‘The Anonymous’ Recap: ‘Welcome to The Anonymous’, ‘Can You Handle It?’, & ‘The Face-Off’

8/20/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THE ANONYMOUS -- "Welcome to The Anonymous" Episode 101 -- Pictured: (l-r) Xavier Prather, Robbi Jade Lew, Sydney Dorsey, Marcel Cunningham, Kacie Mize, Jack Usher, Nina Twine, Dillian Frelow, Lilly Jenkins, Tyrenna Tolbert, Andy King -- (Photo by: Rico Torres/USA Network)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Series Premiere of ‘The Anonymous’.

For the most part, new reality competition shows that debut on television, truly do feel quite familiar in nature. Simply because there are a lot of formulas that one can follow in assembling one, and most do. Because in the mind of so many, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, just a need to add a fresh twist to things so that reality television builds upon itself. Which isn’t a bad thing by any means, because that’s something that storytelling and television have held to for a very long time. But now and again, it is nice to see someone try something completely and utterly new, and really attempt to wow us with something refreshing and that is why, The Anonymous on USA Network is of note.

Simply because, it is indeed that breath of fresh air. A reality competition series that is unlike any other on the market right now, and well, we were able to experience what made it so unique and so refreshing last night and that made ‘Welcome to The Anonymous’, ‘Can You Handle It?’, and ‘The Face-Off’ quite the fascinating set of tales. One that showcased that… just a dash of familiarity can go a long way in giving life to something new. Because the only aspect of this show that felt akin to anything we’ve seen before, was the fact that it gathered together a group of individuals from different walks of life, to compete in a game complete with some magnificent prize money. But once everyone dug into the nitty gritty of the show, did things change drastically.

Because just like that, we were immersed within a series that makes use of social media concepts to bring about competition. For the 12 individuals brought together to compete, were required to pick an avatar and ponder deeply on how best to use a chat room to expose their competitors and put them up for elimination, all while doing their best to stay utterly anonymous. Because The Anonymous would be the one to decide who was sent home. Which made, for the fascinating moments in question. Since it forced everyone to think about how best to speak without revealing who they were and how best to deflect and defer to maintain that anonymous status and well, what made this so incredible, is that we got to watch the group basically learn the rules and learn to execute them in real time.

THE ANONYMOUS -- "The Face-Off" Episode 103 -- Pictured: (l-r) Xavier Prather, Kacie Mize, Marcel Cunningham, Christopher Shulstad -- (Photo by: Rico Torres/USA Network)

Which you just don’t see that often in reality television. Since again, that familiarity allows for everyone to smoothly adjust and improvise from there. But here, it was immersion and learning on the fly and deploying new strategies that may or may not work since this kind of competition hasn’t been tried before. And that brought about innovation from folks like Jack, who quickly figured out how to sneak into the shadows and properly deflect and confuse when the time was right, and struggles from others such as Lilly, and Sydney, since they were not prepared for how quickly the game nudged them in the wrong direction. And of course, to really make the game more interesting, tension was built in the most unique and direct manner possible.

After all, everyone has to sleep under the same roof, and that meant interacting with one another after going after one another in the chat. Giving rise to a difficult standard for the contestants. Wherein they had to say nothing and continue to compete and deflect so that no one was the wiser regarding what who said what and how it impacted them. All of which brought about some hard emotional impact and struggles now and again. But while it was indeed amazing to see such a tapestry of interesting moments play out and be introduced to such a diverse and interesting group of competitors that are fun and friendly, since they are indeed not filled with drama or malice, this is still a competition show and someone had to become the Anonymous and send people home.

As it turned out, Jack’s incredible strategy did the trick and helped him to remain in the shadows twice over, and that allowed for him to decide that Sydney and eventually Kacie were to be sent packing to give him the best shot at scooping up the potential $100 grand on the line. All of which brought to a close, an epic and engaging series premiere. One that taught us the rules in a wonderful fashion and outright hooked us. Since we get to enjoy a new game, new strategies and new prize competitions that really are delightful through and through and it will be interesting to see how this fight to stay anonymous will play out as the circle of competitors shrinks in the weeks to come. Until next time.

To learn more about the creation of ‘The Anonymous’ visit our interview with Executive Producer Stephen Yemoh.

Watch ‘The Anonymous’

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