JTBC Code Episode 8 Finale Review

Disclaimer: This is not really the final episode of Code. Some do refer to episode 8 as the end of season one. The winner went on to play another "round" of Code, which was much better executed. 


So, we have the final 3 on Basement 1 and they are so close to getting out of this building, at least for one of the three finalists: Oh Hyun Min, Shin Jae Pyung and Jeong Jun Ha!

I will say that this is probably the one of the better episodes all season, just because it was easier to catch what was going on during the show. The puzzles somewhat became the stars this episode, as they had more screen time, haha.

They started the main match by opening two rooms, the green one and the mirror one. There were a total of four clues per room that will unlock the locks that lead to the red room, which held clues that unlock the ticket to the final round.

However, at most two players are allowed in a room at any one time. Once three clues (in a room) were deciphered, the room would be out of bounds within 10 seconds. As the game progressed, Hyunmin and Junha ended up in the same (mirror) room and they got to the red room first. Meanwhile Jaepyung was solving the puzzles all by himself and got to the red room a little late, as Hyunmin had already moved on to the final round.

In the end, Jaepyung was out of luck as Junha solved one of the puzzle seconds before he did.

In Final Code, they played Betting Royale, which included a total of 7 rounds of quick brain games that lasted no more than 20 seconds. An example, would be a multiple choice question about how many points were recorded after six darts were shot and landed on the target.
A bit lacking in my opinion, as the whole game ended so quickly. Hyunmin was really great at betting and answering the questions, so no surprise here, he won!!! Quite an overwhelming win, actually. Congratulations!

This pretty experimental concept on TV this new year, with Code: Secret Room, has definitely caught our attentions as escape rooms become even more of a hit these few years. While it was lackluster at times, I thought that it was great for JTBC to put this out for the audience. :)

~~ End of Season 1 Code

...

Or is it?

O.o As it turns out, Hyunmin had the chance to choose whether to go back 5 levels down for a chance to double his price money when he entered the elevator. and he decided to go for another challenge against "tougher competitors".

I was really surprised when I saw that. When I first watched it, I thought it was just one single challenge but turns out I heard wrongly! Woah, there were San E, Eddy Kim and Choi Jung Moon etc on B5! Then, the machine turned on and said welcome, WTH?!

Haha, I really thought that this was the end of Code after Hyunmin won, because the show just isn't the best thing on TV. >< To have a second season right after, is a really serious investment for such a show format by JTBC.

... Erm, so I am guessing that this isn't the end then, and I will check back next week, to see if we are really moving on to the second season!

For updates, find me on Twitter @raycherr ~~
Thanks for reading!

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JTBC Code Episode 7 Review

Nearing the ultimate escape of the building! Basement 2, and a short review today.
On this level, cracking the codes and locks will get them 1/2/3 markers. Markers, you say? Yea, today they got to play climbing the ladder. (Click on the hyperlink if you are interested in the game!)

Two players will end up winning the game while the other two go to Last Code. Pink colored hair Heechul and Pink colored shirt Junha lost, and have to play a rather lame boring game. Out of four tiles(head, body, arms, hand) they have to guess which tile the opponent played. In my opinion, this was a rather slow and meaningless game... The two players did however try to make it fun, but still, I thought that this "psychological" game was more down to luck than really reading the other player's mind, because it was a rather simple game.

And with that, Heechul lost, sending Junha off to face the KAIST alliance on Basement 1.

Also, I am not sure if it is just the video I watched but I never saw the reveal of what happened leading up to the outcome during Main Code. (might be bad editing... :/) I really want to know how Hyunmin's plans worked out! Maybe even some more afterthoughts from them would be nice too.

Verdict: Watch for Heechul's eyeliner and wits but overall, not a great episode.

So, the FINALE is next week!!! XD
In the meantime, find me on twitter @raycherr! :)

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JTBC Code Episode 6 Review

With 5 players left, it is on to Basement 3! Two players get to succeed in escaping during Main Code and the other three will go to Last Code. 

In Main Code, there were 4 different colored hints (red green blue yellow) to be found and they will lead to 4 different pass code which can only be successfully keyed in once. While I liked this refreshed rule, it was a pity the show missed out on the opportunity for us to guess and confirm our answers for the remaining codes that were not solved. 

Also, each player had an additional guest that they brought to help them out this episode. One of them you might be familiar with, Girl's Day Yura. She was Heechul's guest. :) While some of the guests did a pretty good job in helping them solve clues, others were pretty lost. Haha I'm not naming people yea but in the end it didn't really matter. Hyunmin still figured out the code first, with just 2 hints. 

On the subject of Hyunmin, it seems like the other players are starting to become really weary of him especially Jaepyung, after his closest ally Youngjin was eliminated. However, the players still always end up helping this maknae. (Which let to Hyunmin winning this round...) :/

Nothing against Hyunmin, but he just doesn't give out the underdog vibes for me to want to root for him now. I do understand his competitiveness though, and his mentality to keep his head in the game. 

Jaepyung was next to escape, and then we moved on to the 3 way match. They had this board game where they had to reach the finish circle(red) twice in order to get an escape card. Their winnings count will start over after one of them gets a card. 

I included this amateur drawing >< haha as reference so you can see how they get to move along the lines. 

How they play is that for every round they have 7 blocks (from 1 to 7) and they play one of them, which is then discarded. The player with the larger number win, unless two of the players have the same larger number then the last player wins. He will move the token piece one step(circle) closer to himself. Once one of the player moves the piece into his red circle, all their blocks are placed back into play. 

I can imagine this game as one that is more complicated and have more players. This sure has great potential as a more developed game. :) Though of course, it wouldn't make for good TV with too many people either, hmm. 

With three players, this game was forgettable... Then, Sunghyun was eliminated. 

Verdict: Meh. Not the worst episode but not that interesting this week either. 

Anyways, Happy Lunar New Year everyone!!! :) 

Find me on Twitter @raycherr or comment below~ 

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JTBC Code Episode 5 Review

Argh, the feeling of sourness is pretty strong after this episode of Code. But I will get to that in a second.

This ep, titled Poker Code, had a game format that still involved players cracking codes and solving puzzles but was revolved around them getting a good hand. Not too bad a way to refresh the game. This additional layer definitely had players working together (or at least trying to) more than they did in previous episodes. In fact, they pretty much had to share information and try to swap cards in order to get a good hand.

To do so, players had to open locks and get chips, which are then used to get new cards. They started off with only 1 card that they picked randomly from the deck, and then they could exchange, buy, discard cards, keeping their hand at at most five cards at one time.

In the end, Shin Jae Pyung did a really good job with his cards, securing him a place to escape this level. Together with Hee Chul and Baek Sung Hyun, they exited with straights. Leaving Lee Yong Jin who was in the alliance with Jaepyung and Heechul having to face last code despite getting a three of a kind '9'. Also, left to face last code, is Hyunmin who sacrificed his cards for Sunghyun to get a straight.

Moving on to Last Code with 3 players. With the use of a six faced dice, players will get 2 (non-overlapping) numbers assigned to them. They had 3 black-statue-tokens each which kind of symbolise their lives. Lose all tokens, and the player will be eliminated. Taking turns to roll the dice, if the player who was assigned the number that is faced up on the dice will get to "steal" another player's token. The tokens are transferable at anytime in the game.

Then comes the sour outcome. At the beginning of the game, Yongjin was doing so well, collecting so many tokens, leaving Hyunmin with 1 left. Then he had the golden opportunity to successfully escape from Last Code by taking Hyunmin's last piece. He hesitated. With the hope of collaborating with Hyunmin and to not be so cruel in the game, he decided to "give Hyunmin a chance". In a cruel turn of luck, that was Yongjin's biggest mistake and regret. Never did he know that he would be looking at the dices turn in favour to Junha's assigned numbers, and at his collection of tokens disappear one by one.

Ultimately, Yongjin was left with none, and became the player to be "stucked" on the fourth floor. I especially liked the last segment where the narrator gave a closing statement on Yongjin's run in this floor. How he was always helping and giving in to others, became his downfall. To give those of you who didn't manage to watch the episode a better idea, Yongjin helped Jaepyung and Heechul with their straights, he thought that with a 3 of a kind, he could be the 3rd to escape but Sunghyun beat him to that. ): Then, also letting Hyunmin have another chance in last code was how he "gave up" his place. Overall, I felt that Yongjin really had a tough run this episode. While he wasn't that strong a player in the previous episodes, I truely sympathised with his situation and outcome.
I did however like how the show edited this and viewed it like a lesson that Yongjin could learn from.

Verdict: A solid episode, except for some of the dry parts during the game.

Find me on Twitter @raycherr or leave your comments below! I would really like to connect with other fans of such game shows. :)

P.S. I'm pretty curious why are there no SuJu fans subbing this show in English??? ): #heechul

See you next week!

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JTBC Code Episode 4 Review

In episode 4, the players became pretty awkward around one another as less than half of them will get to escape via Main Code (3 players) while the rest move on to Last Code.
This time round, only one room was available at the start of the game, and as time passes, the doors to the adjacent rooms will open one by one.

Code: Every player has an allocated number and they have to figure out the sequence. Hints like "There is no one behind Hyunmin" is given to help players solve the code.

Sounds a little to me like The Genius "Scamming Horse Race". Pardon me for the constant comparison to this other show, I can't help it, they are too similar... especially looking at the preview for next week.

Hmm, alright, back to the current ep. Song Hyun was ultimately not able to escape from the 5th floor. I guess her time was up in Code too, after all she has been to all the Last Code segments. (and all the females are "gotten rid of" from the game, eh) Also, Last Code was a little boring, there were 5 cards numbered 1 to 5, each player will pick one card each and they would have to guess whether the last card left unpicked had an odd or even number. Players could tell the truth or lie about the card. In the end, everyone told the truth in the game and Song Hyun was not on the same page as the other 3 players. I guess the segment was lacking a little in the psychological aspect, they could potentially have dig deeper into Song Hyun's reasoning not to trust the others.

Sighs, I do enjoy escape games and puzzles, if only Code had it in a format that was more lighthearted or perhaps recorded outdoors!? The set is getting dull quick too, so, so many things are just not working for Code. Is Bumdi really right about Code as the worst show of 2016? I refused to believe it, but after 4 episodes, I don't know anymore. Great concept, poor execution.

I know a lot of you guys are not able to watch the episodes, due to the lack of English subbers. My guess is that many weren't too impressed by the show, and feel Code isn't worth your time (?). If Code ever gets more interesting than the 2nd ep, I suppose the chance of it getting eng subs will increase tremendously. Till then, you can keep up to date about Code here, or just wait for Crime Scene season 3 yea.
I will be back next week, in the mean time, you can find me on Twitter @raycherr :)

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JTBC Code Episode 3 Review

Hi there. :)

Quick new update on this episode's rule: Players will enter 1 of the 4 rooms in pairs and every 30mins, they will switch to either adjacent rooms. Probably the best part of the episode because they had a woah moment, when the players realised that players who started in adjacent rooms will never get to meet each other in the following turns. O.o

Last Code: Players fire 2 shots at any other 3 players. Player with the most damage at the end, loses and "stay on the 6th floor". Simple, but with a very sad outcome, at least that's what I felt.
Why is it that so many (korean) shows on Tv feature way more males than females? Haiz, and while there are some girls that will try to come up with an alliance to keep them in the game, it is so sad to see Song Hyun kill off Yu Ri here... ):
Plus, some channels have had shows feature an all female cast do so well(reception and ratings)! ): Maybe someone should seriously consider having an all female cast on some games show, Hot Brain: Problematic Women** anyone? haha.

I am no expert in the demographic fields, so I shall jump to expressing my opinions on this show. I'd say Code is falling a little below expectations for me. :/ Yes, with every episode, the show is getting better, but there is something lacking in this particular one. I can't quite get what it is missing but probably some bad ass editing or games that are more out of the box? hahaha don't mind that pun. ^_・

For sure the improvement in this show is well appreciated. However, if you ever watch other game shows, especially Liar Game* and compare them, you are going to find that Code is a not that great of a substitute...

Alright, I will see you guys next week!
In the meantime, find me on twitter @raycherr!

*Japanese Manga, check it out! Inspired The Genius ~
**Hot Brain: Problematic Men is a show on JTBC where the guys play IQ games

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JTBC Code Episode 2 Review

Hello, hopefully you are still interested in Code after many pretty bad reviews about the first episode. Why? Heh because honestly, the second ep is better in my opinion. There was much improvement and the episode flowed better.

The format is still the same as before but many subtle changes really made a difference. It wasn't as chaotic as in the first level(ep 1). What a relief! We could actually catch on to way more this time round.

I will briefly highlight two changes.
First change:
Code introduced a mechanism that allowed for players to move across the 4 different rooms for about 30 seconds, and then the doors would shut, leaving whoever was inside whichever room to have to stay for a specific duration (~30 minutes), before the next period when the doors opened again.
This made the players split up and was only interacting with a few other players in the same room. It certainly made the show easier to digest in terms of the social interaction parts. I really liked that I could identify who was in which room cracking which codes with which other players at one time.
Also, like what Hyunmin realised, there was an additional layer to this change. While the players who were with lesser players could solve and get more clues, they were missing out on getting together with more players to share clues and figure out the ultimate code.

Second change:
Code actually "paused" the show!?! For some of the puzzles, they actually let us have about 5 to 15 seconds to view the problem. We now have time to look at some of the problems in more details even if we were watching from the TV, and can play along. Really appreciate this addition as it allowed for increased viewer engagement. Yeah! :)
Edit: Okay, they did display some questions on the screen for a period of time for ep 1 too but I guess they did it more this time round, and encouraged the viewers to play along. :)

By the end of episode 2, I certainly recommend this show if you like escape game rooms and IQ games. ^^

Thanks for reading! Check out ep 1 review here if you haven't! :)
I am rather curious who are your favourite players? I think I quite like Jun Ha hehe

Sorry for the abrupt end, till next week, find me on twitter @raycherr ^^

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JTBC Code Episode 1 Review

Let me know if you guys want to see a recap of the games they played too. Comment below or tweet me @raycherr :)

Sooo, after we have all watched The Genius and Crime Scene, we now have a new intellectual show on TV by JTBC, introducing CODE!

Haha, alright so basically this show has a group of 10 players and the players will go through MAIN CODE, which is like the main match in the genius, except it is not. They will be placed on a set like those you play in escape game rooms, and they all try to solve puzzles to unlock the locks, which has different clues in them. They will then use the clues to figure out the main code to escape the room. For the 1st ep, it was a four number code. They will play till 4 members are left in the room, and then these 4 players will go to LAST CODE, which is like a death match. One of these 4 players will be the last to crack the code/game and be eliminated. If I am not wrong, there are monetary amount rewarded every week for the first person to escape the room.

This sounds really promising doesn't it? Especially after I watched Hot Brain: Problematic Men Escape Room Specials, I was really excited, I mean I really enjoyed those episodes. However, while Code was interesting, especially for peeps like me who love to try their hands at these puzzles, it failed as an entertaining show in many ways. ):

I will give credit for the great cast they have on the show, brainy peeps that have different strengths are definitely the way to go. Hyunmin!
However, the way the main code went in the first ep was disappointing. :/ In most escape game rooms, you try to crack a code on a lock, which leads to other clue(s). In this one however, there are plenty of clues waiting for the players to find and solve them. This is when the whole thing gets really messy. Different players are solving different puzzles/problems and they are all interacting with different players all at the same time! Imagine the amount of action that is happening on set. This means that they have to have a really good editor to edit out the meaningful parts, or they will end up with a disaster, which I feel is not too far from the truth after the first episode... ): They had to show how all the clues were unraveled and interaction so that the show made sense. However, it was just way too fast paced for anyone to watch, especially on TV! If the viewers couldn't play along, I feel that it is such a pity.

That being said, if you viewed it on a device that allowed you to pause the show, it could be rather fun to try to solve them on your own before viewing the solutions. :)

Afterwards, the remaining four players who were too slow to crack the code moved on to play the last code, which is not exactly a physical code, but a problem. They were handcuffed and locked up in a manner that had a inelastic rope looped from the wall to the handcuff. The players had to move themselves a few feet away to reach a key and "escape".
Eh... This was a little surprising to me, because... this problem was on Problematic Men. I was like say what? If they watched the show, wouldn't they know the solution already? Which is a problem, but that is always a problem on these kind of game shows. :/

Haiz, if the next few episodes had a different format, I am thinking it could be promising, but if they continue with these "weird" escape game rooms that are more straightforward and focused on individual's abilities to solve puzzles than anything, it would be such a huge letdown. I will still be watching ep 2 to see how this show is progressing!

Overall, I would say this is just a show that highlights the celebrities' strengths in solving the puzzles, which will definitely get boring at times.

Yep, so I just gave my 2 cents about this show. Let me know what you guys think. :)

Edit: episode 2 was better, read review here! ^^

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