Physical 100 is amazing — but it needs to change one thing

Gabriela Silva
Kim Da-bi vs. Kim Hye-bin in Physical 100 Season 2 quest.

While Physical 100 Season 2 is doing the job of enthralling audiences to see who advances to the next quest, there is one thing about the competition series that needs changing.

The South Korean competition series was highly anticipated since its Season 1 success. This time, there’s a new cast of contestants and quests inspired by 1920s mines. It has released four episodes so far and fans are hooked on every match to see who has what it takes to win.

But there’s no denying that there’s a certain element to the series that rubs fans the wrong way. It has everything to do with something that also took place in the first season – editing.

Physical 100 Season 2’s editing leaves fans disappointed

The new season has fans slightly dismayed that its editing process has once again made the events and eliminations feel rushed and unbalanced. Alongside overdrawn reactions.

With 100 contestants, it was no surprise that the first death match eliminated 50 of the contestants right away. Some even felt it was “unbalanced” in the flow of the series storyline.

But many also agreed that Netflix did fans dirty by rapidly showing some matches that appeared to end quickly. Physical 100 Season 2 didn’t show a majority of the matches between the contestants in the death match.

One fan on Reddit posted, “I loved season 1 and I understand Korean editing but my goodness it feels like they took it to a whole new level. I’m on episode 2 and they cut away before anything good is about to happen and show reaction after reaction and I find it so frustrating. I want to react too! Then when they show the scene it’s slow motion. In the 1v1 I feel like they only show actually 20 seconds of footage while the rest is just reactions and off screen interviews. It makes it unwatchable.”

Some felt that the series was focusing too much on the reaction of multiple contestants to one scene. Forcing various cuts over and over instead of seeing what’s really happening.

“I can’t stand it either. They show like 3 or 4 reactions before they show what actually happens. Last season was showing 3 or 4 slow mo clips of the same thing. To me it just seems like such a obvious attempt to build drama/hype that it just comes off as annoying. Let me see what happens, decide for myself, and then show contestant reactions,” agreed one fan.

But there’s another detail about the series’s editing that makes it upsetting to watch. Based on the editing and who has survived so far, it is clear that a bigger priority is given to who will win.

Having filmed the series months ago, Netflix is well aware of who advances to the next rounds. Therefore, they seemingly cut out or cut short any of the contestant’s matches that don’t make it. To be fair, anyone seasoned in Korean variety/competition series would be used to the wonky editing to add dramatic effect.

Physical 100 Season 2 airs new episodes every week. If looking for more about the series:

All Season 1 winners and eliminations | Is it scripted? | Season 1 full list of contestants | What time does Season 2 air | Who is the narratorSeason 2 contestants and cast

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About The Author

Gabriela is a Senior TV and Movies Writer for Dexerto covering Netflix, Disney+, K-Dramas and everything in between. She has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from Fordham, and was previously a TV Writer for Showbiz Cheatsheet and List Witer for Screenrant. You can contact Gabriela at gabriela.silva@dexerto.com