Alice in Borderland season two spoilers follow.
Alice in Borderland really knows just how to put its players through the wringer. Season one was a bloodfest but season two gets more cutthroat by sending a brutal face-card gamemaster (The King of Spades) to torment the already browbeaten gamers outside of the games.
Somehow Arisu (Kento Yamazaki), Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) and the others manage to band together to orchestrate the most calculated assault against the King of Spades. However their strike-back runs about as smooth as a river of blood (their own).
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In their determination to take down the King, the group suffered… a lot.
For perspective's sake, Arisu fared the best in the haphazard battle and he crashed through a window, caught by the tail-end of the explosives he'd just set off.
His attempt to end the King of Spades once and for all worked… well, sort of. The King is beaten enough for a bullet to easily finish the job.
Hurray! At last, his reign of carnage is over but this win came at a price.
The others were pretty badly banged up, sporting severe injuries. We're talking multiple stab wounds to the ribs and legs, while more than a handful were bullet-pierced beyond belief.
It's surprising then, if not unfathomable, that they should all live, especially Ann (Ayaka Miyoshi).
None appeared to be in a worse condition than she (although Heiya was a close second after being bullet-studded from what seemed like navel to throat) however it was Ann whose two slugs left her gasping for her last breath.
Her last words to Kuina (Aya Asahina) touched us deeply. To paint the somber picture the two lay bleeding out on the ground. Ann, lingering on the precipice of death, choked out the following:
"If we meet again (in another lifetime we presume) let’s be friends." (*sob*) Cue the glazed eyes and motionless, unresponsive body. (*Extra cry-hard sob*) Nobody was ready for that.
Later on, when the surviving players are given the choice of becoming residents, Kuina looks over to a lifeless Ann, holds her hand and says: "Let's go back together". As if she has a choice. Did you not see the soul escape her eyes? We certainly did.
It was a brutal end for the fiery Ann, made even more emotional by the violin-infused music jerking at our tear ducts like a marionette being tugged.
Imagine our surprise then when, in a shock twist, Ann was snatched back from the brink of death and tossed into the 'real world' only to be left clinging to life in a coma.
Alive! She is alive and something about that just feels so wrong.
Did we want Ann to die? No. But undercutting the emotional impact of her death by backtracking allows the previous emotionally charged moment to fall flat.
Furthermore, it's indicative of the show's real problem: it's lost its high-stakes edge.
In season one the core friendship between Karube (Keita Machida), Chota (Yūki Morinaga) and Arisu was expected to have longevity. They were set to survive the hardships to come.
But in a Game of Thrones-type move, the creators axed Chota and Karube just when we'd filed them in the 'untouchables' column.
The death of Arisu's two friends was a complete gut-punch but it added the necessary emotional depth and nuance to the story by exploring what extreme measures will push people to do, especially when their lives are at stake.
Their death served as both a motivator for Arisu's survival but also as the stone of guilt that weighs him down.
Killing them off was about more than shock factor, it was explorative of human nature. It was crucial in setting up a precedent integral to the DNA of the show: the fact that no one is truly untouchable.
What creates the tension in Alice in Borderland is the constant, undercurrent of unease. It's never knowing who or when someone will die and how.
The act of desperately willing your favourite characters to survive only works if we the fans know they can truly be lost. A nervous titillation that can only be achieved through the cost of losing core characters.
Revoking Ann's path to the afterlife not only took away from the emotional goodbye with Kuina, it rendered it pointless. Ann's non-death is not the only sign that the show has lost its stomach when it comes to high-stakes deaths.
Keeping the others alive despite their fatal enough wounds also takes away from the story.
Their decision to unite to fight the King of Spades was about courage in the face of the impossible and a willingness to sacrifice themselves for the chance of a better future, even if that meant they wouldn't be there to see it.
Yet we watch Kuina be punctured with the King's blade countless times and live. Witness Heiya (Yuri Tsunematsu) being shot quite aggressively and keep it pushing. Then Aguni (Shô Aoyagi) takes a bullet to the head only for it to turn out to be no big deal. Just a graze.
Let's also not forget that it was Heiya's seemingly inevitable demise that gave Aguni the fire he needed to take on the King of Spades. It was a key moment that became less impactful when she dragged her flagging, pin-cushioned body over to the far away spot where Aguni lay (not) dying. How? How was she not dead already?
If that isn't bad enough, Niragi's earlier attempt to go toe to toe with Chishiya and Arisu resulted in both him and Chishiya (Nijirô Murakami) becoming badly injured.
Though no one will waste a single tear over the loss of deplorable Niragi (the two time cheater of death), Chishiya's death would have meant something.
Arguably these would have been the wrong circumstances for him to die under as it didn't feel like his personal journey had reached its peak but if you were going to go there, at least commit.
The only time we witness this season really commit to a meaningful, core-character death was that of Tatta (Yutaro Watanabe). The loveable, loyal but easily forgettable Tatta.
Yes he sacrificed himself so others could live and was rewarded with the show's first burial but the impact of this loss was somewhat fleeting given that there are far more engaging characters.
He was the core member designed to be dispensable. Fans will respect his ballsy move but the sadness of his death will not be carried forward. It will remain frozen in that moment along with his heroism and him.
Despite Alice in Borderland's seemingly optimistic ending, the presence of the Joker card suggests a season three is very much on the cards (pun intended).
If the show is indeed renewed, we desperately hope we aren't left tittering on the edge of heartbreak. Push us over the cliff. We're ready for the fall and like a season one Arisu faced with the death of his friends, we'll be much stronger for it.
Seasons one and two of Alice in Borderland are available to stream now on Netflix
Netflix/Left Bank Pictures The Crown season 3 with Amazon exclusive box artwork
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
