chosangwoo – Jainituos Presents

Squid Game (오징어 게임)

Studio: Siren Pictures Inc.

Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Survival

Hello my friends. Welcome to another entry of my blog.

Today I want to do something different.

And turns out that I have packed my bags, and I moved out. That’s right. Despite the very complicated situation of travelling abroad nowadays, I said to myself… Screw that, I will take the plane. And I moved from Japan…

…to South Korea.

After giving plasma to Australia

And I did all of this in order to be able to watch that incredible show that is giving a lot of people reasons to be subscribed to Netflix, or very happy to already be. And trust me, it is going to be worth it. Junji Ito is great, he will always be great, but now the star is the games and the blood.

Ok. I am digressing. And now, here it is…

But seriously… How could I not talk about this fantastic South Korean TV show? Especially because…

*Oldboy* is one of my favourite movies, and one of the greatest South Korean movies in history

And also…

I have enjoyed Tower of God, The God of High School, and Leviathan. All of them being highly entertaining manhwa.

And I add honourable mention to…

But only, because I haven’t watched it yet.

Anyway, before I start, I must ask the typical questions:

Are you my friends ok? Feeling happy?

If the answer is yes, then I am happy. Very happy.

With that said, let’s start Squid Game, or 오징어 게임.

PREMISE

Seong Gi-hun is a 46-year-old divorced chauffeur living in Seoul, with very severe gambling problems and unable to financially support his daughter. To make things worse, he is deeply indebted with the banks… and loan sharks, who are constantly chasing him to recovering their money. One of them gives him a month to pay his money, or he will lose a kidney.

That night, a man in a very elegant suit invites to play a game – ddakji – with Gi-hun. After winning, the man gives Gi-hun his card, and tells him about «another game» in which a big money prize will be awarded. Willing to support his daughter, Gi-hun accepts, and when he is about to be pick up, he is made unconscious, and brought to an unknown location. There, a group of pink-hoodie masked individuals tells Gi-hun, as well as another 455 players, all of them on dire financial situation, that the prize is approximately billions of won for the person who beats six different games in six days.

At first, it sounds exciting, but on the first game – Red Light, Green Light – those who lose… are gunned down, proving the violent nature of the games. Gi-hun miraculously survives, but now he must beat order five games in five days, in which the prize could be of… 45.6 billion won.

Along with Gi-hun, there are relevant characters, such as Cho Sang-woo, Gi-hun childhood friend, wanted by police for stealing money from clients; Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector who tries to bring her family to cross the border; Oh Il-nam, and elderly man with a brain tumor who prefers to play the game over waiting for death, Abdul Ali, a Pakistani foreign worker who is not being paid in six months; Jang Deok-su, a gangster with massive gambling debts; and Han Mi-nyeo, an unscrupulous woman who claims to be a single mother.

Squid Game has nine episodes, available on Netflix, whose running time is between 32-63 minutes, all of them written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, director and producer famous for directing movies like My Father (2007), and Miss Granny (2014). The music is composed by Jung Jae-il, who also composed the soundtrack for Parasite and Okja (2017), also directed by Boon Jong-ho. And I can’t recommend the soundtrack enough, because it is just… fantastic and chilling.

I recommend the tracks called The Pink Soldiers, and Way Back Then.

As you can imagine, Squid Game has a lot of very talented people working on it. And before anything, I want to mention Gong Yoo, you know…

And trust me. When you see him again in Squid Game, you will be willing to let him slap you.

STORY

As you can see, Squid Game combines Saw, The Hunger Games, Battle Royale, and The Running Man with the themes of Class Inequalities displayed in Parasite. Seriously, this series is a combination of genres and social commentary beautifully amalgamated with the sharp criticism that only Black Mirror exhibits, leaving no one indifferent. Of course, anyone will say that this plot is being used before.

And they are right.

Especially in Saw, but unlike the former, in which it is more evil, mean-spirited individuals with a small chance of redemption (literally, minuscule), Squid Game is unfortunate individuals who, despite their flaws, they love their relatives and are willing to do anything to see them, and to live a normal life in a very convoluted and unequal world.

Honestly, Gi-hun is troubled, but he is a good person by heart.

Just look at him. He looks like a nice guy. Don;’t you want to hug him?

In other words, if you like Parasite, or Black Mirror, you will enjoy Squid Game.

The story is a very awesome strength, because the first two episodes take their time to present the characters; first we have Gi-hun’s story in Red Light, Green Light, his problems and reasons to keep going. And the episode is so well-written that there are no plot holes. The story goes in such a fluid way that, at the end, Gi-hun entering the game feels natural, it feels convincing, and by the time the game starts, now the episode seems to do whatever it wants. But don’t get me wrong, when I say this, I mean it can stop worrying about story and world-building and give itself the necessary freedom to show action, blood and tension.

But, like I said, that is because it is well-written.

But episode two it’s better, for one reason, we immediately understand one shocking truth… The players have no choice but to keep playing the game. Their background and current situation is so desperate all they can do is go back. And we, as an audience, we comprehend that straight away. But Episode 2 does not need to put extra effort. It already has! Episode 1 constructs the story, the characters and the world so well, that by Episode 2, we are now convinced that players must go back.

And Squid Game proves that there is no need of big explosions, clichés from box office productions, or convoluted plots. All what it is needed is an excellent writing.

It is a shame that there are no too much TV shows willing to really work on their writing; but to exhibit shallow propaganda and lazy, rushed plots with no story.

Isn’t it Kevin?

Seriously, I still haven’t removed the sour taste of Teela’s show.

Also, the cinematography is beautiful. Just look at these shots.

Squid Game is not only well-written, it is an excellent series cinematographically speaking, the shots, the montage, the sound editing, the film editing, the special effects, and the score are perfect toward the plot and the story.

My only criticism is that sometimes the series can be a bit slow. That’s right! You enjoy the games so much that you just want to know what is next. Or skipping the scenes from the outside world. Or… you can to watch them, in order to understand better our protagonists.

That depends on everyone’s point of view.

Finally, there is a subplot, in which a police officer, Hwang Jun-ho, tries to find his missing brother, Hwang In-ho. And it is this plot who adds to the thriller and suspense.

Because yes… Everything is tension. Everything keeps you on the chair. And the runtime of each episode, despite being too long, in my personal opinion, it is absolutely well-invested, even the smallest details have a reason, and you will see that in Episode 4 – Stick to the Team.

Honestly, I want to keep talking about every element more and more. Very few series urge me to write even a million words, even though I can’t. Case in point…

Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer.

But yes… Also…

CHARACTERS

In case I haven’t establish it yet, I will say it now.

For me, there is something as important as the story itself, and those are the characters. The reason of why we want to read, watch and listen to stories is to meet likeable, relatable characters we can root. Of course everything else is important, but me, story and characters must prioritise over everything else.

And Squid Game really does a good job creating its characters. Both protagonists and antagonists… and villains.

I already mentioned that Episode 1 and Episode 2 establish our characters perfectly, all of them. Gi-hun, Sang-woo, Sae-byeuk, Deok-su, Il-nam, Ali, Mi-nyeo. Just like Oldboy in 2003, Squid Game is masterful. If a story is really, really well-written, then the characters should come as interesting too.

And at the end, all you can do is wonder…

Who is good and who is evil in this series?

Of course, some characters will make very despicable acts, especially that I end up hating for the right reasons. I will not tell you who, but Squid Game does great in makes us think… Who is really a hero here?

And again, not every current series is able to do that right now.

CONCLUSION

Undoubtedly, Squid Game is one of the best series from Netflix and the present moment, and greatest streaming series of 2021, along with Invincible. The best is that I still have a lot to watch, but the impression that I got will stay with me for years. I mean, I watched Oldboy over ten years ago, and I still fondly remembered it today.

Honestly, after the huge fiasco of Masters of The Universe: Revelation, watching Squid Game was refreshing. Like a hot shower after being at the rain for words.

But… which is the best series between Invincible and Squid Game? I like both equally, because both have an excellent feeling of realism. But while Invincible does for superhero genre, and has better character evolution, Squid Game is strong in social commentary and survival, and has the best story.

Also… before I go. Let me mark my words once more.