The Mole

For the first time in a long time, a gripping reality show that is a return to the roots of the format. There is beauty in simplicity, it's not a staggering amount of money and so it's enough to take the tasks from Fort Boyard or Amazing Race, put a traitor on the team who must not attract attention but must sail through it and sophisticatedly thwart plans, giving the impression that he or she is helping, and then some rivalry based on "all against all but for a common goal that must be achieved together". There is a nicely devised mechanism to keep the traitor in the game, and at the same time a reason why it can pay for others to style themselves as the traitor. The challenges are imaginative; from variations on the escape room to adrenaline games to stabbing each other in the back through takes on "morality versus pragmatism" psychological experiments, tension based on the paranoia of the participants or game theory. The changing locations, the challenges, the secret quests, the various psychological jokes, they work great, but there are problems. It's "overdramatized" (generally a problem with reality shows), everyone is too "young and pretty", the opening episode does it a disservice (of course, the second one fully sells it). Also the identity of the mole should have been revealed to the audience for the second half, so they would have the space in the first half to guess as players while enjoying the second half as they go through it, how they solve things, etc. For one thing, it would make it more enjoyable, and also, after a few episodes, his or her identity won’t be much of a shock anyway. So there is definitely room for improvement in this absolutely crucial aspect for a possible second series. | S1: 4/5 | (09/11/2022)

Season 2: The second season was also incredibly satisfying and over the course of several episodes you find your way to all the characters. And the final reveal of the agent? Well, be surprised, it's a ride. Season 1: Netflix has pulled off a very good show, with a group of contestants completing several tasks, but one of them is a hidden "agent" trying to subtly sabotage them. It's a competition full of ideas, clever intrigue, fun challenges (jailbreaks, treasure hunts, jungle fights...) and diverse contestants where nothing is certain and where lies and surprises are the order of the day. It's got drive, pace and interesting locations, and overall it's a very easygoing series and a 10 hours well spent. Cool! (28/05/2023)