Folks, it appears we’ve entered a dystopic reality. For the meager price of $10,000, Americans have signed up en masse to risk their lives traversing obstacle courses constructed over a raging sea of lava. Three people, sometimes friends, sometimes family, enter arenas filled with the oversized makings of a kitchen, a bedroom, or rooms on the more exotic side of things, such as a planetarium. Contestants even get to make their way through “The Basement,” a lava lake spotted with an archipelago of ancient artifacts. Hopping from platform to platform, they race to get across their respective rooms, carefully avoiding the spurting sea below. Their lives only worth a point apiece against the other competitors.
In actuality, contestants on Floor is Lava are not risking gruesome death upon entering the arena. However, the show does its best, through clever editing and, presumably, an understanding that the guests will play along, to make it seem as if those who fail to cross their course disappear beneath the lava ocean. It may be a few more years before the economy gets bad enough for game shows to get that graphic.
Hosted by the sharp-witted and full-bearded Rutledge Wood (Top Gear, The American Barbeque Showdown), Netflix’s Floor Is Lava put a thrilling twist on a classic children’s game and the modern game show in general. Season one definitely brought the heat. How could Floor is Lava creators turn up the temp for season two?
Outrageous Obstacles
At the end of the day, Netflix’s Floor Is Lava ended up looking a lot like the show Wipeout with a few artistic sprinkles. That’s perfecltly fine; who doesn’t enjoy watching people wipe out on Wipeout?
The biggest difference comes in the creativity behind the Floor Is Lava obstacle courses. There are realistic replications of random rooms as if to harken back to the childhood game which inspired the show. While the bedroom and kitchen are undoubtedly chic, fans would be better served by a wilder set of obstacle courses. Arguably, the two most exciting arenas are The Planetarium and The Basement, the two least resembling traditionally furnished rooms. In season two, Floor Is Lava creators should consider stepping away from the limitations of recreating a house amid the lava, instead opting for zanier obstacles.
Fiery Fights
If Floor Is Lava is going to have audiences believe that its contestants are risking life and limb, then the show’s creators should consider upping the action a touch. Here’s the pitch – battles. As Anakin and Obi-Wan ducking and diving over the ruins of Mustafar, adding the competitive element of fiery fighting to Floor Is Lava would be sure to entertain.
Though the creators shouldn’t allow two teams onto exactly the same course at exactly the same time (the chaos would undoubtedly detract from the competition), one could imagine a scenario where the arena is divided into two identical halves, with one a one-way zipline from each half connecting the two sides to a platform in the middle. Each team could choose their warrior and send them to the combat platform.
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Two competitors enter, one competitor leaves, victorious in whatever padded paddle smackdown the Floor Is Lava creators can devise. The winner then gets a free ride to the end platform. Despite being down a player, the losing team could still manage to get their other two players across, making this fighting feature a significant but not impossible task for the less muscle-bound, more agility-inclined competitors.
Burning Booby Traps
Perhaps the biggest disappointment in Netflix’s Floor Is Lava season one was the glaring lack of booby traps. Audiences got to see just one tricky trap in season one; on the above pictured Planetarium level, pressing a large red button sends lava shooting over the room’s obstacles, rendering them even slicker than usual.
One measly booby trap simply will not satiate audiences in season two. There are countless secrets hidden amid the various Floor Is Lava levels. Unfortunately, the Easter eggs mainly serve to help and not hurt competitors. And who exactly wants to see that? In Floor Is Lava season two, the game makers need to include all manner of tricks, from trapdoors to false floors. How great would it be to see a competitor stretch for a nearby pull-rope, only to have it upend their platform and send them to their doom?
Fans are fired up for the upcoming Floor Is Lava season two. The allure of ten G’s will continue to bring fearless competitors willing to risk burns, bumps, and bruises. Adding new twists to the game itself, as well as continuing to craft impressive obstacle courses, will make sure that the Netflix game show stays hot.
