Physical: 100 Series Review

Physical: 100 Series Review: Competition First, Reality Show Second

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If we're being honest, we were never huge fans of reality competition shows. Not because these shows were not fun, but we weren't into all the drama that goes around this type of format. "Physical: 100" didn't feel like your typical reality show. There's not much bloat here as each episode was more or less about the battles -  jammed to the brim with intense and suspenseful competition from first minute to last. Now, this is how you do a sports competition show.  

One hundred competitors from South Korea, all having well-developed physical attributes and physique and fitness levels, go head-to-head against each other in various quests of strength, agility, endurance, will, and strategy. Losers from each quests are eliminated until only one ultimate competitor remains to win a prize of 300 million won.

Featuring 100 contestants, it's no surprise that the biggest issue (and probably the only issue) we had with "Physical: 100" was its editing. The show had a quirk wherein it tended to do repeats of key segments in a battle. This never grew on us and we hated how it halted the action that was happening on-screen. We also felt that it focused and favored heavily on certain competitors that a lot of the participants in the final 20 (and lower) we barely even knew about. Aside from some unusual pacing and character development concerns, the show was the best and most impressive sports competition show we have witnessed. A majority of the participants are legit super humans who have either earned medals in the Olympics or have played professionally. This mix of of fighters, athletes, dancers, actors, and more brought different types of physiques that was intriguing from the first time we heard it until the very last quest to determine the winner of the show. The actual games were as intriguing and engaging as the competitors themselves featuring a healthy variety of challenges that test a different types of "strengths". If we could change its format though, we wished the men and women were separate. Overall, "Physical: 100" was an astounding and amazing series that Netflix should retain and the biggest surprise so far this 2023.

 

Rating: 4 and a half reels