Don't get me wrong. This is a great show to watch. It seems like this is different from the TV shows we are used to. It is original, and the actors did a great job. And what's even better? It isn't American in any way at all!
Let me explain.
It couldn't be poisoned with American's politically correct agendas. This is the undiluted version of the story as narrated by the creator, and it's fresh TV.
Squid Game is thoughtful, provocative, and productive. It definitely would appeal to a set of people with a certain mindset for its uniqueness. And judging by the success of the show, now we know how you all think. All the characters and personalities have guilt for making the wrong decisions, motivation to win the money, and purpose for being in the game.
Squid Game is a fascinating take on human psychology. I mean, you know that you might not survive the next game, yet you keep playing. This show did well in exposing the survivalist instincts embedded in our subconscious and showcasing an entirely different world, horrible in every sense of it, fraught with avarice, greed, and inordinate ambition to win at all costs.
However, as a human, I cannot just overlook the demerits. Yes, we know that capitalism is here to stay. Every day, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. Having the rich toy with human lives has been a subject in movies for as long as I can remember.
Yes, I know that the characters are desperate losers (with the exception of the one who eventually wins, cliché much?) who want to do whatever it takes. They all eventually die anyway. We only get to know a few of the characters, and they die all the same. All the characters are too cliché for their own good. Like the thug who should have redeemed himself- I was actually rooting for him to have a moment of epiphany or something. But he went down while still being a jerk.
What is the storyline?
Some four hundred and something desperate people with financial problems are recruited to compete for a huge amount of money. These characters include a heavily indebted man who made bad decisions in his life, his arrogant best friend, a young lady who is trying to put a roof over her mother and brother's head, a thug who is ruthless and desperate, a Pakistani who just wants to help his family, a single mother who can do everything except the things she can't do, and an old man who just wants to be a child again.
These characters are then made to play a series of children's games in which the loser is killed on the spot. This is a game they can't opt-out of, as it is in the contract they signed. Then there is a subplot involving a cop who is looking for his brother. He infiltrates the house, disguising himself as a worker, and gets a lot of information on the games and people involved.
The story is upsetting. Seeing and meeting different humans and knowing that only one person will get out alive is painful. And what is that predictable twist at the end? It should have been handled better.
The show is really brutal and gory. The violence is over the top, and there is blood, a lot of blood.
And there is a huge plot hole here. After learning that this game has been happening for decades, is it that nobody cares? I mean, hundreds of people go missing every year. A winner emerges every year and joins society as a stinkingly rich man/woman. Doesn't it bother anybody? Don't the Koreans have a version of EFCC to look into issues like that?
And then there's the script! Oh my God! Annoying! Especially the scene involving the old man and the main character (I can't remember their names, I'm sorry). Why give us almost 15 minutes of torture? The old man said too many things but ended up saying nothing. Long story short, he was bored and decided to destroy people's lives. The workers do not know who he is; he gets shot but ends up not getting shot. And they never bother to tell us who the workers are, if they leave the island and go back to their regular jobs after the games, or if they were recruited the same way the players were.
Everything about this show is bad. Who needs to watch over 400 people getting murdered on TV because some old rich men are bored? What exactly is the message of the show? That capitalism wins again? That whatever you do in this life, just be rich?
Being rich is just awful. Korea must have a lot of poor people.
I give it 4 stars.
