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Lengthy but quite entertaining overall
Even if not produced by the same company, this survival show is clearly inspired by the various "Produce" show. There are a couple of twists but overall it is pretty similar in the way it dedicates a solid chunk of time on the participants and the relationships with each other around practices and challenges, as well as during the elimination announcements with extra "filler" content showing the guys playing games and interacting.
The show started with a whooping amount of participants : 200 guys with a vast difference in terms of skills and training. The audition part was really fun and served to skim off half of the number, allowing the viewer to focus on a more manageable size of candidates. I really enjoyed the cas t : some participants were known to me from other survival show but I appreciated to see them under a new light, while some were totally fresh faces. I also liked a lot the coaches (again some I liked already from other shows), they felt all invested and committed to the program and providing advice to the participants without artificial meanness to foster drama. Lee Soo Hyuk, acting as the MC of the show, did also a solid job with his soulful voice and gravita while seeming genuinely interested in the young talents and creating a nice soothing atmosphere for the cast.
Despite all of those positives, pacing and episodes length could definitely be improved. The survival announcement episodes as well as the final arc leading to the finale, the finale in itself were ultra long ! Do we really needed a +4 hours finale ? I don't think so. Other than that, the first half of the survival was the best part with all of the teams "arrangements" formed for each missions but it could have been more innovative in the concept itself and the last part definitely copy-pasted the "Produce" way of doing it, letting the concept of "assembly" feel more like a gimmick than something truly influential. Contrary to some survival shows, the performances were good but not that memorable to me, with very few I would rewatch even if I did enjoy the overall show and the outcome of it.
I would recommend this to people that like survival shows. The participants are really likeable and the storytelling is good without too much artificial drama nor evil edit. It is a pretty lengthy show that require quite a bit of time commitment because of the duration of the episodes and just the sheer amount of candidates. If you are nostalgic of the "old school" Produce shows, you might definitely want to check it out.
The show started with a whooping amount of participants : 200 guys with a vast difference in terms of skills and training. The audition part was really fun and served to skim off half of the number, allowing the viewer to focus on a more manageable size of candidates. I really enjoyed the cas t : some participants were known to me from other survival show but I appreciated to see them under a new light, while some were totally fresh faces. I also liked a lot the coaches (again some I liked already from other shows), they felt all invested and committed to the program and providing advice to the participants without artificial meanness to foster drama. Lee Soo Hyuk, acting as the MC of the show, did also a solid job with his soulful voice and gravita while seeming genuinely interested in the young talents and creating a nice soothing atmosphere for the cast.
Despite all of those positives, pacing and episodes length could definitely be improved. The survival announcement episodes as well as the final arc leading to the finale, the finale in itself were ultra long ! Do we really needed a +4 hours finale ? I don't think so. Other than that, the first half of the survival was the best part with all of the teams "arrangements" formed for each missions but it could have been more innovative in the concept itself and the last part definitely copy-pasted the "Produce" way of doing it, letting the concept of "assembly" feel more like a gimmick than something truly influential. Contrary to some survival shows, the performances were good but not that memorable to me, with very few I would rewatch even if I did enjoy the overall show and the outcome of it.
I would recommend this to people that like survival shows. The participants are really likeable and the storytelling is good without too much artificial drama nor evil edit. It is a pretty lengthy show that require quite a bit of time commitment because of the duration of the episodes and just the sheer amount of candidates. If you are nostalgic of the "old school" Produce shows, you might definitely want to check it out.
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