On Season 4 of Netflix’s Single’s Inferno, a group of single men and women meet and mingle on a tropical island. Some of them, those who are lucky enough to find a compatible mate, will get to head to a luxurious resort called Paradise, but those who don’t find a match have to spend their nights in what’s referred to as the Inferno, a rugged beach camp. This season, a lot of the show’s past ruled have changed – couples have paired off and headed to Paradise immediately, while the rest are left behind, but thanks to these new tweaks, the show feels energized and exciting in a way it previously lacked.
SINGLE’S INFERNO (SEASON 4): STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Orange flames lap and swirl like a raging yule log, and a voice explains, “Love is a cruel game of survival.”
The Gist: The new season of the South Korean dating show Single’s Inferno begins with a montage of scenes from the upcoming season, moments that have no real context yet because we haven’t formally met any of the dating show’s contestants. After we watch these brief soundbites of contestants discussing how their feelings have grown for certain potential mates, or how they feel they’ve been manipulating the emotions of another, we cut to a panel of five people, Hanhae, Hong Jin-Kyung, Lee Da-Hee, Kim Jin-Young, and Kyuhyun, the hosts of the show who are watching these scenes and serve as audience stand-ins. They provide all of the commentary and add some interesting color to this dating show, often saying things that we’re probably already thinking. The show’s premise is that a group of singles, five men and six women (for now), arrive to a tropical island to find a mate. The lucky ones who win daily challenges are allowed to pair off and get to go to a luxury suite called Paradise for the night, while those who struggle to find a match remain back at a beach camp with few amenities, other than a tarp tent and some makeshift cots to sleep on. The goal is not only to find a mate but to make it to Paradise and stay there.
To begin, six women arrive to the women’s beach camp – this is the Women’s Inferno where unmatched contestants will live. One by one, these women arrive, introducing themselves (most of their intros are similar, explaining that men find them very attractive or cute, and that they’re all athletic or active in some way and value fitness and kindness in a partner; there’s very little divergence from that script), but they wonder why only women have arrived so far. That’s when this season’s first twist arrives: the women will be instantly paired with a man even before they’ve met.
That’s when we learn that the show’s five male contestants were previously assembled an hour earlier and participated in a water polo challenge and the winner, a man named Yuk Jun-seo (who is already a known personality and he previously appeared on a different Korean reality show called The Iron Squad), gets to choose a woman to take to Paradise. Jun-seo blindly picks Chung You-Jin, a 28-year-old with a background in dance, going off her looks alone. A runner-up, Kim Jeong-Su, also gets to pick a woman named Lee Si-An to take to Paradise, and both couples helicopter off to a villa while the remaining singles dejectedly stay behind.
The rest of the episode follows the two couples as they get to know each other in their luxe suites. They enjoy gourmet meals, go for a swim, and, the ultimate in intimacy, put sheet masks on each other. Both couples seem to enjoy easy, stress-free conversation and it immediately seems as though both men made solid choices by bringing their dates here. Back at the Inferno, which we barely see in this episode, the men eat a meager dinner and complain about their digs. That’s when they spot a mystery woman headed their way. Who is she? What’s about. to happen? We’ll find out next time.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Some of the changes to the show actually give it Love Island USA vibes, the way the show forces contestants to couple off quickly this time around, before eventually letting them mix and mingle to decide if they want to pair off with another.
Memorable Dialogue: “I have unshakeable self-confidence. I’ve known I was handsome ever since I was born,” contestant Kim Te-hwan says about himself, adding, “Even in arguments people would often calm down after just looking at my face.” He later adds, “I feel like I could get lost in my own eyes.” I am obsessed with this guy’s unshakeable self-confidence! The panel of hosts is there to keep Te-hwan humble though, saying, “He’s not that handsome,” and “Isn’t that a bit of a reach?” and they can’t help but laugh throughout his intro that makes Gaston from Beauty and the Beast look modest.
Our Take: When I reviewed Season 2 of Single’s Inferno, I was disappointed by the slow pacing of the show and felt that a lot of the contestants were so shy and, dare I say, demure, that they weren’t very exciting to watch. This season, there are a few changes to the formula, including the separate men’s and women’s quarters, and the men’s challenge that sent two couples directly to Paradise, plus an all-around fascinating cast, that have injected the show with a vigor and energy that I felt it lacked in the past.
What’s most interesting as an American viewer of this show are the cultural differences and the way the contestants speak about themselves. It’s not just Kim Te-hwan bluntly describing how handsome he is either, it’s the way that many of the women value their cuteness (one says she is often described by others as seeming to have cartoon hearts float around her, as if to say she’s a human cartoon or emoji). Others – at least four, both men and women – described themselves as cute and puppy-like. I say that is is cultural because there is a prevalence in Korea for “cuteness” more than in the U.S., but the blunt, often surprising way that the contestants speak or act also seems generational. When one contestant says, “Guys often tell me I’m the most beautiful woman they’ve ever seen,” the show’s hosts even call out the contestants’ self-confidence, with one of them, Hong Jin-Kyung, saying, “Wow, this generation says things like that so casually.” (It also reminded me of those episodes of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon dates the hot but incredibly stupid doctor played by Jon Hamm who has no idea that the only reason he’s successful and likeable is because he’s so hot and just assumes everyone gets preferential treatment like he does.) And yet, once we get to know the contestants a bit more (at least the four contestants who get to spend the night in Paradise) they all display a level of depth and warmth that belies the shallowness of their initial introductions.
The show, which is released weekly, and only one episode of season four is currently available, has already exceeded all of my expectations because it allows us to see two couples really get to know each other beyond initial first impressions. While the pace is still slow and deliberate, it feels like we’ve been given a chance to invest in the characters in a way that previous seasons delayed.
Sex and Skin: There are hints that some contestants head to bed together, though they don’t explicitly show anything.
Parting Shot: As the guys who are relegated to the Men’s Inferno eat a meager dinner of scrambled eggs and rice (a stark contrast to the multi-course meals and champagne enjoyed by their brethren in Paradise), a mystery woman approaches them. Is she one of the female contestants from the Women’s Inferno, or a brand-new cast member we haven’t met yet?
Performance Worth Watching: This season seems even funnier and more entertaining thanks to the host-presenters, who are really having fun observing and offering sarcastic quips (or at least trying to take certain contestants’ self-confidence down a peg). My favorite has to be Hong Jin-Kyung, who feels like a knowing older sister who makes jokes about the young contestants’ age, inexperience and hubris while still seeming warm and supportive.
Our Call: Having watched season two and being disappointed by it, I feel like substantial tweaks have been made to season four which have vastly improved it. STREAM IT!
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Single’s Inferno’ Season 4 on Netflix, A Dating Show Where A Group Of Hot Singles Pair Off For A Chance To Spend A Night In Paradise appeared first on Decider.
