POPCORN REVIEWSS

Based on a manga by the same name, the title of the show is almost a spin-off of the fairytale Alice In Wonderland, wherein the basic premise of the latter includes Alice entering the wonderland in search of her rabbit. It is interesting how the relevance of the title holds true here too – at a point, Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) has to enter the mysterious world of Borderland in search for his now-wife Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) who is brought into the world by a professor called Ryuji (Kento Kaku). And here, the driving force of the three characters is immediately established, something that goes beyond the materialistic aspect of money unlike in Squid Game.

Come to think of it, the basic premise of the Ramayana involving Lord Ram entering Lanka in search of his wife Goddess Sita, is directly replicated in the journey of Arisu and Usagi. But unlike ‘Ravana’, the chief motive of Ryuji isn’t that of revenge – in fact, his motive is far more philosophical in nature stemming out of his personal prejudice of writing a paper on life after death, or specifically what the world would look like. And his seminar remains the starting point of re-entering the world with Usagi at the behest of the serial killer Banda (Hayato Isomura), who has a case to settle while coaxing the ‘exceptional player’ Arisu into the mix (and the only way he would return to Borderland would be to retrieve the love of his life – Usagi).

The games aren’t necessarily straight forward here, with a strong emphasis being on the complexity and the cerebral nature of the show. Each game is designed to have a loophole to be exploited, and the general theme of each game would be that of survival, and the will to succeed by the contestants in play. And the varieties are on display – from a survival arrow game with a hint of permutations and combinations, or a Tokyo metro that is a perfect setting for mind games, or the Tokyo Tower that doubles up as a setting of tic-tac-toe, or even a simple game involving a can that felt like a cricket contest between two teams – with each player standing to gain (or lose) in isolation. The excitement levels remain intact through each of these games, and yet there is a minor flaw to this process.

One small tweak that this season chooses to do from a creative standpoint is to step away from the standard format of having regular backstories of a few contestants. The backstories are there, but they appear slightly later as a part of the narrative regig. As a result, the emotional core is marginally compromised to begin with, even as you take a while to warm up to the players involved outside the regular leads of the show. But that doesn’t dilute the overall impact of the show simply because the dynamics between the characters coupled with the overall theme of (compromised) unity and isolation, both that oscillate in bouts is something that does keep the games on a knife-edge.

The final hurrah from the games perspective remains the cerebral ‘cubes’ game, almost being a reflection of life, the choices that we make and the consequences that would follow. It is an interesting setup given how the immediate next event has a deeper philosophical notion tagged to it, with the revelation of ‘The Joker’, and the significance of the Borderland that is a direct allegory to a place between life and death. In a way, life seems like a game within a game with the easiest way out being death – but the writing chooses to address on whether most people have a will to live even when they know their future, or when life is filled with obstacles. In a way, we all are a part of the games – even as an outro boast of a similar setup like the finale of Squid Game that would allow Netflix to continue the show (and a meteorite attack) in LA. On a side note then – would the worlds of Squid Game and Alice In Borderland merge going forward? We shall see!