When I first stumbled across Squid Game as I scrolled through the recently added ribbon on Netflix, I was slightly intrigued but it didn’t capture my interest immediately. Then when I scrolled past it a second time I thought “yeah, maybe…” then I watched the snippet that Netflix had provided and I was like “nope”, and I just forgot about it as I looked for something else to watch. Then I started seeing the hype about it EXPLODING all over social media, so I posed the question on my Twitter and Instagram if I should watch it, and there was an overwhelming response for yes.
So, I sat down and hit play, completely unaware of the ride that was ahead of me…
If by some chance you have managed to miss everything online about Squid Game, or you’re still confused about exactly what it is, it is a South Korean survival drama show on Netflix. The show centres around a contest in which 456 players must compete in a series of children’s games where the losers in each round die and the winner of the contest wins an outrageous amount of cash.
I have A LOT of thoughts on this show, but I don’t want to give away spoilers if you haven’t watched it yet… So, here’s a quick spoiler free review:
I went into this show completely convinced that I was going to hate it, especially with the first episode starting off a little slow… but things quickly started to pick up and I was IMMEDIATELY addicted.
We’re introduced to a man named Seong Gi-hun, a middle-aged, divorced, father, working as a chauffeur who is in an incredible amount of debt. He also has a huge gambling problem, which just adds to his predicament of his debts. After hitting absolute rock bottom, he meets a guy at the train station who challenges him to a game. After playing, the man hands Gi-hun a card and invites him to play a game with higher stakes.
As Murphy’s Law would have it, things get worse for Gi-hung, and he ends up calling the number on the card and accepting to partake in the game. He is then taken to a mysterious place where he finds himself with 455 other people, and must compete in 6 games to win an enormous amount of cash. Upon playing the first game, they quickly discover just how high the stakes are.. and from there, things get really wild and I could not stop watching!
It is English dubbed, which I know can be annoying for some people, but if you can get past that, I promise you it is worth it. If you like movies like Hostel, Saw, or Nerve, then this movie is definitely for you. It’s got physical games as well as psychological games, and all the thrilling drama that surrounds every possible test of morality. It’s also so relatable due to the depth of the characters and the real life struggles that these people have found themselves in that as you watch you’ll find yourself asking how far you would go to win that enormous piggy bank of cash.
The story is just so well written, there is so much depth to the characters, and there is so much hidden in the details of each scene that ties everything together in a way that is just poetic. Squid Game is a true masterpiece, and I highly recommend watching it.
I loved this show so much more than I ever expected – honestly, I thought I was going to hate it – and I just can’t stop thinking about it. I am OBSESSED! I’ve got A LOT to say about my thoughts and observations about Squid Game, but I wanted to keep this post spoiler free. I’ll be writing more spoiler filled posts about Squid Game, so make sure you go watch it and then come back and join me on my Squid Game observation and theory train.
Until next time,
– MuffinBear 🐻
my neuro diaries 
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