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Contains spoilers for “Squid Game: The Challenge” Season 1, Episode 1 — “Red Light, Green Light”
Let’s be exceedingly clear here out of an abundance of caution: the biggest difference between the 2021 South Korean drama “Squid Game” and Netflix’s 2023 reality competition show “Squid Game: The Challenge” is that players are not wiped from existence in the reality show if they lose a challenge. They’re just eliminated and sent home (alive). Episode 1 of “Squid Game: The Challenge” does throw viewers an immediate curveball, though, which is that the titular games happen in the massive dormitory as well.
The show kicks off with 456 contestants — a number that’s whittled down considerably after Red Light, Green Light, the first game in the show — and when the remaining players head to the bunk bed-filled dormitory, the guards reveal something shocking. “This dormitory is where you’ll live, eat, and sleep,” a guard tells the contestants. “You will be responsible for its upkeep. Between games, there will also be tests which will take place in the dormitory. These are tests of character. How you play is who you are.”
“During these tests, you may have the opportunity to give other players an advantage to help them in the game — but be aware, these tests may also be the opportunity to eliminate other players,” the guard continues, fully revealing this new twist to the contestants.
This new Squid Game rule has huge consequences
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this new rule for “Squid Game: The Challenge” is just how quickly it takes effect. In Episode 1, Dani and Kyle — contestants 134 and 101, respectively — are peeling potatoes for the dormitory’s mandated “chore time” when they receive a communiqué from the guards meant only for them. The two of them can anonymously make a decision about the other players. Either they can gift an advantage to a fellow player … or they can eliminate someone.
Dani and Kyle ultimately decide to eliminate someone (in fact, giving someone an advantage isn’t even really a topic of discussion between the two). After narrowing down a list of possibilities, they settle on player number 200, an affable character named Mothi, who they think is a little too friendly and thus could become direct competition. “I immediately feel awful,” Dani says in a confessional after the fact … before acknowledging that every person who’s eliminated adds to the ultimate cash prize. “However, it’s $10,000 added to the bank.”
The first five episodes of “Squid Game: The Challenge” feature other insidious dormitory challenges, like public votes and a pretty demented game involving pop-up music boxes, but this first one really illustrates how the players can use this new twist to their advantage. “Squid Game: The Challenge” is now available to stream on Netflix.
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