As I finished Squid Game last weekend I saw it was # 1 on Netflix. On my tiny little island of all places. Just a couple of years ago people scoffed at me when they found out I was watching kdramas. Squid Game is basically just a korean movie that has been extended to 9 episodes and in many ways I think it is a very typical gory and violent story that you often find in Korean movies. Something that has been slowly finding its way into Korean television in recent years, especially with shows produced by Netflix. And it is clear that a lot was put into this series from what it's visuals, to the choice of actors and the budget etc.

As I said Squid Game was a bit of a typical story from this type of entertainment that you often find in movies from countries like Japan and Korea (like Battle Royal) and for me it was not that original with them and neither did they do something new with this type of narrative. Which may be why there was very little to the story that actually surprised me. even if I really enjoyed watching it. I found it a bit typical and it mainly just reminded me of other such stories that have come before it.

The violence is not for everyone. I can stomach quite a bit of it without it bothering me. I often think the violence in this type of stories goes a little too far but there is a purpose to it in some ways and the story puts a lot of pressure on your endurance as a spectator, because that is the purpose of it. It's hard for the characters, it should be hard on you. You can hardly look away even if you want to and that is one of the traits of these types of stories. And in that Squid Game is very successful.

The story starts off with a bang, but after that is does take it's time to find it's footing but when it manages it toward the middle part the show becomes really binge-able, before taking a slight dip towards the end. The theme of the effects of late stage capitalism and it's grip on our society and the situation that has created among us is very interesting and the story does a good job underlining that.

Really good amount of suspense going on there and some good character moments in between them, although I thought the story never really took full advantage of it's characters as it spent more time on other aspects of the story. It was also a little too noticeable to me that this was written by a man based on how some of the characters were written and it bothered me a bit. I think the choice of actors, who are all great, made the character more interesting than they might be.

I felt the ending was a little too empty which slightly made the ride on this roller-coaster of a story slightly less thrilling. It didn't leave that much behind. I felt I was missing some emotional payoff from the story. I felt like the personal journey was a bit lacking in the end so it didn't stick the landing. And I didn't feel like enough questions were answered in the narrative. It was as if the story was relaying little too much getting another series. And I appreciate kdrams for giving me complete stories in one season.

This is a nine-part gory Korean film. It really felt like it was made with that sort of target audience in mind; those who really enjoy this genre of Korean and Japanese films (as this is one of the most popular genres of Asian films in the west, which I sometimes find a bit sad but I also understand the appeal). It's good gory entertainment and I can see why it is as popular as it is. It's thrilling, violent and addictive while it's going on but it didn't leave me with much in the end except maybe blood and gore.