[Spoiler Alert] Busted, The Great Escape

Good things are meant to be shared. 

So, let me introduce everyone to two Korean variety shows that I am hooked on recently. 

The TiManCeNo / AGENT household that I am currently a part of enjoy watching drama series or variety shows together while we are having dinner. It opens up new conversation topics and allows us to take a break from all the negativity in life. 

So far, we have watched all ten seasons of Friends, six seasons of Brooklyn 99, a few episodes of Running Man, and some other movies and shows.

Last year, we started watching Busted, which is a Netflix original series.
It is a Korean variety show, with a mixture of scripted and unscripted lines.

The premise of the show is as follows: 

Seven celebrity sleuths discover that they are a part of an operation called Project D, in which they are implanted with a chip containing the DNA of famous detectives throughout history. Led by a man only known as "K", they are recruited as private detectives and are given a new case in each episode, all the while figuring out the mystery behind Project D and its inception.
(taken from Wikipedia)

I don't usually enjoy Korean variety shows, even the famous Running Man series couldn't get me hooked on. But I thoroughly enjoyed Busted Season 1. 

The riddles and the puzzles presented in the show were so well done. If you are a fan of crosswords or quizzes, you will have a lot of fun cracking your brain as you follow the detectives along on their journey to solve cases. 

If you are like me, who prefer to not exercise my brain while watching a show, you too will have an enjoyable time watching the high quality production and the goofy interaction of the cast. 

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[Spoiler Alert]

However, I think that Busted Season 2 was a bit of a let-down as the writers of the show got more ambitious. There were more scripted dialogues; the effort spent on solving clues or breaking free from enclosures reduced as the staged plot was given more screen time. 

There were so many unanswered questions at the end of the season. This is either a brilliant move to keep the audience on the edge of our seats begging for more, or this is a giant loophole that even the writers have no idea how to fix. In short, I am not satisfied!

Anyhow, Season 3 is on its way. Hopefully.

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After we finished Busted Season 1 and 2, we were at a loss for what to watch for a while. Then, Amanda found The Great Escape.

The best part of this show? There is no script!
This show is literally about escaping from locked rooms.

The concept of this show is as follows:
Prior to arriving at the location, members will wear eye masks, and the staff will lead the members to the start point in the large secret room. In each challenge, members need to use the clues in the room to gradually explore the place until all members escape from the location. In addition, members may need to interact with the story characters played by the staff before they can escape.

Each challenge has a different theme, and members will learn about the background story from the clues during the exploration. There is no stipulated time limit for each escape challenge; it will only end when all members and story characters (if any) have successfully escaped. 

(taken from Wikipedia)

This show blew my mind away with its over the top production quality and the setting of each location. All the rooms were very well-decorated with many details. Where and how the clues were hidden were often unexpected. There were a wide variety of clues involved, ranging from number patterns, Korean alphabets puzzles to pictograms or passcodes with pop-culture reference.

Besides, all six members showed good on-screen chemistry working together. Each member has a different role; however, get ready to be surprised by how someone would solve something unexpectedly sometimes. 

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[Spoiler Alert]
Besides, the themes that the show covered were intriguing. Each challenge is based on a movie/movies so the members can speculate what to expect or what they need to do in order to escape. So far, they have escaped from ghost house, laboratory, illegal gambling house, high school, hospital, prison, and even slaughter house.

In short, Season 1 was great. Season 2 was greater.
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Since I was the only one in the dinner group who had never been to an escape room before, my friends brought me to an escape room for my birthday last year. (We only went this year though because I was sick and was rushing to finish work during the last two weeks of 2019.)

We went to Lost in JB at Mount Austin and the theme of our room was Stealth. We were tasked to steal 3 gems from a secured vault. We didn't manage to complete the task within an hour, but the staff was kind enough to let us go overtime to finish it.

Hopefully we get to try out different escape rooms in the future. 

In the meantime, for those who have not seen these two shows, maybe you can consider watching them while we practice social distancing and self-quarantine during this critical period.

Stay safe!