It’s not clear what’s going on with Korea lately, but the content they produce manages to be loved by audiences from all over the world, and so they slowly take up more space in the Netflix library and in our hearts. Feels that the change started after the dizzying success of the “Squid Games”, when the tremendous potential of Korean content was finally revealed. It was a violent series that hit waves and contestants, and if we’re talking about beatings and rejections, “100 Physical” is the series for you.
Of course, there are many series on television that deal with strength competitions, for example “Ninja”, “Ultimate Tag” and several other boring American formats. “100 physical” is a completely different thing. Here the contestants do not try to surpass themselves and achieve the best result but fight against others and as the narrator says “to the death”. Sound intriguing? Be sure.
What attracted me was the group of participants. The 100 most powerful people in Korea each in their own field, yes yes and once again yes. Choreographer, cheerleader, wrestling, martial arts, mountain climbers, athletics, fire brigade, boxing, Olympic champions, YouTubers, military personnel – everyone who came to the program is the top in their field. Wouldn’t you like to see a choreographer fight a mountain climber to the death? Admit yes.
The show is so well made that it managed to hold me in nerve-wracking tension throughout the first two episodes. I just had to see who would win, come on Netflix, upload all the episodes together, why are you abusing us like this? The tasks are crazy and brutal, the contestants “don’t see eye to eye” and fight as if their lives depended on it. Considering the fact that the Korean people have a strong honor complex you can guess to what levels of violence this competition reaches. I’m surprised no one has died there yet.
You can say that these are the squid games in real life, even the contestants who enter the ring mutter it several times “wow it’s like the squid games”. They seem to be unsure if they made it out of this format alive. The first episode begins in a huge arena filled with white statues of minimal upper body. This is a Coliseum in a gladiatorial war in ancient Rome. Little by little the contestants come in to look for the statue with their body cast to stand next to it.
The excitement starts to flicker that we see them getting worried about each entry of a new contestant “Wow, did I see who entered? He’s the hands-down world champion!”, or “Did you see who’s standing there? He is the most famous blogger in Korea”, “That’s right, this morning I saw a video of him on YouTube”. All the hype that the contestants create towards the other contestants makes us understand that they invested here in the casting. They brought us the top of the top, the strongest in Korea. A great opening for a great reality show. There is no “fight or plate” here, only “fight or fight”.
“100 Physical” now on Netflix, come see who is the strongest man in Korea.