"Squid Game" puts an interesting twist on the "Deadly Game" genre
Squid Game is the No. 1 show on Netflix right now, and so obviously, I needed to at least one episode. And then, because I’m me, I binged all nine episodes of the first season of the Korean drama in less than 24 hours.
🚨 SPOILER ALARM: Some mild spoilers for the first couple of episodes of Squid Game to follow. 🚨
Falling into the “deadly game” genre of film and TV, Squid Game (named for a children’s game played in Korea) follows a very large group of financially desperate people who agree to take part in a mysteries series of games in exchange for a large cash prize. But — surprise, surprise — if you lose a game, you die. During the initial game of Red Light, Green Light, things get very bloody, very quickly.
The twist that Squid Game takes, though, is one that really helps the show set itself apart from similarly-plotted fare like The Hunger Games and Battle Royale. Here, the contestants actually choose to be in the game themselves. Granted, none of them are aware of the deadly stakes during the first game, but after that, they are allowed to vote to end the game and send everyone home. And that’s what happens!
But then everyone chooses to come back. Because their lives in the real world feel so desperate, hopeless, and death-by-a-thousand-cuts that they feel as though this game gives them their best shot at financial freedom — and at least if it doesn’t, the end will come quickly instead of over the course of their entire lives. It’s bleak as hell, but Squid Game does an excellent job of making their decisions to return as understandable, if not straight-out believable. Korea’s household debt is at 1,805.9 trillion won ($1.54 trillion USD), and it rose significantly during the pandemic — it’s no wonder that a show like Squid Game would come out of a crisis like this.
There’s a variety of characters who decide to take on this deadly challenge, including protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a drunk and a gambler who needs to take care of his daughter and sick mother; Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo), Gi-hun’s childhood friend who has stolen millions from his clients; and Kang Sae-byeok (HoYeon Jung), a North Korean defector who needs to money to get the rest of her family to South Korea. There’s also the almost cartoonishly evil Jang Deok-su (Heo Sung-tae), a gangster who owes money to the mob, and who we’re supposed to find scary because of the snake tattoo on his face, except that it just look like a tattoo of a penis.
Dick tats aside, Squid Game is very violent, tense, and heartbreaking. A couple of the early games do feel oddly chosen — part of it is admittedly that they’re games unfamiliar to me over here in Canada, but also there’s one game in particular that doesn’t seem all that interesting to watch for the evil spectators to watch. (But hey, it’s not my monstrous murder game, so go off, I guess.) The second-to-last game that the contestants play is very well constructed, though, and there’s plenty of “gripping the armrest” stuff to be found here.
The first season mostly concludes the main story, with a bit of an opening for further seasons, and given how much buzz there is around Squid Game, I wouldn’t be surprised if it got renewed. That said, you’ll get most of the answers to your burning questions by the end of the nine episodes — there’s a slight cliffhanger at the end, but not really, so it won’t have you pulling out your hair to find out what happens, probably. If you’re into the deadly game genre, definitely give Squid Game a watch.
That’s all for me today, gorgeous! Talk to you soon.
Love,
Kat