Fighting.
January 4, 2016 12:35 PM Subscribe
LOVE this show!! I'm all set to watch the finale of Season 1 this evening,, STOKED that my 2 favorite players right from episode 1 have made it to the end!!
posted by wats at 12:56 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by wats at 12:56 PM on January 4, 2016
Season 2 is kind of annoying; a lot of the games seem simpler and designed to exploit more of the backstabbing aspect of the game. It's fun when the game itself appears really complex, where alliances aren't simply just a versus between two groups and the game is hiding a trick that makes the it extremely simple to win and more so if you do collaborate, so you need to have an aspect of problem solving coupled with negotiation, compromise and betrayal.
Another one that's interesting is Crime Scene, which has several Genius players participating. There's less secret collusion/backstabbing and more politicking in that game, and it's fun to see the players identify with their roles and sometimes go deep.
posted by linux at 1:02 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Another one that's interesting is Crime Scene, which has several Genius players participating. There's less secret collusion/backstabbing and more politicking in that game, and it's fun to see the players identify with their roles and sometimes go deep.
posted by linux at 1:02 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I love Liars Game, and I'm giving this a viddie... but without the dark, twisted sense of being a plaything for someone else's sadistic games, it remains to be seen how it could ever be quite as good.
There's something about being eternally broke and in debt to a dark, sinister, secretive organization that makes everything just that much better.
posted by markkraft at 2:44 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
There's something about being eternally broke and in debt to a dark, sinister, secretive organization that makes everything just that much better.
posted by markkraft at 2:44 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
My wife is obsessed with Korean TV but has never heard of this. Fascinating!
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:29 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:29 PM on January 4, 2016
The best game show in the world. At its best (and it's often at its best!), the game has a tactical win, a strategic win, and a social win. Of course, it's often impossible to accomplish all these goals at the same time. You need to not just find these points on the triangle, you need to figure out where the balance is at that point in the game to keep going. Most of the people I talk to the show about say that the right order to watch the seasons in is 1,3,4,2, for the reasons stated above.
posted by persona at 3:30 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by persona at 3:30 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Clavis Cryptica describes the design elements that go into the game:
My favorite thing about The Genius by far is the visual design. Holy smokes! This show is a feast for the designer’s eyes. There is this great branding based around the garnets which carries through across all visual elements of the show. Anything that needs an icon, symbol, or pattern in the show is marked with the familiar hexagonal shape and the letter G (which serves as a double abbreviation for both “garnet” and “genius”). Likewise, red and gold make up the main color palette of all visuals and help to reinforce the brand. This level of consistent and clever theming is totally inspired and rarely found in western reality TV.posted by persona at 3:33 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Fans talk about The Genius in an effort to get BBC to pick up the format.
Idotape on what the series as meant to an electronica band unexpectedly hitting it big with a theme song and background music.
posted by persona at 3:40 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Idotape on what the series as meant to an electronica band unexpectedly hitting it big with a theme song and background music.
posted by persona at 3:40 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
The Genius - and I've only seen season four - combines the best social gameplay from Survivor with really intense problem-solving. Most competitive reality shows are, to be honest, balanced so that people of relatively average intellect can play them - the puzzles on Survivor or Amazing Race are usually reasonably straightforward and can be sussed out via trial and error at the worst of times. The Genius says fuck that and makes the puzzles extremely complex, which in turn makes for compelling teevee.
posted by mightygodking at 4:42 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by mightygodking at 4:42 PM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I love Liars Game, and I'm giving this a viddie... but without the dark, twisted sense of being a plaything for someone else's sadistic games, it remains to be seen how it could ever be quite as good.
Clearly you don't understand how reality television works.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 6:11 PM on January 4, 2016
Clearly you don't understand how reality television works.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 6:11 PM on January 4, 2016
This sounds great (I loved the Liar Game manga and have wished someone would do something like it) but I'm worried that like many reality shows it's actually scripted who wins and takes what strategy and whatnot. Can we be reasonably sure that's not the case?
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:31 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:31 PM on January 4, 2016
Most of the people I talk to the show about say that the right order to watch the seasons in is 1,3,4,2, for the reasons stated above.
The only problem with that order is that it sucks most of the tension out of season 2, because seasons 3 and 4 both feature returning players from that season, and that means you'll go into season 2 knowing who wins it.
I do think that of the 4 seasons, 2 is probably the weakest, so maybe it's not a huge deal to skip it and watch it last, but if you're going to watch all 4 seasons anyway, might as well watch them in order.
posted by Katrel at 9:35 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
The only problem with that order is that it sucks most of the tension out of season 2, because seasons 3 and 4 both feature returning players from that season, and that means you'll go into season 2 knowing who wins it.
I do think that of the 4 seasons, 2 is probably the weakest, so maybe it's not a huge deal to skip it and watch it last, but if you're going to watch all 4 seasons anyway, might as well watch them in order.
posted by Katrel at 9:35 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
My phone still autosuggests 'Yeonseung' whenever I type 'ye' ;-; I went so crazy for this show
posted by Quilford at 6:33 AM on January 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Quilford at 6:33 AM on January 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Dr. Yeonseung is awesome.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:34 AM on January 5, 2016
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:34 AM on January 5, 2016
BTW, for anyone who shared my concern about scripting, I'm pretty sure that while the producers may nudge people in the right direction or influence things a little bit, it's actually not scripted. Things proceed pretty organically and it's fun to watch people operating on each other with logic, false logic, charm, etc. Wish I knew more about these people, though I'm already developing favorites!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:27 PM on January 5, 2016
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:27 PM on January 5, 2016
"My favorite thing about The Genius by far is the visual design. . . red and gold make up the main color palette of all visuals and help to reinforce the brand"
A lot of the elements seemed lifted from the Japanese drama of Liar's Game, which featured diamonds, not garnets, as a form of gaming currency. Visually, it also featured a lot of red and gold. I suspect the choice of colors is also largely cultural.
The G logo looks like a rip-off of the Nintendo Gamecube logo. Geneon also has a similar logo, btw.
posted by markkraft at 4:55 PM on January 6, 2016
A lot of the elements seemed lifted from the Japanese drama of Liar's Game, which featured diamonds, not garnets, as a form of gaming currency. Visually, it also featured a lot of red and gold. I suspect the choice of colors is also largely cultural.
The G logo looks like a rip-off of the Nintendo Gamecube logo. Geneon also has a similar logo, btw.
posted by markkraft at 4:55 PM on January 6, 2016
I started watching The Genius based on this post (thanks very much btw) and I just finished S2. Wow, what a difference S2 was compared to S1! No kidding about skipping the season and going straight to three.
While S1 was smart and fun, S2 had too much backstabbing and pointless lies for my liking. I'm not sure why but I got the sense that the players in S2 decided to go in with a must-win mentality and trying to out-smart everyone else by crook. Episode six was pretty painful to watch to be honest.
posted by tksh at 10:24 PM on January 16, 2016
While S1 was smart and fun, S2 had too much backstabbing and pointless lies for my liking. I'm not sure why but I got the sense that the players in S2 decided to go in with a must-win mentality and trying to out-smart everyone else by crook. Episode six was pretty painful to watch to be honest.
posted by tksh at 10:24 PM on January 16, 2016
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posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:53 PM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]