This review may contain spoilers
More Than Just a Game
Squid Game was something I was looking forward to post Devil Game. I enjoy thrillers with an edge that offer social commentary and it doesn't disappoint. I think that is why it resonates so much with American audiences. The games: convened by bored rich people at the expense of the desperate ordinary people trying to get by, some for noble reasons, all at the end of their rope; are supposedly a great leveler, offering a way out that is an equal opportunity. Inequity is a hot button topic everywhere, but here income inequality has grown so grea tly that we have situations where some people die for want of medical care while others are killing for amusement. This could be happening right now for all we know.They quickly find out that it's more than money on the line, and yet such is their desperation that they continue forward, despite knowing that every game is whittling down the players, some of whom have formed alliances with and become bonded to in that way that only survivors of trauma can.
We learn about the characters of the individuals playing the games in bits and pieces by the choices they make, flashes of backstory and when they occasionally share some information with someone else. You have an incomplete picture for some people the entire time, while you can see some clearly from the beginning. Others you discover facets of their character only in extremis.
This makes for GRIPPING viewing. I was so grateful Netflix put up all episodes at once so I was able to binge watch it over 2 days. Mostly one day, and the finale the next morning. I just couldn't stop once I got started, it's that compelling.
Some shows you have to force yourself to finish, others you have wait for weekly releases, some you even savor every slowly released episode knowing that it brings you closer to the end and you just don't want that to happen. (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is like that.) But this one, just plan to let yourself watch as many episodes back to back as you can.
I've seen some people commenting on an extremely brief scene that takes place in a bathroom during a sexual interlude. Both people are clothed as far as the camera can see, the bulk of the content in the sequence is dialogue, and it just seems ridiculous to me to object to such a minor sexual setting in a series that has about 8 -9 straight hours of extreme violence. But heads up, please watch that part and don't skip it, it's important to the story. Apparently some people were so offended they skipped it. Perhaps they were underage or something.
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Great premise and thought-provoking convrsations
Boy does this show know how to keep you watching! I'm gonna be honest, after finishing Devil Judge I didn't think any other drama this year would impress me but someone recommended this show to me and I decided to give it a watch. Great decision really. I had so many questions and the main ones weren't really answered until towards the end of the series. The format for the show is not new, but for Korea's take on "The Hunger Games," this show did not disappoint. Actually I will say this show is better than The Hunger Games. There.The premise is enough to make you watch the first episode but the great performances from the actors and the intriguing feel of the show is what pushed you to finish-and all the unanswered questions.This show had a lot to say and I feel it touched on a few interesting themes. It was really interesting to me how the show was full of characters that are deemed dirty in Korean society. It was quite refreshing since the kdrama landscape is always full of chaebol type shows that tell the stories of Korea’s top 1%. Not to mention all the subtle comments about people and society that are scattered throughout the conversations of the characters and scenarios of the games. Some scenes just really make you think.
The characters were really great. Sure there were more compelling characters than others, but everyone was so fleshed out you actually ended up liking everyone, including the less favorable characters like Mi-Nyeo or Deok-Su.
Overall I think this was an amazing show. Sure it’s not perfect. and some things were left unknown purposefully perhaps. However this show was just really well made, from the actors to the art design to the script. Truly a phenomenal show. I strongly believe that this show lives up to every ounce of hype it is getting and it deserves all the attention it’s getting. Especially the actors. I hope that in season two there are still so many mysteries regarding The Front Man and his past. I wouldn’t be mad if a prequel regarding his time in the games was a thing. I also wanna know more about The VIPs and how they come to work for the leader. Not to mention the ambiguous ending. Given the way things went towards the end I definitely think there will be a next season. 10/10.
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An innovative concept, but finished a bit hastily
Squid Game had one of the best concepts, with mystery around few people who participates in a game with millions to win. The story is simple yet creative and it works most of the entire series.The start was strong, with violence and bloodshed during the games which built an intense environment to leave us guessing what would happen next.
The story went through well with a good last episode as well. But it still felt that it was not finished as it should have been ended, with an open ending hinting for Season 2 (Although I would have preferred this to end in a single season).
My Rating : 7/10
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This review may contain spoilers
A decent entry into the survival game genre while simultaneously fordging nowhere new.
Gory, violent, vulgar, and graphic Squid Game doesn't, as they say, pull any punches. This works in the show's favor as a strong juxtaposition to the candy coated, pastel painted, childlike game world it takes place. And well, that is kinda the whole point. Bookending itself with the very childhood Korean game it is named after "Squid Game," the beginning has it played by children and the ending played by adults. Honestly, the violence exists in both iterations, showing that childhood isn't truly that innocent, and adults are not the different from children.This idea of "adult children" runs through the entirety of the viewing experience. Our main protagonist Seong Gi Hoon / "No. 456" played by Lee Jung Jae, a middle aged man living with his mother, comes off as a bratty teenager in the first 30 seconds we meet him as he whines about money while stuffing his face with food his mother made him before she heads off for a day of back breaking work. He lives a life of laziness, selfishness, and failures. Being a dead beat father, who claims he loves his daughter, but then does nothing to support or raise her, he instead spends his time stealing from his mother and gambling. Under tremendous amounts of debt to bookies and loan sharks, his debtors finally place a ticking clock to pay up or "pay with his body."
When the mysterious salesman shows up in all his bravado and gets Jung Jae to participate in a game on a subway platform, the audience can see the trap being set with each passing moment. As Jung Jae continuously loses and takes bodily harm as payment for that losing, he maniacally keeps going again and again until he gets that one win. And thus, the mentality of what is to come is shown.
Most of the premier episode deals with just Jung Jae story, and spends a lot of time setting up his place in the world. It isn't until the end of this episode when we get our first game and have glimpses at the other main players we will follow. Is this time well spent, I can't decide. His story does not garner sympathy or paint him as a good person. When he enters the first arena, I particularly didn't care if he lived or died, and well that is a problem. Antiheroes are huge right now, and Jung Jae is most definitely a character that falls in this category. But, unlike Vincenzo, The Devil Judge, or Taxi Driver, he isn't likable. What makes him not-heroic is not "grey morality" it is simply being a bad low life human being. He isn't a criminal, but the story has not shown him to be someone you want to root for either.
Other characters are more clear cut with the exception of Cho Sang Woo / "No. 218" played by Park Hae Soo. He is a foil to our main lead. Raised in the same neighborhood, and a childhood friend and rival, Sang Woo's life has been almost the opposite of Jung Jae. Coming from a single family stall saleswoman mother household, he educated himself, worked hard, and got himself into the most prestigious university in Korea. To most in the old neighborhood Sang Woo has gone on to be a successful businessman and the golden child of the low income world they all live. Well, at least that is the story his mother and everyone back home knows. In a quick backstory drop by our masked game-masters, it seems he has actually spent his time becoming a white collar criminal who is hiding from the police and 6 billion won worth of multiple financial crimes.
The rest of our main rag tag team of "good guys" is filled with a variety of the disenfranchised. Characters that are truly at a larger disadvantage in life than our two already described main male leads. Kang Sae Byeok / "No. 067" is the hardened female North Korea defector who has become a thief to survive in South Korea while trying to make a home for her younger brother. She is a very stock creation to pull at the trope of a soft hearted criminal. Luckily Jung Ho Yeon plays her perfectly balanced in ruthlessness and stoicism versus tenderness and vulnerability, which will likely have you rooting for her more than most if not all the others.
Ali Abdul / "No. 199" is our illegal immigrant from Pakistan with a heart of gold. The physically strongest of the bunch is also the most cuddly, kind, and naive. Anupam Tripathi plays him with such wide eyed youthful trust that you will want everyone involved to sacrifice themselves for his survival. And lastly, Oh Young Soo as Oh Il Nam / "No. 001" finishes our team as an elderly man who is on deaths door with a brain tumor and fighting off the beginning stages of dementia.
To say that we will lose some of these characters along the way is a given. While I won't go into when, how, or why, just suffice it to say that the only character with plot armor is our ML (Remember the whole 1st episode is dedicated to him) and of course one other player, the antagonist evil player, Jang Deok Soo / "No. 101". Both are given equal protection to make sure the push and pull between their characters remains until we reach the end. Heo Sung Tae plays the character with ease as at this point if you have seen any Korean dramas you will know how incredibly type cast he has become.
The first game Red Light/Green Light, shows everyone involved of what they have become a part. With an oversized head spinning porcelain doll that counts in a girls childish voice with everyone inside a painted arena-looking like a sandbox on a sunny day-as masked guards in pink suits stand idly with machine guns, the almost 50's Americana design (aesthetics used in video games such as Fallout) are clearly painted.
In the first episode more than half of nearly 500 players are mowed down with gunfire, in what is easily the highest body count of the show. It affects the remaining player-base so much that the survivors demand to be released, setting up a voting that is in the rules of the game. If more than 50% of the players want to quit, then they will all be freed. BUT, before the voting begins the reward for staying and competing is revealed. 100 million won per player dead. Meaning the pot, in the end, will be around 45 billion. If they choose to quit, then the money will be sent to the families of the deceased each getting the 100 million that was put in the pot. This, to say the least, changes the game, and the mind of many who were only moments before begging to go free.
Now here is were the show, I think, makes its greatest fault. That is, in a nail biting vote that comes down to a single player difference, the group is freed and all go back to their lives, but under the condition that if more than 50% want to return the games will recommence. Of course since all this takes place in the first and second episode, it is not a spoiler or remotely unclear that all the players will return. Well at least 187 out of the 201 freed will return.
While the show is trying to make a social statement between the real world and the game, it is hazy in how it draws this comparison. The idea is that these people are so destitute, forgotten, at wits end, and put upon by an unfair society, that ultimately playing in a game to the death for money is not so bad, or at least equally appealing as to living their actual lives. That is, the world itself is a game (Or rat-race) and the only way out of it is death, so why not take that chance at becoming a billionaire by playing an actual game with your life.
Unfortunately, this only holds up if you are morally bankrupt already. Yes, life is hard, it sucks a lot of the time, and there are disadvantages and advantages to it based on simply where you are born, with what color skin, looks, and wealth. However, each person has the choice of what they do with their life and who they choose to become. Look at our main two leads mothers. These are women, that as far as we know, have raised their sons mostly alone. Without wealth or privilege, they have created homes for themselves and opened businesses, and had families. Was it hard, yes. Do we wish their lives were better, of course. But these women show their strength of will and character and do not take shortcuts and thus have created something for themselves as small as it might be.
We can talk about the cop Hwang Jun Ho, played by heartthrob Wi Ha Joon, and how he become a police officer versus his missing brother ( who as far as we know is likely amongst the dead that played in the first game), while raised in the same house, the same family, with the same advantages but ended up in VERY different t places. A persons character, morality, and code matters and it isn't simply the world and society is bad. It is flawed and broken, and needs social change, of course, but this show doesn't show how to accomplish that change. It wants to show what depraved people will do to each other.
Outside of our Pakistani Ali, whose life takes a truly fateful turn in these few days of release as his intentions of leaving Korea and going home are destroyed while being preyed upon by a Korean businessman who uses him as a virtual slave because of his illegal status, everyone who returns to the game returns of their freewill knowing what lies in wait, what they will be forced to do and be a part of, and most importantly with a plan to win. These players that in the beginning where being selfish children and looking for easy money but found themselves in heinous game of mass killing and demanded freedom now become as equally complicit and active agents in the slaughter.
As a viewer, it made me no longer care if any of them lived or died. They are there because they choose to be. They are there because they want the prize. They are there because they are no better than those who devised the arena in which they play. Thus, it is a story of bad people playing with and killing bad people for a huge pot of blood money. And well, that made the show fairly depressing to get through, and gave me very little in the way of wanting to root for a winner antihero or not. If they simply had not done this, not made it where these characters actively choose to return, as a viewer I could have gotten behind and rooted for people I really didn't like, and forgive them for acts they transgress. But that is based on the idea, they were unknowing forced into a bad situation and must do what they can to survive and get out of it. Every character could have been written the same way they are, and I would have rooted for some of them regardless of their faults. In the end, as it was done, I held them responsible for their own deaths and the deaths they cause.
Episode seven is a divisive one that uses homosexuality as the benchmark of the truly depraved and the ultimate bad guy amongst an arena of bad people. Its South Korean entertainment, what can you expect from a homophobic country? It also continues the South Korean trend of using low grade actors whenever a westerner needs to be on screen and paints white wealthy westerners as sexual deviants and the lowest of the low. Whatever, just like The Devil Judges flaw of using the west as homosexuals in a salute to homophobia when sentencing a sexual predator, Squid Game just follows in line.
The aforementioned cop Jun Ho, finally has something to do in this episode, but his entire character seems misplaced and unneeded. How his story unfolds, and where it ends, makes him a character that lives fully in subplot story lines that never lead to any fruition or tie into the main plot of the series. Why did we meet him and spend time with him? What did we learn from his snooping? How did his character impact anything about the story? While his last scene seems to leave some open ended storytelling on the fate of the Squid Game operation, and the fate of himself. The time jump in the last episode of the series seems to answer all the open ended questions that left dangled. And that is, we didn't ever need him as a character.
By the end of the series, there are some twists that MOST will see coming long before they are revealed, and the ending itself is odd and weirdly uncathartic. Maybe that is the point, life isn't cathartic. Crap happens, and then we go on. This was in the end just a "slice of life" etc. As a viewer, you don't buy it, and while it hints there may be a sequel, you wonder if there is a point to it. Very few if any of the cast can return. So it will basically be all new characters to meet if we go for round two. And seeing the games again, will be very "Hunger Games" number 2, a not as fun go around of the first time. As for the games themselves, we learn very little. Who were all the men in masks? Why are they playing their role? The few that are unmasked are shown to be young and basically psychotic. What do they get out of and how did they get roped into being masked game masters? How do they move through the ranks and get either a lowly circle, gun blazing triangle, or master square ranking?
The main black masked man, is he just evil? After he does what he does and the little we learn about him, his character is basically a walking problem. Being a winner of the games, who chooses to live in virtual poverty in the real world even though a billionaire, but comes back to this world to run, design, and watch others die in games, seems to suggest yeah, he is just a bad guy. He is a confusing mess of a character, and we didn't even spend much time with him unmasked for all these issues to arise. Is season two going to be basically about him? Is that why we have the limousine scene between the winner of these games and him in the end?
Why did Squid Games become so successful? I can't answer this for you. Like the masked game masters that are just there because, this show is the greatest Netflix success, just because it is. While the acting is better in Squid Games, Netflix's Alice in Boarderlands is much stronger in individual game designs for the players, and in dissecting morality and the condition of the human animal when placed into a survivalist world. You also clearly have characters you can and want to root for, even if they are morally dubious. While its premise isn't as grounded and believable as Squid Game's, Alice does create a world that is even more terrifying and allows your imagination to run amok on how it is all happening. Yet Alice, though getting a season 2, has gone mostly unnoticed by the world at large.
Squid Game is worth a watch, provided you can handle the material. It is a solid entry in survival storytelling and creates a generally unique aesthetic to tell its tale. It is very strongly acted, and the Korean Drama plague of caricature side characters or characters written just to be comic relief are mostly if not fully absent. The directing, while straight forward, does keep the story moving and refrains from allowing the actors to have soap boxes, overly dramatic melodrama scenes, or annoyingly cloying moments. The production shines, and is generally in all regards a very top notch experience.
But, do not go into this with unrealistic expectations or with the belief you are going to travel unknown roads. You have seen everything here before, The Purge, Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Alice in Boarderlands etc are just a few from the modern age that travels where this series goes. It does it with more gore than the kid friendly versions but is on par with Alice or The Purge in that department. There are unneeded subplots, unneeded side characters, and a lot of questions that never get answers. In short, it isn't perfect, or mind-blowing. But it is good. 3.5 Stars (7) overall B. Better than the bulk of content Netflix has to offer, but forgettable and in the end not a must see.
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Okay hear me out
At the beginning it started slow but I was still attracted to the plot and as it progresses it gets more interesting reaching the end which is a complete meh, leaving aside the ending I can say that it is a good drama.I liked the cinematography, the characters, the soundtrack and it made me cry a lot in the last episodes, especially episode 6.
Saebyeok and Jiyeon deserved better, for me they are on jeju island drinking mojito together. And I really felt sorry for Sangwoo's mother but I have zero sympathy for Sangwoo for being a traitor and murderer.
The ending is kinda meh, is that it? I hate that it took him a whole year to take Saebyeok's brother out from the orphanage and see his daughter which he cancelled just to get his revenge, I get it but it's still wrong.
It gives me a lump in my throat to know that saebyeok's brother will never know where his sister is and the same with sangwoo's mother who will also never know where her son went.
Also the reason why the front man did that is not well explained, leaving a gap to the plot. In conclusion the ending could be better, but in the other hand the gaming part was very good, although at some point it became predictable like knowing who the front man was, I already knew that he could be the policeman's brother.
The end is an open ending, letting us see how gihun is going to participate in the game again and seek revenge, maybe there will be a second season but I wouldn't like it because what would it be about? the same? other games? could have made a better ending
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Decent entertainment.
It's competent in most aspects.The hype honestly makes it a worse experience, because you expect something mindblowing and genre breaking.
It's not that.
It's Battle Royale Fall Guys.
It's mostly enjoyable. The social commentary is a bit heavy handed at times, but it's nice to have it there.
It's not that original, it's not perfect.
It's fine.
(random note: The scenes with English speaking foreigners were hilarious. The writing was mostly ok, but it didn't come off as entirely natural. And combined with not-stellar acting it felt odd. I guess like Asian scenes feel in western movies maybe.)
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My Humble Thoughts (Pls Don't Cancel Me For Lowkey Hating On It XD)
Squid's GameRate: 7
Keep in mind that before you read any further, this review is coming from the perspective of a person who's seen far too many psychologicals for his own good, as an experienced viewer on this certain genre I carry a bias for how dramas like these are executed. I'll try to keep this review as less biased as I can but I'm already sugarcoating it with the rating so I won't be going easy on this either lol.
To keep it simple, if you have experience watching dramas similar to the genre in squid's, at most it'll be meh for you. Overall, the games aren't as sadistic or brutal as you'd want them to be thus leaving you with an empty feeling. The pace for the starting episodes is pretty slow and I'd go as far as to say episode 2 as a whole is skippable as it's not crucial to understanding the plot. Episode 4 was squid's peak and sadly the episodes that follow do not keep the consistency flowing. The plot twists for the most part are predictable and the ending doesn't fully answer all the questions that are presented as it teases a possible opening for season 2.
As for people that are new to this genre and who are just looking to jump onto the hype train, I'd say you'll find it enjoyable for the most part since it's your first time diving onto a drama like this. Anywayysss, regardless if you're experienced or new, I'd recommend to give it's first four episodes a chance to see if you'll like it.
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Awfully Beautiful
Squid Game, as fun as it sounds, is a masterpiece created in the pits of Hell. The combination of utterly incredible screenplay and outstanding acting performance makes one go through a number of emotions within its run time. Not only does this drama show us the most beautiful direction of photography, color grading and overall aesthetic that is quite frankly, an eye candy, but it also paints us an honest image of an immensely massive gap between the rich and the poor, how the "lower class" can easily be turned into nothing but puppets for the pure entertainment of the rich.Personally, I would 100% recommend this show to anyone that is seeking to spend days while being extremely mad about the cartoonish nightmare we call life.
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Weak Ending, lots of crying
Story : going into this show i was skeptical. i have watched kdramas before this, so I was curious why locals were shoving this show in my face. i was surprised while watching it, that it was indeed good. but i think what i got out of it, is different then what other people may have taken out. while we understand the reason for the games, and the meaning behind the show (something that goes over people's heads), i really enjoyed the characters. i am a sang woo apologist, and his character fascinated me. i enjoy having background stories for each person, because it opens up the ability for us to feel when they are eliminated. the ending was...odd. but it was in a sense, closure for Seong Gi-Hun. While I am upset with the red hair dye and not getting on the plane, it leaves open the idea of a season 2. but since almost the whole lovable cast was killed off...i am not sure about that.Acting: the acting (as to be expected by these names) was stellar. not a dry eye in episode 6. and esp the last scene for sang woo.
Music : i always appreciate shows who actually create a whole new soundtrack for a show, and make it so quirky that it fits. But also makes it so dramatic at the right time that it hurts.
Rewatch Value: i think the shock value of the show makes it not rewatchable. that being said. i am more intrigued in the relationships between he characters as the show progresses so i would only re-watch it for that reason.
Overall: i think it is a good show. not the best kdrama i have watched but good. i will only say its overhyped because of what the western media has turned it into (Mr. beast I'm looking at you). i always laugh that we need to gatekeep kdramas, and this feels like it. i enjoyed watching it, and was exciting to be introduced to new actors.
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This is usually my type of dramas and I could really compare it to 365: Repeat The Year which is also a korean drama but at the same time it has it's own originality.
The scenes where pretty harsh for me as watcher, I was not ready and it came as a shock. It comes off as like a japanese drama or movie storyline that is why I would say it has that different feeling into it compared to what I usually encounter in korean dramas.
Actors in the drama are veteran, all are great. One of the best line up korean dramas have done in a while.
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Hunger games 2.0 GONE WRONG justice for SAEBYEOK
I know korea is still a mysoginistic society until now because there government doesnt want women to have power and more equal rights than men and thats the sad truth of the society, but judging the story it felt flat for me the beginning episodes are great BUT after episode 5 it felt DRAGGY and SLOW and i get the betrayal of friends part but i think it feels so injustice of the other characters especially Ali they didi him dirty and still koreans always look down dark or brown skinned people i hate it here and still racist to foreigners ngl though and the ending is still open ended so weed a 2nd season to answer all the several plotholes of previous episodes. Acting is PHENOMENAL HANDS DOWN especially SAEBYEOK i love her role in this its giving me katnis everdeen vibes heheheh purr and GIHUN too i love his kind honest protagonist and especially the front man i love villainess of the characters, high budget production, outfits stages evrything: felt flat for the OST i need lisas money fpr the ost of the 2nd season please it matches the series. Thats all!! yall should watch Alice in borderland it has better plot than the squid game purr.Was this review helpful to you?
