By now, I guess most of you would have known or watched this Netflix series that has gone viral since middle of last month. You would have already seen people sharing content related to a large creepy female doll or sugar honeycomb cookie which were featured in this series. Titled ‘Squid Game’, it is a South Korean survival drama television series of 9 episodes broadcast by Netflix. It is the first Korean drama to top Netflix’s charts globally.
I joined in the party (don’t want to be left out as the series has been a surprisingly massive-hit worldwide) by binge-watching the entire series in two days in my previous weekend. I must say that the series is very fun and exciting to watch but I felt it is slightly overrated. I got hooked to it immediately after the end of first episode though when the first game concluded.
If you are not aware, the series tells the story of a group of debt-ridden 456 people who are invited to participate in a mysterious survival game (consisting of 6 children-themed games in total) that could win them the prize of 45.6 billion Korean won. However, they did not realize that they will be killed if they lost in the game. The series starred Lee Jung-jae, O Yeong-su, Park Hae-so, Wi Ha-joon, etc.
The series no doubt achieved success due to its creative concept. Who would have thought of turning children games into violent and bloody life-and-death situation. The scenes when the games are being played are so tense and got me glued to the screen while holding my breath. It is that intense (especially the glass floor and the tug-of-war games)! The cinematography and the set design deserve huge praise. The hidden details (contrasting colour of outfits of the participants and games staff, painting on the wall in the participants’ room, plot twists, etc) are brilliant and intriguing too.
The main cast bring life to their respective characters to the point that you felt them (and deeply understand their stand or choice) as the story progresses where hard decisions have to be made. The series also taught us a lot of valuable and meaningful life lessons that reflect the somehow hard reality of this world. There are still some poor aspects to the series such as the awful acting and dialogue by the Western actors as the VIPs, some unanswered loopholes and unexplained background/details in the story. Since there is no plan for a sequel to it, this series should have been better with few additional episodes to sort those issues out.
That’s all for my review to ‘Squid Game’. I would rate it a total of 8.5 out of 10. A great, solid and engaging series that deserves (and got its) attention but I felt it is overhyped and slightly overrated (as the series still has its set of flaws…but its creative concept simply overpowers almost everything for general audiences, hence its current massive success and popularity).
(Images in this post are from various online sources)