Jun-yeol, Chun Woo-hee, Park Jung-min, Lee Joo-yong

Squid Game 2 isn’t due until later this year, but for those who really cannot wait any longer, The 8 Show, Netflix’s latest original series from South Korea, should go a long way towards scratching that itch.

In this debut drama from film director Han Jae-rim (The King), a cast of eight down-on-their-luck characters led by Ryu Jun-yeol (Reply 1988), Chun Woo-hee (Delightfully Deceitful) and Park Jung-min (Hellbound) are anonymously invited to participate in a game that promises them the kind of riches that could turn their lives around.

Ryu plays Bae Jin-su, a nod to the author of the Money Game web comic, Bae Jin-soo, on which this series is loosely based. Jin-su, the audience surrogate of the group – and the only character whose name is revealed – is a youth whose meagre dreams have died under the weight of crushing debt.

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