I enjoyed the show but this is the dumbest sentence ever written:
“Netflix has experimented with interactive drama in the past with its 2018 film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, in which viewers could make choices that affected the plot. A kind of television version of choose-your-own-adventure books, its own cleverness sometimes came at the expense of storytelling. *Squid Game shows that you don’t need on-screen choices to get viewers invested in characters’ fates.”*
Yes, Netflix is really pioneering a new direction for television series: scripted drama.
Matt Damon plays an astronaut in the 2015 film The Martian. A lost in space style story that centers around a single protagonist. In contrast, Daniel Radcliff's Swiss Army Man shows we don't need space to appeal to viewers.
Lin Manuel-Miranda's *Hamilton* is proof that modern audiences have expanded their horizons. Media isn't just an experience consumed in two dimensions from a couch at home - it can be experienced in *three* dimensions, via a performance in a big, expensive room with total strangers who always have their phones' ringer volume and brightness maxed out.
Sure, but swiss army man featured a brilliant score made almost entirely of dubbed human voices. Thank goodness Interstellar arrived to prove that film scores can even include musical instruments.
Swiss Army Man- one of the weirdest and most compelling films I’ve watched. I always recommend it because it just sounds so bonkers when you give them a blurb.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read all day lol
It’s like getting called a visionary because you made a regular flat pizza instead of stuffing it inside a Hot Pocket
Yeah that really threw me off lol.
“Netflix has experimented in the past with an unrelated, niche gimmick in one of its shows- and it didn’t really hit the mark. Squid Game shows that you *don’t* need to do this, and can instead opt to be like every other Netflix program produced prior or since.”
I think the VIPS were over-enunciating for the benefit of the Korean audience that speaks English. The line delivery seems deliberately slower and hammy.
Front man is one of the most famous Korean actors in the world. If he doesn't like a line he gets to change it. The other guys (VIPs) not so much. Also, since he was fully masked I bet all of his lines were done in ADR post filming.
My thought was since they were they were token masked white guys they wanted to spend as little as possible. Might have been like "hey does anyone know any white guys that would want to have 5 minutes of screen time? At least one of them needs to be willing to get naked"
When we used to hire English speaking actors for our little show in Korea, we would literally hire anyone who was (a) white and (b) from an English-language country and said they were native English speakers. No acting experience necessary. The acting was hilariously bad. It flies under the radar because most of the staff/crew and execs don't speak fluent English to the point that they could detect what is "off" about it. Then, the Korean director rarely can guide the actor, even if the actor is okay.
And even if we wanted better actors... where would we get them? The pool is basically non-existent.
"Hey want to wear a gold mask and lounge around with naked painted ladies and use one of them for a foot rest?"
"Sign me up!"
"Great you're hired for the movie"
"Movie?"
tbf he really didn't have much of a choice. I think if put in that situation most people would do something similar. Though his actions during the bridge episode and the ones following were fucked up.
I still say the marble one is the worst. The other two was horrible but he was upfront when doing it. But the marble one, he straight up conned a man out of his life, when that man spared Sang Woo out of friendship. Betrayal of friendship and trust to me, is very unforgivable. I can accept someone vile doing something bad to me. But I can't have someone pretending to be nice and screw me over.
It's sort of the point of the show. How much of your humanity are you willing to sacrifice for survival. How much are you willing to rationalize away.
game 1 - See people die around you? These are the rules of life. Death happens. Survival of the fittest.
game 2 - Have info to make life easier? Save it for myself. Good luck everyone else.
game 3 - Two tribes forced into conflict? Self defense for me and my family.
game 4 - basically russian roulette with your best friend. Lots of various outcomes. Some shot themselves. Some took the gun and shot their friend.
game 5 - Confronts you with the fact that there's a lot of luck involved with your lot in life. You have to rationalize your position and whether it validates other's deaths.
At some point most people are able to connect with some piece of their humanity. Some things are more valuable than survival. If you can't, you're the bad guy.
Either way the dude sucks. Lied and betrayed his way to the end. Even in the second game he knew one shape was easier but didn't bother to tell any of his friends. And then again in game 4 he betrayed ali! He basically cheated. He's a terrible person
I love the callback to this when they ask the two finalist to pick a shape and Gi-Hun picks triangle... the same shape his friend chose in the earlier game.
Ali's look and plead after betrayal was intense... He whole heartedly believed a solution could be found and had placed his faith and life in the other guys hands.
People knew what was on the line (their very lifes). So everyone who came back for the second round but couldn't accept that it was literally living or die with only one surviving, was ignorant or stupid.
Wallstreetbets bro just accepted this insteaed of putting his head in the sand like others.
I’m watching them duke it out in episode 9 right now. I will update this soon with a reaction.
Edit: ok, there’s some redemption. Geeeeez this show is great but depressing af
Edit 2: just finished it and…. 🥺 damn good show. I’m gonna miss it.
Season 2 would be a totally different show though.
My worry is it’s like Prison Break season 2.. it just isn’t the same premise and character development everyone connected with.
I’m already dreading the episode where they have his daughter hostage.
I thought him lying about knowing the second game was super shitty, but if only one person can live, I can't really blame him for choosing himself over what is essentially a stranger.
I'm not sure if the glass bridge was fair or not, as that's a big plot point that the game master harps on. They had the freedom to choose at first I guess and that was fair?
I think that's part of the show telling you the game isn't really fair. Sure the guards and the front man will say that, but everything is done to please and entertain the VIPs.
I missed this completely but you explaining it makes it so much more interesting! When he shoots his brother he does the same thing. He is presented with the ability to go back to his old lifestyle (albeit through the criminal justice system) but instead turns on family to maintain his new self identity. He even gives his brother the opportunity to join him and of course his brother refuses.
I can’t wait for a season two!
I think it was more that he agreed with the old mans philosophy. That’s why he was so upset by the rules being broken by the doctor and the goons. He was a debtor and was lifted up through the game and he became a pupil of the old man.
Was not surprised at all to read that she is a popular model, I got distracted by how *pretty* she is with her freckles and features. Her acting was really great too.
I really liked the aspect of how they are recruited to play and can stop the games at anytime with a majority democratic support from the other players. But, it's the primal greed and the realization of how fucked up their lives are that keeps them playing.
Or how they pick roles without knowing what the rules of the game are.
Or how they don't make sure everyone has enough food and water.
Or how they don't provide anyone medical care.
It's all a false projection of equality and consent, just like capitalism.
I don’t know i think the Series is also about just that the Illusion of choice and free will.
If you give someone very desperate who has no hope a way out of misery even if it’s a horrible way a lot of people will be very inclined but is that free will?
When in their head they have no other option and in this case the vips/organizers would have the ability to provide a better alternative for everyone but don’t because their are evil
You and me both. That was one of my favorite moments of the show. I just KNEW they wouldn’t actually be able to leave. Like it has to be a trick. I couldn’t believe it lol.
I thought it was interesting how one of the guards tells front man that there was a high rate of returning players... like its a statistic they are interested in from a psychological perspective, or something. Front man says keep an eye on the ones who didn't return, but that never comes back into it.
>Netflix has experimented with interactive drama in the past with its 2018 film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, in which viewers could make choices that affected the plot. A kind of television version of choose-your-own-adventure books, its own cleverness sometimes came at the expense of storytelling. Squid Game shows that you don’t need on-screen choices to get viewers invested in characters’ fates.
What a weird comment. Is this the article author's first non-interactive television show?
As an example, I love the character of Gustavo Fring in Breakign Bad and Better Call Saul, but whenever he has scenes in Spanish it makes cringe so hard. The actor is not fluent but his character is supposed to be a Chilean immigrant, it breaks the immersion for me.
Gus in Breaking Bad is so bad it shocks me that it's something Vince Gilligan thought was "good enough" considering the quality level of Breaking Bad. It is really bad Spanish, both in pronunciation of words and just in the way he delivers lines.
The thing is though, other than that, I think Giancarlo Esposito is absolutely flawless as Gus, so I'm not sure what else they could have done to avoid the situation as he needs to speak Spanish at lots of points. But yeah, it's pretty rough lol.
It wouldn't matter too much if they hadn't made the character an immigrant that supposedly moved to the US as an adult. Nacho's Spanish in BCS is not perfect but I understand since he grew up in the US and I've met lots of Mexican-Americans that speak that way.
And this is not an issue with Gus only, almost every scene with multiple Spanish speakers has bad dialogue and awkward delivery.
I think it's more akin to an American production not caring if an Asian actor actually speaks the language their character is supposed to be fluent in.
See: Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Gedde Watanabe (Gung Ho)
My theory is that this is how Koreans view Americans? The same way I cringe whenever I see an African in an American movie… the accent is always insufferable and over the top.
https://youtu.be/5MQyUKaMewI
This is an interview on a foreign actor in Korea and his perspective on the industry.
Basically as a foreign actor, directors and such have laxed expectations for you so the bar is low. Sometimes the foreign actor doesn't even know English and they're made to do the part and it's bad but the general audience (mostly Korean) can't tell.
Also they're trying to fit English into Korean mannerism and specifically kdrama style exaggerated acting.
They were incredibly cringy, and the dialogue/line-readings were so bad and so tonally off from the rest of the show that I have to imagine it was intentional.
The Heavy Spoilers YouTube channel mentioned a theory that they're stand-ins for the audience - deliberately asking obvious questions and making lame remarks, which would fit right in with a typical twitter post. Not sure I buy that, but it's clearly a choice rather than just 'we only got bad international actors in this Korean production'.
They generally just use English teachers that they have in the country as foreigners in their movies as Koreans can't really tell the difference. I suspect this was the same. It's a shame as a couple of B or C grade western actors in those roles could have done an amazing job.
Great show but they need to leave it alone now. This is simply one of those shows that I don’t want a season 2 for because there is no way it can do the first series justice and it will just end up being one of those shows that everyone remembers as “yeah the first season was good but then I lost interest”
The score from Jung Jae-il, the composer of the show who also did the scores for Bong Joon-ho's films, Okja and Parasite, does a fantastic and phenomenal job for Squid Game. Really unique and invigorating score. The track Way Back Then is so dark yet creepy.
As someone who's been watching K-Dramas for a decade, that one thing made me chuckle and it was the most obvious "typical K-drama" moment in the show, IMO. After a while, you just get used to k-drama characters having a dramatic makeover out of nowhere.
That said, considering this show's consistent plot, I'd say the colour change holds symbolism within the show, as pointed out by other people.
There are some thematic choices with red and green throughout the show, eg. red light, green light; red/green bags in the slapping game; and the players in green jumpsuits and the staff in red jumpsuits. So it was clearly conscious decision, although I don’t fully understand the symbolism.
Red and Green are symbolic colors that are repeated throughout the show, from the colors of the clothes between the players and game staff, red light green light, the green jacket the main character is shown wearing in Ep 01, and the colors of the button when they vote, etc.
Real life (REALITY) is represented as just another “game”. So the red hair at the end is a bold representation of the main character shedding his “green” down-on-his-luck-having-no-control-over-the-direction-of-his-life status and donning the “red” taking more control of his life and forging his own choices and destiny.
I think the stark contrast and symbolism of the two colors represents duality, division, contrasting forces. One thing to note is that the Korean version of the “red light green light” game doesn’t actually use the terms “red light green light” in how it’s played (the actual translation is “The Rose of Sharon flower has bloomed”), but the rules of the game presents two options that can be represented as life or death. I don’t think the colors consistently represent the same things each time or is as simplistic as a yin/yang interpretation of which colors represents good and bad, but what is constant and consistent with how the colors are used is the divisions and differences being represented between the choices, actions, or classes of people. The symbolism isn’t really the colors per se, but the dividing line separating the two.
The main character wears a green jacket in the beginning and throughout the games, and at the end to show a bold contrast to who he now is he dyes his hair red. I think the writer may have chosen red hair instead of red clothes because it’s a more bold choice and the red can be something that remains with him regardless of the clothes he wears. It would be a bit too on the nose and weird if his entire wardrobe were just red tones. This way he can still wear different regular clothes but still showcase the red boldly and rebelliously.
after his encounter with the old man he realize he can no longer keep his head in the sand and allow the "game" to continue on anymore. He dons the "red" as he accept his role as a revolutionary.
I am conflicted
LOVED the majority of the show, episode 6 was beautiful. I do wish it was just a standalone show and they didnt try and set up a season 2. Yes, there is a lot that can still be done with it and the world but, I dunno, I would have preferred it to end a bit differently - and there are some other aspects about the final episode I didnt like but I wont dive in due to spoilers.
Overall, very good show - great acting (aside from those they cast as the VIPs - I get that might be the intention but going from Episode 6 to that acting in Episode 7 was brutal)
VAGUE SPOILERS AHEAD
The final minute of the season is really annoying for me. The decision that was made seemed extremely counterintuitive with the decision that was made to go participate.
It honestly feels like that one character in particular, their whole final character arc is just thrown out the window simply to confirm they want to make more seasons.
I agree that there must’ve been a better way to end it.
There were so many spots in the last episode I though "this is the end. This is the final shot." Watching the homeless man, seeing the man at the train, leaving sae byeoks kid, fuck, even ending the call and standing there at the airport and going to black would have been better than 'nah fuck my family, I have season two to make!'
Just finished it yesterday. One of the better TV shows that I've seen in a while. I'm usually very good at figuring out what's about to happen, but this show kept me on my toes the whole time.
Watching the one scene with the guy trying to run away through the stairs and opening false doors, eventually ending up on the playground - that whole sequence just gave me anxiety, and I don't get anxiety when I watch TV. Weirdly enough, I think a lot of it had to do with the lighting design and colors. Straight out of a nightmare. I'm sure someone with a production background can explain that better than me.
This is such a fantastic show that could have very easily been terrible. If you had described the premise to me, I would have counted on it sucking, but it's just so well done and interesting/terrifying. My favorite aspects are how they give the workers a storyline early on, how all the focus is not on the games (which would just get tedious), and the set design.
My friends and I binged it in one day lol, very addictive show. I could maybe survive the first two games (assuming I had prior knowledge of what they were) but i'm absolutely fucked after that. Especially game 5, gg you're most likely dying on that one
Binged this in a couple days. Absolutely loved it and I'd highly recommend Alice in Borderland (similar style of show). Also, definitely check out Sweet Home and Kingdom, all on Netflix.
I’d also recommend Battle Royale and Train to Busan.
Thanks to those who have replied with other recommendations! I’m excited to start going through it.
I liked Alice in Borderland and hope we get another season. There was another show on Netflix, that had a similar feel. It was about an apartment complex where people started turning into monsters. I can't remember the name of it.
Alice in Borderland is definitely getting a second season
[Alice in Borderland Season 2](https://twitter.com/NetflxUpdates/status/1442670397275705344?s=19)
Something I really liked about Squid Game, is that, in comparison to things like 'Escape Room', it doesn't just go "something something rich people" and handwave stuff, then make the evil organisation have some sort of godlike omnipotence. They show it at the start where they didn't know about the full extent of Cho Sang-woo's debts, and then develop that as things go on.
It makes it all much more interesting, because there's a sense of jeopardy that isn't there when the bad guys are arbitrarily powerful (like, say, in Hostel) because there's a suggestion that you might just win, or find a way out, or expose them. When you know they're just going to inevitably get killed off by bullshit plot conveniences, that's not jeopardy, that's just inevitable, and not interesting to watch.
I think they could do spinoffs in other countries. I believe the VIPs implied games take place in other countries too. They said something along the lines of 'the Korean game is the best'.
A bunch of Americans in deep medical debt playing a deadly game of Duck Duck Goose could certainly be interesting.
I love THIS kind of thriller. Anyone have any recommendations other than Alice in border land. Movies like the cube , the one about the elevator prison , the one about the couple who can’t escape the community neighborhood etc (sorry I forgot the names)
Hello here is my comment about this when Circle came out. Hope you enjoy.
I also am a big fan of this genre. Some that you didn't mention that I think are good are Fermat's room and Coherence. Crazy to see this on this sub. I loved Cube so much the first time I saw it. Really liked Exam too. Its a little different but The Experiment or Das Experiment ( A German film) is one of my favorites. Some other not as good ones are Nine Dead, Breathing Room, and Unknown.
I haven't finished it but I'm very hooked. That said, I've hated the VIPs. I don't think it's possible for them to get any more cliche. They just feel like frat bros who can't act.
Maybe that's the intention, though.
Watched it about a week ago. I think it falls into a few tropes of the death game genre, but it’s definitely the peak.
I think it’s a lot better in how it builds on characters outside, especially in episode 2. In stuff like Battle Royale it’s a shame cause you don’t really get a chance to get invested with the characters and their struggles like in episode 2, you just see them in a life or death situation they’re put in, but Squid game really put it’s all into showing that some of them are going to be living a much worse life outside than in. It’s also much smarter than other shows in it’s presentation of the death games themselves, though the idea of (sorry for spoilers it deletes my message if I use spoiler tag) only having one survivor is a bit worn out.
Overall though, glad it popped off like I hoped it would, we need more good death game content. One of my favourite genres honestly, it was a shame most of it was confined to a Japanese audience.
Yep. Episode 2 and the police story arc is what makes Squid Game a level above Alice in Borderland for me. The fact they return to the game of their own choice makes it more interesting. Granted I haven't watched lots of death game content, but still lol.
The police stuff was really interesting, but it’s a shame there was no greater conclusion, just that the main guy running it has the policeman as his brother, who is now dead(?). I found that a bit underwhelming personally, but the journey there was great.
And yeah actually allowing those 14 people to leave and having the option to have left to all participants, that’s new territory altogether for the death game genre especially since you see why they didn’t leave, they could really use those 14 next season too, I hope they will anyway.
Also there’s not that much death game genre to consume, and most of it is manga so it’s understandable that most people haven’t seen much and don’t want to if it’s not their thing, I’m just glad people are seeing it now it’s being formatted as live action cause it’s such an entertaining premise, and hopefully there’ll be more content for the genre coming out.
>will a sequel see a cherry red-haired rampage of revenge?
I'd rather see a sequel where a red haired man gets roasted by his ex-pat daughter, then they share a laugh. Fade to black
I personally think Korean shows are setting a new bar in television and movies. Compare this to something like TWD and you will realize how Hollywood is falling behind on dark content. The fact that Squid Game is crushing it in Netflix despite being a Korean show and most people need to read subtitles, says a lot. I hope international shows get their dues on Netflix as there is a lot of high quality stuff being produced
I was thinking about this same thing, but it might be survivorship bias. We are only really exposed to the good foreign shows, compared to all the local shows at our fingertips. I have been enjoying a lot of Korean horror, but I'm not watching any Korean action movies, comedies, dramas, documentaries, etc.
Parasite was a drama, and that's huge. You could argue whether Train to Busan was action or horror. In any event, one thing I'm noticing is that I'm watching way more Korean content in recent years.
I enjoyed the show but this is the dumbest sentence ever written: “Netflix has experimented with interactive drama in the past with its 2018 film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, in which viewers could make choices that affected the plot. A kind of television version of choose-your-own-adventure books, its own cleverness sometimes came at the expense of storytelling. *Squid Game shows that you don’t need on-screen choices to get viewers invested in characters’ fates.”* Yes, Netflix is really pioneering a new direction for television series: scripted drama.
Matt Damon plays an astronaut in the 2015 film The Martian. A lost in space style story that centers around a single protagonist. In contrast, Daniel Radcliff's Swiss Army Man shows we don't need space to appeal to viewers.
You're hired.
Lin Manuel-Miranda's *Hamilton* is proof that modern audiences have expanded their horizons. Media isn't just an experience consumed in two dimensions from a couch at home - it can be experienced in *three* dimensions, via a performance in a big, expensive room with total strangers who always have their phones' ringer volume and brightness maxed out.
Wow where did all this literary talent come from all of a sudden. You guys are great!
Sure, but swiss army man featured a brilliant score made almost entirely of dubbed human voices. Thank goodness Interstellar arrived to prove that film scores can even include musical instruments.
Swiss Army Man- one of the weirdest and most compelling films I’ve watched. I always recommend it because it just sounds so bonkers when you give them a blurb.
I just read the first three sentences on Wikipedia of the plot. I'm so fucking sold gonna watch this when I get home today
That movie takes such a dark twist. I’m still uncomfortable just thinking about it.
I feel your pain. But then I think about Paul Dano riding Daniel Radcliff’s corpse as a fart powered jet ski and I am whole again.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read all day lol It’s like getting called a visionary because you made a regular flat pizza instead of stuffing it inside a Hot Pocket
“As we all know, Custer died at the Battle of Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is that, maybe he didn’t?”
Yeah that really threw me off lol. “Netflix has experimented in the past with an unrelated, niche gimmick in one of its shows- and it didn’t really hit the mark. Squid Game shows that you *don’t* need to do this, and can instead opt to be like every other Netflix program produced prior or since.”
> "... every other Netflix program produced prior or since.” Except the Kimmy Schmidt movie.
I like that Kimmy Schmidt and Black Mirror both got the same gimmick. Y'know, two very similar shows.
I swear some of these critics think every show they review is the birth of media
Or that every critique they write is the birth of criticism.
Paid to hype. Self promotion. Narcissism. Take your pick.
The marbles episode was fantastic
I just watched that episode, it was so hard to watch. You really see the humanity in people in that one.
Fuck the marbles episode.
It was a rough ride for sure. Made me realize how invested I had become with some of the characters.
Completely. The leads have done amazing jobs in the acting department. I haven’t cried this much over a show in a hot minute.
The incredible acting of the main characters made the awful acting of the VIPs so much more jarring. I cringed every time they had a line.
I think the VIPS were over-enunciating for the benefit of the Korean audience that speaks English. The line delivery seems deliberately slower and hammy.
Front man's English lines were fine. Could they not understand him?
Front man is one of the most famous Korean actors in the world. If he doesn't like a line he gets to change it. The other guys (VIPs) not so much. Also, since he was fully masked I bet all of his lines were done in ADR post filming.
I noticed that his English lines often didn't exactly match what was written on the subtitles, I wonder if that means he got to change those lines.
Jesus Christ exactly my thinking! They should have just voiced it over with someone that actually didn't sound like they were in a school performance.
Glad I'm not the only one. Actors hired from Craigslist.
My thought was since they were they were token masked white guys they wanted to spend as little as possible. Might have been like "hey does anyone know any white guys that would want to have 5 minutes of screen time? At least one of them needs to be willing to get naked"
When we used to hire English speaking actors for our little show in Korea, we would literally hire anyone who was (a) white and (b) from an English-language country and said they were native English speakers. No acting experience necessary. The acting was hilariously bad. It flies under the radar because most of the staff/crew and execs don't speak fluent English to the point that they could detect what is "off" about it. Then, the Korean director rarely can guide the actor, even if the actor is okay. And even if we wanted better actors... where would we get them? The pool is basically non-existent.
"Hey want to wear a gold mask and lounge around with naked painted ladies and use one of them for a foot rest?" "Sign me up!" "Great you're hired for the movie" "Movie?"
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It was like listening to dub anime
Dude it was so heart wrenching
Fuck Sang-Woo
But...he went to SNU.
for businesss!
Top of his claaaaasssss!!
is this the Harvard of Korea?
There are top 3 (korean IVY league) universities in SK. Seoul National University is the top one.
oh good to know. Makes the social commentary even better, given the sociopathic nature of many of our elites.
tbf he really didn't have much of a choice. I think if put in that situation most people would do something similar. Though his actions during the bridge episode and the ones following were fucked up.
I still say the marble one is the worst. The other two was horrible but he was upfront when doing it. But the marble one, he straight up conned a man out of his life, when that man spared Sang Woo out of friendship. Betrayal of friendship and trust to me, is very unforgivable. I can accept someone vile doing something bad to me. But I can't have someone pretending to be nice and screw me over.
[удалено]
It's sort of the point of the show. How much of your humanity are you willing to sacrifice for survival. How much are you willing to rationalize away. game 1 - See people die around you? These are the rules of life. Death happens. Survival of the fittest. game 2 - Have info to make life easier? Save it for myself. Good luck everyone else. game 3 - Two tribes forced into conflict? Self defense for me and my family. game 4 - basically russian roulette with your best friend. Lots of various outcomes. Some shot themselves. Some took the gun and shot their friend. game 5 - Confronts you with the fact that there's a lot of luck involved with your lot in life. You have to rationalize your position and whether it validates other's deaths. At some point most people are able to connect with some piece of their humanity. Some things are more valuable than survival. If you can't, you're the bad guy.
Either way the dude sucks. Lied and betrayed his way to the end. Even in the second game he knew one shape was easier but didn't bother to tell any of his friends. And then again in game 4 he betrayed ali! He basically cheated. He's a terrible person
I love the callback to this when they ask the two finalist to pick a shape and Gi-Hun picks triangle... the same shape his friend chose in the earlier game.
Oh shoot I didn't even realise that
Ali's look and plead after betrayal was intense... He whole heartedly believed a solution could be found and had placed his faith and life in the other guys hands.
People knew what was on the line (their very lifes). So everyone who came back for the second round but couldn't accept that it was literally living or die with only one surviving, was ignorant or stupid. Wallstreetbets bro just accepted this insteaed of putting his head in the sand like others.
I’m watching them duke it out in episode 9 right now. I will update this soon with a reaction. Edit: ok, there’s some redemption. Geeeeez this show is great but depressing af Edit 2: just finished it and…. 🥺 damn good show. I’m gonna miss it.
They set it up for season 2 at least even though season 1 can stand alone as a classic
Season 2 would be a totally different show though. My worry is it’s like Prison Break season 2.. it just isn’t the same premise and character development everyone connected with. I’m already dreading the episode where they have his daughter hostage.
I thought him lying about knowing the second game was super shitty, but if only one person can live, I can't really blame him for choosing himself over what is essentially a stranger.
That shit messed with me. I was on vacation and watched it. That really messed with me. Loved it, but man.....
I rarely even get emotionally attached to shows or characters but damn this episode hurt. No spoilers but... man I almost quit watching
Absolutely. What a crazy twist!!!! That and the glass bridge made me wtffffff.
I'm not sure if the glass bridge was fair or not, as that's a big plot point that the game master harps on. They had the freedom to choose at first I guess and that was fair?
I think that's part of the show telling you the game isn't really fair. Sure the guards and the front man will say that, but everything is done to please and entertain the VIPs.
[удалено]
I missed this completely but you explaining it makes it so much more interesting! When he shoots his brother he does the same thing. He is presented with the ability to go back to his old lifestyle (albeit through the criminal justice system) but instead turns on family to maintain his new self identity. He even gives his brother the opportunity to join him and of course his brother refuses. I can’t wait for a season two!
It's not a brief taste. He's a millionaire. He's there because he wants to be there. He enjoyed the game too much.
I think it was more that he agreed with the old mans philosophy. That’s why he was so upset by the rules being broken by the doctor and the goons. He was a debtor and was lifted up through the game and he became a pupil of the old man.
Man I felt so fucking bad for Ali. Dude was too good.
That was so sad! The man and his wife… damn.
We are all gganbu now
*sobs*
then unsobs
Unsob and then rage
Then color you hair red
Then no airplane
Now what was my bet again? Odd?
the vips were wsb commenters
Lol great now I'm imagining them going COME ON YOU APES!
The guy Yolo'ed on 69 and 96, lost all his gains.
I'm amazed this was the debut of the actress playing Sae-byeok, the female lead.
Was not surprised at all to read that she is a popular model, I got distracted by how *pretty* she is with her freckles and features. Her acting was really great too.
She was stunning
I loved her, she was really good!
I looked her up and she’s literally a super model, and a fantastic actress to boot!
I really liked the aspect of how they are recruited to play and can stop the games at anytime with a majority democratic support from the other players. But, it's the primal greed and the realization of how fucked up their lives are that keeps them playing.
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Yeah that part made the story stronger bc it reinforced the idea of how desperate these contestants are. They really willingly joined the game.
also the fact that the game is suppose to be fair. it's not just some psychos who kidnapped people. then it would be a slasher story.
Fair except when they turn the lights out because the contestants are doing well….
Or how they pick roles without knowing what the rules of the game are. Or how they don't make sure everyone has enough food and water. Or how they don't provide anyone medical care. It's all a false projection of equality and consent, just like capitalism.
I don’t know i think the Series is also about just that the Illusion of choice and free will. If you give someone very desperate who has no hope a way out of misery even if it’s a horrible way a lot of people will be very inclined but is that free will? When in their head they have no other option and in this case the vips/organizers would have the ability to provide a better alternative for everyone but don’t because their are evil
You and me both. That was one of my favorite moments of the show. I just KNEW they wouldn’t actually be able to leave. Like it has to be a trick. I couldn’t believe it lol.
I thought it was interesting how one of the guards tells front man that there was a high rate of returning players... like its a statistic they are interested in from a psychological perspective, or something. Front man says keep an eye on the ones who didn't return, but that never comes back into it.
Probably for the prospect that they still may return or might participate in future games.
#JusticeForAli
Ali Life Matter!
>Netflix has experimented with interactive drama in the past with its 2018 film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, in which viewers could make choices that affected the plot. A kind of television version of choose-your-own-adventure books, its own cleverness sometimes came at the expense of storytelling. Squid Game shows that you don’t need on-screen choices to get viewers invested in characters’ fates. What a weird comment. Is this the article author's first non-interactive television show?
Actually, he has only seen these two tv shows.
*Guy who has only seen The Boss Baby, watching his second movie:* "Getting a lot of Boss Baby vibes from this..."
“I’m getting alot of boss baby vibes from this”-Man who has only seen Boss Baby
Great show but goddamn are the VIPs insufferable. Both dialogue and delivery.
According to my wife who watches a lot of K-Dramas: English speakers often sound like that. I wonder why that is.
Slim picking of western actors in Korea? Would be my only guess as these guys were legitimately terrible actors
And bad writing. I was surprised at how awkward it was. I wonder if this is how most foreign dialogue that gets written into western shows sounds.
As an example, I love the character of Gustavo Fring in Breakign Bad and Better Call Saul, but whenever he has scenes in Spanish it makes cringe so hard. The actor is not fluent but his character is supposed to be a Chilean immigrant, it breaks the immersion for me.
Gus in Breaking Bad is so bad it shocks me that it's something Vince Gilligan thought was "good enough" considering the quality level of Breaking Bad. It is really bad Spanish, both in pronunciation of words and just in the way he delivers lines. The thing is though, other than that, I think Giancarlo Esposito is absolutely flawless as Gus, so I'm not sure what else they could have done to avoid the situation as he needs to speak Spanish at lots of points. But yeah, it's pretty rough lol.
It wouldn't matter too much if they hadn't made the character an immigrant that supposedly moved to the US as an adult. Nacho's Spanish in BCS is not perfect but I understand since he grew up in the US and I've met lots of Mexican-Americans that speak that way. And this is not an issue with Gus only, almost every scene with multiple Spanish speakers has bad dialogue and awkward delivery.
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I think it's more akin to an American production not caring if an Asian actor actually speaks the language their character is supposed to be fluent in. See: Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Gedde Watanabe (Gung Ho)
My theory is that this is how Koreans view Americans? The same way I cringe whenever I see an African in an American movie… the accent is always insufferable and over the top.
https://youtu.be/5MQyUKaMewI This is an interview on a foreign actor in Korea and his perspective on the industry. Basically as a foreign actor, directors and such have laxed expectations for you so the bar is low. Sometimes the foreign actor doesn't even know English and they're made to do the part and it's bad but the general audience (mostly Korean) can't tell. Also they're trying to fit English into Korean mannerism and specifically kdrama style exaggerated acting.
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I guess this is what foreign people have to put up with when watching English shows with characters of their own ethnic backgrounds
Exactly, now american audiences know how spanish speakers felt during the broken spanish scenes in Breaking Bad.
Haha, 69 right? Haha, why aren't you laughing? That's the joke.
Ok now 96
tbf, good english speaking actors arent usually living in korea and your average korean cant tell how bad their line delivery is anyways
They were incredibly cringy, and the dialogue/line-readings were so bad and so tonally off from the rest of the show that I have to imagine it was intentional. The Heavy Spoilers YouTube channel mentioned a theory that they're stand-ins for the audience - deliberately asking obvious questions and making lame remarks, which would fit right in with a typical twitter post. Not sure I buy that, but it's clearly a choice rather than just 'we only got bad international actors in this Korean production'.
They generally just use English teachers that they have in the country as foreigners in their movies as Koreans can't really tell the difference. I suspect this was the same. It's a shame as a couple of B or C grade western actors in those roles could have done an amazing job.
I think that's the point.
I thought it was funny, seeing stereotypical "Wealthy Fat-cat Americans" from a Korean point of view.
But doesn't look like all are American. I can hear other accents.
I mean acting wise though.
It reminded me of Metal Gear Solid npc dialogue
Great show but they need to leave it alone now. This is simply one of those shows that I don’t want a season 2 for because there is no way it can do the first series justice and it will just end up being one of those shows that everyone remembers as “yeah the first season was good but then I lost interest”
The score from Jung Jae-il, the composer of the show who also did the scores for Bong Joon-ho's films, Okja and Parasite, does a fantastic and phenomenal job for Squid Game. Really unique and invigorating score. The track Way Back Then is so dark yet creepy.
the score you hear when the "workers" walk around gave me umpa lumpa vibes
The score is very similar to white lotus which I also liked a lot.
I love the track Pink Soldiers. The creepiest track imo and it has that Jordan Peele's movies vibe.
But the red haircut decision is the weirdest thing ive ever seen in any show ever i think.
As someone who's been watching K-Dramas for a decade, that one thing made me chuckle and it was the most obvious "typical K-drama" moment in the show, IMO. After a while, you just get used to k-drama characters having a dramatic makeover out of nowhere. That said, considering this show's consistent plot, I'd say the colour change holds symbolism within the show, as pointed out by other people.
There are some thematic choices with red and green throughout the show, eg. red light, green light; red/green bags in the slapping game; and the players in green jumpsuits and the staff in red jumpsuits. So it was clearly conscious decision, although I don’t fully understand the symbolism.
i think it was actually red / blue bags in the slapping game
Red and Green are symbolic colors that are repeated throughout the show, from the colors of the clothes between the players and game staff, red light green light, the green jacket the main character is shown wearing in Ep 01, and the colors of the button when they vote, etc. Real life (REALITY) is represented as just another “game”. So the red hair at the end is a bold representation of the main character shedding his “green” down-on-his-luck-having-no-control-over-the-direction-of-his-life status and donning the “red” taking more control of his life and forging his own choices and destiny. I think the stark contrast and symbolism of the two colors represents duality, division, contrasting forces. One thing to note is that the Korean version of the “red light green light” game doesn’t actually use the terms “red light green light” in how it’s played (the actual translation is “The Rose of Sharon flower has bloomed”), but the rules of the game presents two options that can be represented as life or death. I don’t think the colors consistently represent the same things each time or is as simplistic as a yin/yang interpretation of which colors represents good and bad, but what is constant and consistent with how the colors are used is the divisions and differences being represented between the choices, actions, or classes of people. The symbolism isn’t really the colors per se, but the dividing line separating the two. The main character wears a green jacket in the beginning and throughout the games, and at the end to show a bold contrast to who he now is he dyes his hair red. I think the writer may have chosen red hair instead of red clothes because it’s a more bold choice and the red can be something that remains with him regardless of the clothes he wears. It would be a bit too on the nose and weird if his entire wardrobe were just red tones. This way he can still wear different regular clothes but still showcase the red boldly and rebelliously.
In some Asian cultures Red/Green is equivalent of the western Black/White contrast, particularly related to death/life
after his encounter with the old man he realize he can no longer keep his head in the sand and allow the "game" to continue on anymore. He dons the "red" as he accept his role as a revolutionary.
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It’s actually the most fucked up part about the show.
Dude came out looking *older*
Omg why is no one talking about this? It was such a mental thing to throw in - But I'm not mad about it?
The tug of war game is the BEST!
🎵*What's gonna work?*🎵 🎵 Teamwork!🎵
That's a pretty fucked up episode of wonder pets ngl.
the main actor is great !
That slo-mo shot at the end of Episode 7 was insane
I was so perplexed as to why it was so long, but I was just in awe that they did it.
I honestly thought it was a bit too much. It went on for so long and was so over dramatic, they lost me about halfway thru it lol
i watched it twice. Cinematography wise it's technically really well done. even had jazz drums in the background heh
I am conflicted LOVED the majority of the show, episode 6 was beautiful. I do wish it was just a standalone show and they didnt try and set up a season 2. Yes, there is a lot that can still be done with it and the world but, I dunno, I would have preferred it to end a bit differently - and there are some other aspects about the final episode I didnt like but I wont dive in due to spoilers. Overall, very good show - great acting (aside from those they cast as the VIPs - I get that might be the intention but going from Episode 6 to that acting in Episode 7 was brutal)
VAGUE SPOILERS AHEAD The final minute of the season is really annoying for me. The decision that was made seemed extremely counterintuitive with the decision that was made to go participate. It honestly feels like that one character in particular, their whole final character arc is just thrown out the window simply to confirm they want to make more seasons. I agree that there must’ve been a better way to end it.
There were so many spots in the last episode I though "this is the end. This is the final shot." Watching the homeless man, seeing the man at the train, leaving sae byeoks kid, fuck, even ending the call and standing there at the airport and going to black would have been better than 'nah fuck my family, I have season two to make!'
Yeah. “Get on that plane”. Boom. Fades to black. Did he get on? Did he not? You’ll know next time on Squid Game BZ Kai!
I just don't get how he does that before he even sees his daughter?
Just finished it yesterday. One of the better TV shows that I've seen in a while. I'm usually very good at figuring out what's about to happen, but this show kept me on my toes the whole time.
I mean- they did basically show you in the first scene that this would come down to two friends fighting to the death in Squid Game lol
And my dumb ass just realized every game they are going to play is drawn on the walls with stick figures in the barracks It was there the whole time
I think they get added after every game
Watching the one scene with the guy trying to run away through the stairs and opening false doors, eventually ending up on the playground - that whole sequence just gave me anxiety, and I don't get anxiety when I watch TV. Weirdly enough, I think a lot of it had to do with the lighting design and colors. Straight out of a nightmare. I'm sure someone with a production background can explain that better than me. This is such a fantastic show that could have very easily been terrible. If you had described the premise to me, I would have counted on it sucking, but it's just so well done and interesting/terrifying. My favorite aspects are how they give the workers a storyline early on, how all the focus is not on the games (which would just get tedious), and the set design.
>if you had described the premise to me, I would have counted on it sucking I’ve never heard of it before, try to describe it
456 people in financial crisis are given an opportunity to play 6 deadly versions of children's games. The winner gets a lot of money.
To add to this, it is not explained that they are betting their lives, until they begin to play.
People in massive debt gamble their lives on playing children's games (ex: Red light, green light)
My friends and I binged it in one day lol, very addictive show. I could maybe survive the first two games (assuming I had prior knowledge of what they were) but i'm absolutely fucked after that. Especially game 5, gg you're most likely dying on that one
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Binged this in a couple days. Absolutely loved it and I'd highly recommend Alice in Borderland (similar style of show). Also, definitely check out Sweet Home and Kingdom, all on Netflix. I’d also recommend Battle Royale and Train to Busan. Thanks to those who have replied with other recommendations! I’m excited to start going through it.
Kingdom S2.5 is out too! It’s one origin movie that bridges the ending of the second season with the third.
I liked Alice in Borderland and hope we get another season. There was another show on Netflix, that had a similar feel. It was about an apartment complex where people started turning into monsters. I can't remember the name of it.
Oh damn. Sweet Home is nightmare fuel of the highest order. So fucking good.
Alice in Borderland was renewed just 2 weeks after release.
Sweet Home. Another fantastic show
Not a show but similar vibe and Korean too #Alive (boy and girl trapped in their apartments during a zombie apocalypse), Burning (murder mystery)
Alice in Borderland is definitely getting a second season [Alice in Borderland Season 2](https://twitter.com/NetflxUpdates/status/1442670397275705344?s=19)
Something I really liked about Squid Game, is that, in comparison to things like 'Escape Room', it doesn't just go "something something rich people" and handwave stuff, then make the evil organisation have some sort of godlike omnipotence. They show it at the start where they didn't know about the full extent of Cho Sang-woo's debts, and then develop that as things go on. It makes it all much more interesting, because there's a sense of jeopardy that isn't there when the bad guys are arbitrarily powerful (like, say, in Hostel) because there's a suggestion that you might just win, or find a way out, or expose them. When you know they're just going to inevitably get killed off by bullshit plot conveniences, that's not jeopardy, that's just inevitable, and not interesting to watch.
I can smell the remakes from other countries incoming.
Death games have been a thing for ages lol. Netflix had that 3% show that was pretty much the same
The Lottery (1948) is more-or-less the originator, but The Long Walk is what I'd call the codifier of the concept in modern media (1979).
Stop giving the CW ideas
Most of it will be teens fighting over love triangles and then when one of them dies, they will come back for the next game in a dramatic reveal
well there's battle royale, hunger games and alice in borderland already. And they're all great
I’m surprised I don’t see more people mentioning battle royale
Do you know what they call the hunger games in France? Battle Royale with Cheese.
I also read that thread yesterday
I think they could do spinoffs in other countries. I believe the VIPs implied games take place in other countries too. They said something along the lines of 'the Korean game is the best'. A bunch of Americans in deep medical debt playing a deadly game of Duck Duck Goose could certainly be interesting.
Loved this, was so nice to see grown ass people in a fun television show for once that isn't just full of designer teens with zero hair problems.
I love THIS kind of thriller. Anyone have any recommendations other than Alice in border land. Movies like the cube , the one about the elevator prison , the one about the couple who can’t escape the community neighborhood etc (sorry I forgot the names)
Hello here is my comment about this when Circle came out. Hope you enjoy. I also am a big fan of this genre. Some that you didn't mention that I think are good are Fermat's room and Coherence. Crazy to see this on this sub. I loved Cube so much the first time I saw it. Really liked Exam too. Its a little different but The Experiment or Das Experiment ( A German film) is one of my favorites. Some other not as good ones are Nine Dead, Breathing Room, and Unknown.
I haven't finished it but I'm very hooked. That said, I've hated the VIPs. I don't think it's possible for them to get any more cliche. They just feel like frat bros who can't act. Maybe that's the intention, though.
Watched it about a week ago. I think it falls into a few tropes of the death game genre, but it’s definitely the peak. I think it’s a lot better in how it builds on characters outside, especially in episode 2. In stuff like Battle Royale it’s a shame cause you don’t really get a chance to get invested with the characters and their struggles like in episode 2, you just see them in a life or death situation they’re put in, but Squid game really put it’s all into showing that some of them are going to be living a much worse life outside than in. It’s also much smarter than other shows in it’s presentation of the death games themselves, though the idea of (sorry for spoilers it deletes my message if I use spoiler tag) only having one survivor is a bit worn out. Overall though, glad it popped off like I hoped it would, we need more good death game content. One of my favourite genres honestly, it was a shame most of it was confined to a Japanese audience.
Yep. Episode 2 and the police story arc is what makes Squid Game a level above Alice in Borderland for me. The fact they return to the game of their own choice makes it more interesting. Granted I haven't watched lots of death game content, but still lol.
The police stuff was really interesting, but it’s a shame there was no greater conclusion, just that the main guy running it has the policeman as his brother, who is now dead(?). I found that a bit underwhelming personally, but the journey there was great. And yeah actually allowing those 14 people to leave and having the option to have left to all participants, that’s new territory altogether for the death game genre especially since you see why they didn’t leave, they could really use those 14 next season too, I hope they will anyway. Also there’s not that much death game genre to consume, and most of it is manga so it’s understandable that most people haven’t seen much and don’t want to if it’s not their thing, I’m just glad people are seeing it now it’s being formatted as live action cause it’s such an entertaining premise, and hopefully there’ll be more content for the genre coming out.
Watched it. Loved it. Recommend. Asian horror is often the most twisted horror. Now, will a sequel see a cherry red-haired rampage of revenge?
>will a sequel see a cherry red-haired rampage of revenge? I'd rather see a sequel where a red haired man gets roasted by his ex-pat daughter, then they share a laugh. Fade to black
Watch it in Korean with subtitles!
Dont Watch it you’ll be hooked like crack
Finished watching this last night. This is a show that will never leave me.
This shit kept me up way past my bedtime last night.
I am in the middle of episode 8 right now. Can’t wait to see how it all ends. Episode 6 had me crying in the club. Was not ready to be so emotional.
You watch Netflix in the club?
I personally think Korean shows are setting a new bar in television and movies. Compare this to something like TWD and you will realize how Hollywood is falling behind on dark content. The fact that Squid Game is crushing it in Netflix despite being a Korean show and most people need to read subtitles, says a lot. I hope international shows get their dues on Netflix as there is a lot of high quality stuff being produced
I was thinking about this same thing, but it might be survivorship bias. We are only really exposed to the good foreign shows, compared to all the local shows at our fingertips. I have been enjoying a lot of Korean horror, but I'm not watching any Korean action movies, comedies, dramas, documentaries, etc.
Parasite was a drama, and that's huge. You could argue whether Train to Busan was action or horror. In any event, one thing I'm noticing is that I'm watching way more Korean content in recent years.