Squid Game

This series is perfect. It is one of those whose creators you will love for what they invented and how, and at the same time you will hate them for what they do to you. Did one character become your favourite? Likely is they only have a few minutes left to live, because Squid Game is uncompromising in that regard. All of the slightly more important heroes and heroines are absolutely brilliantly written, and the children's challenges where lives are on the line usually end in horrific carnage, but the players are forced to reflect on themselves and their characters begin to be revealed. And that's the real horror. The price of one's own and other's life, the price of money, the price of humanity… Everything is at stake, and how will it turn out? I dare say that the finale will surprise everyone. I probably wouldn't have needed a second series, I liked the ending the way it was, but since there will be one… Yeah, of course, I’m looking forward to it. (09/03/2023)

Yeah, a pretty cool Korean take on Battle Royale, Hunger Games, Saw, Cube, and Escape Room that goes out of its way to attempt some relatively adult social insight. But in spite of how serious it wants to look at times, the core of the whole thing is completely banal, and the execution of the action is quite logically haphazard in the details. That is fine with stuff like Escape Room (it's basically identical in concept), which is not trying to be anything other than a fun B-movie, but Squid Game wants to be more like Parasite and I found that quite distracting at times. And the awful line with VIPs is a chapter on its own, terribly cringe. In its strongest moments it’s excellent (the sixth episode in particular is amazing, though actually quite predictable from the beginning), but lame in its weakest. Either way, compared to last year’s Alice in Borderland, it’s light years ahead. (23/09/2021)

The plot is entertaining and it has catchy minimalist visuals. Plus, it is just the right length concerning the richness of the narrative it wants to present. I would perhaps criticize the over-predictability of the fate of some characters, and I think it really did not need the strange twist in the last episode and would have been better without it. Otherwise, this is really a decent show from South Korea. (18/11/2021)

A crossover of the motifs of Battle Royal and Saw themes, brilliantly transformed into an eight-hour collective trip through hell, all in an appealing colorful form with impressive sets and costumes, well-constructed characters and a sociological examination of their behaviour, imaginative games with more than one clever surprise and a sizable portion of blood and brutality. Dong-hyeok Hwang boldly combines all kinds of pop culture and genre trends in a commercial work for the masses and comes out on top. Episode 6 is an emotional knockout that I really didn’t expect here. The only stumble in the likelihood of the characters’ behavior comes in the final episode. It's also capped off with a slapdash would-be surprising point that contradicts certain previous events. (18/11/2021)

Squid Game may not look like it, but its means of expression say a lot in a small space. Primarily sociological, it examines characters with various bad backstories in an extreme setting, but does it with refinement and unpredictability. At times brutal splatter carnage, at times a slow burn of great emotion. A wonderful gamut of different fates, motivations and development of many characters, where no normal person seems to find their own, but in many situations it is hard not to sympathize with and root for many of them. A brilliant complex drama with at times quirky humour, poignant moments and unadulterated brutality, in a typically Eastern sprawling style. Must see. (01/02/2022)