Squid Game Review: Dark, bloody quest for money but is there a season 2 for unfinished business?

Netflix’s mystery crime drama follows the story of 456 contestants with different backgrounds who were lured into participating in gruesome survival games, helmed and written by “Miss Granny” director Hwang Dong-Hyuk.

A secret dark society is running survival games based upon old traditional Korean children’s games, it turns out it was the VIP old man running the whole thing. He desired to pursue a company of players who has money that can’t comfort him.

Those who are familiar with the content of k-dramas, the South Korean entertainment industry have produced some of the finest thrillers and action series.

This Squid Game has garnered a lot of international attention, however, it’s dark and pretty depressingly violent. By luring already in debt individuals, a secret company has gathered people offering a grand price worth 45.6 billion won or $38 million USD.

But it is after the participation, they found out, the loser will be eliminated by killing! and the price money for the game will get increased.

After the first round of a brutal version of the game, Red Light- Green Light, participants were shocked and manage to convince the organizers to suspend the survival game by voting, and are sent back to their normal lives where the misery of living hood in poverty awaits for them.

But soon they are all back once again to compete in the survival games at the cost of their lives, with lust to get the big price money offered.

The various aspects of the lower class in Korean society are highlighted in the 9-episode series that’s why it is highly recommended for those who are already depressed, Don’t Watch Squid Games!

It was a surprise element to see a character being associated with Pakistan. Ali Abdul a Pakistani migrant who is struggling because of being an illegal immigrant worker.

Played by Anupam Tripathi, Ali’s character is a massive win for minority representation in South Korea, where foreign actors often only land minor roles, keeping in view how conservative Korean society is.

Read more: Netflix’s Squid Game is not Anupam Tripathi’s first K-drama

Usually Korean series consists of 16 episodes, however for featuring at OTT platform Netflix the makers might have kept it short or it was the cost of production that didn’t allow them to expand the series.

Reportedly, the production cost of Squid Games was a whopping 20 billion won, if divided equally, each episode will be about 2.22 billion won. Making it the fourth most expensive Korean series ever made.

Korean actor Lee Jung-Jae’s character in the Squid Game as Seong Gi-hun could be his best so far expressing a lot of emotions, portraying a chauffeur and a gambling addict, who lives with his mother and struggles to financially support his daughter. He participates in the Game to settle his many debts.

Despite the fact Lee Jung-Jae has always been impressive on the silver screen, the 2020 release Deliver Us From Evil, has been my personal favourite. 

And if you haven’t checked cast credits before watching the series, Lee Byung-hun’s entry in the 8th episode as the Front Man running the game will defiantly surprise you. Again if you are K-drama and film fan and know how many hits this guy has to his credit.

Though many would have thought that the man behind the mask would be Gong Yoo, the salesman who recruits participants for the Game.

Well, it turns out that the Guardian: The Lonely and Great God star just made a guest appearance in Episodes 1 and 9.

Well, there have been some discussions and claims the closed-caption subtitles in English for Squid Game are “so bad” that the original meaning is often lost.

I would personally agree with that. for instance, a Korean swear word whenever appears in the entire series, each time it has a different meaning written in the subtitle. and there is the word Hyeong. The word (for those who don’t know) in the Korean language is used by males to call their big brother or elder men in respect.

However, each time Ali called Cho Sang-woo  (played by Park Hae-soo the head of the investment team at a securities company, he is junior to Gi-hun and was a gifted student who studied at Seoul National University but is now wanted by the police for stealing money from his clients) ‘Hyeong’, you would see his name appearing on the screen. 

Our verdict, yes subtitles do change the original language.

The ending of the series seems like leaving the fans to wait if there is a season 2 for unfinished business!

Let us know in the comments how do you find Netflix’s Squid Game original series.