Squid Game Review: Highly mediocre with some highs but too much drama

 Series - Squid Game

Cast - Lee Jung-jae, Ho Yeon Jung, Wi Ha-joon, Park Hae Soo

Rating - 3/5

Squid Game is everywhere online, whether it be on social media networks or news channels. Everyone is talking about this new show on Netflix which has become the biggest show on Netflix ever.  

The premise of the show is that a group of people under enormous debt play children’s games with dangerous twists to win huge prize money in an isolated setting. It sounded interesting and all the hype around the show made me jump on this wagon to start binge-watching this show.

I believe Netflix has this superpower of creating so much hype around their mediocre shows that they make their audience believe that these shows are amazing. They have done this before with shows like Money Heist and Dark (I’m sure many of you will disagree with me on this). This time they have done it again successfully with Squid Game.

This 9-episode show starts with a promise and reaches its peak by the fourth episode, but after that, it just keeps going downhill. By now we all know this show is about live-or-die real-life games where they make players play childhood games with a cruel twist.

The story starts with taking us into the life of the protagonist Gi-Hun who is shown to be in debt and on his way to losing everything if he does not pay back his debt. It then takes us to a location where a group of masked men welcomes Gi-Hun along with 455 other players to play 6 games and the winner takes prize money of billions of Won (Korean currency).

It then introduces the audience and players to the first game which seems fun and innocent at first till it takes a cruel turn and tells us just how dangerous the games are going to be for their players. By now the show has got us hooked and all we want to know is what happens next.

The show then introduces us to a bunch of other characters staring with the other players of the game - Sang-Woo, an investment banker caught up in frauds, Sae-Byeok, a North Korean defector, Il-Nam, an elderly man with a brain tumor, Deok-Su, a gangster, Ali, a foreign worker from Pakistan and Mi-Nyeo, a mysterious and manipulative woman. Another parallel story shows a detective Jun-Ho looking for his missing brother sneaking into the game location.

The games are beautifully shot. They show the innocence of the games and then introduce the twists to the audience which makes you cringe. Most of the games keep you at the edge of the seats guessing who will survive and who will not.

The downfall of the show begins from the second half of the show as they bring in too much drama and kill the momentum of the show. It seems like the show starts trying too hard to evoke emotions from their audience. In this process, they lose the plot.

By the end of the show, the script gets all tangled up and confusing. They try to make the protagonist too preachy while giving the background of the games. A lot of plot holes have also started surfacing by now. The ending was a dampener but points towards a second season.

The premise and concept of the show are new and interesting. This whole idea about turning childhood innocent games into something evil is innovative and works. The script starts strong but weakens by the end. Direction by Hwang Dong-hyuk is spot on. The tension he creates with every game is commendable. He brings out a lot of emotions as the show progresses.

Special mention for the art director Chae Kyoung-sun and his set designs in the show. He uses pop colors for the sets to showcase the innocence of children’s games. Then he beautifully signifies the cruel turns these games take by showing blood smeared all over these sets. The sets of each of these games along with the players’ dormitory design hold a lot of significance and meaning.

The cinematography was on point with different angles shot of the staircases running through the game location giving an eerie feeling. The different shots of the games from different angles added to the tension and momentum of the show.

The performance by the entire acting ensemble was very good. The main protagonist played by Lee Jung-Jae stands out. I have to mention our very own Anupam Tripathi who plays Ali very convincingly. It was very exciting to watch him on the show.

The gore factor on the show is not as much as it is made out in the media. It has its share of dark and gory moments, but it is no “Saw” or “Hostel”.

After a rollercoaster first half, it left me disappointed in the end. You can give it a watch if you have time to spare.