Kayosai
How unsettling
This show has become a phenomenon. But I need to be real with myself — this kind of show (with all its gore, stress, and bad decisions) was not for me. It's like acclaimed movies like the Joker or Us: the kind with an impactful social message conveyed in an unsettling way. I could've lived without watching this show, and I would've been happier for it. They say ignorance is bliss, and I'm honestly starting to believe it.
Squid Game was inspired by the highly acclaimed Liar Game. I LOVED the original Japanese version of Liar Game. But what I've come to realize is that I enjoy the STRATEGY more than the desperation. Liar Game focuses on the games. Squid Game has good moments of that, like the dalgona and tug-of-war. But for the most part, Squid Game is a brutal display of human desperation. It is more "Lord of the Flies" than Liar Game; it offers social commentary on the forgotten people who struggle and the dire circumstances by which they live. But I don't feel particularly sympathetic to the plight of most of the characters regardless (except our North Korean gal and Ali; but the rest are unlikeable to a fault).
There were also some completely bizarre choices: the VIPs for one (it's rushed to squeeze them in as if this is The Hunger Games on top of everything else... you're trying to do too much), and our MC's hair colour for another (haha, kidding). A lot of the circumstances of the game were left annoyingly open-ended, which is such a bad habit from Netflix. I love kdramas for being self-contained, single-series stories. I DON'T want to anticipate another season in a year or two after I've forgotten everything and stopped caring about everyone. I don't want to have to deal with stupid casting changes and stretched storylines just to fulfill the production contracts offered to successful blockbusters, guaranteed to keep people watching. It's so greedy. Perhaps that's fitting for a show surrounding greed, desperation, and wealth?
But beyond my gripes with Netflix-and-the-western-serial format as a whole, if I were to judge the show as a standalone, then it was unfulfilling BECAUSE of the loose threads left open about the meta of the game. I said what I said.
Squid Game was inspired by the highly acclaimed Liar Game. I LOVED the original Japanese version of Liar Game. But what I've come to realize is that I enjoy the STRATEGY more than the desperation. Liar Game focuses on the games. Squid Game has good moments of that, like the dalgona and tug-of-war. But for the most part, Squid Game is a brutal display of human desperation. It is more "Lord of the Flies" than Liar Game; it offers social commentary on the forgotten people who struggle and the dire circumstances by which they live. But I don't feel particularly sympathetic to the plight of most of the characters regardless (except our North Korean gal and Ali; but the rest are unlikeable to a fault).
There were also some completely bizarre choices: the VIPs for one (it's rushed to squeeze them in as if this is The Hunger Games on top of everything else... you're trying to do too much), and our MC's hair colour for another (haha, kidding). A lot of the circumstances of the game were left annoyingly open-ended, which is such a bad habit from Netflix. I love kdramas for being self-contained, single-series stories. I DON'T want to anticipate another season in a year or two after I've forgotten everything and stopped caring about everyone. I don't want to have to deal with stupid casting changes and stretched storylines just to fulfill the production contracts offered to successful blockbusters, guaranteed to keep people watching. It's so greedy. Perhaps that's fitting for a show surrounding greed, desperation, and wealth?
But beyond my gripes with Netflix-and-the-western-serial format as a whole, if I were to judge the show as a standalone, then it was unfulfilling BECAUSE of the loose threads left open about the meta of the game. I said what I said.
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