Squid Game review: entertaining violence for the masses

The recent top hit show Squid Game sends everyone through the roof 

By Adele Lau

(Spoiler alert: this article reveals series details)

The Korean TV show Squid Game has dominated Netflix globally and is the first K-drama in history to rate as the US’s top show. One in four Americans have watched the series and Squid Game held the No. 1 spot on Netflix’s US Top 10 for twenty one days. 

The concept of the show is nothing new. However, the noticeable visuals, relatable nature of the characters, and unsettling study of humanity in this cut throat game of survival have caught the attention of audiences all over the world. 

The season included nine episodes, each roughly fifty minutes long. The Hunger Games-esque show consisted of a group of people from all walks of life. There are 456 contestants, each in desperate need of money and willing to participate in a barbaric survival game to win 45.6 billion Korean won (equivalent to approximately 300 million HKD).

The ultimate shocker? Only one out of 456 contributors survive to the end of the game. 

The games are self-explanatory as they are childhood games the players grew up playing. For some viewers, the show sparks elements of nostalgia through games like ‘Red Light, Green Light’, which are universal and further capture the audience's attention.  

A major reason for the show’s success is its relatable characters. Each character has their own reason as to why they joined the survival game, and although they all come from different circumstances, the one thing that links them together is their desperate need for money. 

The standards and competitiveness of South Korea’s society uncover how, despite hard work, the possibility of everyone getting into a good university or a good job can be slim to none. Although the games that take place in the show are life-threatening, they present an alternative world solely based on fair play. The series pinpoints the toxicity of capitalism and resonates with audiences because the wealth gap and debt crisis are very severe in South Korea. 

I watched the show a week after it was released (with some spoilers in mind) and had high hopes while watching. The beginning of Squid Game starts off somewhat unexciting, as protagonists were introduced and the connection between each player is slowly revealed. 

We first meet Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-jae), an unemployed man with an extreme gambling problem that has resulted in a lack of respect from his family. 

Throughout the game, Gi-Hun meets players Kang Sae-Byeok (HoYeon Jung), a North Korean defector, Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo), a childhood friend of Gi-hun now on the run from the police, and Oh II-nam (O Yeong-su), the oldest and, wrongly underestimated, player in the game. Each character’s morals are tested in each game and, in the first shocking twist of the show, half of the contestants do not make it past the first game alive. 

The sheer number of foreshadowing found throughout each episode is incredibly noteworthy. Although most of them can only be discovered after a rewatch or further analysis, all hints link to one another and give the audience more of a thrill when they discover what has been right in front of them all along. 

There are, however, three noticeable problems with the show. The first is the useless point of the VIPs, English-speaking billionaires who observe and place bets on the game. The acting and dialogue of the VIPs, when compared to the rest of the show’s production, is quite poor. The VIPS are generally criticized by many viewers online due to the lack of backstory and the fear of another Korean series becoming ‘westernised’.

The second issue is the chaos of the Front Man’s subplot. In Episode 8, we learn that the Front Man is actually the brother of Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), the police detective who sneaks onto the island and into the games when all the contestants return for a second attempt. After the Front Man shoots his brother, the plot doesn’t go anywhere. There is never any backup from the police department and the cop is unable to help the contestants in any way. Unless further explored by a second season, the culmination of this plot point feels fairly redundant.

The last issue is the final plot twist of the show. The final game sees Gi-Hun against his former friend, Sang-Woo, in a horrendous showdown. The cash comes with a price, however, as Gi-Hun suffers from depression in the aftermath, now knowing his prize feels like blood money. The champion then continues to live on the brink of poverty despite having 45 billion won sitting in the bank. It is later revealed, however, that contestant #001, Il-nam, has not died as presumed previously and is the founder of the Squid Games. Unsure of an alternative ending, the plot twist cheapens the powerful moments between Gi-Hun and Oh II-nam, particularly with their parting in the marble game. 

I really liked the realistic ways in which wealth disparities are portrayed in the show. One of the show’s main themes is the inequality between the rich and poor. While watching, the realisation hits that the real enemies in the game are not the contestants against one another, but the extremely wealthy people who start the game and decide that it is entertaining to watch people kill others just for a grand prize. The game starts when II-nam and his rich friends have nothing better to do with their fortunes except to start a game where the poverty-stricken are tortured and exploited for the sake of entertainment. This acts as a parallel to real-world wealth dynamics and the unfortunate reality of how desperate people are for money, to the extent that dying in the Squid Games is better than living as they currently are. The actions of the wealthy and their decision to not use the money altruistically is demonstrative of wealth gaps in society at large. 

The series channels a range of different emotions that have a connection to each particular scene. There are themes of agony as each contestant copes with loss of an ally in separate ways. Some get over it, some carry on with heavy hearts in honour of their lost ones, and some even opt to kill themselves. There is a strong juxtaposition and irony to characters playing innocent childhood games but in a sadistic and tragically powerless circumstance. The game amplifies the feeling of not being in control of your life and makes the audience feel horrified to find out what might happen next. Love and friendship simply cannot survive in a game like this, especially when the morals of the games change each time. The tug of war game requires and rewards team work, whilst the game of marbles ruthlessly punishes each person for caring for one another. Because of this, every save is an investment that can either make or break the characters’ chance at survival. 

Overall, I give ‘Squid Game’ an A. While the highly anticipated plot twists add much more of a kick to the show, it is definitely a hard show to rewatch multiple times. While the first six episodes of the show were highly enjoyable, the last three episodes were overcomplicated and confused viewers. The structure of the show is inevitably predictable at parts, but it is still entertaining to watch it all play out. All in all, the characters, most of the plots, and the messages behind the show are outright meaningful and definitely make it worth the watch.