Squid Game
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 인생은 게임과 같아서 많은 플레이어가 있습니다. 당신이 그들과 놀지 않는다면, 그들은 당신과 함께 놀 것입니다.
(Life is like a game, there are many players. If you don’t play with them, they'll play with you.)
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Squid Game (Korean: 오징어 게임) is a South Korean survival drama streaming television series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. Its cast includes Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Jung Ho-yeon, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, and Kim Joo-ryoung, who has also made other films. It premiered on Netflix on September 17, 2021, and soon gained global attention. it is currently the most-watched K-drama in more than 90 countries worldwide and is widely considered one of the best Netflix original live-action shows ever made. As of October 2021, Squid Game surpassed Bridgerton as the most-watched Netflix original show.
In June 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, which is slated to be broadcast on December 26, 2024. A final season was also ordered, with it airing in 2025.
구성 (Plot)
The story follows a group of people, who struggle financially in life that risk their lives for a survival competition. It's supposed to be based on a children's game but things take a dark turn. The reason why they're risking their lives is to have a ₩45.6 billion ($38.5 million) prize.
이 게임이 규칙적인 이유 (Why This Game Rules)
- The show is a critique of capitalism and class struggles within South Korea and even around the world. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk even wrote it from his own experiences and observations of the capitalist system within his country. It shows how the rich would watch the poor fight each other to the death for their benefit.
- Squid Game has a very interesting storyline, with some elements of Whacked!, Hunger Games, and The Game but more catastrophic and clever. The way everything is portrayed in this survival drama is for sure top-notch. If you enjoy those series, you might like this one as well.
- However, the fundamental difference between these kinds of shows is that shows like The Hunger Games frame their dystopia as a potential future, that capitalism can eventually lead us down this road. Squid Game, however, argues that dystopia is already here, right under our noses, which is a more compelling argument depending on your view.
- The cinematography is outstanding and is top-notch in many ways.
- It has good mixes of dark humor, in some episodes, to very heavy and dark.
- The show has incredible detail put into it, and it shows with the plot, acting, and much more.
- The soundtrack fits with the aesthetic of the show. It evokes an eerie mood for the series and gives the series a nice, creepy, and depressing tone.
- Squid Game has excellently written characters that develop over the series. None of them were too one-dimensional and shallow, because they showed many personalities.
- The pacing is superb and smooth. There weren't any moments that were too slow or too fast, it was just right.
- Although it can be violent at times, it's very entertaining to watch, especially when Deok-Su wreaks unexpected chaos in the dark, another example is, when they are "Red Light, Green Light" when player 324 moves and the other player also dies, almost everyone becomes desperate and many die, it doesn't matter that there is a lot of blood, what matters is to see how entertaining it is.
- In the episode "Gganbu", there is an incredibly heartbreaking moment where the most endearing and likable players die, the most heartbreaking being Oh Il-Nam (this is because Oh Il-Nam suffers from a terrible tumor and dementia) dies after putting the last marble in his pocket, and Seong Gi-Hun cries why he didn't want him to die and then Oh Il-Nam was shot, another example is Abdul Ali (because he had a family and is very kind), since Ali was about to win, but then Sang-Woo made a deal with Ali and they were tied, and gave Abdul the other marbles, and he decides to get distracted but Abdul realizes that the marbles they gave were small stones and Sang-Woo all this time had the real marbles and then he won, which all turned out to be a hoax, and sadly, Abdul dies, which could leave one in tears for one who likes these characters.
- The games in Squid Game are simple and not complicated. It's what's at stake that makes them so intense.
- Oh Il-Nam running happily in Episode 1 was pretty laughable, even if that wasn't the intention.
- "Did you forget the rules? You do not speak unless your superior allows you to."
나쁜 품질 (Bad Qualities)
- Deok-Su is very mean-spirited and selfish. He even went as far as to beat people to death, which is most likely intentional. Although to be fair, though he can be selfish, he can be intimidating and threatening enough to the point of being scary in a good way.
- The main protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, could be mean-spirited and impulsive sometimes. For instance in Episode 1, when someone pulls on his leg, he leaves them behind with no explanation at all. Thus making him seem selfish.
- The translation can be pretty bad sometimes considered by most Koreans.
- Adding onto that was an awful English dub, filled with many subtitle errors. Thankfully, this was fixed in 2022.
- The Challenges reality show is pretty mediocre.
Reception
The show received critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 95% based on 76 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "Squid Game's unflinching brutality is not for the faint of heart, but sharp social commentary and a surprisingly tender core will keep viewers glued to the screen – even if it's while watching between their fingers." On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
As stated earlier, it is also the most-watched Netflix show.