C R

First off, I'll put it out there that I-land is not perfect, but then you may ask you why I'm giving this show 5 stars. Well first off, no one can deny that MNET's evil editing is doing it's work on this show, but BigHit has managed to make certain decisions that neutralize the negative effects of some this editing. For example, it's clear that certain contestants don't get as much screen time as others, and others are portrayed more in a bad light. HOWEVER, you can still get an accurate representation of their personalities and skills because BigHit released individual fancams for EVERY contestant in EVERY performance. Not only that, you get to see their fancam footage while they are still inside I-land/Ground(only 1 hour of certain days so they won't intrude too much on the life of the contestants). This makes up for the lack of screen time certain contestants get, and I would like to praise Bighit for this smart move. With the latter issues aside, I'll move on to talking about the show itself. The system of eliminating contestants, for most part, is quite fair. The producers evaluate them individually, average their team score, and that determines the number of people eliminated from i-land. This system of joint responsibility really plays on the idea of 'growing strength in the face of adversity' and 'deciding your destiny as well as the people around you'. They pick teammates to eliminate, and that makes a lot of sense when you think about it. In the future, these will be the people they will spend the most time with if they debut together, and having a harmonious relationship and respecting each other is crucial to being in team(besides skills of course). They also get to see each other's skills and attitudes while living and practicing together. It was a logical decision by bighit. They didn't go hands off completely, but they let them choose their own destiny as they claimed from the first episode. This survival show makes you so attached to the trainees. You might even cry every episode (ep. 4 especially lol) and you see them work so hard yet they still fail. The editing of the show plays on an emotional level and makes you really attached to these boys and root for them to achieve their dreams. Speaking of the trainees, some of them have immense potential. I won't mention who specifically, but about 9 of them I think can really debut and make it BIG. All 23 of them are very talented, but certain ones really pop out. Watching them grow and improve along their journey is really satisfying. Many of their personalities are really admirable and entertaining to watch. You can really feel how human they are, and understand how they felt in each situation and challenge given to them. If you can let go of some of the not-so-good aspects, this show is really worth a watch. The main reason I watch is for the music, performances and trainees. (The music released from i-land is actually really good btw) Overall, I recommend you give it a go. I hope you found this helpful