By now, who has not heard of this show haha. But here goes - Squid Game is a show where 456 debt-ridden people are brought to an island to play games and have the chance to win an extraordinary amount of prize money if they win, and survive.
Contrary to my last show which took me ages, I finished Squid Game in about a week. I watched the first 2 eps, then completed the rest over a weekend because it was just so addictive and episode endings were appropriately placed to make you just keep clicking the play button. The writing was definitely stronger in the first 2/3 than the last 1/3, because by then most of the characters we had cared about were gone. I decided to spoil myself before watching the show, so I managed to pick up all the little clues to foreshadow the final twist about the game's creator. There was a lost opportunity with the detective character, because other than showing us the mechanisms of the workers and having THAT cameo, what was the point of it all if it did not elaborate on why the Frontman became the Frontman, or what happened to the detective after his last scene. Season 2, maybe?
On to our characters, our main character Gihun, is honestly a character that I do not like. He is a chronic gambler who leeches off his mum and promises his daughter things that he cannot fulfill, preaches morality yet is willing to cheat in a game with an old man whom he thinks has dementia. But, Lee Jungjae played him with such aplomb that he was an absolutely fun character to watch.
The foil to him is his childhood friend, Sangwoo, who is smart (SNU grad - we all know the significance of that courtesy of SKY Castle), but is now in debt due to some financial crimes. I watched the interviews with the director and the cast and the director aptly called his "kind" actions to Ali as noblesse oblige - he gave the bus fare to Ali not due to pure kindness, but because he viewed himself as superior and hence obligated to his "social responsibilities". As we go on in the show, we see that this guy is totally the kind of guy who would have gotten into financial crimes - cunning, sneaky and willing to betray or even kill people for his benefit.
Jung Hoyeon exploded after this show, with good reason, as her character, Saebyeok, was a standout. Smart and resourceful, cold but not cruel, she is totally the kind of character that viewers will root for. They fleshed out her story pretty well, showing her with her brother, then showing her begrudging "friendship" (if you could call a couple of hours of interaction as friendship) with another female character Jiyoung who was also served a bad hand in life. Saebyeok's death was totally unwarranted and I did not like how it panned out, as it seemed like a plot device to show how far Sangwoo had gone.
Among the extensive and wonderful supporting cast, surprise surprise, I liked the crazy ahjumma Han Minyeo most. I thought she was absolutely entertaining with her shamelessness and unpredictability, and her line "I'm good at everything except at the things I'm not good at" is something I'll keep to use in the future.
Side note - I am totally impressed that the show managed to get Lee Jungjae (huge movie star in korea) to star as the lead, AND get Gong Yoo and Lee Byung Hun as cameos.
The direction in the show was a stand out. The way things were shot and the music all helped to heighten the tension in the game. Another thing that has gotten a lot of attention is the art direction, and for good reason. The sets were absolutely fascinating yet haunting. All of the sets for the game were memorable in different ways, but the standouts to me were probably the large yard with that creepy giant doll because it was the first one, and the marbles one which replicated old alleyways because it was just so realistic. The other one that really stayed with me was the colourful hallway.
Squid Game is now the number 1 most watched show in Netflix of all time, and currently ranked no.1 in all countries, and it's not difficult to see why. It's a show that easily crosses cultural barriers because of the concept of contestants partaking in games, and the memorable visuals. And I continue to be utterly impressed by Netflix originals. I first started watching kdramas in 2000s when I was still in primary school, and it's incredible how far kdramas have come. From the typical rich man-poor girl dramas, to more daring concepts and boundaries pushed courtesy of cable, to even more innovative ideas and insane production values (and marketing) courtesy of Netflix, the quality of kdramas have really risen dramatically in the past decade and I'm happy to continue paying for my Netflix subscription fee if they continue to maintain such quality.