Squid Games Series Review

 I am not sure where I found the motivation to write this but well, I am here. I started seeing memes, tags and posts about this series two weeks ago, it was actually when I was about to uninstall Instagram to focus on school and my job but I failed. I would like to start by saying that I rarely watch series, I think it’s a big compromise that I am not willing to take but the peer pressure was so strong that it brought me here.

Pardon, my memory and inability to write Korean names, so I will name them ‘the guy’ ‘the girl ‘the old man’ and the likes. The first scene takes us to analyse the main guy's relationship with his mom. If you are familiar with Korean/Japanese shows that’s just how they are, they constantly scream like crazy and they have a very unique sense of humor. I have been watching K-dramas since 2012 and I appreciate their dark and weird humor.

You don’t really get a sense that he is the main guy in the first scenes (even though he is all we know so far) because one thing about Asian productions is that they are very good with twist/suspense. You can spend 30 minutes watching a character and then you find out the movie/series is not even about them and they are some kind of ‘building content’, background story or distraction.

They start by showing how he spends his days and you conclude that he is a looser, lazy and untrustworthy human being. He daily plays some kind of bingo or ‘bet games’ to try to get some money. Funny how the other day I was watching a crime investigation series and they mentioned that gambling can be as detrimental as drugs and alcohol. In the Wikipedia series bio, it stays that he is a driver but I think I missed that.

It’s interesting how during the games you see how lucky he is but in these first scenes they show us otherwise, he is constantly found in trouble. He had an awful day and then takes his daughter for dinner and that’s when I realized that he is actually a good person. She looked like she was about to reveal something to him but we never found out but I guess she was going to tell him that they were leaving soon to United Statdes. Her skin is so perfect, to be honest, most Korean have perfect skin, like babies, it is so soft that it makes them look young and you can never tell their age. He is lovely with his daughter and I started overthinking about how something was going to happen to her but thank God nothing did. I think his daughter is actually the main reason he joins the games.

While waiting for the metro to go home, he meets a random guy that invites him to play a game with him in exchange for money. I am sorry but I don’t get the game, I really don’t. After losing several times, he finally wins and gives the money to his mom, right? I am not sure if that’s what really happened because I watched it a few days ago and I don’t want to go back to confirm it.

Even though, I don’t remember much I can’t stop thinking about it. You know when you finish a book and your life doesn’t make sense anymore without the book? That’s how I feel. This week was terrible for me, I lost a dear friend and when I started watching the series, it felt like for two days I tele transported to a new world where my only happiness was to see the main guy win the games, and he did it, even though he lost everything. SPOLER!

The random guy tells him that there is more games like that, and that he could win a lot of money. A few days later he calls him and decides to join the unfamous ‘Squid game’. He is outside somewhere at night waiting for a car to pick him up. He gets to a place that is very bright, has a lot of beds and its crowded with people. He meets the number one player, a old man. I can’t say that I thought something suspicious about the old man from the start but the fact that he mentioned that he had a brain tumor, made me assume that it was going to be him and the main guy at the end and the old man would let the main guy win.

He also encounters his childhood friend and he is surprised he is there because he was very smart, went to a nice university and was doing well in life. The smart guy has this kind of sad, reserved, moody, arrogant and ‘I have a secret' kind of face and you wonder what he is going to bring to the table. 

They escorted them to the first game, I can’t remember if they ate before the game, but I recall that there were not a lot of rules being shared at that point. They don’t say much about the whole process, they just place people in a sort of back yard with a big doll standing in front of them. I recognize the doll from the memes, and I thought she would be a constant character in the series but that was the only time we saw her, thank God! The game is called ‘red light, green light’. The doll explains the game twice and it seems easy. They forgot to mention that if you lose you get killed. The first person gets killed and they panic, and a massacre installs. They soon realize that they shouldn’t try to escape it but to finish the game alive. The old man starts moving according to the instructions and they all try to imitate him, even though a few ones fail. The smart guy shares a few advices with the main guy and in another instance, the main guy is saved by Ali. Due to their support, they form a bond.

At least 100 people are killed in that game and they all decide to protest against it, claiming that the game wasn’t fair and bla bla. The smart guy quotes one of the game rules which is “if the majority decides to quit, they are free to go”. They organize a voting but before they do it, the guards announce the prize, which was a very shady move and people started having second thoughts. Still the majority votes to leave the game, and the old man, which is the last one to vote, votes to leave. It made me wonder if it was intentionally (even though everything is intentional lol) for he to later to say “I gave you guys a choice” . I think that he supporting people on leaving the game, makes him feel better about killing hundreds of people. SPOILER!

They leave the game, which is unbelievable, especially coming from people who just killed several people. You start to wonder why they freed them, and it makes you become paranoid about this whole thing. I mean an old man with terminal cancer, a ‘safe house’, child games, doesn’t is sound a bit like the franchise ‘SAW’? Wikipedia describes it as a ‘survival drama television series’, I never heard of the genre ‘survival’. Although they are fighting for their lives, this whole thing is so psychologically manipulative that makes you see it as a psychological thriller kind of series. 

Reality strikes…they are all back to the game of life and we see each storyline. The main guy’s mom is sick and doesn’t have much time; the smart guy tries to commit suicide; the girl, which I realized now that I never mentioned her, is trying to raise money for her to be the legal guardian of her brother; and Ali’s employer owes him money, so he steals from him, which it might be the rationale behind the writer's decision kill him. SPOILER! To be honest, every death in this series was well deserved except from the girl and Ali. 

You can tell that each lives are hell, and you realize that every single person that decides to return to the games, doesn’t care about life anymore, and they rather die at the game. Back in the game, someone mentions “most people decided to come back”, which means that some people didn’t, so the number was probably 200 and something. The participants are again escorted by the guards wearing pink uniforms to another lunatic cenario; they pass by colourful stairs accompanied by strange instrumentals. Being bombarded by so much colours coupled by the dystopian organisation of the secret place, makes me cringe.

The game resumes at the second game, which I thought it was very nice of them. These people are very hard to read because they kill people but they act like they are acting holy and fair. At this point you are given more information about the games, especially when the girl sneaks out to go spy on them and finds out they are using sugar for the next game. The girl tells the smart guy and the moment the game starts, he realizes what is the game about but doesn’t share any information with others. There you start to wonder what kind of person he is - someone who tried to commit suicide; who worries about his mom; who helped the main guy in the first game; or he is simply someone who withheld information.

This game takes place at an inspired playground. I never heard of such game but it looks like something that is originally played with wet sand or plasticine/jelly. What makes the game harder is the shape of the figures they use. The smart guy and the girl easily succeed the game, while the others struggle a bit. A guy who failed, ambushes one of the guards and ordered him to show his face. He removes the mask and under it, there is a young man, a teenager. From that scene, you start to see the guards in another light and you wonder if they were not just as desperate as the others who joined this torture.

All the main cast succeed, and they become a strong group. A new girl also joins the group and becomes close to ‘the girl’. I think it’s a bit weird how they have so much freedom at the dorm and they are able to go the bathroom and so on. However, their ability to move around and talk to others is to instigate them to plot against each other, and unfortunately, they do so.

The third game is ’Tug of war’, finally a game I know. They are all part of the same group. When they are about to start, the old man tries to share some tips but they all ignore him, apart from the main guy, who listens to him carefully. Actually, the main guy has been a good team player since the start, always checking on others and trying to be inclusive. I realized that the games are meant to test their characters. Every game, each person is tested in different ways.

The bad guy who leaves no room from introduction because his behavior is explicit bad, becomes friends with a doctor, who shares information about the games in advance because he is secretly helping the guards with organs trafficking. I forgot to mention that a police guy who followed the main guy to the secret place, infiltrated inside the game and is posing as one of the guards to find his disappearing brother. Did he disappear recently or years ago? It doesn’t make sense that he is only looking for him now since it is later revealed that he played in 2015. I don’t want to look for the answers for my questions because I will have to watch several youtubers and they will influence my review.

Anyways, they win the game thanks to the old man’s wisdom and the smart guy strategy. The fourth game was the saddest game because they all picked the person they trusted the most inside that hell and it turns out that this person will eventually die. This game was also major character assessment because the main guy choose the old man because no one wanted him and he turned out to be the luckiest guy. Even though the main guy tricked the old man a few time while playing with the marbles, you could see that he was heartbroken. I was a bit confused to what was happening, he had the majority of the marbles but still wanted to play one more time? Why? Was he trying to give the old man an opportunity to survive? 

The girls' scene were one of the most depressed scenes in this pool of despairing fates. They were both incredible cold, broken and had a ‘smart mouth’. Their goodbye was beautiful and delivered in proper ‘Asian fashion’, dramatic and melancholy. They shared their stories and after hearing the new girl's story, it was obvious that she was the next one to be murdered. And once again, you see that this whole thing is about characters and morals because the girl fought the new girl, and demanded her to play fair, despite the fact that her life was on the line.

On the other road, there is Ali and the smart guy and this was truly a life lesson. These two people are the kind of people that you meet throughout your life and they make you question everything. Ali represents people with pure heart, who don’t see evil. The smart guy is the kind of people that makes you question humanity. He tricks Ali in a such calculated and manipulative way that it actually makes you like the ‘bad couple’ more than him. Ali deserved better and twitter and Instagram are making justice for him lol.

Half of the people were killed in the third and the fourth game…now we are down to 16 people. I didn’t know that there were supposed to be just one winner but the fact that they mentioned that every time someone dies the prize increases, I knew the people competing would make sure less people were left. 

The fifth game looks fun but is just as deadly as the other ones. The main guy’s luck is just hilarious! From someone who’s life was a mess outside to be so fortunate inside of the games. Apart from not having his daughter and mother, I think his life was better inside that maniac sanctuary. He chooses the the number 16 T-shirt, which allows him to be the last to play, and successfully conclude the game with the girl and the ‘former smart guy’ turned to ‘evil guy’, after everyone has paved the way for them. 

The bad couple finally got what they deserved even though I think their death should have been more painful. I know, this series has made me so devious. A random guy who worked with glass for thirty years shows up and helps them. I enjoy when they win a game using a sort of skill or knowledge. The people in control realize that he can distinct the glass and turn off the lights. This move makes me wonder, if you can do that why not just kill them? The whole time they have been playing tricks and doing things to disturb them but in reality they can just end this. It makes it look like this game was created to favor a certain person chosen by them. Sometimes, it felt like they were doing everything to protect the main guy. Think about it! Why pretend to kill the old man, which is later found to be the person behind this, at the fourth game instead of killing the main guy?

Meanwhile, the infiltrated guy was about to kill a guard that he assumed was responsible for his brother’s death. The guard confesses that he killed a woman instead, he said “It was a girl…we raped her in turns…”. I think his confession was to once again justify another assassination. Whenever a good or seemed to be good character kills someone, they try to argument that the victim deserved it.

Back to the games, the glass guy is killed by the smart guy and there was no reason at all. At this point, we already know what kind of person the smart guy is. We are left with a killer, an injured girl and the main guy, so it is evident that the main guy is going to win. In spite of figuring out everything at this point, I could never predict what is coming next.

The girl was injured by the glass explosion. The main guy approaches her to find out how she is doing but she faints. He reaches the door to call the guards for help. It looks like I am narrating the scene but I had to share details because this was another level of evil. I thought I had watched enough painful scenes but this one cut me deeper than glass. It still hurts to think about it. When the main guy reached for help, he forgot what kind of people these people were. Why would they even help her when they killed approximately 400 people (assuming that a few people didn’t come back to the second batch)?

The main guy’s heart is the most rewarding thing of this series, and it’s the biggest lesson. We make the mistake of thinking that good people are the ones who are doing good in life, who have decent jobs and beautiful families. Good people…. can also be college drop-outs; drug addicts; broke; surrounded by trouble and debts; with broken family and the likes.

I still had hope when they opened the doors. I thought they were going to come up with some rule like “if a women reaches the top 3, she can be rescued or given medical assistance” something like that. When I saw the casket, I thought to myself “this series is a masterpiece”. I couldn’t predict a more hurtful and creative way for them to announce her death. They killed people like horror movies, but they carried their dead bodies in beautiful ribbon caskets like romantic movies.

The infiltrated guy manages to escape but is captured by the front man, who turns out to be his missing brother. I have a theory – since at the end we see that the main guy struggles to continue living like nothing happened SPOILER, I guess the ‘brother’ lol went through the same thing when he won the games. We already know he is a decent human because he gave his liver to his brother, so we can assume that he goes back and tries to revenge the people he lost, but instead he finds himself being drawn to the belief that the game is fair and works; and joins the old man. 

According to the old man'arguments, inside the game and the outside world are parallel, they take you the same destination. I think the series tries to show us that we are all trying to survive and provide for our loved ones, and in the process of doing that we can lose ourselves. Indeed, they still had a lot to live and lost their lives in seconds but what is time, really? Owing to the fact that we couldn't tell how much time they spent there and the common understanding that 'life is short', we can all agree that the Squid games are indeed a true representation of life, full of ups and downs; ironies and sincerities; evilness and kindness; haughtiness and intelligence; pride and shame; suicides and homicides. 

For some reason I thought there were five games, instead of six. The sixth and the final game is the almighty ‘Squid Game’. I didn’t understand the goal, just like I didn’t understand any of the games. I would lose every single game. I didn’t even pay attention to what was happening because I was still traumatized by the previous scene.

At this point, I don’t think they were playing anymore, they were just trying to kill each other. The main guy is able to knock out the smart guy but instead, he decides to end the game. After all he went through, he decides to save his childhood friend instead of taking the money. I was shocked just like the rich guys watching the game. Can we talk about the rich guys? They were drinking and laughing at people getting killed, sounds familiar? This whole thing felt like a representation of society, the people in power watching the ‘common people’ facing hunger, poverty, terrorism, corruption, disease outbreaks and so on…but camouflaged in childdren’s game.

The smart guy did the smartest thing he could have done, he killed himself. The main guy wins and leaves the game as a millionaire. However, he gets home and finds out his mom died. That’s the thing about life, you gain something, you lose something. 

A few months go by and he receives the same card that introduced him to hell. He meets the old man and he shares his views on humanity and lack of compassion of people. That’s the thing about people who like to play God, they think they know everything. One thing I learned about life is that we know nothing… quoting and loosely translating from Portuguese “Nobody has the truth, what we know, are hunches…” (anonymous). But one thing we do know, this was a genius creation. Well written, well played…

Lunga Izata