Television Everyone should be watching Squid Game

[Keyser_Soze]

I got to the VIP episode and it was pretty much what I expected from people's reactions.

 

Spoiler

I joked about it with my initial response but I also feel like it was confirmed without me even seeing it.

I also feel like maybe to Korean speakers having English speakers talk like that makes it easier for a foreigner to understand, because in every Korean show I've seen English speakers just sound funny.

All that being said there have been some standout English performances in other shows. Freddy Lau was pretty incredible in Oh My Venus, though I feel like it's kind of cheating because he's actually Canadian, but the results are there cheating or not. I also think David McInnis was decent in Descendants of the Sun as well.
(I'm not sure why I bothered with this last paragraph, none of you will ever watch these shows lol)

 

[Moa]

I felt like the show really dragged in the last few episodes and fell back on some pretty predictable story beats. 

 

Spoiler

I particularly didn't like how the cop narrative petered out and never really connected with the A plot. It felt really underdeveloped for how much time it was given. 

 

[Guest]

I enjoyed it, and I agree with everybody about the marbles episode in particular. There is a 100% chance of an American remake of this show in the next few years too.

[EternallDarkness]

4 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 There is a 100% chance of an American remake of this show in the next few years too.

 

and there is 97.8% chance it'll suck

[Keyser_Soze]

41 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I enjoyed it, and I agree with everybody about the marbles episode in particular. There is a 100% chance of an American remake of this show in the next few years too.

 

Chris Pratt as 456

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, EternallDarkness said:

 

and there is 97.8% chance it'll suck

All the games will have aggressive new lighting and Millionare style sound effects added to them. Dax Shepard will be the host 

[TheLeon]

Who plays the Canadian defector? Cobie Smoulders? Justin Bieber? 

[Keyser_Soze]

8 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

Who plays the Canadian defector? Cobie Smoulders? Justin Bieber? 

 

Ryan Reynolds

[Kal-El814]

46 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Ryan Reynolds

 

NOOOOOOOOO

[ort]

Since they're both new to Netflix, what we really need is a Squid Game / Seinfeld mashup.

 

Just imagine the show as it is now, but replace the main characters with Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine.

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed this. It was very unapologetically weird and brutal. I agree they didn't quite stick the landing... It seems like they are setting up a second season, which I'm sure we'll get now that this is huge hit... but I kind wish it got wrapped up in one season. I don't know where they go from here.

[Kal-El814]

Someone tell me if red hair is supposed to mean something.

[TheLeon]

19 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

Someone tell me if red hair is supposed to mean something.

The writer/director says: 

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“I imagined being him and thought to myself, ‘What is the color that you would never choose to dye your hair?’ Then I came to the conclusion that Gi-hun would never dye his hair red. It would be the [most unexpected] thing for him to do. So I chose the color, and I thought it really showed his inner anger.”

I’ve also seen people suggest it works as a call back to the first game (he does stop, after all).

[ort]

So...

 

Clearly the cop is not dead? You don't set up someone being a brother and then shoot him in the shoulder with no body and expect that to be the end of it... it was weird that that entire thread went literally nowhere. I had suspicions that something was up with the old man... but I'm not sure I liked how they handled him at the end. It felt kinda weird and forced. Like they either had to make him much more evil or much more sympathetic. I just kind of ended up confused. I thought that whole exchange could have been better. The ending felt rushed and confusing in general.

 

How do they do season 2? They have to have new people on the inside, and I guess Gi-hun on the outside trying to stop them? Gi-hun back on the inside? I really thought he was going to tell the guy on the phone at the end that he wanted to play again.

 

I dunno. I think it's going to be hard to keep the momentum going.

[Guest]

The creators would need to have a really strong premise for a second season for me to have any interest.

[Kal-El814]

48 minutes ago, ort said:

So...

 

 

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Clearly the cop is not dead? You don't set up someone being a brother and then shoot him in the shoulder with no body and expect that to be the end of it... it was weird that that entire thread went literally nowhere. I had suspicions that something was up with the old man... but I'm not sure I liked how they handled him at the end. It felt kinda weird and forced. Like they either had to make him much more evil or much more sympathetic. I just kind of ended up confused. I thought that whole exchange could have been better. The ending felt rushed and confusing in general.

 

 

How do they do season 2? They have to have new people on the inside, and I guess Gi-hun on the outside trying to stop them? Gi-hun back on the inside? I really thought he was going to tell the guy on the phone at the end that he wanted to play again.

 

I dunno. I think it's going to be hard to keep the momentum going.

 

 

 

Spoiler

The old guy not being mustache twirlingly evil is kind of the point, I think. He’s just rich and bored. His last gamble at the end shows that he doesn’t think the games are evil because he believes he’s not doing anything to the players that’s worse than society would be doing anyway. If anything he thinks he’s doing them a favor since at least in his games, someone has a chance to come out rich and the players are all there (again from his POV) willingly.

 

[TheLeon]

Apparently this show is also a hit in the key middle school demo. My niece (who couldn’t make it through Hunger Games) started watching it because “everyone” at school was. Her mom walked in halfway through the first episode and made her turn it off, saying “trust me, you don’t want to watch this.” The kid didn’t listen, snuck into living room after the parents were asleep, and kept watching. Guess the point in that first episode where she ran into her parents room, waking them up, crying and screaming “who does that? Why do people like that!?!”

[LazyPiranha]

Spoiler

Was anyone else confused by the cop sub plot?  The cop is looking for his missing brother, and the entire time it feels like someone who must have been missing fairly recently.  He obviously thinks that his brother is a recent contestant, yet his brother won the game in 2015.  Where’s the timeline for this?  His brother’s apartment is empty and the rent isn’t paid, he presumably hasn’t been missing for over half a decade, it just doesn’t add up.

 

[Mercury33]

On 10/6/2021 at 8:03 PM, LazyPiranha said:

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Was anyone else confused by the cop sub plot?  The cop is looking for his missing brother, and the entire time it feels like someone who must have been missing fairly recently.  He obviously thinks that his brother is a recent contestant, yet his brother won the game in 2015.  Where’s the timeline for this?  His brother’s apartment is empty and the rent isn’t paid, he presumably hasn’t been missing for over half a decade, it just doesn’t add up.

 

 

Spoiler

Honestly from the time the brother takes his mask off he seems pretty reluctant about everything. There’s def a vibe that he knows the stuff he’s doing isn’t good. Maybe he’s like the main character. Maybe he was away from the game and for a few years and came back to it some point but wasn’t as strong willed so needed up working for them. I dunno, there’s def enough loose threads they could make a pretty interesting second season. 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

On 10/6/2021 at 5:03 PM, LazyPiranha said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Was anyone else confused by the cop sub plot?  The cop is looking for his missing brother, and the entire time it feels like someone who must have been missing fairly recently.  He obviously thinks that his brother is a recent contestant, yet his brother won the game in 2015.  Where’s the timeline for this?  His brother’s apartment is empty and the rent isn’t paid, he presumably hasn’t been missing for over half a decade, it just doesn’t add up.

 

 

This is something I'd have to watch again but these are my thoughts from what I remember at the time

 

Spoiler

1. The time of his disappearance isn't that important because if your brother disappeared in 2015 or last week, you would probably be trying to find him either way. I think things just lined up with Gi-hun being at the police station. The longer time goes on you might be open to other ideas on where to find him.
   
   I don't remember the details of the empty apartment or unpaid rent but if he won the game he's got money. But if the psychological toll is anything like what Gi-hun experienced he might just have laid low

 

I thought I would have more to say about it but like I said I'd like to watch it back.

 

I kind of agree that subplot idea was a bit half baked but feels high impact in the moment. If anything it was a vessel for us to see a different point of view of the games from the perspective of the guards.

 

[Bloodporne]

I went into this one completely blind and thought it was fantastic until it seemed to just stumble all over itself in the last couple episodes. 

 

Spoiler

Reading through the thread, it seems like a common complaint but...the whole VIP thing felt really out of place to me. The delivery was dog shit but I kind of assume that's because the lines were written by non-English speakers quite possibly and so on but beyond that, I just thought it was predictable and surprisingly corny for a shot that was working SO well. It looks and feels like a dollar store version of Eyes Wide Shut and prior to that, I thought the show thrived on its believability and character development. 

 

I also didn't really care for the Saw 'twist' of the old dying man being behind it all. I mean, I like the idea of it being simply a bored rich man's amusement to a degree but the way it ended up being revealed and all just fell flat. 

 

Anyway, thought the show was at its absolute best when it was simple, lean and focused on its central characters' humanity. 

[Keyser_Soze]

2 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I went into this one completely blind and thought it was fantastic until it seemed to just stumble all over itself in the last couple episodes. 

 

  Hide contents

Reading through the thread, it seems like a common complaint but...the whole VIP thing felt really out of place to me. The delivery was dog shit but I kind of assume that's because the lines were written by non-English speakers quite possibly

 

 

 

Read my thoughts at the top of the page regarding this.

[skillzdadirecta]

As someone who's been watching foreign content for a long time particularly from Asia, the Korean to English writing doesn't even register or bother me any more. The languages are so different that you almost expect that something that sounds ok in Korean will probably sound hokey when translated to English and spoken by an english speaker. Not something that bothers me in the least any more but I guess if you don't watch a lot of this stuff it would. Watching old Jackie Chan movies from Hong Kong with English dubs was unintentionally hilarious sometimes.

[Keyser_Soze]

[Kal-El814]

Who likes Sang-woo?

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

Who likes Sang-woo?

There are definitely “Sang-Woo was right” creeps out there

[Kal-El814]

1 minute ago, sblfilms said:

There are definitely “Sang-Woo was right” creeps out there

Yeah I forgot I was on the internet for a second. That’s on me.

[ort]

Sang-Woo was just a realist. He knew there was only going to be one winner and once he knew that was the situation, his strategy changed.

 

I'm not saying he was right, but he figured if someone was going to win and everyone else was going to die, why not have me win and everyone else die. It makes sense within the fucked up world of the show.

 

You could say that all of the people trying to maintain their humanity and empathy were the true suckers.

 

I don't think it's so black and white. I saw him as more of a tragic figure. He was an interesting character.

[Keyser_Soze]

51 minutes ago, ort said:

Sang-Woo was just a realist. He knew there was only going to be one winner and once he knew that was the situation, his strategy changed.

 

I'm not saying he was right, but he figured if someone was going to win and everyone else was going to die, why not have me win and everyone else die. It makes sense within the fucked up world of the show.

 

You could say that all of the people trying to maintain their humanity and empathy were the true suckers.

 

I don't think it's so black and white. I saw him as more of a tragic figure. He was an interesting character.

 

So far this response is lining up with the meme

[skillzdadirecta]

A lot of right wing and conservative assholes often use "Realism" and "pragmatism" to justify their fucked up world view. It's shortsighted and lazy as fuck in my opinion. What's realistic about the actual circumstance in this show is that

Spoiler

Sang Woo put himself in that postion by embezzeling a bunch of money and losing his mother's house and business. He was a fucked up person before he even went into the squid game. Nothing tragic about his assholishness at all especially after how he fucked Ali over.

 

Fuck him. Reminds me of all of the Killmonger is right douchebags too. 

 

Spoiler

He isn't.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Squid Game Is Telling Us It's Totally Okay To Kill The Rich

WWW.THEGAMER.COM

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Netflix's Korean hit is all about how unfair our world can be, and it's all thanks to a few select people.

 

Quote

 

I’m often left awestruck by our political reality. We exist in a world where the bad guys have won. Billionaires are in possession of wealth that could solve world hunger, global warming, and put a roof over the heads of all those in need of one - but they choose not to. Greed is an active choice, and acknowledgement that you don’t care about those beneath you and are oblivious to the societal struggles that the majority of people have to contend with. It makes me angry each and every day, and all we can do is get on with our lives and hope that something changes. It likely won’t, and I’m scared for the future, and Squid Game is a relatable glimpse into the most extreme of circumstances.

 

The rich have the power to make such twisted ideas come to fruition, and in some corners of the globe perhaps they already have, but watching poor people be continually taken advantage of under the guise of societal betterment is exactly what has made Squid Game such a phenomenon. It taps into the insecurities of the modern zeitgeist, even if most of the people watching have failed to realise that. There’s an inherent curiosity associated with human suffering, and being forced to think about how we’d survive if thrown into the same circumstances, whether we’d turn against friends and family to save ourselves or stick together to overthrow the very system that seeks to kill us. Squid Game is going to become influential if its popularity is any indication, and I hope future copycats don’t leave behind the core message that makes it so powerful.

 

 

[ort]

I'm not defending him. He's a villain on the show for a reason...

 

Is what Gi-hun did to the old man any better? It really wasn't. When life and death is on the line you do what it takes. I liked how the show exposed the terrible depths people will go to... it's interesting because it's all clearly thinly veiled (very thin) symbolism the of actual world and how it really works. Usually when the Sang-woos of the world screw over people for personal gain, they at least have a few layers of insulation in between so they can pretend like they are moral people...

[johnny]

On 10/6/2021 at 2:48 PM, TheLeon said:

Apparently this show is also a hit in the key middle school demo. My niece (who couldn’t make it through Hunger Games) started watching it because “everyone” at school was. Her mom walked in halfway through the first episode and made her turn it off, saying “trust me, you don’t want to watch this.” The kid didn’t listen, snuck into living room after the parents were asleep, and kept watching. Guess the point in that first episode where she ran into her parents room, waking them up, crying and screaming “who does that? Why do people like that!?!”

can confirm that 12-14 year olds love squid game 

[SuperSpreader]

12 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

I haven't gotten this far but I already know I'll be the wall of text guy. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

It's interesting to me that two recent examples of popular media that prominently engage in scathing, overtly explicit criticisms of capitalism have emerged from South Korea.

 

“Squid Game”’s Capitalist Parables | The Nation

WWW.THENATION.COM

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Netflix’s breakout series depicts a world of violent and macabre individualism and desperation.

 

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Squid Game is not a subtle show, either in its politics or plot. Capitalism is bloody and mean and relentless; it yells. Each episode moves from one game to the next, in a series that, by the end, combined with some awkward English-language dialogue, feels hopelessly strained. But the show redeems itself with its memorable characters (all archetypal strugglers) and its bright, video-game-inspired design. The art director, Choi Kyoung-sun, said that she wanted to build a “storybook” world—a child’s late-capitalist hell—and she has done so brilliantly.

 

 

Why You’re Watching Squid Game

JACOBINMAG.COM

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The extraordinary success of Netflix's Squid Game demonstrates how many people relate to a portrayal of capitalism's miseries — and how few feel there is any way to escape.

 

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At the end of July, the total private debt owed in the UK amounted to £1,741.7 billion — an increase of £62.9 billion over the previous year. The average adult had a debt of £32,931, and looming cuts to Universal Credit and furlough cliff-edges look set to send that figure soaring further upward.

 

Three months later, South Korean drama Squid Game has become Netflix’s most successful series launch ever, amassing more than 111 million views worldwide in its first four weeks. Unlike other popular dystopian fictions, Squid Game’s characters are not residents of an alternative universe, a near future, or another planet. The horror that makes up the show’s conceit isn’t what might be after a catastrophe, or if we were to allow crises to progress further. Squid Game’s dystopia is the contemporary world.

 

 

The allure of Netflix's brutal "Squid Game" owes a debt to our predatory upbringing | Salon.com

WWW.SALON.COM

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In a world where the divide between haves and have nots is widening, this violent K-drama is speaking to millions

 

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What follows is more shocking – or it would be, if every participant weren't being crushed under a mountain of debt. In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the survivors vote to leave the game. But their bleak financial circumstances lead many to reconsider and return, deciding that risk of a bloody, swift death is preferable to a hellish lifetime of digging out of an inescapable financial hole.

 

It really is an excellent distillation of how predatory capitalism works.

 

 

[Fizzzzle]

2 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

It's interesting to me that two recent examples of popular media that prominently engage in scathing, overtly explicit criticisms of capitalism have emerged from South Korea.

South Korean workers channel "Squid Game" to protest their real-life economic woes

WWW.CBSNEWS.COM

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The huge popularity of the Netflix series gave the country's labor unions a strong theme for massive protests across the country, demanding "a world of equality."