Squid Game (TV Show) Review

Squid Game (Season One, Nine Episodes, Netflix, 2021) 

I'm obviously late to the party on this one, but I finally got around to watching South Korea's entry into the Battle Royale genre. It definitely deserved the hype as I can't remember the last series I watched which played with my emotions and intellect as much as this one did.

By Battle Royale, I'm referring to the 1999 book by Kōshun Takami which invented the now-popular “Let's all murder each other for prizes!” genre. Notable entries include the 2000 movie of the same name, the Hunger Game series (first published in 2008), and Squid Game in 2021. So if you are looking for a shockingly violent critique of society seen through the lens of a murder competition? We can expect a new one to arrive about every ten years or so.

Squid Game takes the formula and puts a reality show spin on things, with the characters signing up to play a series of children's games with deadly consequences. Teams, alliances, secret challenges and all the other tropes of the reality genre make their appearance but fortunately the show aims higher than a simple Survivor satire. Instead it takes it's audience and characters through a series of gut-punching twists and turns that feels surprisingly packed even at eight hours split up over nine episodes. If I was to compare it to anything it would be early Lost before the ever growing cast and mysteries turned it from compelling to frustrating

Unlike Lost, Squid Game actually answers the questions that the audience raises. Why don't the players do X? What about Y? Why are the game-masters doing Z? The creators thought of these things as well and rather than paper them over with more, distracting mysteries they actually answer them. And after doing that they pile on more plot twists, but all of them make sense in the context of the show, unlike some of the “OH COME ON!” twists in say... Money Heist or late-season Heroes and Westworld.

If I'm comparing Squid Game to a lot of other shows? That's because Squid Game shines in comparison. It's a thriller done right. And if that's all it did it, it would deserve all the praise heaped upon it. But, it's also a Battle Royale show and that is it's own special thing. The audience is compelled to wonder not only how they would handle the physical challenges, but the moral ones as well. It's a crucible where character is revealed, and Squid Game has some great characters.

Our initial viewpoint character, Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae who I won't pretend I've seen before) does almost too good a job in the first episode portraying the sort of degenerate gambler who could easily vanish and not have the authorities concerned about his disappearance. It's actually a brilliant choice and without giving too much away while his arc may not be classically heroic? It's still a journey and we learn this man is just that. A fallible person who found life's circumstances more than they could handle. After the first episode you might decide you'll never root for him, and you might not, but you will understand him better as the series goes on.

The contestants are quickly whittled down but I do have to give shout-outs to Il-nam, the old man with no other place to go (played by Oh Yeong-Su), Deok-su, the gangster with a heart of poison (played deliciously and increasingly over-the-top by Heo Sung-tae) and Jun-ho, Republic of Korea's Super Action Police Agent Number One! (played by Wi Ha-joon). There's really not a bad performance in the bunch, and if you think there is? Just wait 15 minutes.

Speaking of which, this show is violent. Not John Wick violent or Kurosawa violent or John Woo violent with cartwheels and squibs and fountains of blood, but disturbingly close to the real world violent. Lots of people die in this show and it is depicted graphically on camera. People get shot in the head a lot and they don't die nobly. They plead and cry and beg for their lives and that's the point. The Squid Game (which by the way is named after a Korean schoolyard game whose closest equivalent was homophobically called “Smear the Queer” in my youth) takes advantage of people in bad circumstances and shows them no mercy. It makes sense since series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had to hock his laptop to pay his bills while writing this script, then spent ten years getting rejection, after rejection while trying to get it made. When Battle Royale came out it was considered disturbing, controversial and horrific. Now we are grading the genre on how well they criticize modern society without falling into parody.

(Gore warning. Gore is plentiful but brief, and unlike the real world? Bullets are wands of instant death. You won't be subjected to endless screaming as participants bleed out and/or choke on their own blood. I guess that's something we can look forward to when the next Battle Royale drops in 2030 or so?)

For those into non-gore visuals? You are in for a treat. Some impressive design choices upfront are honestly like few things we've seen before. The bland contestant costumes, the inhuman outfits of the game-masters and the innocent, pastel sets for the deadly children's games add up to a gripping mix of beauty, dread and shocking violence. The terrible threat of violence elevates even the most mundane activities into terrifying situations and the recurring use of certain motifs might change your opinion of certain classical themes forever. Time will tell, but Squid Game has a good chance of claiming Strauss's Blue Danube Waltz away from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

And switching back, not to say it's all horrific. There's plenty of twists and turns and thrilling victories, and to be honest? There are certain creators whose work clicks with me and I know we both read the same kind of stuff growing up. Squid Game, above and beyond it's social criticism, includes masked villains, secret islands, uniformed henchmen, frogmen, secret passages, even a monologue about how the bad guys are just trying to create a better world. Here's hoping that with his Squid Game success that creator Dong-hyuk can stretch his wings, because I am totally down for that kind of swashbuckling, comic-book action.

A second season is promised and while sequels rarely improve on the original I'm cautiously optimistic. There is a larger world to explore and while the games will undoubtedly return they don't have to be the whole focus. There is also an actual game show being worked on, which will somehow make the inspiration which focused on the horrific murder of desperate people for the entertainment of others wholesome and family friendly. Call me skeptical. But who am I to judge?

Additional notes:

• There's a surprising amount of competence porn going on, as in people who know what they are doing and doing it well. It's worth watching for that alone. And if you are into that? Watch Travelers, also on Netflix. Trust me on this one.
• If you are the least bit intimidated by the fact that this is a South Korean show? Relax. Dubbing has come a long way since 1970s Kung-Fu flicks. Besides you are probably old and watching with subtitles on anyway.
• You don't have to google exchange rates during the show. 1,000 Republic of Korea won is about a dollar. So 10,000 won is $10 USD, and one billion won is about one million USD. You can probably double that because things are cheaper over there. Or so I'm guessing from the price of a bus ticket mentioned on the show.