Opinion | Noah Berlatsky: In Amazon's 'Panic,' hopeful high school graduates meet capitalist exploitation. - NBCNewsTHINK
A small town's daredevil contest for enough money to leave turns out to be a "Hunger Games"-style competition where only those pulling the strings can win.May 28, 2021, 7:01 PM UTCLurking around the edges of the teen romance, murder mystery and the melodrama in the new Amazon Prime series “Panic” is a grimmer — and more courageous — story about how young, hopeful teens graduate from high school … and then capitalism eats them alive.
Every year, the seniors in the town high school pay into a pot, and, at the end of the summer, they can compete in a series of terrifying, deadly challenges — cliff diving, Russian roulette, automotive chicken. The winner takes home around $50,000, which is usually enough to get out of their dead-end town. The mysterious judges who organize the contest, and the contestants who participate in it, believe the contest Panic is about nerve in the face of terrifying challenges.