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re: Alice in Borderland S2 - drops Thursday

Posted on 12/30/22 at 9:24 am to
Posted by TigerinATL
Member since Feb 2005
62446 posts
Posted on 12/30/22 at 9:24 am to
Just finished this last night and I really enjoyed season 2 overall. It had a handful of moments where people trying to make deep points about the human condition had these long winded speeches that dragged on too long. They also had a few unbelievable moments where people survived what appeared to fatal wounds much longer than they should have so they could end up saying all they had to say at the right time.

Outside of that though, season 2 was intense, action packed and they finally revealed the truth about what was going on at the end, and it probably wasn't what you were expecting. It's hard to say more without spoiling, but I felt pretty satisfied at the end.
Posted by AA7
Birmingham, AL
Member since Nov 2009
28447 posts
Posted on 12/30/22 at 12:37 pm to
I enjoyed season 2 as well.


***SPOILERS***

My only real issue was like you said, it seemed like suddenly it was just impossible to kill people. Kuina got stabbed like 20 times and made it. The girl with the prosthetic leg took a full clip to the abdomen.

Overall liked a lot of the premise. Some of the face cards were really good characters.
Posted by AFBuckeye
Ohio
Member since Oct 2021
1431 posts
Posted on 12/30/22 at 12:41 pm to
Just finished S2 also, I think I have the same gripes as others have mentioned. Some major wounds inflicted and they didn't die? Also, some episodes seemed to just have extra fluff, I suppose to get to 8 episodes? Other than that, enjoyed it overall.
Posted by MRF
Member since Dec 2021
822 posts
Posted on 12/30/22 at 12:43 pm to
Very true, particularly the one legged girl. I took all this as more evidence that the whole thing is a VR game, or they are clones going through this over and over as they die and are recreated. But it could just be way over the top unbelievable action.
Posted by PhilipMarlowe
Member since Mar 2013
21918 posts
Posted on 12/31/22 at 3:25 pm to


I’ve added it to my queue. Will watch it eventually, but it sounds like season 2 has been a bit of a letdown compared to season 1.
Posted by bamabenny
Member since Nov 2009
15756 posts
Posted on 12/31/22 at 9:40 pm to
Binged S1 and S2 over the past few days. Great show, S2 wasn't as strong, but I still enjoyed it. Will be curious to see where it goes from here.
Posted by jeff5891
Member since Aug 2011
15962 posts
Posted on 1/1/23 at 12:10 am to
quote:

I took all this as more evidence that the whole thing is a VR game,


Nah
This post was edited on 1/1/23 at 12:11 am
Posted by upstate
Member since Nov 2015
722 posts
Posted on 1/1/23 at 8:09 am to
I thought it was good but frankly I don’t think the writers know what to do with the world yet.
Like this way more than Squid Game, but squid game felt like it set out with defined rules, world and bad guy

Alice feels like they wrote an awesome show and world, and now that they are getting more seasons they have to figure out what the world is and how to explain it

Could be VR, alternate dimension, dream… who the heck knows and not sure how they deliver that without disappointing.
Posted by WG_Dawg
Member since Jun 2004
90290 posts
Posted on 1/1/23 at 12:37 pm to
quote:

Could be VR, alternate dimension, dream… who the heck knows and not sure how they deliver that without disappointing.


Wasn't it pretty clearly explained at the end? It wasn't VR or a futuristic simulation. It was these people literally fighting for their life while unconscious in the hospital after tbe meteor blast, while in tbe borderland between life and death.
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
156548 posts
Posted on 1/1/23 at 1:09 pm to
Only have two episodes left for S2. Really liking it so far.

I have a few gripes, like why so much of the city is overgrown with vines since it’s only been a month or two. Or the fact that so often it comes down to Arisu and his crew simply talking their way into winning games (especially Chishiya). Or the fact that they brought Niragi and Aguni basically back from the dead and the main group is trusting them.

But all in all I’m liking the games and liking the outcomes. The whole King of Spades thing seems weird, but I guess he’s the “main boss” dude or something.

I did have some questions, like what the hell Arisu and Usagi saw in the hot spring pools. I watched the scene multiple times and still couldn’t see/tell what it was.

Interested to see if there is some resolution at the end of this one or if they leave it open ended. Something tells me a third season of this may not be as good (since it’s not easy to keep up the quality the longer it lasts and the more answers get fleshed out), but I’ll be with this show for the long haul anyway. I love it. I’ll come read the thread and see what people think once I’m done (hopefully today or tomorrow).
Posted by MRF
Member since Dec 2021
822 posts
Posted on 1/1/23 at 2:20 pm to
quote:

Wasn't it pretty clearly explained at the end? It wasn't VR or a futuristic simulation. It was these people literally fighting for their life while unconscious in the hospital after tbe meteor blast, while in tbe borderland between life and death.


Now I believe you’re right, and essentially we’ve gotten all the explanation that we’re going to get.
Posted by UnluckyTiger
Member since Sep 2003
43120 posts
Posted on 1/1/23 at 2:29 pm to
First 3 episodes were strong and episode 7 was badass. The fight with the King of Spades was nuts and so well choreographed. Read that the Joker is basically the carrier to the underworld. I imagine we get a Season 3 because this series is a gold mine for Netflix. The final game was really well played too. I caught myself falling for the insane asylum story too which the Queen warns about going into the game.
This post was edited on 1/1/23 at 2:30 pm
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
156548 posts
Posted on 1/1/23 at 8:32 pm to
Ok so I just finished and read the thread in full.

I liked this season WAY more than pretty much everyone else in here apparently. I thought it was awesome. While I did have some gripes similar to everyone else, I thought it did a great job of getting back into the game action while also upping the antes a bit. But also explaining things here and there to help the characters (and us) piece things together.

My gripes are similar to previous ones mentioned. But the biggest is the damage players were able to take and just keep going or stay alive. Like it was so bad sometimes that it was distracting. Niragi and Aguni were ridiculous, as was Kuina taking 37 stabs to the side and abdomen. But the worst was the high school girl taking half a mag to the torso and basically exploding and collapsing….then dragging herself across the field to Aguni. Also they kept giving people death scenes only to bring them back later. It’s like these people are superheroes who can withstand brutal damage…and I won’t even get into the ridiculousness that was the king of spades. But I just chalked it up to anime culture and rode with it.

My other main gripe was how dragged out and slow some of the parts were, especially the emotional ones. The whole Aguni/Usagi thing in the queen of hearts game took like 35 minutes and could’ve been done in ten at most.

But that being said, I thought the season was really good. Not as good as S1 but that’s okay…S1 was pretty amazing. It did feel a little weird that the story seemed to get wrapped up so nicely in E8 but then they tease the Joker at the end. This show could end right now and be pretty awesome. But I’ll ride with new seasons as long as they put them out.

I don’t really care for the explanation of “purgatory” (the Borderlands) for the games though. That didn’t make much sense to me and I wasn’t a huge fan of that route. But at least it’s an explanation and makes SOME sense. I guess I just wish it was something different. But it still made sense and didn’t ruin the show for me or anything. Although like someone said, there’s seemed to be people that died in Borderlands that were alive post-meteor, so chalk that up as another reason I didn’t care for that explanation of what was going on.

Can anybody explain what Arisu and Usagi saw in the hot spring pool? I still have no idea what the frick that was or was supposed to mean. I thought it was maybe a camera (similar to the one in the flowers in the croquet game), but I didn’t see a camera. Also, the cameras and whatnot don’t make much sense in the explanation of the borderlands.
This post was edited on 1/1/23 at 8:50 pm
Posted by TigerinATL
Member since Feb 2005
62446 posts
Posted on 1/1/23 at 10:44 pm to
quote:

I liked this season WAY more than pretty much everyone else in here apparently.


I agree, I’m not sure why the earliest viewers didn’t like it as much.

quote:

I don’t really care for the explanation of “purgatory” (the Borderlands) for the games though. That didn’t make much sense to me and I wasn’t a huge fan of that route.


My wife and I both liked the VR explanation best. Purgatory makes sense, but future VR being the explanation and ending the show there would have worked.

quote:

It did feel a little weird that the story seemed to get wrapped up so nicely in E8 but then they tease the Joker at the end. This show could end right now and be pretty awesome. But I’ll ride with new seasons as long as they put them out.


Yeah, if there is a season 3 it would have to be mostly new characters outside of the existing and new “citizens”. It was an interesting world, but it was really the ensemble cast that made it work. I’m not sure they’ll be able to replicate that.
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
156548 posts
Posted on 1/2/23 at 9:15 am to
quote:

My wife and I both liked the VR explanation best. Purgatory makes sense, but future VR being the explanation and ending the show there would have worked.

Yeah I think VR or a simulation of some sort would have worked well. And I assume the Borderlands served as a purgatory for everyone involved in the meteor incident. But with all of the different explanations from the QoH, it seems like they kept trying to take us down the road of making us think it had something to do with it all being in Arisu’s mind.

I also don’t fully get the choice at the end for people to be able to stay in BL as citizens or decline. Does that mean they chose death? Or just chose to stay in a coma or something like that?
Posted by MRF
Member since Dec 2021
822 posts
Posted on 1/2/23 at 9:45 am to
quote:

It did feel a little weird that the story seemed to get wrapped up so nicely in E8 but then they tease the Joker at the end.


I briefly skimmed some of the wiki type pages on the original comic. It sounds like seasons 1 and 2 follow closely with the original comic run, except the joker was actually shown at the end. He was the ferryman I think for those going over to the world of the dead.

Then the next run of comics seems like it was different characters altogether.
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
156548 posts
Posted on 1/2/23 at 11:02 am to
For now, I’ll check out this show for as long as they make seasons. But I’m not sure I have much desire to see people other than Arisu and his group. They were great characters. I’d be open to new ones I guess but they’d have to be as good or better.
Posted by AUFANATL
Member since Dec 2007
5339 posts
Posted on 1/2/23 at 4:13 pm to
quote:

I have a few gripes, like why so much of the city is overgrown with vines since it’s only been a month or two.


There was a scene earlier in the series where a girl was studying the plants growing around the city and noted they were growing at different intervals, and she theorized that time was somehow operating differently in the Borderland world. There was also the scene after they first arrived where they found a grocery bag full of rotten produce in a car on the street implying that it had been there for weeks, which didn't make sense.

Spoilers....

Essentially, we know that all of these people arrived at the Borserland world via the same real life event that occurred in the same specific moment on Earth - the meteor strike in Tokyo. The fact that they arrive and leave Borderland at different intervals is a reflection that they experience time differently based on their medical condition. It's kind of like the movie Inception where 10 seconds in the real world equals one hour in a dream, except instead of one person controlling the dream and the clock everybody in this show is unconscious fighting for life in a hospital ICU and their shared limbo reflects those individual contrasts - fresh and new plus old, overgrown and decaying. It would also explain how some people die quickly while others linger on with traumatic, seemingly fatal injuries.
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
156548 posts
Posted on 1/2/23 at 4:19 pm to
Yeah I posted that before seeing the final episode. I believe the QoH explained that a little.
Posted by SouthEasternKaiju
SouthEast... you figure it out
Member since Aug 2021
47040 posts
Posted on 1/2/23 at 11:29 pm to
Started watching so yes, of course i upvoted.

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