Squid Games on Netflix - World's most watched series

[packman]

A hyper-violent, dystopian Korean thriller, you know that these Squid Game fan theories are a bit like a drug. The show has a remarkable way of gnawing at your brain. Everything about Squid Game just sucks you in from the start, starting at the premise in the Red Light, Green Light episode: People in debt “disappear” to a mysterious island where they bet their lives playing children’s games in order to win a big, gross pile of cash.

With that comes greed, betrayal, heartbreak, jealousy, and the whole spectrum of human nature at its ugliest.

Some are calling it “dystopian,” but the reality is that Squid Game is really a “what if” mortality tale around the idea of money and the very false premise that it solves all your problems.

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Started watching a few days ago - yes, it is violent and unsettling, but damn fasinating in relationships formed during the games, the corruption of decent morality, and the power that money has on one's life and soul. In addition, good acting.

Overview- WARNING contains spoilers:

https://brobible.com/culture/article/squid-game-fan-theory/

[NewDayOranges]

1. Both of my daughters have been hooked

On this show since they discovered it last Saturday...

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. What is the point of this series?

Inquiring minds &c. Five minutes in I was grossed out and changed to something else.

[leftstreet]

4. Entertainment?

That's why most people watch shows, movies, read books, go to sports games...

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. I was NOT entertained

I repeat, I was grossed out.

[leftstreet]

7. Oh

well it's a hard-hitting morality drama for sure

[Jilly_in_VA]

9. Whatever

Back to my medical dramas for me.

[Sympthsical]

5. It's about what unfettered capitalism does to the bottom rungs

The circumstances they're put in, the things they have to do to survive, the relationships they form, the choices they make.

For example (not too spoilery), one character is in their situation becomes the company they worked for was destroyed and looted by upper management who then placed all of the blame on the workers. There's a storyline about not being able to afford healthcare. Not being able to afford caring for a child, etc.

All the issues the poor face, and how cruel it is for them to endure the games of the rich and powerful above them.

Even the villain (who I don't know, as I'm only on episode 7) has his own weird little method and ideology to what he (claims he) is doing.

It's resonating with people.

[Sympthsical]

3. Just finished episode 6 last night

Going to try to get through the rest tonight. Surfing the Internet is becoming impossible in avoiding spoilers, and I feel like half the new memes I see are coming from the show.

It's pretty interesting. I've seen a lot of K Drama (an ex was a Korean immigrant, and it's literally all he watched). It hits all the beats. But there are a lot of hooks here, where I'm dying to know, "Where'd that person go?! Why isn't this person dead yet?! I haaaaate them." Easy to get invested, easy to follow.

And it is very much anti-capitalist, but I have some theories about who the powers behind it are (we'll see if it pans out). Hopefully, I'll have time to finish it up tonight. But it is really interesting how much of Korean television and film is focused on the class inequality. I mean, that was pretty much the entirety of Parasite.

But my favorite K Drama is still the K2. It's on Netflix. It's like a political thriller, 16 episodes. Great fight choreography for a tv show. Plus, I developed a serious thing for Ji Chang-wook because of that.

[oregonjen]

8. Haven't started Squid Game yet

My favorite K-drama is Crash Landing on You. Yeah, I like rom coms and used to watch Japanese dramas, got hooked as an exchange student over there, then lived there for years. Japanese dramas pivoted and don’t have the same recipe they used to have. Memories of Alhambra was an interesting take on AR with the power of greed and revenge. Many years ago, my husband and I got hooked on Winter Sonata. It was a huge hit in Japan, too. We still have the cd soundtrack.

[tulipsandroses]

10. I couldn't finish watching it. Too violent and disturbing

Not for me

[MissB]

11. Based on the preview available at Netflix

I took a hard pass. I usually like dystopian series.

[Wingus Dingus]

12. "Hyper violent"--a few weeks ago I finally saw "No Country For Old Men" because

my son insisted I would like it (I like all the other Coen Bro's films I've seen). I'd avoided it because I'd heard it was full of violence and pretty disturbing, but I watched it and really enjoyed it--the character development, the fate/coin toss aspect, and so on. But this series, I think I'll skip.

[nuxvomica]

13. I just finished watching it and it's brilliant!

The set design, the acting, the writing, all top notch. It is gory and nerve-wracking at times but also compelling. One interesting detail I noticed was a reference to the same failed chicken restaurant boom that was also mentioned in Parasite. Really a breath of fresh air after watching Midnight Mass with its numerous scenes of pace-killing whine sessions.