Squid Game (2021-)

Lord of the Flies made it, The Hunger Games made it as well. Reality shows such as Survivor has done thousands of episodes and spin-off on the last man standing – concept. The idea that Squid Game follow share the similar ideas. Instead of pre-teen boys on an island, and a grey-haired president killing everyone in a post-apocalyptic America; this series takes place in modern South Korea with hundreds of people playing a series of deadly children games. By each round, it eliminates those who didn’t follow the rules. You break the rules, you die.

It’s quirky, as it often is with South Korean production but it also manages to blend drama and suspense with the mystic setting.  It has expandable potential to further tell this story.  Masked men with triangles, circles and squares control the whole facility with a frontman, VIP and a host. Each part of a larger puzzle is laid out in every episode until it is wrapped up in the ninth episode with a solemn finale.  Jung-Jae Lee as Seong Gi-hun might be over the top sometime during the series run with the acting and doesn’t plays out as an empathic character with his screaming and yelling and arguing.  Hae-Soo Park as Cho Sang-Woo makes a far better impression than the lead character. There’s still a lot of question unanswered and with on how it all ended, hopeful the continuation will answer it.

It’s a violent series, with brutal killing in a horror-like fashion and with a suicidal approach. There’s a lot of gruesome death, but also character development that might hit hard in the gut. some unexpected moments and twists along the way that keep the excitement to make it worth keep watching the series. Even if there are some quirky, odd, awkward moments but the chilling and suspension manage to take the overhand and go on. Most say that the VIP is the downside of the series and it is, but it makes the whole concept and the attribute the show presented more worthwhile. Squid Game also questions the ethics and the morality behind killing each other until there’s one player left.