I have something truly random to plug today- a subscription to a streaming service called Kocowa Plus. I’ve only been using it for one show, Bloody Game, but even just using it this way, it’s been well worth it.
That leads me to the obvious question- what is Bloody Game? I previously wrote about a series of Korean intellectual competition shows, most notably The Genius, and Bloody Game is a recent series in the same vein. It includes intellectually demanding challenges and twists quite similar to ones in The Genius, with some added dimensions related to unfair rules and occasionally punishing conditions.
One of the delights of Bloody Game is that every season is completely different. Occasionally the show even plays with the players’ familiarity from previous seasons to deliver them new hard-hitting curveballs.
Season 1 opens with players needing to vote someone out only moments after the group meets for the first time. Players then get a supply of in-game money based on their real life earnings (did I mention the game is gleefully unfair?) and need to politic and strategize to keep their positions in the house.
I’d like to keep spoilers for the show’s biggest twists at a minimum, but just to tease the concept, I’ll share one of the big reveals of season 1, which is revealed at the end of the first episode. When players are eliminated, instead of going home, they relocate to the mansion’s damp, mosquito-filled basement, eking out a living folding pizza boxes to get the bare minimum amenities. It’s a clear reference to the Best Picture winning film Parasite, and it makes for a really fun dynamic and mystery.
There are three seasons thus far, and each has its own merits. I’d say season 1 has the best twist dynamic, with players not having any idea of what to expect. Little is shared with the players trapped in the basement, and it’s a delight making progress little by little with them as they desperately search for a way to get back in the game.
Season 2 was an excellent all-around package, with good twists balanced with better challenges than season 1, and an equally punishing “bad place” the players want to avoid.
Season 3’s twists don’t feel quite as exciting as the previous seasons – it feels like the season perhaps tried to cram in too much and it resulted in lower stakes and less time for individual players to shine early – but the season makes up for it with incredibly impressive gameplay from the show’s heaviest hitters. Bloody Game 3 features two former Genius winners, and both truly stand out as the leaders the rest of the players rally around.
For anyone who liked The Devil’s Plan, The Genius, or Time Hotel, I’d highly recommend giving Bloody Game a spin. Season 3 only just ended, so it’s likely that we’ll be getting more seasons in the near future. I really appreciate how fresh every season is, and especially in season 3, the games look both demanding and tremendously fun.
Glad to see intellectual competition shows are thriving, and I really hope the genre continues to blossom as more audiences are exposed to these wonderful games.
Just two words of caution about Kocowa. 1) It loads each season from newest episode to oldest, so avoid looking at the thumbnails as you scroll past or else you’ll spoil a player or two who make it to the last few episodes. 2) The synopsis for each episode often gives away the outcome of the episode’s challenge, so avoid reading those. The synopsis appears if you pause the episode, so it takes a little effort to avoid spoilers!
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