Class issues seem to be incredibly prominent at the moment, from the government not even following their own guidelines during the pandemic to workers being underpaid and overworked and just the cost of living crisis affecting everything, so this show couldn’t have come at a better time…but is it really that good?

Rise and Fall is a reality TV show that is based in a building where in the penthouse the rulers of this minute world live while their workers live in the basement and live off soup and bread and cold water. From the get-go the differences between the top and the bottom are huge and of course they are exaggerated to show the best and worst that people have to go through, so while I understand what the show was doing, I really don’t think it’s the Lord of the Flies situation that they hoped for.

The biggest issue I have with this show is that they do too much for entertainment, this is a very interesting concept on its own but then making the workers do the most horrific things to add to the prize fund is just a bit too over-the-top in my mind. From the first work session being filled with electric shocks to another having them eat pet food, it was all a bit too much for me, and the actual parts in between were quite lacklustre and boring. The only good part was seeing who rose to the top and who fell to the bottom and was taken out of the simulation altogether, losing out their chance for the prize money.

Of course with any show like this it’s about tactics, it’s about being a team player and choosing your allies well so that they can get you to the end, yet not much really actually happened. I think about shows like The Traitors, which is very similar in terms of you have bad guys and good guys and you have to figure out who’s who and how that’s going to affect the group, and that was much more exciting because it had a lot more tense moments and intrigue. This is a great idea on paper but actually creating it on screen just doesn’t have the same punch that I think they hoped for.

While I have enjoyed the episodes that I have watched I have cut short my viewing because it did get very repetitive, and while they did try to add some twists and seeing how the alliances change as people rose from the bottom, unfortunately that wasn’t enough to keep me intrigued. So while I love the idea of this show, the execution wasn’t very good, and for that reason I wouldn’t recommend it.

What do you think of Rise And Fall?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding