The 8 Show is the latest South Korean dystopian survival show on Netflix. Like Squid Game, it asks the same question: What wouldn't you do for money?
The series brings together eight debt-ridden contestants in a high-stakes reality competition. Their only goal is to survive for as long as possible in a bizarre apartment complex. There's even a timer, which adds pressure to the chaos.
How The Contestants Escaped The 8 Show
After overthrowing the tyrannical reign of the 8th Floor, the lower-floor players attempt to use the 1st Floor's (Bae Sung-woo) 1 billion won to move to a higher-level room, only to discover that the money only bought instructions, and switching floors is challenging.
With the 8th Floor (Chun Woo-hee) and the 6th Floor (Park Hae-joon) tied up, the group plans to leave, but the 1st Floor, desperate for money, forces them to restrain each other at gunpoint to earn more money. To earn more time and money, 1st Floor decides to perform. He is a clown and is meant to entertain.
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As 1st Floor does his tightrope routine, he jumps too high and collides with the overhead projector. It dislodges and falls into the empty pool below. He manages to catch himself on the tightrope, but the projector ignites. Unable to hold on any longer, he falls into the flames and is burned alive.
The other contestants break free from their restraints and still try to help 1st Floor, even begging the game makers to save him. However, with no aid rushing to help them, the 3rd Floor (Ryu Jun-yeol) breaks the game's rules and shoots all the cameras. With nothing left to see and no one to entertain, the timer is set to zero, and they're free.
5th Floor’s Violent and Gruesome Revenge On 6th Floor
In episode 8, 5th Floor (Moon Jeong-Hee) confides in 4th Floor (Yul-Eum Lee) about how a relationship with a con artist left her penniless and divorced, ultimately forcing her to join the show.
This traumatic experience left deep scars on the 5th Floor, and history repeated itself when the 6th Floor manipulated her deteriorating mental health and need for affection to convince her to remove his restraints in episode 7. However, it was the forced kiss that truly pushed her over the edge, given her troubled history with men.
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Amid the chaos, the 5th Floor castrates the 6th Floor, an act of revenge against all the men who exploited her kindness throughout her life. In this brutal moment, the 6th Floor becomes a stand-in for all her past tormentors.
What Happened To The Contestants After The 8 Show Ended?
After the show's explosive end, the survivors return to the real world, but it’s unclear if their lives are any better. Flashbacks reveal snippets of their pre-show existence, hinting that escaping the game might not mean escaping their troubles.
In a bittersweet gesture, the 3rd Floor uses some of his winnings to organise a funeral for the First Floor, complete with a massive billboard invitation in Seoul.
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The reunion at the funeral is a mix of sombre reflection and unresolved tension, underscored by the absence of the 7th Floor (Park Jeong-min), who mysteriously gifts the First Floor’s family a life-changing sum of money but skips the memorial.
The 8 Contestants in The 8 Show
First Floor, once a clown in a travelling circus with a bad leg, entered The 8 Show to earn money for his sick daughter and support his wife.
Second Floor's (Lee Joo-Young) backstory is vague, but it's revealed that she joined The 8 Show to fund someone's surgery. Flashbacks show her discussing with coworkers how a man was forced to take extra shifts due to understaffing, leading to an accident that left him needing surgery.
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Third Floor lost all his money in a con game and now avoids loan sharks, while 4th Floor, once an aspiring K-pop idol, worked in a department store. They later realise they were classmates in high school.
Fifth Floor was the wife of a wealthy dermatologist but got conned by another man while dealing with her husband's infidelity. Sixth Floor, a former famous baseball player, fell from grace and became a car salesman, constantly undermined by his boss.
By the end of the series, it's suggested that 7th Floor was either a producer or writer before joining The 8 Show, while 8th Floor was a disgraced performance artist shunned by the art community.
The Meta Ending of The 8 Show
And just when you think it’s done, a mid-credits scene flips the script. Seventh Floor is seen pitching a screenplay based on their harrowing experience on The 8 Show.
The executive he presents it to jokes about having been in the game himself. It could be a teaser for season two, and the game has more history than the initial eight contestants.
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