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Squid Game Review

Squid Game is a 2021 South Korean survival drama series that premiered on Netflix and quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. It’s truly a terrific show that deserved all that buzz.

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“Do you know what someone with no money has

in common with someone with too much money?

Living is no fun for them“

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It follows 456 players as they enter a series of deadly children’s games in order to earn money to pay their debt and escape poverty. First off, there’s a lot to talk about the themes of this show. Yes, the majority of the series is devoted to the pure entertainment factor, and there is nothing wrong with that, but the series still makes a great point about the class system in any capitalist country and just how unfair it is to the less privileged individuals.

Reminiscent of ‘Joker’ and ‘Parasite’ in regard to its 1 percent versus the 99 percent, the series is still its own thing despite all of these obvious influences. It takes a hard, but necessary look into the harsh reality of living in Seoul and just how difficult it is for the lower classes there. The rich control the narrative literally and figuratively. It cleverly portrays how boring living quickly becomes for the ultra rich as they’ve experienced it all, so nothing makes them happy anymore. Another excellent theme is the important of maintaining your humanity even in the most inhuman and cruel places and circumstances.

In terms of the overall storyline, it clearly draws influences from franchises such as ‘The Hunger Games’ and movies such as ‘Battle Royale’. While unoriginal in the premise in its most basic form, the creators behind Squid Game still managed to create something unique and worthwhile thanks to amazing world building and excellent attention to detail.

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The thriller elements with the police detective and the masked and uniformed men were quite strong and the mythology of this organization was very well established and quite intriguing. The creepy atmosphere never left the corridors set on some remote island apparently. As for the games themselves, they are among the highlights of the series obviously and for the most part the show delivered in spades in this area. Not only were the games super fun to watch, but they were also excruciatingly painful to watch having in mind that you fear for the main character throughout, at least I did.

Why did I fear for these fictional people? Well, because they were insanely well developed of course. This is one of the rare shows where I actually deeply cared for each and every death of the main crew as they were so superbly realized in personality, backstory and even humor. Gi-hun is one of my favorites. A man who has no job and who depends on his now deeply sick mother for financial help, his story is quite sad, but his moral high ground that he managed to maintain despite all odds was commendable. The guy isn’t bland as well given that he’s charismatic and very likable.

Sang-woo became truly horrendous in the second half of the series and I loved every second of it. He might even be the best villain on the show, which was unexpected, but earned as some of his actions were just atrocious and infuriatingly cowardly. The fact that they did not humanize him all that much in the end was also quite commendable.

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The two other favorites have to be the series’ best female players. Sae-byeok is a girl who defected from North Korea in order to start a better life for her family. Her backstory is immensely dark, but the character still felt very realistic and I cared for her throughout. I also loved Ali and the show dealt with racism in his case in the most heartbreaking manner. The marbles game wasn’t the most interesting as it just involved marbles, but it was the most difficult watching experience as that was the point where the main characters were sliced in half in the most cruel manner possible.

The gangster character was definitely typical, but still a whole lot of fun. His relationship with Han Mi-nyeo was very well realized and I found her to be one of the highlights as she is both manipulative and very funny as sort of this comic relief for the show.

The Front Man is very cool and imposing, but his identity was a letdown and that twist was very predictable. I liked that policeman and I found his death along with Sae-byeok’s very unsatisfactory as both deserved better.

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The finale was somewhat messy, but mostly more satisfactory than disappointing. What they did with the old man definitely made sense, but it did negatively impact that iconic marbles episode’s emotional response. The red hair choice was ludicrous, but the very ending was a great hook for the second season.

As for the games themselves, they are mostly stupendous. I did not quite care for the final one as it just resorted to an all-out brawling fight. The first one was strikingly memorable, but inferior to most others. The marbles of course happened in the most iconic episode while the candy one involved strategizing and was just very different from all the others. Tug of war was just phenomenal and the show’s message that intelligence and planning trump physical prowess was just fantastic. And of course the glass bridge was extremely entertaining as it reminded me pleasantly of a similar stage in ‘Fall Guys’.

Squid Game is very well written and stupendously acted with each and every performer delivering top-notch performances. The acting is one of the highlights for sure. The dialogue is also very smart and believable. The only time where none of this was true was with the VIPs, the one time where the racist overtones overthrew the show as the dialogue was horrible and their acting was even more atrocious. But the colorful cinematography and excellent pacing and structure made for a technically superior show.

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