Crime
Prime Target
This math-centric thriller comes with an interesting premise. But Prime Target comes with some primary problems, too.
Rumors of life-changing money cause you to wander onto the set—along with 999 other people.
You feel pretty good: You’re already in the top half of players (the other 1,000 people were eliminated in a YouTube video before the show even began).
You’re given a blue-and-white tracksuit with a number on it. Then, you’re told that players will be eliminated through a series of strategic and chance-based games until only one walks away with $5 million. Countless employees in black suits, silently walk around the game, their faces hidden behind jet-black masks with nothing but white lines running across them. And it’s all run by a multimillionaire for the entertainment of others.
Oh no, you think. I’ve accidentally stumbled onto that deadly Squid Game show.
Well, no, you haven’t. Despite the similarities, this is Beast Games, run by YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. So, at the very least, you don’t have to worry about dying.
But with 1,000 contestants, your chances of being the last person standing still don’t look very good.
My wife and I love to watch game shows. Honestly, the only reason we have a subscription to Paramount+ is so that we can see the latest seasons of The Amazing Race and Survivor. And when a new game show comes out, we’re sure to give it a chance.
But with YouTuber MrBeast’s expensive venture into the genre, so far, it only seems to be proof that bigger isn’t always better.
1,000 contestants (2,000 if you count the premiere video for the series on Donaldson’s YouTube channel) and a five-million-dollar cash prize make the game bigger, but they also make it impersonal. Because when there are 1,000 players competing, who has time to learn any of their names? Who has the energy to root for one person when they’re eliminated by the hundreds? Indeed, it’s not until the contestants get whittled down to smaller numbers that we even begin to start hearing people called by their names rather than just the number on their shirt.
And that makes enjoying this show even more difficult, because many of the players in this game deeply desire to win. And when they don’t, our last view of many of these unnamed contestants is when they collapse to the ground, sobbing—a scene we watch time and time again. It would be unfair to claim that that’s a scene exclusive to Beast Games, but there’s something uniquely uncomfortable and troubling about it when we, the viewers, haven’t gotten to make any sort of connection with them. And, of course, when the show itself exploits their pain for its own dramatic purposes.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the show is seeing how different contestants react amidst the competition. Despite $5 million being on the line, we see lots of people intentionally sacrifice their chance to win so that their friends (or even people they’ve met only a few days earlier) can continue on. Some participants exhibit compassion, charity and forgiveness. Some even reject significant cash prizes that they could earn by eliminating others who had put their trust in them.
But we also see cruelty, too. Contestants lash out in anger, selfishness and greed. Some scream at others to sacrifice themselves. Other contestants go back on their promises to eliminate themselves for the team, taking everyone down with them. And in one particularly cruel case, a pair of brothers verbally abuses and emotionally manipulates a woman so harshly that she breaks down crying—all while they look to the camera, smirking. All these examples become further difficult to stomach following the emergence of a lawsuit alleging contestant mistreatment on the show.
In terms of content, contestants use crude language. While the f-word is censored, we did hear an occasional use of the s-word. We also hear plenty of misuses of God’s name. And the fourth episode contains plenty of commentary from contestants who vary in their opinions about one Christian man’s frequent references to his faith.
Beast Games may very well be the biggest game show with the biggest cash prize and biggest influencer to ever appear on screen … but that, I think, is its biggest weakness, too.
It’s obviously no secret that contestants on other game shows are competing for large cash prizes. And fans of Survivor or The Amazing Race, for example, will have no difficulty telling you about hosts Jeff Probst or Phil Keoghan, respectively. But in those shows, the central characters aren’t the cash prizes nor the hosts, popular as they may be. The central characters are the contestants—real people whom you, the viewer, get to connect with, empathize and root for as you grow to know who they are. Yes, the grand prize is certainly in the back of every contestant’s mind—but the show’s storyline spends far more time focusing on the people rather than the prizes.
That’s something that simply isn’t present in Beast Games. Instead, most scenes star Donaldson and his YouTube crew narrating, explaining and reacting to the games. It stars them all-but dangling varying amounts of money in front of contestants to see which one will break first. And while some contestants naturally rise above the others, none of them successfully take the spotlight away from MrBeast or his money. Donaldson even breaks away from the show to persuade viewers to enter into a raffle via an awkward MoneyLion promotion, a move which has itself been met with scrutiny and criticism.
So despite all the money pumped into making the show, Beast Games ironically only ends up feeling pretty cheap.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
A thousand people enter Beast Games for a shot at winning big. But by the end of the episode, only 500 remain.
Contestants bicker about who on their team should sacrifice themselves so that the rest of them can continue. An eliminated contestant screams, “I hate my life!”
When someone survives a round, he attributes his success to God. Someone compares a tempting offer to having a “devil on the shoulder.”
There’s a brief scene of men and women in swimsuits.
God’s name is used in vain 12 times. The f-word gets cut off or censored three times.
Newly formed teams face off against each other for a chance to continue to the next round. However, team captains are tempted to betray their teammates for money.
Donaldson tempts players with bribes.
A man prays. When asked why his team trusts him, he replies, “Because God is good.”
Viewers are encouraged to scan a QR code to join a raffle connected to Money Lion.
God’s name is used in vain fifteen times. We also hear words such as “dang” and “screwed.”
With 242 players left, contestants team up with their closest friends—unaware that they’ll soon be competing against one another.
One contestant is revealed to work as a drag queen.
People cheat and manipulate others. Others go back on their word. Two brothers verbally berate a girl into eliminating herself from the game.
One contestant prays with two other men. He also gets a tattoo depicting Psalm 91 whilst reading a Bible. Someone requests the aid of a psychic. Another person references karma.
The f-word is censored but used four times. The s-word, also censored, is used twice. God’s name is used in vain 12 times. We also hear one use of “a–.”
The 148 remaining players must compete to obtain limited seats on a helicopter—one that will take them to an island to continue the competition.
A woman, frustrated with the number of male contestants winning spots on the helicopter, complains crudely that they’re “trying to turn Beast Island into sausage island.”
One Christian man gets chosen to be a leader—though some vocally dislike the decision: A woman compares him to Satan. Others describe him as a “cult leader,” merely because many people like him, and he frequently prays and references his faith. “He turns everything into a pedestal for religion,” one participant complains. Someone says that he “looks like some kind of savior.” Someone else wonders if Jesus is actually leading the man’s decisions, or if he is merely going to use the moment to help out his friends regardless. Someone nicknames him “The Preacher.”
The man is given power to influence the game, and he says that he plans to pray before making any choices so that God can lead him in making his decision. He does so, asking that God would fill everyone with the Holy Spirit and God’s grace. After he makes his choice, a woman tells the cameras, “I speak to God every day, and I know for a fact, He didn’t tell him that.”
Others pray during the competition, too, asking the Lord to bless them.
The s-word is used three times, though it is not censored in this episode. We also hear one use of both “h—” and “d–n.” God’s name is used in vain seven times.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
This math-centric thriller comes with an interesting premise. But Prime Target comes with some primary problems, too.
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