I wanted to love this show and eagerly await every new episode. And beyond the first 2 weeks, I've been more or less disappointed every time. It's clear that the show is trying to focus more on the human stories than on action, but given that, I'm surprised by their casting choices. Melanie Lynskey was downright bad for a key role through a major part of the season, and Bella Ramsey just doesn't seem to be working for the lead role. And everything about episode 8 was quite forgettable. Actually episode 8 felt a lot more like the videos inside games than a TV show, maybe that's what they were going for? In any case, the show isn't living up to the hype and while I'll still watch the remaining episodes, I'm no longer expecting anything cool.