Season 1 - 9 episodes (2021 September 24)
Watch Squid Game on Netflix
Created by: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Starring: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon, Lee Byung-hun
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
Hundreds
of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in
children's games. While surviving the games provides a 45.6 billion-won
payout, if lose you the games you die.
Verdict
It's a wild premise. While it's not the most succinct, the concept carries this all the way. The games provoke fear, aggression, and paralysis. This brings out all the worst qualities in people, and that can be horrifying. It's got plenty of people to like or dislike. What's most heartbreaking is when games pit friends against each other. The drama and tension reaches unbelievable heights. While children's games, the contests can be absolutely brutal. Even if you make it to the next round, it's a lot of trauma to get there.
Watch It.
Review
Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is a deadbeat dad that would rather gamble on horses then take care of his daughter. He's a bum, but an encounter with a man in the subway provides a proverbial lottery ticket. Gi-hun has no idea what he's getting into and neither does the audience. He wakes up in a room with four hundred fifty-five other people. They all signed up for the same game and payout. People are skeptical and tensions are high, but the masked guards know all about them and their debts.
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| Lee Jung-jae plays Gi-hun |
The first game is red light green light. The contestants think it's a joke, that is until someone loses and is shot. If you lose at these games you die. That causes a mass panic as people try to escape, thus losing the game and then getting eliminated permanently. It generates a lot of questions. Why would someone create a facility with these games and why is the punishment death? What's the point of this?
After the first game many of the contestants want to stop. They take a vote and everyone is returned back to their homes. Gi-hun goes to the cops, but they think he's crazy as he has no evidence and his story is bonkers. The prospect of a big payout lures the contestants back. I get why they come back, but it just seems like an unnecessary delay. The first episode is wild, but the second episode is wavering in limbo. In episode three we're back to where we ended episode one.
Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) infiltrates the games as a guard, looking for his brother. The rules are nearly as stringent for guards. Jun-ho's story was never as interesting as the games. The only thing it provides later is insight into what kind of people think this is entertainment and why it exists.
These games are designed to pit contestants against each other. Prior to tug of war, most people think men will do best at the next game while others think that could be a mistake because of the previous game. Then the game is revealed and many teams realize they're at a disadvantage. Gi-hun's team is worried, but the old man, Il-nam (O Yeong-su) has a plan.
The next game has everyone divide into pairs. They're thinking it will be teams of two versus others, but each pair is pitted against the partner It splits friends and families, and at this point we've grown to like some of these characters. It's all the worse as the stakes are so high. Gi-hun and the old man had become friends, but this is a rough episode as Gi-hun feels guilt in wanting to win. This game pushes people to the brink. Gi-hun tricks the old man, but the old man reveals he knew the subterfuge.
Gi-hun wins the final game, but he didn't want to. Even when it was just two people he wanted to vote to end it. He's released but shell shocked at all he's experienced. He's not even spending the money, feeling guilty for how he obtained it. The surprises aren't done when he runs into a contestant on the outside. He sees the same salesman that lured him in and he decides he must stop the games. The insinuation is that the games will never end because people will always be interested in a lottery ticket, even if the stakes are death.
There's always the question of why. It turns out it's all to entertain a bunch of rich men. This is an evolution of the 1924 short story The Most Dangerous Game, and it's subversive in a similar vein to Battle Royale. It's intense and horrifying, and these games bring out the worst in people. It's a game where lying and cheating is rewarded, and the propensity to do just that is high when your life is on the line.
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