Stars: 4/5
“Is this some kind of new pyramid scheme?” – Seoung Gi-hun
Throughout history, the public has always been captivated by competitions and game shows. In ancient Rome, gladiators and fierce warriors from across the world fought each other to the death for glory. The victors received bountiful riches for their accomplishments. The games were a spectacle to behold. Betting was allowed so that citizens could feel some gain or pain.
Nowadays, we view competition through sports, gambling and esports. None of which contain fatalities, but the spectacle has always prevailed because humans love to “just watch.”
Enter Hwang Dong-hyuk’s “Squid Game.”
Deriving its title from the children’s game played in South Korea, this bingeworthy nine-episode series from South Korea features a deceptively simple premise. It revolves around 456 financially unstable players from all different walks of life who all accept an invitation to compete for a mighty cash prize by playing six simple games. The catch: you lose, you die. Every player is worth ₩100 million (roughly $84,000) and each fatality adds to the piggy bank looming above the players in their quarters that equals ₩45.6 billion  ($38,393,239.20).
In essence, “Squid Game” is serialized lightning in a bottle. While the first two episodes may test the patience of some viewers, the show excels at balancing an addicting narrative, dynamic characters and a cutthroat criticism of capitalist society. Personally, I found it so engaging I finished the show in less than two days because once the games begin, it is impossible to not know what happens next. 
Beginning with a deadly game of “Red Light, Green Light” that features a mechanical, pigtailed girl that guns down players who move after the jangle is over, the contestants face six rounds of children’s games that are lethal, tense and emotional at times. The clinical executions and oftentimes demented violence is juxtaposed to colorful playground sets, teal tracksuits and the elusive guards who sport hot-magenta jumpsuits, faceless masks and submachine guns. The production design is a creative, visual feast for the eyes that is underscored by the savagery at play.
The series follows Seoung Gi-hun or No. 456, played by Lee Jung-jae, who unwittingly signs up for the games. He is a self-sabotaging chauffeur living with his mother and also struggling to provide for his daughter. Groups and alliances are soon formed which causes Gi-hun to quickly ally with other players, including a childhood friend, North Korean defector, dementia-stricken old man and Pakistani factory worker, in order to survive the challenging physical and psychological consequences of the games.
Despite all the horrific brutality, there is heart to be found in the macabre. It’s riveting to watch these characters go through the games, but the true power of “Squid Game” lies in its humanity and how people are corrupted by capitalism: the series’ true antagonist.
The show is an unquestionable commentary on capitalism and how the socioeconomic conditions perpetuated by the rich create these deadly scenarios where people fight to the death. Cash-strapped citizens, good or bad, are manipulated into terrible situations, such as playing children’s games like Tug of War to the death. It’s nothing new that Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning “Parasite” (2019) didn’t already demonstrate cinematically, but writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk delivers this message with unabashed sentiment and viciousness.
My hope for the show, which is now the most-watched series on Netflix, is that it will allow for audiences across the globe, and especially those stateside, to start expanding their viewing palettes. I hope that audiences will be open to watching more international feature films and television series as there is so much fantastic television and cinema that isn’t found in America. It’s amazing that an unknown television series with almost no A-list actors from South Korea has reached this level of popularity, so I just hope this will kindle a global phenomenon of more series like “Squid Game” becoming megahits.
The success of “Squid Game” stems from the fact that it captures the ubiquitous plight of those living in poverty through hapless characters worth rooting for and gripping visuals to boot. Its dystopian themes are universal to understand and deem the show worth watching. The games themselves are intense experiences that will have you glued to the screen. Just like the Colosseum attendees who watched the gladiatorial games of old, we are mere spectators to the white-knuckled competitive games of “Squid Game” where only the fittest survive and reap the rewards.