TEMPLAR’S PICK | THE 8 SHOW

Charlie Oranza

Layout | Jhon Roever Robea

TEMPLAR’S PICK | The 8 Show

Genre: Thriller, Comedy series

Directed by: Han Jae-rim

Starring: , Ryu Jun Yeol, Chun Woo-Hee,  Park Jeong-Min, Lee Yul Eum, Park Hae-joon

Rating: 5 stars

There are two classes in society: those who get more than they earn and those who earn more than they get. It's indeed ruthless and brutal yet unfortunately exists within our society, which was brutally visualized by eight different people in the Korean thriller series, The 8 Show. 

In this series, eight penniless people are trapped in a mysterious hierarchical apartment ranked from 1 to 8, and the only way for them to gain money is to stay and entertain the audience who watch them from the CCTV. However, the conflict lies as the people on the lower floor discover that the higher their floor is, the more money they will get regardless of how much they work hard to earn. 

Demonstrating how the characters portray different ranks directly mirrors the society as we all live in a hierarchy; we are all divided into the higher class, the middle class, and the lower class. The series highlights that even if we all work hard on a constant force, the higher class will receive more than the lower class due to different factors, one of which is tyranny. Consequently, corruption and personal malice have been lying through the cycle of earnings both in the show and the society.

Moreover, the conflict worsened as the people in higher floors decided not to work anymore and just manipulate the lower class with gaslighting, brutal, physical abuse, and threats in the next few weeks. They managed to control the lower people working so hard everyday with just a little earnings while they spent so much money from the lower floor's labor, mirroring that some people work hard with blood, sweat, and tears while others work with tactics.

Furthermore, the series highlights how the lower class, who lives in a small, smelly, and tight studio-type room, differs from the higher class, who's living its life to the fullest in a spacious apartment. It also effectively convey how poor people were so thrifty to buy their necessities and how rich people were so wasteful of their money with unnecessary things.

As the series approaches the end, the lower class initiated a revolution to not obey the higher class anymore. Violating the rules only the higher class established breaks the thick wall of tyranny and exploitation that is against morality and humanity brings out a way to fix the societal hierarchy that must never be made in the first place since it only benefits the people on top of it. 

To conclude, The 8 Show effectively visualizes how corruption lies within our world. That's why it's considered the cancer of society—something hard to break and cure. The hierarchical apartment mirrors how unfair living in a lower class is, as they earn little by little while the higher class earns with a bundle. This also shows how tempting and dangerous money is for everyone who will do their best to climb the societal hierarchy that should've not been established in the first place. Hierarchy will always oppress the lower class and will consequently benefit the powerful people. If everyone keeps this inhuman and unrealistic mandate by letting it run along this society where everyone aims to earn money by working hard in different ways, the world will keep being an unfair place to live.