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This show basically was not advertised in the US at all. Imagine a film/show being so good it gets by on its own merit instead of big budget advertisements and merchandising.
One of my teachers back in the 60's told us, in a war when survival becomes a hope not an expectation, morality gets very vague. (He'd fought in WW1 In the trenches)
@@greyLeicester young people do expect to survive, the idea of death is not something that guides their thoughts, of course we all die, but few at 18 or 20 think it's going to happen today, it's why the young change things. In war in 1916 young men realised they might die, today, not in 50 years time. We dont think logically as often as we should.
It's one thing I love so much about the show, that every character is good in their way and that they managed to make me feel bad for the bad thug dude.
The main reason I love episode 6 so much is the writers going "alright here's exactly what's going to happen in 30 minutes" and still managing to make it hit like a truck
@@xshadowscreamx I thought it enhanced it personally. Basically 1 last betrayal from one of last people left he remembered fondly. Like being betrayed by his own memories in a sense.
@@xshadowscreamx I also feel like it was ruined a bit. As soon as I saw the card he got from the flower vendor, I knew that the flood of tears I had during the marbles episode was tainted. It felt like... a fake out death in a zombie show. I would've preferred it be some anonymous unknowable thing, ya know? But hey, that's just me.
One of the best aspects of Squid Games is that each episode was not padded with 5 minutes of recapping all the previous episodes. Basically treating the viewers as if they have a brain.
Except they don't have brains. People who like 'Squid Game' are brainless morons. So, I don't know how you came to that conclusion. Self flattery, perhaps?
Actually not surprisingly this show reached the national news here. Of course the MSM reacts just as expected; like with any game....: 'HELP HELP HELP!!!! People aren't allowed to see this, this movie is dangerous coz it has violence in it that would makes kids aggressive!' You know, the standard hysteria that MSM has with games and I'm like.... for fuck sake MSM; you can't do anything right, can you? pieces of fucking shits!
@@jjbb84x netflix releasing a show is a coinflip where either every watching second is agony or its the most compelling, innovative and gripping piece of TV youve ever seen
@@kaled8839 Right!?! At the risk of giving them TOO much credit, I'd almost say they're hedging their bets and playing multiple angles. Case in point: A lot of people who swore they'd give up Netflix after the whole "Cuties" thing have a LOT to say in support of Netflix's move in support of Dave Chappelle during that failed SJW uprising...
@@jjbb84x everyone saying theyre giving up netflix is just performative activism, like with every stunt people pull in the name of any bs cause that pops up these days. No one is gonna give up high quality entertainment, which netflix has an abundance of
Even though ultimately the cop's plotline went nowhere, I equate it to the sheriff in Misery. His part is used to provide a window into the goings on behind the scenes, that couldn't necessarily be shown from the main characters' perspective, since they were kept isolated.
Yeah, he did his role. I was worried that by episode 10 he would bring cops there or something. Do not need a well written critique of capitalism turn into a cop drama
I feel like his work is what gi hun (?) Will uncover while he's trying to take down the operation in the next season since there's really no other way he's gonna get people on his side since nobody believes him, although I still wonder how his brother was second in charge when he just got missing, like did he not have any experience before? Was he there from the start and they never noticed
@@radhiadeedou8286 lol yeah. It’s been amusing to see right wingers freak the fuck out when something threatens their world view, it’s as comically anti capitalist and over the top as you can get in combination with the creator saying several million times that the entire purpose of the series is to condemn capitalism has been amusing. But yeah bro it’s actually about uhhh communism because communism bad and about human nature somehow because in a normal healthy society people would be willing to gamble their lives to get enough money to pay off their debts and live like people.
Episode 6 - The Marbles game was heartbreaking to watch...Especially after their unbelievable victory in Tug-of-War, now close friends had to kill each other...brought tears to my eyes.
There was some stuff in ep 6 that made it even sadder that was lost in translation from the original Korean. Sang Woo (the broker) and Ali exchange names in ep 5 while in night watch and apparently the way he words the title when he uses Ali’s name is the way you would refer to your brother. Since then, they were using this term of endearment for each other. At the end of ep 6 when Ali realized his betrayal, when he screams out Sang Woo’s name, he was basically screaming “brother!” right as he takes the bullet.
After watching DAЯK, Squid Game, and Katla, there’s a pretty noticeable quality difference between the writing of these international shows, and whatever is being put out by Hollywood currently.
I really didn't like Dark, which is a shame because on paper it seems like the exact kind of show I'd usually be all about. The first season was pretty good, until the last episode, and then it went down hill really fast from there. The last episode was horrible and I hated it so much. But that's just me
@@altalena9139 you're not alone. It made me literally depressed. It was so confusing, and it constantly changed. It never found a real conclusion, just invented more and more. New Timeliness, New World, and in the final just a third one. Felt betrayed.
Yeah, fair chance, thats why old man with brain tumor was alive after games. It was total bullshit, and he know it well. People organise and learn to survive bridge game? Yeah, turn off the lights. Fair chance? Yeah, lets give people less food and see what riots we create. They started with 456 people every year, for 30 years or more. Half of then died in every round. Man, it is total genocide, not equat fair chance oportunity.
I disagree with you heavily on the Police Detective plot story his perspective was really interesting and it was always intense seeing him pretend to be one of the guards and you didn't know if he would be found out and killed and we get to find out many secrets about the games that we didn't know before, its more of a behind the scenes look on everything
I agree that that the police detective plot helped to show the other side (the PS symbols), but it was badly executed and wound up - he deliberately leaves his scuba tank on the beach?, he doesn't try to hide? he shoots and misses at such a close range, and don't forget all the problems with his brother being the masked man. Keeping some of the mystery would have been preferable, especially if setting up for a season 2
Personally I like the cop side of the story a lot better. As you said, you never know if or when he'll be discovered and that creates a lot of tension, whereas I saw each of the main characters' deaths coming a mile away.
yes i agree with you as there has to be a device to tell the story from the side of the guards....since the main elements in the story are the players, the guards and the elites...we must be able not only understand the players but also the guards which is equivalent to the police or the enforcement powers in the real world. We must understand why they are also playing this game and willingly participate in the killing of the players...and without much financial rewards but at least relative security compared to the players
To be honest, the only actual point this entire trope served was to reveal to us that the Front was an ex-contestant (yet it didn't explain why). It didn't progress the actual story at all and its ending went nowhere. For an ark that ate so much screen time you'd have expected it to play a bigger role.
None of my American friends thought Korean dramas were worth the hype until Squid Game and now they’re starting to slowly realize what Korea is making is better than what’s coming out of Hollywood
koreans dont afraid to go to the core of theme and human personality with a brutal maner that hit like a truck. Sometimes really unplesant to watch but emotionally so strong.
I appreciate how this show focuses on the characters' willingness to play. The West would play this out as "rich bad, poor good," but "Squid Game" does a good job showing how the rich are cruel and distanced from the real world while the poor are equally complicit in tearing each other down. It's smart how the games become increasingly more competitive. It shows how people start down immoral paths because they're "victimless crimes" but that inevitably changes when they're too deep to get out. It's much like "Breaking Bad" in that sense.
I didn't even think about that, but you're right. At the start they were only competing against the game. Then they had to compete against each other in teams, and then individually. It became more personal at each step.
@@kalebbruwer Exactly. The first game was fair and victimless. The second was unfair but still victimless. Then the third became competitive but against enemies. And it culminated in the fourth game where it was competitive against their close peers. It's eerily reminiscent of how Walt (from Breaking Bad) argues his way into making meth by saying he's not hurting anyone, he's just giving a better version of something they were already buying. But he slowly talks himself into murdering people who are enemies. And eventually has those close to him killed to save his own skin. It seems that the theme from these shows is that most bad people don't start with evil intentions. They get themselves into situations that can only be solved by evil acts. Gi-Hun tricking Il-Nam was no better than Sang-Woo tricking Ali. It just so happens that Il-Nam confronted Gi-Hun and gave him a chance to admit fault which is what leads him to trying to end the game at the end unlike Sang-Woo who passed the point of no return. There's such great writing on this theme
Love that the whole basis is a massive juxtapose to his thrill of horse racing - which is more exciting because he has so much to lose, unlike them who were just bored
Oh absolutely. I loved Episode 2. We had a break from the insanity and horror of the games, and were able to have some time getting to know the characters to better understand why they would come back. Honestly the pacing of this show was so stellar. If we'd had a whole episode of backstory from the start, it would have been too slow to grab people. But seeing Red Light, Green Light, then the realistic event of everyone wanting to bail out.. it just fit so well. Damn this show was amazing.
Unpopular opinion: episode 2 is my favorite episode for that reason. That it shows the various hells that the main characters have out in the world. Gi Hun’s face after knowing he’s failed both his mother and daughter really broke me. It’s brutally heartbreaking watching all of them suffer. I mean what does it say about our world when a game of death is the better alternative to the real world?
Sure, but willingly taking a 1 in 200+ chance of surviving is much worse than Russian roulette ...on crack. If you're so desperate for money that you don't care about the danger to the life of yourself or others then you might as well go for a robbery, blackmail, con jobs or any variety of other immoral and illegal activities. Those may be dangerous too, but not 99.5 percent chance of brutal death kind of dangerous and you have much greater control over the outcome. Imagine if those 200+ people all formed a criminal organization together. Not only could they use their flexible morals and various different job positions and skillsets to build up a lot of wealth and power, but with their indifference to serious danger they could also overwhelm and fend off anyone who is threatening them. Some of them might still die, but overall their odds would still be much better than nearly 100% chance of dying.
@@Anonymous-gu2pk I get what you're saying, but I feel like you're maybe forgetting a few things. 1. They have no idea that only 1 of them will make it out. In fact, if more had made it to the final, I bet they'd have been split into teams and had more than 1 winner. (Squid Game is a team game as seen in the very first episode) 2. The sheer amount of prize money. They'd need to rob a lot of banks and get away with a lot of crimes to raise that much, but survive a bunch of kids' games over only 6 days and they're set for life, which takes me the next point... 3. They probably overestimated how easy it was to survive the games. Remember the only game they'd played at the point of the vote was red light green light, and during the vote, points are made such as "all we need to do is beat a bunch of kids games?" 4. The consequences of being a criminal. Sure they could form a criminal syndicate, but they become fugitives in the process. With the games, nobody in the outside world ever even needs to know they were there. 5. The main one, suspension of disbelief. Exploring such a big, extreme moral dilemma is kind of the whole point of the show. I've been there, I know it's sometimes too easy to pick apart a premise and be unable to enjoy a show because of it, but it's best to just bare with some details and see what else a show/movie has to offer.
I like episode where they had jump on glass remember which one is real other one fake. I like how the thug got his up comings! But man was the death brutal!
Seeing that The Drinker had a Review not hating a show, convinced me to watch it first and come back to watch this. And yes, It`s worth the hype... I can`t believe I cried my eyes out with this show.
I was genuinely surprised at how emotional I got with this show. That hasn’t happened in a long time for me but I genuinely grew to love and be attached to all the characters, especially the main five.
@Dario Liotine Fargo season 2 was great, the rest were okay, season 4 I didn't even bother with as they seemed to be heading down the tired 'muh racism in America'
My wife and I just finished watching this, and we both enjoyed how human it felt. So many shows seem to make the decision to murder or kill someone have no long term effect. Okay, now the person's dead and we move on. This doesn't. You see people grow colder and more distant. You see people stew in regret. You see people mentally break because their decision leads to other deaths. This is what writing should be. Decisions should have consiquences.
@@AnthonyVassallo absolutely agreed! I mean...what do you do? Lose intentionally, knowing your significant other is going on without you and might end up dying? Or win so that they don't have to watch you die, and have to live with that for the rest of your life? Honestly, I don't know what the answer would be were I in that situation with my wife. I'm leaning heavily toward "we're not playing anymore, kill us both", but would my wife agree? Not a question anyone should be faced with, and I think it was handled with as much tact and reality in this show as it could have been.
"Gganbu" (ep 6) made me have to put the show down for two days because it was so heartbreaking. It was obvious from the start how it was going to end but it still broke me. Amazing show.
It would have been, if it wasn’t so obvious that old man wasn’t killed (from the way the scene was filmed and edited) and pretty clear that he was part of the scheme to begin with (from all the clues in previous episodes). I felt it for Ali though. I loved Ali.
The girls story was my favourite part. Unexpected and beautiful. We could all guess how each game was gonna end but the way they told the story was fantastic.
Agreed. I feel the same about the show as I do with Queens Gambit. A second season is bound to be repetitive or not nearly as interesting. I think they will make a season 2 of both shows though because money.
@Doppelganger D I'll thank Netflix for promoting Squid Games. Too many foreign films and movies get imported; then Hollywood turns said content into hot garbage.
You know I couldn’t put my finger on why I was in such love with the characters, especially the female ones as I tend to dislike many female figures in media, but you nailed it. They feel REAL. And for the women, you see what a strong woman really is. It’s a woman who embraces her strengths and femininity, not some woman who can magical compete on a physical level with men.
It's cause the show doesn't have a sjw feminist agenda that they try to shove down the audience throat. They actually focus on good plot and character development
@@senzuu7465 Well it does shove its anti capitalist so deep down your throat that at certain points in the show you may start choking. Like I despise capitalism but the VIPs were waaaayy too on the nose. I get that they were probably trying to get in extra commentary about the games and how they are played, namely game 6 but they were painfully executed
When watched it I found myself imagining what it would be like to be in the position of the characters. This is what I think generates so much interest in this show. The fact that there is that level of relatability. No superheroes, no muscle bound ex-special forces types, no martial arts experts or any of that nonsense. Just ordinary desperate people thrown into life or death situations.
I don't know what you're talking about guy, you must be some sort of Asian, because I'm not an Asian and therefore I couldn't relate to any of these people - they don't look like me, and that's racist.
@@tentimetex Hunger Games came so close. But the finale lost the point. It was sad to see it almost hit the mark and then miss at the end. (It has been a few years, but that was the impression I left with.) I liked it nonetheless.
totally agree! and i think how it differs from the other 'survival games' shows is that the games are relatively simple. its something everyone can participate it and have almost equal chance to survive. you don't have to have to be weapons expert or hacker or an athlete, and hence, you can really put yourself in that situation. coz if i put myself in the hunger games, i sort of know i'd be dead in the first 10 minutes...
Best thing I've seen since Breaking Bad and the Mandalorian. Best thing I've watched this year by a mile. The Koreans are producing top tier content without PC restrictions.
Woke ass Hollywood is a joke. I'm ashamed of America at the moment. I'm a veteran and the only people with a platform are filled with delusions. WTF. Let me have a mic for 10 minutes. I'll speak the truth. Hollywood is the BIGGEST HYPOCRITES in memory. They put a gate around their house but not around their country.
I wholly agree with the drinker's comments about the show's realistic portrayal of women in a survival situation like this. I'm a woman and I can't stand the trend of portraying female characters as flawless and infallible. Women don't have the physical strength and speed of men, but those are not the sole traits that are important in a survival situation. Squid Game was a show I could watch without once actively being made aware of gender dynamics - because everything played out organically. I can't say how often I roll my eyes watching some show because the writers want to throw a "strong woman" moment into the mix, and all it does is break me from my immersion in the story. I loved Squid Game and all the characters, who felt like real people behaving believably in an insane setting.
Women being exaggeratedly strong is fine as long as there's no " I'm morally superior than you" preaching directed to a certain group of people. Anime does it a lot. They also do All male characters series/All female characters series...And no one's whining about the opposite gender only being a minor character. They just have more nuance when expressing ideologies and character stereotypes...Or just nothing at all which can be seen with comedies/harems that its just too abstract to be compared to real life.
Women are much more sneakier than most men, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Just like if I said a man can get what he wants through sheer force. They're both true. Most men feel like they've conquered something by sheer domination and they move on, but women can allow that conquering without an ego, there is no "alpha male status" to live up to the way it is with men. So a woman can allow a man to think she's been defeated and is now submissive, but come back with a vengeance. Their strength is in relationships, subtlety, cleverness, emotional intelligence... all while maintaining a façade of innocence and frailty. Men usually fall for this bait and switch because the submission, not necessarily a bad or sexual kind, strokes his ego. It makes him feel like he's accomplished something and he's "saved" or "conquered" a woman from one worse fate or another. In a real survival situation where it's all about pure survival based on physicality, a man will win every single time. But a woman can win by making the right alliances, particularly with the right men, and come out the conqueror in the end. It's a fascinating bit of psychology. As a man, I think that's the most frustrating thing about how women are portrayed in modern media... they're either simply stronger than men and can beat up any guy at any time or they are frail flowers withering in the wind. The latter is almost completely gone, media wants to portray women as men, physically strong and brutal and able to get what they want through pure intimidation and physical domination. But real women aren't that way, the Asian cultures are very dead set on this even to an extreme. But either way, women get what they want in other ways, through mental and emotional means, and sometimes it requires playing possum. This is just the way it is. Most people understand that. The Biblical story about Adam and Eve is not true in a literal sense, but it has truth to it. That truth hasn't died, it's still alive and well. Adam is told, "You better not eat that f*cking apple." But Eve comes along and is like, "Hey, I think eating that apple is okay." And Adam just rolls over and is like, "Yeah, I guess eating that apple is f*cking fine if you say so." It's just the power of a woman over a man. It's not physical, it's a mental/emotional thing. Each side has its strengths and weaknesses.
The funny thing is that show does have strong female character. She’s resourceful and knows how to fight men...by being dirty. Throwing hot coffee in their face, aiming for the nads ect.
The best part about this show is that Squid Games doesn’t discriminate, everyone dies brutally and that’s what makes it interesting along with the journey of the main contestants.
The best part is that is doesn't discriminate? What were you doing... clapping and cheering when they reaffirmed their commitment to equality by murdering people.
@@winsomehax What I mean is that there was barely any plot armour in the show aside the Old Man and Ali saving the protagonist’s life, anyone could die at any time which is what made it interesting along with the personal journey for each of them and what they would do to win.
This us why I Highly HIGHLY recommend Japanese and South Korean cinema 🎥! They really bring it in performances and are willing to "go there" in subject matter!!
Korea seems to have stepped their game up a lot lately (in terms of quantity of good movies and shows). Another one of my favourite shows is Kingdom (obviously the Korean show). Definitely a must watch.
Strangers from Hell was good too. At first it seeemed like it wasn't going anywhere. Japanese and Korean are usually interesting. They have such big cultures. smart too.
Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-Wook have been making movies for like 20 years so it's not just recently that they've gotten good. It's just that Korean media has a huge spotlight on it now, partly because of k-pop, that a lot of these shows and movies are being discovered. Also, Kingdom is amazing, love that shit. Refreshing take on the zombie-genre whilst also not being overly depressing.
@@RAC00NFANGIRL Korea and Japan have great shows. My favourite recent Japanese show on Netflix is Forest of Love, The series version. It's about a serial murderer so it's really twisted. It's so refreshing not to have corporate woke propaganda embedded into stories.
Honestly I’ve gotten hooked at South Korean shows and movies after I watched train to busan. And even the less than stellar movies are 10 times better than the “Oscar winning” crap that Hollywood churns out. If anyone is looking for another really good Korean show on Netflix I HIGHLY recommend Kingdom (not the MMA one the zombie thriller)
Suggest me some korean shows/movies man. I low-key dig these south korean aesthetics/cities/atmosphere for reasons i dunno why I only watched train to busan, parasite and squid game so far.
Episode 6 broke my heart 100x over and then proceeded to do it 100 more times. This is only the second show I've ever watched that has made me sob like a fool. THIS IS HOW YOU DO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!👏👏👏👏
there isn't much media to make me cry. Captain Phillips, The Lion King, and The last Two Toy Stories were the only ones. But these bastards made me put the first TV show I've cried to on the list. Thanks Episode 6 👍😂😭
From an interview with the creator: "Are you making a profound point about capitalism? “It’s not profound! It’s very simple! I do believe that the overall global economic order is unequal and that around 90% of the people believe that it’s unfair. During the pandemic, poorer countries can’t get their people vaccinated. They’re contracting viruses on the streets and even dying. So I did try to convey a message about modern capitalism. As I said, it’s not profound.”" Not about capitalism at all...
It was definitely anticapitalist but in a really naive and silly way. I think that message took away from what was a great series. The ending kinda sucked and was very preachy. Still a great show, with a great story and genuine characters. It's a breath of fresh air.
That's the fun part about art. I can interpret it however I want. If anything this proves capilitism works great, and South Korea is full of people who make really bad financial decisions.
@@thisguyyoudontknow4653 How does it prove that capitalism works great? The only reason why Gi-hun is left in such a compromising position is because he lost his job at the company he worked for, and it wasn't even his fault, the owners embezzled the actives and left the workers on their own. Sang-Woo also made bad decisions, but it didn't affect just him, but also his mother that had nothing to do with his bad dealings. Ali went to South Korea for better chances, he landed a job and the boss still refused to pay him. A system that allows any of that to happen doesn't "work".
Meh... The guy is full of shit in regards to capitalism. Those same poor countries have had untold numbers die of simple malaria every year and they didn't do a thing to stop it, despite how cheap the treatment is. But somehow the people on top of the pile are okay. Funny how it happens in communistic countries and socialistic countries more than capitalistic countries.... Almost like it isn't the fault of capitalism, but in fact is because of shitty people doing shitty things...
@HughMann I never said we did. And the term you are looking for is 'corporate oligarchy'. As an aside, capitalism can function using Fiat currency, regardless of the ephemeral nature of it, provided all parties involved agree to use it as a medium of exchange. You should do more research.
@@Shmandalf It still got me. Ali's death was predictable but damn he really deserved better. A shame he got roped into the death games in the first place
I literally finished that episode last night and it got the waterworks in me going. An emotional roller-coaster. And the most intense episode for me was probably "Red Light, Green Light", though "Tug-of-War" and the carving-a-shape-into-a-fragile-candy game (forgot the name of it) were also pretty nerve-wrecking at first. Ali really got done dirty. And I felt so bad for the other girl that died, and I honestly kinda got a bit of lesbian-ish vibes before she died. And the scenes with the old man and the protagonist got me crying... :( I hate the gangster dude and I hope he dies later. XD He's such a misogynistic, selfish, arrogant piece of shit. And the scenes with the detective guy are suspenseful, especially the scene where he was in the office of the Front Man. I kept expecting him to get caught, but he never did and, hopefully, won't and will find a way to expose these monsters running this game and bring them to justice.
@@graylykan2739 what do you mean you don't know why Sangwoo betrayed Ali, it was kill or be killed. He did it to save himself. No further explanation is needed or will be given in the next episodes.
I haven't cried for years. But there was one moment in particular which hit me like a ton of bricks and I was instantly tearing up. There were several emotionally charged moments in that episode but I think most people know which one I mean. What made it cinematic is that it was a visual moment which pulled the emotional trigger rather than it coming from a specific line of dialogue.
man, that was the episode i quite watching the show. The dialogue was TERRIBLE even with the dubbing turned off. and the idea that they have to just go off and play w.e. marble game with w.e. rules is SO SILLY. i mean. i donno. "Grrrrrr, you'de better watch out or i will burn your eyeballs with cigarettes!!!" (atrocious writing)
I've watched this show in original audio. The Korean language really sold the show even more. It's singing language, the tonality really shows you the desperation, hope, surprise in the tone of the actors. Really kudos to this experience, one of the best recent shows
I dont usually bother with series - as I dont like making that time commitment. I heard about the series' premise - you play - and if you lose you die. I had to watch it - and Im glad I did. Credit to South Korea for this amazing show and yes it does put to shame the tripe that the west churns out.
What I got out of it is that money doesn't buy happiness. Human interaction is worth more. They were all happier being with the people they love, even though they were all going through tough times.
i would argue that they weren’t necessarily happier being with the people they love, but it’s where they found their true value in life. Life can be precious and worth it even without much happiness. But yeah, you’re definitely right for the most part
Yeah, money doesn't buy happiness, because money is a tool (you must create happiness and meaning yourself, with the resources at your disposal ...incidentally, the old guy used money to do just that :D ). Just like a hammer doesn't build a house on it's own, it's just a tool that people can use for building, but misusing it will lead to bad results.
In my opinion, Episode 2 and the way they all voted is one of the bravest things I've ever seen a TV show commit to. To allow them all to decide whether they wanted to continue was absolutely brilliant and unexpected. Definitely the best show for 2021 so far.
Honestly the whole voting thing is the most genius element that they introduced to the show and genre. It helps that the option gets repeatedly mentioned in later episodes. When they showed more than 90% of original contestants came back to play it gave a new moral dilemma to the viewers. Most shows in the genre would just force them to play while not giving them an option. It just sucks that the next episode is basically a backstory to the characters.
@@jessegamer2503 what makes 001s vote interesting is when (spoiler) you find out he's the reason for the games, but he voted for them to stop the game. Their choice to come back is then having fully considered what's at stake.
Agree. You think they’re in the game from the start, so it’s unexpected that they vote to leave, only to realises their world outside is still bad for them.
@@haiqal5333 It really was. It goes to show that people actively went there on their own free will despite knowing the consequences. They value the money so much they ignored the risks of losing their own lives. Which goes to show how desperate they were to leave the situation they lived before the games. Very well done from the show. **SPOILER, you’ve been warned, stop reading here** The plot wasn’t all that amazing to me though. The whole ordeal with the old man was really weird. A dramatic good bye from a loved character only to return to then die again. The brother being frontman was also predictable. But the rest was 10/10 for me.
This show was so good i'm considering watching the whole thing through again with a different perspective having gotten invested into the characters, best series i've seen in a long while.
On second watch, try and view the movie from the perspective of the guards…. They are not allowed to speak, they are kept in solitary confinement cells, and they are being forced to kill or be killed themselves.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It was brutal and yet still made me sad and angry at points. I actually gave a shit what happened to each character. They had arcs, imagine that. If you haven't watched it, you should. It is worth your time.
To be fair, the writer of the series has said that the story was intended to address class difference, specifically in the cut-throat version of capitalism practiced in South Korea. He stated that the seeds for the story were planted after the Great Recession, which hit SK particularly hard. But, that being said, a critic who focuses entirely on that aspect of the story will miss out on a lot of other aspects of the story. For those who have not yet dipped their toe into Korean dramas, this is fairly typical of the industry. It's usual for a drama series to address multiple different ideas rather than being entirely focused on a single concept. They often even cross over in genres. For example, Descendants of the Sun has elements of romance, comedy, intrigue, and action all together.
@@subifyouhatetiktokandreddit234 but much more heartfelt and it just feels right whenever they do it. It’s why ecchi anime exists and has a following, sure it’s basically just about animated titties, but, damn if they aren’t funny! Foreign movies and stuff in general are usually really good!
Well, this is why it's great writing. Good writers can take a problem they observe in the world and tell it through compelling and realistic characters while not preaching their beliefs. American movies tell their stories AND preach the message. This show presents circumstances that are certainly present under capitalism but it never takes a stance. You can watch the show and think it's a criticism of the system that _allows_ the poor to let their cruel nature get the best of them. Or you can view it as a show where the poor have a choice to face the consequences of their poor life choices or avoid those consequences at the expense of others. The "Clause 3" makes me think the writers are a bit smarter than "capitalism bad." They understand that capitalism does offer a choice (albeit, a choice with two bad options) and that the "victims" of capitalism willingly participate in the cutthroat game to get ahead.
@@LucianDevine the way characters look is also so much different. Women don't have perfect makeup all the time. Shoes are dirty... People look like they've been crying a bunch. The whole thing looks dirty and ugly at times. Just like real life... Hollywood films never suck me in because people fight like animals for 2 hours and come out looking like topmodels.
I just finished it last night and boy what a ride. I totally agree with your take on it and yea episode 6 really pulled at my heart strings. What blew me away overall was just how smart the writing was throughout.
I'm all for watching whatever comes out of South Korea, they have an impressive catalogue in recent years. Train to Busan, Thirst, Parasite, The Wailing, The Host, Memories of Murder and the tv series, KIngdom, are some of the best things I seen recently, leagues above the crap Hollywood churns out. They seem to encourage writing realistic and compelling characters, and don't weigh the story down with "The Message", and I'm all for that. Oh by the way, if anyone who reads this has never seen a Japanese film called "One cut of the Dead", I highly HIGHLY recommend it. Don't read about it, it'll get spoiled, get past the first hour and it will be totally worth it. I can't recommend it high enough.
South Korea have been doing it for years. Add to the list: Oldboy (not the Hollywood remake...) A Tale of Two Sisters A Bittersweet Life Save the Green Planet Castaway on the Moon
@@mellowstrangler Sweet Home was decent, but pales in comparison to the Web Toon it originated from. The show started out strong then sorta petered out near the middle and totally fell on its face near the end.
It's obvious they didn't care much about wowing western audiences with star power when they have Lee Byung-hun, the most recognizable actor for most, walking around as an anonymous black mask and pretty minor character for most of the show.
Movies like this have fully convinced me to start looking outside of the Hollywood/Disney-China monster that is responsible for ruining movies in the past decade. Same with video games. As soon as you step outside of the umbrella of shit we're in, you start seeing quality content again. I will say that TV shows have certainly held onto writing quality a lot better than the movie side of things though. Wonder why.
TV Shows often have the benefit of longer run times and allowing the writers to develop characters more. But in additon there is a hunger in streaming services to get more content so they are willing to take some risks. Especially internationally where it is much cheaper. Squid Game cost Netflix just shy of $22 million, good luck getting anything decent made in Hollywood for that money. Low risk, high reward.
Finally got to watch this and I was so impressed. What a story! It was so heartbreaking imagining what these people went through, and I can totally sympathise with the character who survives at the end and how they felt about the money. Amazing show.
One of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The only problem is that there’s going to be a season 2 and man did it feel forced at the last episode. Like you said, it’ll be a victim of its own success. Kinda like Westworld, should have been just one season.
Yeah I’m not sure if they can pull off season 2. There’s a similar Brazilian Netflix show called 3% and the first season was great but it kind of trails off from the second season.
[SPOILER] . . I don’t know why [so-and-so’s] mother wasn’t helped and why [you-know-who] was given away. Especially after a large time jump. I didn’t expect a happy ending, we were long past that, but it didn’t make sense to resolve it that way. I guess the mother could be dead, but the show didn’t give any reason to doubt what was said explicitly. I wasn’t fond of the ending either. I think a change a few episodes into season 2 would’ve been a better approach. [The person] won the game yeah, but now they think they’re John Wick?
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk "I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life."
the central control, no guns, and lack of freedom made it communism. the writer was smart enough to make a great show but doesn't understand political systems.
Finished watching Squid Game a few minutes ago. I loved it. It was innovative, intense, and emotional. ❤ I loved all the main characters. They were all so human and Episode 6 was one of the best episodes. The women were as realistic and well-written as the men, and I don't care what the harpy-journalists on Salon and Twitter say about it. In the end, they were all fighting to survive. Nobody was OP, flawless, or fearless. Not even the evil gangster guy was as tough as he wanted to appear. They were all HUMAN. The only acting I couldn't really get into were the VIPs. Some seemed to be trying, others not as much, no offense to any of the actors, of course. The message was also a little ham-fisted, but it wasn't obnoxious like the current ones we see in most Hollywood movies and TV shows. If Squid Game inspires more creative TV shows and movies here, that would be great. Not reboots or (unnecessary) sequels. Original content with great characters, great casting, and a great script.
This is all the confirmation I need. As a Korean dude, I couldn't be happier that The Critical Thinker just put on his stamp of approval on Squid Game.
@slaine's axe Absolutely. However, even someone like me could have never, ever imagined that Korean artists would win Oscars, have multiple Billboard #1 hits, and now have the world's most popular TV show. It's surreal, really.
Definitely. Just when I thought the zombie genre was dead and over with, Kingdom re-invented it marvelously, and what's more they didn't drag it out into the slow, boring, irrelevant death of something like the Walking Dead.
I also appreciated how they had a realistic depiction of PTSD for the final winner. He won the lofe changing money but was so traumatized his entire personage was changed
Honestly just looking at the clips in this video make my stomach churn and I generally enjoy all kinds of bloody and gory video games I think it's just the sick mindless killing of innocent people and not being able to do anything about it to stop it or avenge them that does it to me the same thing happened whenever I saw a purge commercial just thinking about the mindless cruelty makes me sick and unreasonably angry
@@wolfiewoo3371 i mean it does, you see that when faced with a dire enough economic situation, people turn against eachother in a struggle for survival. The critique towards capitalism comes to the fact that these dire situations tend to happen more under that sistem. For example 6 of the worlds top ten most violent cities belong to my country, which has a capitalist economy.
Loved this as with most Korean show's i've seen so far. Man you just take the words right out of my mouth. Korean stuff is so raw, real with n For anyone who enjoyed quid games should really check out some of the other Korean shows like My Name, Hellbound, All Of Us Are Dead, Kingdom and the other Squid Game like show Alice In Borderland to name a few. The main guy in Squid game "Lee Jung Jae" is one of the top Korean actors. He's made plenty of awesome movies which people should check out.
This has been one of the most refreshing things I've watch on Netflix this year! I even love episode 2 how they build up the characters so you felt attached to them.... It's sad, because Hollywood is going to try to remake this with more female empowerment. Can't wait to see the all women tug-a-war event 😒
No, it's going to be men-vs-women and all the men are going to shit themselves and lose. The women then team up and beat the game, kill the game-master and share the money.
well the morons in hollywood are now trying to remake "Train to Busan" with american characters and story lines and i am 100% sure it will be garbage, first of all, the US doesn't have an important train system so maybe they will start by calling it "amtrak to jersey"? i don't know
Its massively Overhyped. Massively. Overhyped. Overhyped - massively. It tells a lot that i didnt even realized there is such Hype and Fame when i watched a 'How to beat'-Video. It was JUST ANOTHER Death-Game. I saw countless of those and did not notice any superioty.
Excellent characterizations and motivations. I did predict the undercover cop and his relationship to that other character. Maybe they'll save that for future episodes. My only complaint was that the story could've been fleshed out over perhaps a few more seasons (before the season finale wrap-ups). I would've love to see more of the character's origin stories before the game and what led them there (sort of like 'Lost' when we had those character stories in the real world).
in shop class me and the boys had a backroom that we’d watch shows and movies in (we had 3 hours of shop) and it started out as us huddled around an ipad, sitting on our own separate stools, watching squid game, and it ended with us chillin on our bondage benches that we made specifically for our room watching the fast and the furious. and i wouldn’t have it any other way because that was an amazing year. this show has a soft place in my heart for setting up something amazing for the backroom bondage boys
Also glad to see a Korean thriller go mainstream such as parasite. Looks like they are finally getting the international recognition because they aren't afraid to take genres in a new direction.
i found watching squid game in korean with subtitles much better than the dubbed audio, it really fits the performances more and i enjoyed the show much more in its native language. man korea has some great film and shows coming out these days
>"i found watching squid game in korean with subtitles much better than the dubbed audio," This is likely a universal opinion; the dub is trash (or at least the English one is). Ffs, unless you're illiterate, just read the damn subtitles. The actors didn't put all that effort into both body and vocal performances just to have some goober in a sound recording booth ruin it because some people don't like *reading.*
@@TheSecondVersion The really really sad thing about this - While the dubbed versions of Asian cinema and TV are always worse, I recall a South Korean influencer of some sort coming forward and explaining how badly Netflix fucked up with the accuracy in the subtitles. They were so badly interpreted in places it completely changed the meaning of certain moments in the show
an old favorite of mine is the Sout Korean movie Old Boy 2003. It is quite a gruesome & twisted tale of revenge but certainly a whole lot better than the American... whatever that was
@@hmm7829 Yeah, sometimes the translators are limited by the amount of lines they can display in a short time and have to change the meaning to get it to fit. Other times they just change things because they think the audience is too dumb to understand a certain cultural aspect. And I'm sure at other times, they simply make mistakes themselves.
Only now watching Squid Game after 4 months. Yep, this one came out of nowhere and blindsided me. I didn't think some foreign language show with an odd name like Squid Game would be any good, so I put this as something to watch later.
I did the exact same thing. Lol. It had been awhile since I'd seen a show with this much genuine sounding praise. I'm glad I didn't spoil anything for myself.
I watched it with my father before the hype, really good stuff. Then everyone heard about it... And i was very happy, the show really deserves the recognition its getting.
@@steviesmith4986 You had more options to succeed in that one, i.e. throw weaker or lighter people off or through the glass in front, convince dumber people to go etc. The carving one you had NOTHING but your own ability to stay calm under pressure while gunshots were going off around you in close range and blood spraying everywhere, definitely more intense.
Agree. The realism, diversity of the characters, and how they cope with crazy situations is really successful in this serie! Well done to the korean studios and beware America!
@@hagdore no. Only Hollywood diversity crap is. Diversity is different from diversity crap. Diversity crap os diversity for the sake of diversity, with no real meaning or added valeu to the story. Diversity crap is political agenda. Diversity is diversity.
@@hagdore By diversity, some people mean racial, or body shape, sexual orientation, or religious diversity, or combination of those (which is very shallow yo me). For them, those characters in squid game are not diverse at all.
@@TheAllMightyGodofCod 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾💯💯💯. Thank you for calling out Hollywood’s diversity crap regarding their tv series and movies. The characters are one-sided, toxic, and mean-spirited jackasses with no sense of humor nor reality. And the stories are all the same with unneeded preachy messages. And why does western mainstream media focuses on someone with an illness but acts like an ash hole and refusing to get help, being a pop star, fighting a battle that only exist in their head, and one-sided relationships that just seem unfair, abusive, and toxic? My fault with this long run-on sentence in the form of a question.
@@callmeviper7723 That's how people with that kind of wealth act though... Trust me I've seen it first hand. I've sat next to a table of stock traders in New York at one of my vacations and it's literally exactly how they talk.
I actually really enjoyed that whole subplot with the undercover cop. I liked getting the behind the scenes look at what was going on in this organization. It was giving me Batman vibes when Bruce goes undercover to get intel. I agree it does kinda end just abruptly but a second season could continue that storyline because we don’t know if his information got to the police or not.
I agree, because they were realistic with his story line. The cop was never gonna be able to hold his own against the murderous org, him hiding and finding out secrets was the smarter move. I was really terrified for him the whole time, literally on edge. I thought it was a great sub plot.
Watched this after your recommendation and I’m glad I did. I agree with you about episode 6 and also think it’s one of the most gripping and poignant hour of TV I’ve ever seen.
I often don't leave a comment or like the video though both are well deserved. But I just wanted to say I did today and I wanted to thank you. you're the best
Hell Is criminally underrated. It’s kind of amazing that the most violent episode is the one Where almost no blood is shed. How the real violence is the pain of the characters. Episode 6 would not be the best episode if Hell didn’t set up everything perfectly.
What I found interesting was that everyone playing the game wanted to know what the next one was, so that they had an advantage. If they had only looked on the walls behind their bunks then they would have known the answer to that question. Very well done easter egg.
This series genuinely made me uncomfortable at times. I absolutely loved it. I was fine with the ending with the exception of the sudden appearance of the cool-aid-hair. And he’s still apparently kind of a terrible dad. Lol
I quite liked that to be honest. It showed that even though Gi-hun has a tonne of money he isn't automatically a good person. And, from his perspective his daughter would be fine waiting for him longer whereas if he didn't attempt to stop the games hundreds more people would die.
I mean even then, even without watching the prior 5 episodes, you can see the heartbreak and look of betrayal in people's eyes when they realise their final moments have finally come. The scene between the immigrant and stock broker especially sticks, just from the performances alone.
The guards costumes is one of the most intriguing and sinister antagonist designs I’ve seen I couldn’t care less for the elites and the front man, I like the chain of command, each shape with more sides the higher rank you are
The only thing I'd change about that is that I would have triangles at the top of the hierarchy. It just fits a bit better with the actual Squid Game itself and the final 3 thing.
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Here I am waiting for Dune review
@Rapunzel ♪ So this is season2??
@Rapunzel ♪ omg 😍
Drinker you should watch the anime kaiji since you like squid game!
@The Critical Drinker Have you seen Traders(2015)?
"Drinks too much and has racked up gambling debts he can't pay off" so the drinker has found his Korean counterpart
Koreanal Drinker
And his love-interest, Cha Chee-Ang?
@@russwilliams4777 Cha Chee Ang-na!
lol
@@gloriousmongoose Giggity.
This show basically was not advertised in the US at all. Imagine a film/show being so good it gets by on its own merit instead of big budget advertisements and merchandising.
Seeing all the memes made me watch it.
Outstanding series, but unfortunately Hollywood can't swallow it success bro
I watched it because my sister told me about it and she learned about it through social media. It is so good that word of mouth was enough
I didn't discover this show until someone posted a shitty Squid Game edit on Tiktok
@@salty3723 u must be American hahah
One of my teachers back in the 60's told us, in a war when survival becomes a hope not an expectation, morality gets very vague. (He'd fought in WW1 In the trenches)
Thanks for this comment. I don't think I'll ever forget this comment.
When has ever before survival been an expectation?
Living is an expectation
Surviving is always a hope
That logic is flawed
@@greyLeicester young people do expect to survive, the idea of death is not something that guides their thoughts, of course we all die, but few at 18 or 20 think it's going to happen today, it's why the young change things. In war in 1916 young men realised they might die, today, not in 50 years time. We dont think logically as often as we should.
@@RyanJamesOfficial I've remembered it for 55 years.
@@greyLeicester in the modern world where everyone but you live apparently.
Loved the ending where the winner had to fight a giant squid!! Such a cool twist!!
Yep, best scene 👌
Yep, best scene 👌
Yeah, it was epic!
And the skybeam don't forget that
That'll be the plot finale of the Hollywood copycat: KrakenGame
Squid Game actually remembered that characters and their flaws and their development are what make shows and movies good.
It's one thing I love so much about the show, that every character is good in their way and that they managed to make me feel bad for the bad thug dude.
total normie trash values. Main character is the outrage mob, the most hypocritical human garbage on the planet.
Damn, your name is longer than the title of my thesis.
😂😂😂😂 That made me laugh.
GOT pioneered on that until the directors ran out of source material
That was one of the most happy Go Away Nows so far. I feel like staying.
Ha!
It sounded almost - hopeful.
@Layla no
Its like a Granma sending you to school with a lunchbox full of baked goods
@@MyBenjamin73 well said.
The main reason I love episode 6 so much is the writers going "alright here's exactly what's going to happen in 30 minutes" and still managing to make it hit like a truck
It's also interesting that it's basically in real time.
Idk why the writer decided to ruin it in the big twist.
@@xshadowscreamx I thought it enhanced it personally. Basically 1 last betrayal from one of last people left he remembered fondly. Like being betrayed by his own memories in a sense.
@@kenturner9784 good point.
@@xshadowscreamx I also feel like it was ruined a bit. As soon as I saw the card he got from the flower vendor, I knew that the flood of tears I had during the marbles episode was tainted. It felt like... a fake out death in a zombie show. I would've preferred it be some anonymous unknowable thing, ya know? But hey, that's just me.
One of the best aspects of Squid Games is that each episode was not padded with 5 minutes of recapping all the previous episodes. Basically treating the viewers as if they have a brain.
Except they don't have brains. People who like 'Squid Game' are brainless morons. So, I don't know how you came to that conclusion. Self flattery, perhaps?
@@LeatherCladVegan *imagine calling somebody dumb for liking something you don't*
@@LeatherCladVegan i bet you like the big bang theory :-D
@@The_Royal_Goose I don't have to imagine it; I possess the astonishing power of action.
@@sergejw.1926 Do ya? That's great mate. What else do you bet about me?
I’ve been waiting to hear the Drinker’s take on Squid Game.
ruclips.net/video/qobqGuLarNE/видео.html
same!!
100%, would like to hear spookler's thoughts as well.
How many fucking bots can be on 1 comment
Actually not surprisingly this show reached the national news here. Of course the MSM reacts just as expected; like with any game....: 'HELP HELP HELP!!!! People aren't allowed to see this, this movie is dangerous coz it has violence in it that would makes kids aggressive!' You know, the standard hysteria that MSM has with games and I'm like.... for fuck sake MSM; you can't do anything right, can you? pieces of fucking shits!
The Duality of Netflix
Sometimes you get Squid Game, other times you get... He-Man Revelations.
Exactly. As much as people like to shit on it, Netflix is occasionally capable of having a hand in some competent stuff.
@@jjbb84x netflix releasing a show is a coinflip where either every watching second is agony or its the most compelling, innovative and gripping piece of TV youve ever seen
@@kaled8839 Right!?! At the risk of giving them TOO much credit, I'd almost say they're hedging their bets and playing multiple angles.
Case in point: A lot of people who swore they'd give up Netflix after the whole "Cuties" thing have a LOT to say in support of Netflix's move in support of Dave Chappelle during that failed SJW uprising...
We needed a Korean movie to fly under the radar.
@@jjbb84x everyone saying theyre giving up netflix is just performative activism, like with every stunt people pull in the name of any bs cause that pops up these days. No one is gonna give up high quality entertainment, which netflix has an abundance of
Even though ultimately the cop's plotline went nowhere, I equate it to the sheriff in Misery. His part is used to provide a window into the goings on behind the scenes, that couldn't necessarily be shown from the main characters' perspective, since they were kept isolated.
Yeah, he did his role. I was worried that by episode 10 he would bring cops there or something. Do not need a well written critique of capitalism turn into a cop drama
I feel like his work is what gi hun (?) Will uncover while he's trying to take down the operation in the next season since there's really no other way he's gonna get people on his side since nobody believes him, although I still wonder how his brother was second in charge when he just got missing, like did he not have any experience before? Was he there from the start and they never noticed
@@stopwritingthatreplyjohnat6638 I guess the critique of communism went over a lot of people's heads
Its just a critique of Human Nature
@@radhiadeedou8286 lol yeah. It’s been amusing to see right wingers freak the fuck out when something threatens their world view, it’s as comically anti capitalist and over the top as you can get in combination with the creator saying several million times that the entire purpose of the series is to condemn capitalism has been amusing.
But yeah bro it’s actually about uhhh communism because communism bad and about human nature somehow because in a normal healthy society people would be willing to gamble their lives to get enough money to pay off their debts and live like people.
Episode 6 - The Marbles game was heartbreaking to watch...Especially after their unbelievable victory in Tug-of-War, now close friends had to kill each other...brought tears to my eyes.
I hadn't cried like this since the Lion King probably.
That episode..... Was soul crushing
No lie I was like old man better not die I’ll cry I mean it
shocking enough “he died” but not oh okay I’m spoiling it sorry
There was some stuff in ep 6 that made it even sadder that was lost in translation from the original Korean. Sang Woo (the broker) and Ali exchange names in ep 5 while in night watch and apparently the way he words the title when he uses Ali’s name is the way you would refer to your brother. Since then, they were using this term of endearment for each other. At the end of ep 6 when Ali realized his betrayal, when he screams out Sang Woo’s name, he was basically screaming “brother!” right as he takes the bullet.
Marbles game was so boring I almost fell asleep. Thank god it’s over… most boring episode.
After watching DAЯK, Squid Game, and Katla, there’s a pretty noticeable quality difference between the writing of these international shows, and whatever is being put out by Hollywood currently.
Did Katla pick up and get worth the time investment? Seemed kind of slow and meandering at first ...
@@dingfeldersmurfalot4560 I enjoyed Katla quite a bit, while it is slow sometimes it does have its moments.
I really didn't like Dark, which is a shame because on paper it seems like the exact kind of show I'd usually be all about.
The first season was pretty good, until the last episode, and then it went down hill really fast from there. The last episode was horrible and I hated it so much.
But that's just me
@@altalena9139 you're not alone. It made me literally depressed. It was so confusing, and it constantly changed. It never found a real conclusion, just invented more and more. New Timeliness, New World, and in the final just a third one. Felt betrayed.
Well the more democrat something becomes the more terrible it becomes.
"Here in this place everyone is equal and has a fair chance"
- The Masked Overseer of Squid Games
Feel free cringe at me but I got chills when I heard that, cause ya know the irony that the front man is in control
Sounds like socialism. Ends like it too.
Ahh yes lets turn off the lights then
Until he abused his power during the Bridge game lol
Yeah, fair chance, thats why old man with brain tumor was alive after games. It was total bullshit, and he know it well. People organise and learn to survive bridge game? Yeah, turn off the lights. Fair chance? Yeah, lets give people less food and see what riots we create. They started with 456 people every year, for 30 years or more. Half of then died in every round. Man, it is total genocide, not equat fair chance oportunity.
I disagree with you heavily on the Police Detective plot story his perspective was really interesting and it was always intense seeing him pretend to be one of the guards and you didn't know if he would be found out and killed and we get to find out many secrets about the games that we didn't know before, its more of a behind the scenes look on everything
I agree that that the police detective plot helped to show the other side (the PS symbols), but it was badly executed and wound up - he deliberately leaves his scuba tank on the beach?, he doesn't try to hide? he shoots and misses at such a close range, and don't forget all the problems with his brother being the masked man. Keeping some of the mystery would have been preferable, especially if setting up for a season 2
Personally I like the cop side of the story a lot better. As you said, you never know if or when he'll be discovered and that creates a lot of tension, whereas I saw each of the main characters' deaths coming a mile away.
yes i agree with you as there has to be a device to tell the story from the side of the guards....since the main elements in the story are the players, the guards and the elites...we must be able not only understand the players but also the guards which is equivalent to the police or the enforcement powers in the real world. We must understand why they are also playing this game and willingly participate in the killing of the players...and without much financial rewards but at least relative security compared to the players
To be honest, the only actual point this entire trope served was to reveal to us that the Front was an ex-contestant (yet it didn't explain why). It didn't progress the actual story at all and its ending went nowhere. For an ark that ate so much screen time you'd have expected it to play a bigger role.
That was the only good thing about the show. Everything else was pretty boring and predictable.
None of my American friends thought Korean dramas were worth the hype until Squid Game and now they’re starting to slowly realize what Korea is making is better than what’s coming out of Hollywood
Parasite was pretty good....but this was much better.
This show sucked though lol
Shit if you’ve got recommendations we’re all ears
koreans dont afraid to go to the core of theme and human personality with a brutal maner that hit like a truck. Sometimes really unplesant to watch but emotionally so strong.
I can agree to that, it definitely took me a minute to get passed their lips moving when they were talking.
I appreciate how this show focuses on the characters' willingness to play. The West would play this out as "rich bad, poor good," but "Squid Game" does a good job showing how the rich are cruel and distanced from the real world while the poor are equally complicit in tearing each other down.
It's smart how the games become increasingly more competitive. It shows how people start down immoral paths because they're "victimless crimes" but that inevitably changes when they're too deep to get out. It's much like "Breaking Bad" in that sense.
I didn't even think about that, but you're right. At the start they were only competing against the game. Then they had to compete against each other in teams, and then individually. It became more personal at each step.
Profundity
@@kalebbruwer Exactly. The first game was fair and victimless. The second was unfair but still victimless. Then the third became competitive but against enemies. And it culminated in the fourth game where it was competitive against their close peers.
It's eerily reminiscent of how Walt (from Breaking Bad) argues his way into making meth by saying he's not hurting anyone, he's just giving a better version of something they were already buying. But he slowly talks himself into murdering people who are enemies. And eventually has those close to him killed to save his own skin.
It seems that the theme from these shows is that most bad people don't start with evil intentions. They get themselves into situations that can only be solved by evil acts.
Gi-Hun tricking Il-Nam was no better than Sang-Woo tricking Ali. It just so happens that Il-Nam confronted Gi-Hun and gave him a chance to admit fault which is what leads him to trying to end the game at the end unlike Sang-Woo who passed the point of no return.
There's such great writing on this theme
Love that the whole basis is a massive juxtapose to his thrill of horse racing - which is more exciting because he has so much to lose, unlike them who were just bored
The West? This show played it exactly like that lol
Giving the players the opportunity to stop and having them be there willingly was a great move. Made it way more interesting.
Oh absolutely. I loved Episode 2. We had a break from the insanity and horror of the games, and were able to have some time getting to know the characters to better understand why they would come back.
Honestly the pacing of this show was so stellar. If we'd had a whole episode of backstory from the start, it would have been too slow to grab people. But seeing Red Light, Green Light, then the realistic event of everyone wanting to bail out.. it just fit so well. Damn this show was amazing.
Unpopular opinion: episode 2 is my favorite episode for that reason. That it shows the various hells that the main characters have out in the world. Gi Hun’s face after knowing he’s failed both his mother and daughter really broke me. It’s brutally heartbreaking watching all of them suffer. I mean what does it say about our world when a game of death is the better alternative to the real world?
Sure, but willingly taking a 1 in 200+ chance of surviving is much worse than Russian roulette ...on crack. If you're so desperate for money that you don't care about the danger to the life of yourself or others then you might as well go for a robbery, blackmail, con jobs or any variety of other immoral and illegal activities. Those may be dangerous too, but not 99.5 percent chance of brutal death kind of dangerous and you have much greater control over the outcome.
Imagine if those 200+ people all formed a criminal organization together. Not only could they use their flexible morals and various different job positions and skillsets to build up a lot of wealth and power, but with their indifference to serious danger they could also overwhelm and fend off anyone who is threatening them. Some of them might still die, but overall their odds would still be much better than nearly 100% chance of dying.
@@Anonymous-gu2pk I get what you're saying, but I feel like you're maybe forgetting a few things.
1. They have no idea that only 1 of them will make it out. In fact, if more had made it to the final, I bet they'd have been split into teams and had more than 1 winner. (Squid Game is a team game as seen in the very first episode)
2. The sheer amount of prize money. They'd need to rob a lot of banks and get away with a lot of crimes to raise that much, but survive a bunch of kids' games over only 6 days and they're set for life, which takes me the next point...
3. They probably overestimated how easy it was to survive the games. Remember the only game they'd played at the point of the vote was red light green light, and during the vote, points are made such as "all we need to do is beat a bunch of kids games?"
4. The consequences of being a criminal. Sure they could form a criminal syndicate, but they become fugitives in the process. With the games, nobody in the outside world ever even needs to know they were there.
5. The main one, suspension of disbelief. Exploring such a big, extreme moral dilemma is kind of the whole point of the show. I've been there, I know it's sometimes too easy to pick apart a premise and be unable to enjoy a show because of it, but it's best to just bare with some details and see what else a show/movie has to offer.
@@gungaloscrungalo8925 I wrote a lengthy response to you, but looks like it got caught in RUclips filters...
The marble game episode was absolutely amazing
im not going to pretend, when that girl said her last words i cried.
@@dayweed85 same. Wife didnt tho, shes cold hearted I think.
@@martymcfly88mph35😅
I like episode where they had jump on glass remember which one is real other one fake.
I like how the thug got his up comings! But man was the death brutal!
@@RAC00NFANGIRL yeah that part was crazy. He was such a pussy in the end lol. But that's the case for lots of dudes like that.
Seeing that The Drinker had a Review not hating a show, convinced me to watch it first and come back to watch this. And yes, It`s worth the hype... I can`t believe I cried my eyes out with this show.
Episode 6 was the one, I assume?
@@PengyDraws not the only one that broke me, but yes. I haven't cried that hard with a show or movie for a long Time
I was genuinely surprised at how emotional I got with this show. That hasn’t happened in a long time for me but I genuinely grew to love and be attached to all the characters, especially the main five.
Good too hear their making season two I cannot wait
Stop crying it’s over.
Squid game was legitimately the first newly released tv series I couldn't stop watching in years
Chernobyl?
Have you seen DARK?
Try Midnight Mass series
@Dario Liotine Fargo season 2 was great, the rest were okay, season 4 I didn't even bother with as they seemed to be heading down the tired 'muh racism in America'
It just wasn’t that good. It had moments but I think you were just bored
I’m sort of sad it didn’t get the prestigious “The Drinker Recommends” award because we all know there is no higher accolade than that
That seems to be for older stuff that may have gone under the radar when it first came out.
He was so giddy with happiness and Glenfiddich, he jest plum fergot!
This show is so f*cking hyped he doesn't need to recommend it to anyone
it's predictable and a bit, meh. It's nothing special. Bog standard story and plot
I think he only does that for older or less mainstream movies
The music in this show was perfect as well!
My wife and I just finished watching this, and we both enjoyed how human it felt. So many shows seem to make the decision to murder or kill someone have no long term effect. Okay, now the person's dead and we move on.
This doesn't. You see people grow colder and more distant. You see people stew in regret. You see people mentally break because their decision leads to other deaths.
This is what writing should be. Decisions should have consiquences.
The game of marbles involving the married couple was simply harrowing.
@@AnthonyVassallo absolutely agreed! I mean...what do you do? Lose intentionally, knowing your significant other is going on without you and might end up dying? Or win so that they don't have to watch you die, and have to live with that for the rest of your life?
Honestly, I don't know what the answer would be were I in that situation with my wife. I'm leaning heavily toward "we're not playing anymore, kill us both", but would my wife agree? Not a question anyone should be faced with, and I think it was handled with as much tact and reality in this show as it could have been.
"Gganbu" (ep 6) made me have to put the show down for two days because it was so heartbreaking. It was obvious from the start how it was going to end but it still broke me. Amazing show.
I had to split the episode into 2 after they revealed the game's rules. Never cared so much for characters in a show/movie. This show is incredible.
amazing is how they took a character that was barely introduced in episode 4 and made you care for her as if she was there from the very beginning
It would have been, if it wasn’t so obvious that old man wasn’t killed (from the way the scene was filmed and edited) and pretty clear that he was part of the scheme to begin with (from all the clues in previous episodes). I felt it for Ali though. I loved Ali.
The girls story was my favourite part. Unexpected and beautiful. We could all guess how each game was gonna end but the way they told the story was fantastic.
The ending kinda ruined it for me.
great show that does NOT need a second season
Yeah, season 1 was great, and I can't see how they can top it. I can only see it going downhill from here.
Agreed. I feel the same about the show as I do with Queens Gambit. A second season is bound to be repetitive or not nearly as interesting. I think they will make a season 2 of both shows though because money.
You know America is going to bastardize the sh!t out of this series when they get their hands on it.
@Doppelganger D I'll thank Netflix for promoting Squid Games. Too many foreign films and movies get imported; then Hollywood turns said content into hot garbage.
True, but you know, money...
Even though it was slow paced, episode 6 had me on the edge of my seat the whole 60 mins. Amazing show
Cap.
You know I couldn’t put my finger on why I was in such love with the characters, especially the female ones as I tend to dislike many female figures in media, but you nailed it. They feel REAL. And for the women, you see what a strong woman really is. It’s a woman who embraces her strengths and femininity, not some woman who can magical compete on a physical level with men.
Cringe
@@stopwritingthatreplyjohnat6638 how so?
It's cause the show doesn't have a sjw feminist agenda that they try to shove down the audience throat. They actually focus on good plot and character development
@@senzuu7465 exactly. And it leads to WAY better female characters that are an actual joy to watch progress.
@@senzuu7465 Well it does shove its anti capitalist so deep down your throat that at certain points in the show you may start choking. Like I despise capitalism but the VIPs were waaaayy too on the nose. I get that they were probably trying to get in extra commentary about the games and how they are played, namely game 6 but they were painfully executed
Takeshi’s Castle meets Battle Royale.
Truly compelling viewing.
I miss Takeshi Castle
Takeshi’s castle was 🐐ed
MXC was hilarious...
Do they still show it on the Challenge channel?
@@1down4upworkshop61 Right?!?! That was one of my favorite shows of all time. Fuckin' Guy LaDouche.
When watched it I found myself imagining what it would be like to be in the position of the characters. This is what I think generates so much interest in this show. The fact that there is that level of relatability. No superheroes, no muscle bound ex-special forces types, no martial arts experts or any of that nonsense. Just ordinary desperate people thrown into life or death situations.
I don't know what you're talking about guy, you must be some sort of Asian, because I'm not an Asian and therefore I couldn't relate to any of these people - they don't look like me, and that's racist.
like Battle Royale? hunger Games? its well done but the concept is not new.
@@tentimetex Hunger Games came so close. But the finale lost the point. It was sad to see it almost hit the mark and then miss at the end. (It has been a few years, but that was the impression I left with.) I liked it nonetheless.
totally agree! and i think how it differs from the other 'survival games' shows is that the games are relatively simple. its something everyone can participate it and have almost equal chance to survive. you don't have to have to be weapons expert or hacker or an athlete, and hence, you can really put yourself in that situation. coz if i put myself in the hunger games, i sort of know i'd be dead in the first 10 minutes...
Sang Woo’s actor is incredible
Best thing I've seen since Breaking Bad and the Mandalorian. Best thing I've watched this year by a mile. The Koreans are producing top tier content without PC restrictions.
Woke Holywood will get to them eventually. But I think they might have a year or two max of good shows before then
Woke ass Hollywood is a joke. I'm ashamed of America at the moment. I'm a veteran and the only people with a platform are filled with delusions. WTF. Let me have a mic for 10 minutes. I'll speak the truth. Hollywood is the BIGGEST HYPOCRITES in memory. They put a gate around their house but not around their country.
@@ronallan8680 You are assuming that the East gives a shit about what Hollywood says,
Right? I was thinking the same thing as I was watching it.
@@driddick7361 I mean it's Netflix. The show has many left-leaning elements.
I wholly agree with the drinker's comments about the show's realistic portrayal of women in a survival situation like this. I'm a woman and I can't stand the trend of portraying female characters as flawless and infallible. Women don't have the physical strength and speed of men, but those are not the sole traits that are important in a survival situation. Squid Game was a show I could watch without once actively being made aware of gender dynamics - because everything played out organically. I can't say how often I roll my eyes watching some show because the writers want to throw a "strong woman" moment into the mix, and all it does is break me from my immersion in the story. I loved Squid Game and all the characters, who felt like real people behaving believably in an insane setting.
Women being exaggeratedly strong is fine as long as there's no " I'm morally superior than you" preaching directed to a certain group of people.
Anime does it a lot.
They also do All male characters series/All female characters series...And no one's whining about the opposite gender only being a minor character.
They just have more nuance when expressing ideologies and character stereotypes...Or just nothing at all which can be seen with comedies/harems that its just too abstract to be compared to real life.
But also the women feel like real people. I hate this trope That’s come out of Hollywood that they have to be flawless and that’s just not true.
Women are much more sneakier than most men, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Just like if I said a man can get what he wants through sheer force. They're both true. Most men feel like they've conquered something by sheer domination and they move on, but women can allow that conquering without an ego, there is no "alpha male status" to live up to the way it is with men. So a woman can allow a man to think she's been defeated and is now submissive, but come back with a vengeance. Their strength is in relationships, subtlety, cleverness, emotional intelligence... all while maintaining a façade of innocence and frailty. Men usually fall for this bait and switch because the submission, not necessarily a bad or sexual kind, strokes his ego. It makes him feel like he's accomplished something and he's "saved" or "conquered" a woman from one worse fate or another.
In a real survival situation where it's all about pure survival based on physicality, a man will win every single time. But a woman can win by making the right alliances, particularly with the right men, and come out the conqueror in the end. It's a fascinating bit of psychology. As a man, I think that's the most frustrating thing about how women are portrayed in modern media... they're either simply stronger than men and can beat up any guy at any time or they are frail flowers withering in the wind. The latter is almost completely gone, media wants to portray women as men, physically strong and brutal and able to get what they want through pure intimidation and physical domination. But real women aren't that way, the Asian cultures are very dead set on this even to an extreme. But either way, women get what they want in other ways, through mental and emotional means, and sometimes it requires playing possum.
This is just the way it is. Most people understand that. The Biblical story about Adam and Eve is not true in a literal sense, but it has truth to it. That truth hasn't died, it's still alive and well. Adam is told, "You better not eat that f*cking apple." But Eve comes along and is like, "Hey, I think eating that apple is okay." And Adam just rolls over and is like, "Yeah, I guess eating that apple is f*cking fine if you say so." It's just the power of a woman over a man. It's not physical, it's a mental/emotional thing. Each side has its strengths and weaknesses.
The funny thing is that show does have strong female character. She’s resourceful and knows how to fight men...by being dirty. Throwing hot coffee in their face, aiming for the nads ect.
you have just been banned from most subreddits for "sexist" comments
The best part about this show is that Squid Games doesn’t discriminate, everyone dies brutally and that’s what makes it interesting along with the journey of the main contestants.
ruclips.net/video/qobqGuLarNE/видео.html
The best part is that is doesn't discriminate? What were you doing... clapping and cheering when they reaffirmed their commitment to equality by murdering people.
@@winsomehax What I mean is that there was barely any plot armour in the show aside the Old Man and Ali saving the protagonist’s life, anyone could die at any time which is what made it interesting along with the personal journey for each of them and what they would do to win.
@King Alastor can you name one that also does that?
Ultimate surviver Kenshi. Go watch it.
This us why I Highly HIGHLY recommend Japanese and South Korean cinema 🎥!
They really bring it in performances and are willing to "go there" in subject matter!!
Korea seems to have stepped their game up a lot lately (in terms of quantity of good movies and shows). Another one of my favourite shows is Kingdom (obviously the Korean show). Definitely a must watch.
Strangers from Hell was good too. At first it seeemed like it wasn't going anywhere. Japanese and Korean are usually interesting. They have such big cultures. smart too.
Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-Wook have been making movies for like 20 years so it's not just recently that they've gotten good. It's just that Korean media has a huge spotlight on it now, partly because of k-pop, that a lot of these shows and movies are being discovered.
Also, Kingdom is amazing, love that shit. Refreshing take on the zombie-genre whilst also not being overly depressing.
@@MicahMicahel i plan on watching more stuff from Korea than whatever america making
@@RAC00NFANGIRL Korea and Japan have great shows. My favourite recent Japanese show on Netflix is Forest of Love, The series version. It's about a serial murderer so it's really twisted. It's so refreshing not to have corporate woke propaganda embedded into stories.
@@MicahMicahel I’ll have check it out I saw some other TVs shows on Netflix that are from South Korean
Honestly I’ve gotten hooked at South Korean shows and movies after I watched train to busan. And even the less than stellar movies are 10 times better than the “Oscar winning” crap that Hollywood churns out. If anyone is looking for another really good Korean show on Netflix I HIGHLY recommend Kingdom (not the MMA one the zombie thriller)
Suggest me some korean shows/movies man.
I low-key dig these south korean aesthetics/cities/atmosphere for reasons i dunno why
I only watched
train to busan, parasite and squid game so far.
@@btchiaintkidding7837 Old Boy for one is a must-watch
@@btchiaintkidding7837 Parasite
@@SideshowBob44 They said they've seen Parasite, silly!! 😚
Kingdom is a good watch
Episode 6 broke my heart 100x over and then proceeded to do it 100 more times. This is only the second show I've ever watched that has made me sob like a fool. THIS IS HOW YOU DO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!👏👏👏👏
facts, Squid Game is the only piece of entertainment that actually broke me. Even with its flaws, the show deserves praise for that
there isn't much media to make me cry. Captain Phillips, The Lion King, and The last Two Toy Stories were the only ones. But these bastards made me put the first TV show I've cried to on the list.
Thanks Episode 6 👍😂😭
Until 3 episodes later when episode 6 is ruined by nonsense.
@@donhill1825 if they don't die onscreen they're probably not dead. Watch more TV/movies lol.
Ripped my damn soul out them stomped on it
From an interview with the creator:
"Are you making a profound point about capitalism? “It’s not profound! It’s very simple! I do believe that the overall global economic order is unequal and that around 90% of the people believe that it’s unfair. During the pandemic, poorer countries can’t get their people vaccinated. They’re contracting viruses on the streets and even dying. So I did try to convey a message about modern capitalism. As I said, it’s not profound.”"
Not about capitalism at all...
It was definitely anticapitalist but in a really naive and silly way. I think that message took away from what was a great series. The ending kinda sucked and was very preachy. Still a great show, with a great story and genuine characters. It's a breath of fresh air.
That's the fun part about art. I can interpret it however I want. If anything this proves capilitism works great, and South Korea is full of people who make really bad financial decisions.
@@thisguyyoudontknow4653 How does it prove that capitalism works great? The only reason why Gi-hun is left in such a compromising position is because he lost his job at the company he worked for, and it wasn't even his fault, the owners embezzled the actives and left the workers on their own. Sang-Woo also made bad decisions, but it didn't affect just him, but also his mother that had nothing to do with his bad dealings. Ali went to South Korea for better chances, he landed a job and the boss still refused to pay him. A system that allows any of that to happen doesn't "work".
Meh... The guy is full of shit in regards to capitalism. Those same poor countries have had untold numbers die of simple malaria every year and they didn't do a thing to stop it, despite how cheap the treatment is. But somehow the people on top of the pile are okay. Funny how it happens in communistic countries and socialistic countries more than capitalistic countries.... Almost like it isn't the fault of capitalism, but in fact is because of shitty people doing shitty things...
@HughMann I never said we did. And the term you are looking for is 'corporate oligarchy'. As an aside, capitalism can function using Fiat currency, regardless of the ephemeral nature of it, provided all parties involved agree to use it as a medium of exchange. You should do more research.
"None of them look like movie stars"
Except supermodel Jung Hoyeon who plays the refugee from the north and whose face was molded by God himself.
The marble episode was the most stress I’ve ever felt watching anything. The Pakistani dude got done dirty.
That’s life. He trusted the wrong guy at the wrong time.
He was set up to be naive from the get go. I knew it'd bite him in the end
@@Shmandalf It still got me. Ali's death was predictable but damn he really deserved better. A shame he got roped into the death games in the first place
I literally finished that episode last night and it got the waterworks in me going. An emotional roller-coaster. And the most intense episode for me was probably "Red Light, Green Light", though "Tug-of-War" and the carving-a-shape-into-a-fragile-candy game (forgot the name of it) were also pretty nerve-wrecking at first.
Ali really got done dirty. And I felt so bad for the other girl that died, and I honestly kinda got a bit of lesbian-ish vibes before she died. And the scenes with the old man and the protagonist got me crying... :(
I hate the gangster dude and I hope he dies later. XD He's such a misogynistic, selfish, arrogant piece of shit. And the scenes with the detective guy are suspenseful, especially the scene where he was in the office of the Front Man. I kept expecting him to get caught, but he never did and, hopefully, won't and will find a way to expose these monsters running this game and bring them to justice.
@@graylykan2739 what do you mean you don't know why Sangwoo betrayed Ali, it was kill or be killed. He did it to save himself. No further explanation is needed or will be given in the next episodes.
Ep 6 was one of the best pieces of hour-long entertainment i've seen in a very long while
It is quite hard to use the word entertainment. I was devastated after ep 6.
I haven't cried for years. But there was one moment in particular which hit me like a ton of bricks and I was instantly tearing up.
There were several emotionally charged moments in that episode but I think most people know which one I mean.
What made it cinematic is that it was a visual moment which pulled the emotional trigger rather than it coming from a specific line of dialogue.
I agree. I was like oh crap they screwed up pairing off with friends
@@CoffeeConnected I really don't understand what scene you are talking about because my heart broke multiple times that episode
man, that was the episode i quite watching the show. The dialogue was TERRIBLE even with the dubbing turned off. and the idea that they have to just go off and play w.e. marble game with w.e. rules is SO SILLY. i mean. i donno. "Grrrrrr, you'de better watch out or i will burn your eyeballs with cigarettes!!!" (atrocious writing)
I've watched this show in original audio. The Korean language really sold the show even more. It's singing language, the tonality really shows you the desperation, hope, surprise in the tone of the actors. Really kudos to this experience, one of the best recent shows
I dont usually bother with series - as I dont like making that time commitment. I heard about the series' premise - you play - and if you lose you die. I had to watch it - and Im glad I did. Credit to South Korea for this amazing show and yes it does put to shame the tripe that the west churns out.
What I got out of it is that money doesn't buy happiness.
Human interaction is worth more.
They were all happier being with the people they love, even though they were all going through tough times.
i would argue that they weren’t necessarily happier being with the people they love, but it’s where they found their true value in life. Life can be precious and worth it even without much happiness. But yeah, you’re definitely right for the most part
Yeah, money doesn't buy happiness, because money is a tool (you must create happiness and meaning yourself, with the resources at your disposal ...incidentally, the old guy used money to do just that :D ). Just like a hammer doesn't build a house on it's own, it's just a tool that people can use for building, but misusing it will lead to bad results.
In my opinion, Episode 2 and the way they all voted is one of the bravest things I've ever seen a TV show commit to. To allow them all to decide whether they wanted to continue was absolutely brilliant and unexpected. Definitely the best show for 2021 so far.
Yea, also with number 001, im really good at reading movies and i had no idea what he would pick
Honestly the whole voting thing is the most genius element that they introduced to the show and genre. It helps that the option gets repeatedly mentioned in later episodes. When they showed more than 90% of original contestants came back to play it gave a new moral dilemma to the viewers. Most shows in the genre would just force them to play while not giving them an option. It just sucks that the next episode is basically a backstory to the characters.
@@jessegamer2503 what makes 001s vote interesting is when (spoiler) you find out he's the reason for the games, but he voted for them to stop the game. Their choice to come back is then having fully considered what's at stake.
Agree. You think they’re in the game from the start, so it’s unexpected that they vote to leave, only to realises their world outside is still bad for them.
@@haiqal5333 It really was. It goes to show that people actively went there on their own free will despite knowing the consequences. They value the money so much they ignored the risks of losing their own lives. Which goes to show how desperate they were to leave the situation they lived before the games. Very well done from the show.
**SPOILER, you’ve been warned, stop reading here**
The plot wasn’t all that amazing to me though.
The whole ordeal with the old man was really weird. A dramatic good bye from a loved character only to return to then die again.
The brother being frontman was also predictable.
But the rest was 10/10 for me.
This show was so good i'm considering watching the whole thing through again with a different perspective having gotten invested into the characters, best series i've seen in a long while.
Once season two drops I plan on watching season one and season two
On second watch, try and view the movie from the perspective of the guards…. They are not allowed to speak, they are kept in solitary confinement cells, and they are being forced to kill or be killed themselves.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It was brutal and yet still made me sad and angry at points. I actually gave a shit what happened to each character. They had arcs, imagine that. If you haven't watched it, you should. It is worth your time.
To be fair, the writer of the series has said that the story was intended to address class difference, specifically in the cut-throat version of capitalism practiced in South Korea. He stated that the seeds for the story were planted after the Great Recession, which hit SK particularly hard.
But, that being said, a critic who focuses entirely on that aspect of the story will miss out on a lot of other aspects of the story.
For those who have not yet dipped their toe into Korean dramas, this is fairly typical of the industry. It's usual for a drama series to address multiple different ideas rather than being entirely focused on a single concept. They often even cross over in genres. For example, Descendants of the Sun has elements of romance, comedy, intrigue, and action all together.
Dude. Why aren’t you making RUclips breakdowns? I want to hear more.
Doesn’t all art forms cross genres?? Or have elements from different genres?
So, Still woke. But much less than Hollywood
@@subifyouhatetiktokandreddit234 but much more heartfelt and it just feels right whenever they do it. It’s why ecchi anime exists and has a following, sure it’s basically just about animated titties, but, damn if they aren’t funny! Foreign movies and stuff in general are usually really good!
Well, this is why it's great writing.
Good writers can take a problem they observe in the world and tell it through compelling and realistic characters while not preaching their beliefs.
American movies tell their stories AND preach the message. This show presents circumstances that are certainly present under capitalism but it never takes a stance. You can watch the show and think it's a criticism of the system that _allows_ the poor to let their cruel nature get the best of them. Or you can view it as a show where the poor have a choice to face the consequences of their poor life choices or avoid those consequences at the expense of others.
The "Clause 3" makes me think the writers are a bit smarter than "capitalism bad." They understand that capitalism does offer a choice (albeit, a choice with two bad options) and that the "victims" of capitalism willingly participate in the cutthroat game to get ahead.
I really enjoyed the less theatrical approach and TOTALLY agree with you!
Yeah, they aren't afraid to show the flaws of the characters, including the main character.
Squid Game is bigger than itself now. It really is a morality tale for the next century...
@@LucianDevine the way characters look is also so much different. Women don't have perfect makeup all the time. Shoes are dirty... People look like they've been crying a bunch. The whole thing looks dirty and ugly at times. Just like real life... Hollywood films never suck me in because people fight like animals for 2 hours and come out looking like topmodels.
I just finished it last night and boy what a ride. I totally agree with your take on it and yea episode 6 really pulled at my heart strings. What blew me away overall was just how smart the writing was throughout.
loved a line from the pitch meeting:
"and where does the cop fall?"
"All the way into season 2 if necessary"
I'm all for watching whatever comes out of South Korea, they have an impressive catalogue in recent years. Train to Busan, Thirst, Parasite, The Wailing, The Host, Memories of Murder and the tv series, KIngdom, are some of the best things I seen recently, leagues above the crap Hollywood churns out. They seem to encourage writing realistic and compelling characters, and don't weigh the story down with "The Message", and I'm all for that. Oh by the way, if anyone who reads this has never seen a Japanese film called "One cut of the Dead", I highly HIGHLY recommend it. Don't read about it, it'll get spoiled, get past the first hour and it will be totally worth it. I can't recommend it high enough.
yes Parasite, The Host, Memories of Murder are great! you might like The Isle (2000) and 3 Iron
I saw the devil
South Korea have been doing it for years. Add to the list:
Oldboy (not the Hollywood remake...)
A Tale of Two Sisters
A Bittersweet Life
Save the Green Planet
Castaway on the Moon
Have you seen Sweet Home?
@@mellowstrangler
Sweet Home was decent, but pales in comparison to the Web Toon it originated from. The show started out strong then sorta petered out near the middle and totally fell on its face near the end.
It's obvious they didn't care much about wowing western audiences with star power when they have Lee Byung-hun, the most recognizable actor for most, walking around as an anonymous black mask and pretty minor character for most of the show.
Movies like this have fully convinced me to start looking outside of the Hollywood/Disney-China monster that is responsible for ruining movies in the past decade. Same with video games. As soon as you step outside of the umbrella of shit we're in, you start seeing quality content again.
I will say that TV shows have certainly held onto writing quality a lot better than the movie side of things though. Wonder why.
TV Shows often have the benefit of longer run times and allowing the writers to develop characters more. But in additon there is a hunger in streaming services to get more content so they are willing to take some risks. Especially internationally where it is much cheaper. Squid Game cost Netflix just shy of $22 million, good luck getting anything decent made in Hollywood for that money.
Low risk, high reward.
Finally got to watch this and I was so impressed. What a story! It was so heartbreaking imagining what these people went through, and I can totally sympathise with the character who survives at the end and how they felt about the money. Amazing show.
One of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
The only problem is that there’s going to be a season 2 and man did it feel forced at the last episode. Like you said, it’ll be a victim of its own success. Kinda like Westworld, should have been just one season.
Yeah I’m not sure if they can pull off season 2. There’s a similar Brazilian Netflix show called 3% and the first season was great but it kind of trails off from the second season.
Same happened for Stranger Things. Season 1 slapped, season 2 and 3 were pitiful.
Watch Alice in Borderland.
[SPOILER]
.
.
I don’t know why [so-and-so’s] mother wasn’t helped and why [you-know-who] was given away. Especially after a large time jump. I didn’t expect a happy ending, we were long past that, but it didn’t make sense to resolve it that way. I guess the mother could be dead, but the show didn’t give any reason to doubt what was said explicitly.
I wasn’t fond of the ending either. I think a change a few episodes into season 2 would’ve been a better approach. [The person] won the game yeah, but now they think they’re John Wick?
@@f4ptr989 Alice in Borderland is great
"We are Gganbu" ;__;
Damn mauler nice to see you again
Big fan 🛐
I'm so glad we finally get to like something!
Didn't they ruin his character?
review 1 hour long incomeing yayy
Squid Game is probobly the most well-edited show I've ever seen. Such craftsmanship. Those koreans really know how to make watching something fun.
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk
"I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life."
the central control, no guns, and lack of freedom made it communism. the writer was smart enough to make a great show but doesn't understand political systems.
@@MicahMicahel Apparently you don't know political systems either. What you describe is closer to Fascism
@@MicahMicahel "communism is when no guns"
@@MicahMicahel Dunning Kruger machine goes brrrrr
and instead he made a series about people in children's games killing each other. bravo!
I prefer straight talk in serious matters.
South Korean film making, saving television in the woke era.
ruclips.net/video/qobqGuLarNE/видео.html
The Japanese aren’t doing badly, either, but don’t tell the Koreans that… 😉
*Asia
This show had obvious woke undertones though
As an American, I hate American made media now - its all the same and they all pander to the Twitter crowd in fear that they will cancel them.
Watching characters that learn and build, character, is as refreshing as mountain snow.
Beautiful metaphor
Yes, it was. Only to have them get shot, smashed, stabbed to Death! Hot sun on mountain snow
Finished watching Squid Game a few minutes ago. I loved it.
It was innovative, intense, and emotional. ❤ I loved all the main characters. They were all so human and Episode 6 was one of the best episodes. The women were as realistic and well-written as the men, and I don't care what the harpy-journalists on Salon and Twitter say about it. In the end, they were all fighting to survive. Nobody was OP, flawless, or fearless. Not even the evil gangster guy was as tough as he wanted to appear. They were all HUMAN.
The only acting I couldn't really get into were the VIPs. Some seemed to be trying, others not as much, no offense to any of the actors, of course. The message was also a little ham-fisted, but it wasn't obnoxious like the current ones we see in most Hollywood movies and TV shows.
If Squid Game inspires more creative TV shows and movies here, that would be great. Not reboots or (unnecessary) sequels. Original content with great characters, great casting, and a great script.
Love having someone to read my mind and interpret it back to me. I'm such a lazy bum
This is all the confirmation I need. As a Korean dude, I couldn't be happier that The Critical Thinker just put on his stamp of approval on Squid Game.
@slaine's axe Absolutely. However, even someone like me could have never, ever imagined that Korean artists would win Oscars, have multiple Billboard #1 hits, and now have the world's most popular TV show. It's surreal, really.
@@koomaappa75 believe it man.
@@Jcg2nd BOLIEVE DAT
Anymore korean content you would recommend? I've watched parasite and afew of the zombie films(train to busun) etc.
@@adzgaming5324 hotel de luna , uncanny counter, sweet home, and Rugal
Another show I recommend is "Kingdom", set in the Joseon age. It caught my attention and surprised me from how good it was.
Kingdom is fantastic. Totally agree.
amazing production values, still waiting for the next season, I hope we get one, but seems like a very expensive show to make
Kingdom was such a different series, brilliant. Asian TV and movies showing the West how far they've fallen.
Kingdom has proven asia had already taken control of zombie genre yeah i still hate army of dead till todau
Definitely. Just when I thought the zombie genre was dead and over with, Kingdom re-invented it marvelously, and what's more they didn't drag it out into the slow, boring, irrelevant death of something like the Walking Dead.
Squid Game is proof - we don't need celebrities, we need actors.
I also appreciated how they had a realistic depiction of PTSD for the final winner.
He won the lofe changing money but was so traumatized his entire personage was changed
We need more shows like this. It's fucking amazing.
Look for corean dramas like Awaken and Beyond Evil. Once you get into it, there is no ending.
Give it about another 10-20 years this will be real live Gameshow. With the contestants being killed in real time to our sick enjoyment.
Honestly just looking at the clips in this video make my stomach churn and I generally enjoy all kinds of bloody and gory video games I think it's just the sick mindless killing of innocent people and not being able to do anything about it to stop it or avenge them that does it to me the same thing happened whenever I saw a purge commercial just thinking about the mindless cruelty makes me sick and unreasonably angry
It’s predictable to offensive levels
yep i can stop watch 1-9 ep 7 hours ago
sad if a group of leftists play the game they die in the first stage
The only bad part of this show is:
The VIP's English (If you watched it with English Subs in original Korean Dubs.)
My feelings exactly
I watched it in Korean with English subtitles. Much better. Edit- I mean the Whole Show was better, not the fat-ass veeps!!!
@@erikdeeNOSPELLSNO the vips spoke english in the korean version
"OoOhHhH, tHe rEaL siXty-ninE"
Yeah it's embarrassingly bad. Everything about the VIPs is cartoonish.
There's definitely still socioeconomic commentary at play here.
But does it make sense?
@@wolfiewoo3371 it does but that's easy. It's basic representation of the dog eat dog world of real life. Not really kind blowing at all.
@@Sanghelli I guess I can agree with that but, I've seen a lot of people using squid game to justify their communistic ideals
@@wolfiewoo3371 i mean it does, you see that when faced with a dire enough economic situation, people turn against eachother in a struggle for survival. The critique towards capitalism comes to the fact that these dire situations tend to happen more under that sistem. For example 6 of the worlds top ten most violent cities belong to my country, which has a capitalist economy.
@@axelflores5404 And the North Korea is one of the most peaceful ones. That checks out for those twitter "folks"
Loved this as with most Korean show's i've seen so far. Man you just take the words right out of my mouth. Korean stuff is so raw, real with n For anyone who enjoyed quid games should really check out some of the other Korean shows like My Name, Hellbound, All Of Us Are Dead, Kingdom and the other Squid Game like show Alice In Borderland to name a few. The main guy in Squid game "Lee Jung Jae" is one of the top Korean actors. He's made plenty of awesome movies which people should check out.
This has been one of the most refreshing things I've watch on Netflix this year! I even love episode 2 how they build up the characters so you felt attached to them.... It's sad, because Hollywood is going to try to remake this with more female empowerment. Can't wait to see the all women tug-a-war event 😒
No, it's going to be men-vs-women and all the men are going to shit themselves and lose. The women then team up and beat the game, kill the game-master and share the money.
@@srena.jrgensen224 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 that sounds about right! I think Hollywood has all the information they need to start filming! 😂😂😭😭😭
@@srena.jrgensen224 Then they'll make biscuits with their monthly leakage, for empowerment.
well the morons in hollywood are now trying to remake "Train to Busan" with american characters and story lines and i am 100% sure it will be garbage, first of all, the US doesn't have an important train system so maybe they will start by calling it "amtrak to jersey"? i don't know
@@artpena72 ohhhhhh my God. This is going to suck so badly 🤣🤣🤣
"You either win or die." Damn, they way how Drinker said that was boss.
Its massively Overhyped.
Massively. Overhyped.
Overhyped - massively.
It tells a lot that i didnt even realized there is such Hype and Fame
when i watched a 'How to beat'-Video. It was JUST ANOTHER Death-Game.
I saw countless of those and did not notice any superioty.
Excellent characterizations and motivations. I did predict the undercover cop and his relationship to that other character. Maybe they'll save that for future episodes. My only complaint was that the story could've been fleshed out over perhaps a few more seasons (before the season finale wrap-ups). I would've love to see more of the character's origin stories before the game and what led them there (sort of like 'Lost' when we had those character stories in the real world).
in shop class me and the boys had a backroom that we’d watch shows and movies in (we had 3 hours of shop) and it started out as us huddled around an ipad, sitting on our own separate stools, watching squid game, and it ended with us chillin on our bondage benches that we made specifically for our room watching the fast and the furious. and i wouldn’t have it any other way because that was an amazing year. this show has a soft place in my heart for setting up something amazing for the backroom bondage boys
Also glad to see a Korean thriller go mainstream such as parasite. Looks like they are finally getting the international recognition because they aren't afraid to take genres in a new direction.
@Gwyn and Gold "I saw the devil" maybe?
@@SQAProd masterpiece 👌
Parasite was a dumpster fire of a movie, I hated it
@Gwyn and Gold Train to Busan is excellent.
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i found watching squid game in korean with subtitles much better than the dubbed audio, it really fits the performances more and i enjoyed the show much more in its native language. man korea has some great film and shows coming out these days
>"i found watching squid game in korean with subtitles much better than the dubbed audio,"
This is likely a universal opinion; the dub is trash (or at least the English one is). Ffs, unless you're illiterate, just read the damn subtitles. The actors didn't put all that effort into both body and vocal performances just to have some goober in a sound recording booth ruin it because some people don't like *reading.*
@@TheSecondVersion The really really sad thing about this - While the dubbed versions of Asian cinema and TV are always worse, I recall a South Korean influencer of some sort coming forward and explaining how badly Netflix fucked up with the accuracy in the subtitles. They were so badly interpreted in places it completely changed the meaning of certain moments in the show
an old favorite of mine is the Sout Korean movie Old Boy 2003. It is quite a gruesome & twisted tale of revenge but certainly a whole lot better than the American... whatever that was
@@hmm7829 Yeah, sometimes the translators are limited by the amount of lines they can display in a short time and have to change the meaning to get it to fit. Other times they just change things because they think the audience is too dumb to understand a certain cultural aspect. And I'm sure at other times, they simply make mistakes themselves.
Well also these actors are fucking killing it and should have their performances seen for what they are in the original language.
Only now watching Squid Game after 4 months. Yep, this one came out of nowhere and blindsided me. I didn't think some foreign language show with an odd name like Squid Game would be any good, so I put this as something to watch later.
omg this show was AMAZINGG the experience of watching it for the first time is unmatched
Glad I didn't finish watching this video after the first 2 minutes and went and watched the whole series before coming back.
Yeah that would just be silly lol
@@in4mus85 I value the option of an alcoholic Scottish man over anyone else's and he has never failed to disappoint me.
I did the exact same thing. Lol. It had been awhile since I'd seen a show with this much genuine sounding praise. I'm glad I didn't spoil anything for myself.
Same same!
Same, immediately paused it, watched the whole thing, and came back to see... oh my god I'm so glad I didn't see all these spoilers!
I watched it with my father before the hype, really good stuff.
Then everyone heard about it... And i was very happy, the show really deserves the recognition its getting.
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I finally saw this and loved every moment of it!
The game when they were carving out the little designs out of the cake things and people were getting shot was most intense IMO.
Reminded me of the pressure during school exams: you're still struggling with that ONE question while everyone around you is putting down their pens.
I respect your opinion.... but the Glass Bridge takes the cake.
@@steviesmith4986 You had more options to succeed in that one, i.e. throw weaker or lighter people off or through the glass in front, convince dumber people to go etc.
The carving one you had NOTHING but your own ability to stay calm under pressure while gunshots were going off around you in close range and blood spraying everywhere, definitely more intense.
The Sugar Honeycomb game becomes more popular in South Korea's street vendor right now thanks to this series and it's called Dalgona
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Agree. The realism, diversity of the characters, and how they cope with crazy situations is really successful in this serie! Well done to the korean studios and beware America!
Isn't diversity supposed to be a bad thing?
@@hagdore no. Only Hollywood diversity crap is. Diversity is different from diversity crap.
Diversity crap os diversity for the sake of diversity, with no real meaning or added valeu to the story.
Diversity crap is political agenda.
Diversity is diversity.
@@hagdore By diversity, some people mean racial, or body shape, sexual orientation, or religious diversity, or combination of those (which is very shallow yo me).
For them, those characters in squid game are not diverse at all.
@@TheAllMightyGodofCod 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾💯💯💯. Thank you for calling out Hollywood’s diversity crap regarding their tv series and movies. The characters are one-sided, toxic, and mean-spirited jackasses with no sense of humor nor reality. And the stories are all the same with unneeded preachy messages. And why does western mainstream media focuses on someone with an illness but acts like an ash hole and refusing to get help, being a pop star, fighting a battle that only exist in their head, and one-sided relationships that just seem unfair, abusive, and toxic? My fault with this long run-on sentence in the form of a question.
“Characters that feel believable” shows the VIPs walking in. The VIPs displayed the worst acting and the worst dialogue I’ve seen in a long time.
They are truly awful indeed.
The VIPs were the weakest element in the series, almost (but not quite) bad enough to sink the series as a whole.
Yeah the cliched “Elite Rich White Men” reveal for the VIP’s and their cringe dialogue and acting nearly killed the whole show for me.
@@callmeviper7723 That's how people with that kind of wealth act though... Trust me I've seen it first hand. I've sat next to a table of stock traders in New York at one of my vacations and it's literally exactly how they talk.
@@EinBick it's unsettling when upper class is literally filled with moustache twirling archetypes
What a unique, innovative show. The acting is incredible and the writing leads to such emotional scenes.
and the characters… just wow
It completely ripped off an anime from 10 years ago called Kaiji.
@@Roflcrabs Thanks, I will watch Kaiji.
I actually really enjoyed that whole subplot with the undercover cop. I liked getting the behind the scenes look at what was going on in this organization. It was giving me Batman vibes when Bruce goes undercover to get intel.
I agree it does kinda end just abruptly but a second season could continue that storyline because we don’t know if his information got to the police or not.
I'm pretty sure they can do NOTHING about it, the organization is too powerful and owns everyone. Plus it's been the whole year- no one did anything
That cop should work for MI6 or FOXHOUND he was OP, until...
I agree, because they were realistic with his story line. The cop was never gonna be able to hold his own against the murderous org, him hiding and finding out secrets was the smarter move. I was really terrified for him the whole time, literally on edge. I thought it was a great sub plot.
@@DoubleO88 there were a lot of mgs references! The bit in the vents had me laughing
@@DominicMcCoy i literally said in my head Snake's line "a woman, not him" but this time, it was a woman in the vents lol
This has the feeling of “Battle Royale” for Adults…I love it!
I think that Battle Royale was already for adults despite having teenagers killing each other
I've not watched it yet but you might just have sold it to me 😃
the director cited it as one of his inspirations when writing the story back in 2008
Try "Kaiji" instead. Which squid game was definitely inspired by.
lol how the fuck was battle royal for kids?
Watched this after your recommendation and I’m glad I did. I agree with you about episode 6 and also think it’s one of the most gripping and poignant hour of TV I’ve ever seen.
I often don't leave a comment or like the video though both are well deserved. But I just wanted to say I did today and I wanted to thank you. you're the best
The best bit was no body forced them they could all quit if majority voted to and they went back to the game by their own choice.
Hell is definitely my favorite episode.
@@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343 agreed. Especially when 476 goes to the police with no proof of anything except the card
@@jmorton201 definitely I loved how got see the characters back stories understand why they did it!
@@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343 I thought the show was interesting by the first episode. Hell made it absolutely amazing.
Hell Is criminally underrated. It’s kind of amazing that the most violent episode is the one Where almost no blood is shed. How the real violence is the pain of the characters.
Episode 6 would not be the best episode if Hell didn’t set up everything perfectly.
What I found interesting was that everyone playing the game wanted to know what the next one was, so that they had an advantage. If they had only looked on the walls behind their bunks then they would have known the answer to that question. Very well done easter egg.
And none of us knew either, until after when it was pointed out to us. Hidden in plain sight indeed.
@@srena.jrgensen224 WHAT?! Now I have to go back and look!
@@erikdeeNOSPELLSNO if you watch the later episodes when there are only 3 left, you will see all of the games on the walls.
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The director himself said it was a critique of capitalism
This series genuinely made me uncomfortable at times. I absolutely loved it. I was fine with the ending with the exception of the sudden appearance of the cool-aid-hair. And he’s still apparently kind of a terrible dad. Lol
I quite liked that to be honest. It showed that even though Gi-hun has a tonne of money he isn't automatically a good person. And, from his perspective his daughter would be fine waiting for him longer whereas if he didn't attempt to stop the games hundreds more people would die.
The show was really rad in my opinion, episode 6 was a brutal experience to watch.
Alice in Borderland
Seen Alice in Borderland, that show was also really good and brutal I'm my opinion, particularly in episode 3 because that was really nasty.
@@siphiwekaunda4032 Liar game is the cleaner version. If you play your cards right, you can save your team. I liked the Japanese and Korean version.
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Watched episode 6 tonight, oof. That was tough, it's only tough if you're invested in the characters. They got that part spot on.
I mean even then, even without watching the prior 5 episodes, you can see the heartbreak and look of betrayal in people's eyes when they realise their final moments have finally come.
The scene between the immigrant and stock broker especially sticks, just from the performances alone.
@@cfdeers yeah, it's very well acted. That scene is so good.
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The way the fliipped over common sense was magnificent, especially the part about 069
Unfortunately, the show disintegrates after episode six.
"9 hours of fartin' in the tub". I laughed way too much at that bit.
The guards costumes is one of the most intriguing and sinister antagonist designs I’ve seen
I couldn’t care less for the elites and the front man, I like the chain of command, each shape with more sides the higher rank you are
The only thing I'd change about that is that I would have triangles at the top of the hierarchy. It just fits a bit better with the actual Squid Game itself and the final 3 thing.
Is the emblematic uniform mask-icon of the Unknown Grand Master of the Elites shaped like a Panopticon, then?
Yeah, the VIPs were lame. Weakest part of the whole series.