Netflix’s Hit TV Series, Squid Game, Has Viewers Intrigued

In an age when the modern consumer is not easily amused, it’s hard to capture viewers’ attention but Netflix’s original series Squid Game has done just that. 

The show is on track to become the streaming service’s most-watched series ever. It has been viewed by 111 millions accounts since debuting on Sept. 17.

It’s also number one on Netflix’s Top 10 list in 94 countries and is the platform’s first-ever Korean series to reach number one in the United States.

Exploring the theme of debt, greed and desperation, viewers follow protagonist Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-jae), a middle-aged dad, who lives with his mother and is inclined to do anything for money.

As a result of his gambling issues, he is in debt and can’t provide for his daughter.

When he is approached by a man at a train stop who promises him a big pay day if he wins a “straight forward” game, he accepts.

What initially seems like a quick way to earn a huge sum of money against a group of competitors, soon turns into a nightmare.

The game features 456 debt-crippled contestants competing in children’s games like tug of war and red light, green light but there’s a catch: if they lose a game, they pay with their life.

The incorporation of debt and the lengths greed takes people to is an interesting concept to explore using a battle royale format.

Director Hwang Dong-Hyuk is making a statement about human nature with Squid Game. The players are given a choice to quit early and leave, but they have nowhere to go and no one to ask for help. 

“This is a story about losers,” Dong-Hyuk told CNN. “Those who struggle through the challenges of everyday life and get left behind, while the ‘winners level up.'”

We see competitors killed with gunshot wounds to the head, uncomfortable sexual situations and organ harvesting.

 Squid Game reveals how desperate people do desperate things. It delves into the darkest depths of the human psyche. 

 Netflix’s series tears the curtain from in front of you and shows us characters like Cho Sang-Woo (Park Hae Soo), who many of my friends believe has “done nothing wrong.”

 Sang-Woo goes from being this incredible business student who loses all of his money by gambling it away to this cold-blooded murderer who stops at nothing to win the prize money.

 I believe he’s the most human character in the entire show. Most of the people I’ve spoken to identify with him the most. They understand why he does what he does given the circumstances. 

Dong-Hyuk knows this and made him the antagonist as a lesson to teach us not to conform to the greed within human nature, and has Gi-Hun, the protagonist, win to promote the opposite.

Squid Game is a quick watch. It’s only nine episodes. You won’t regret it.