[Spoilers inevitable]
When I saw that Netflix’s Physical: 100 franchise has branched off into Physical: Asia, I thought that this was an interesting twist on the series, especially if it were going to be solely team-based and never branched off into individual competition. The nationalistic lean of categorizing competitors based on country seemed like a real intriguing way to be more than just a bunch of individuals trying to outdo one another, for the goal of being the Top-1 of Physical.
After watching Physical: Asia, I have to say that I found it to be completely enjoyable, and I tip my cap to the show for creating a series and format that I found to be captivating and often eliciting tension and excitement for me as a viewer, while also being wholesome and applause-worthy in a manner that’s really basically only possible in shows produced outside of America.
It’s not because Korea won the whole thing, although that does please me, in spite of the obvious bias accusations that I’m sure I’ll touch on later, but as a whole, the show was exciting, compelling, seldom dull, and kept me on the edge of my seat more often than being able to sit there and simply relax while watching.
Frankly, I thought Korea had no chance of winning, solely based on the hypothesis that the showrunners wouldn’t want to be accused of favoritism, and find some convoluted manner to eliminate them while not making them appear weak. But at the same time, seeing as how Japan was also a contending nation, I figured they had no shot at winning either, because fuck if a Korean-produced competitive television show would allow Japan to walk away victorious, but more on Japan a little later.
What was the most refreshing part about the show, to me, is basically the same reason why my wife enjoys The Great British Baking Show – in spite of the competition, everyone is still cool to each other, and there’s a lot of sportsmanship and general respect for one another. Even between the Koreans and Japanese athletes, there’s not any genuine hostility beyond the obvious notion that when it comes down to it, neither of them wants to yield to the other. But otherwise, everyone is all about high-fives, hugs and fist-bumps when they’re not actively trying to eliminate others, and the respect and sportsmanship among all competitors is refreshing to watch, especially as Americans who are so engrained in seeing absolute shitheads and the filth of the earth competing in reality television because controversy creates cash.
However, in spite of the praise I have for the show overall, I did think that there was some fishiness to the format, that I’m sure people on reddit and other fan discussion forums have probably pointed out:
Firstly, let’s talk about Manny Pacquiao’s participation in the show. Obviously, he was brought in to really be the hard sell, to really draw in anyone who was on the fence about the show. One of the greatest boxers of all-time, he’s an easy celebrity to bring in viewers, but what became really apparent as the show took off, was just how good was he going to be able to perform, considering his age compared to many of the other athletes, as well as the fact that, as freak of nature athletic he is, his overall beef was low, and the show has always favored those with some beef.
When he withdrew from the show “due to obligations to the Philippines,” I couldn’t help but notice that the very next event, was full of games where Pac-Man would have undoubtedly been exposed, and there was a little bit of stink that he was tipped off and sent off before he could potentially be embarrassed by being unable to parkour over some hurdles, hold half of a ton of weight, hang from some rings for over an hour, or flip a 20kg bag over a high-ass gate.
Second, let’s get back to Japan. Obviously, I do not hate Japan, but as a full-blooded Korean, I will always support Koreans against the Japanese. That said, I really did think that Japan had no chance of winning the whole thing, whether or not the show made it happen deliberately, or not, notwithstanding how obvious they were going to be. But there were two specific instances where things got kind of fishy for Japan that I noticed, one of which helped them, but the other of them leading to their elimination.
In the multi-game event, Japan’s “malfunction” on the pillar pull was a real head-scratcher in that theirs were the only set of pillars to not launch correctly, and the show did a real hackneyed job of cutting the rest of the episode where nobody knew who was going home as they hadn’t done their pillar pull yet, to suddenly bam, Turkiye’s eliminated. My tin-foil hat theory is that the show wanted to keep Japan around, because more nationalistic Koreans would want to see Korea be the ones to eliminate them at a more critical point later on.
And in the castle crashing event, I know Japan had even admitted that when it came to sheer cumulative strength, they weren’t as beefy as Korea or Mongolia, but it seemed real fishy to me that they were just so suddenly unable to lift the castle gate, at all, at the end, and spent 35 minutes trying and failing, before they got the straight failure result that sent them packing. Yes, they might not have been as collectively strong as the others, but they were still plenty strong enough to be able to at least tug-of-war the gate closed, and even though I bleed Korean, it still seemed fishy that they were sandbagged so hard. It seemed obvious enough that the showrunners might have massaged the challenge lineup to exploit Japan’s deficiencies to get rid of them, but I don’t buy that they were simply outclassed in their end.
The show also had some hilariously busted challenges, that I don’t think they thought out entirely before executing the show; like twice, they had events that went so long, that the show had to start modifying rules on the fly in order for them to actually be able to conclude, but it was especially funny when it was Japan vs. Korea and the intensity in a tie-breaker got so heated that they had to go like 5-6 rounds before they had to start modifying rules in order for them to just be able to get to a break point.
But those are really the only criticisms I had about the show. Believe me, I’m still happy that Korea won, but seeing as how it’s a Korean show, held in Korea, it might not have been the worst idea to have allowed for someone else to win this competition, as to avoid the scrutiny that I’ve heard they’re getting already.
There were some truly incredible athletes that were on the show, and I think it was obvious who the MVPs of every team were, and the thing is that none of these guys were their teams’ captains:
Korea: Yun Sung-bin
Japan: Yoshio Itoi
Mongolia: Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu
Australia: Eloni Vunakecev
Philippines: Mark Mugen
Turkey: Anil Berk Baki
Thailand: James Rusameekae Fagerlund
Indonesia: Jeremiah Lakhwani
Honestly, the biggest surprise of the show for me was Japan’s Itoi; I didn’t think a baseball player was going to be nearly as effective as he was, but it’s apparent that he’s not just a baseball player, but rather a physical machine freak of nature, with Japanese discipline. Mongolia’s Enkh-Orgil was also a delight to watch, seeing as how he basically looked like a modern day Genghis Khan, and never shied away from making references to his Mongolian blood and how he’s basically a descendent of Genghis Khan. And finally, I want to point out Thailand’s James, who probably surprised all competitors who saw his effeminate behavior and expected him to be some pushover, but the guy was a do-it-all wunderkind who had strength, brawn and endurance as well as the swag to strut away after he did his thing.
Overall, I really enjoyed the show, and I hope there will be future seasons of it. I’ve heard that Physical is toying around with doing the Americas, or the United States outright, and I can only imagine the cringey shit-show that would become. Probably kill the whole vibe of the show, but such would be so on-brand for anything that America has to usurp for their own white folk audiences.
