People are invited to play deadly children’s games, and there can only be one winner. The winner will get a huge sum of money. The catch? Since there can only be one winner, the rest of the competitors have to die.
So, it was time for me to watch one of the most popular TV series ever, I think. I wasn’t that interested in watching Squid Game: Season 1 because I had a feeling this wasn’t a true South Korean TV series, even though it was written by a South Korean. But I guessed right—this doesn’t feel Korean at all. This is a TV series designed to reel in an international audience, and the South Korean identity is totally gone in Squid Game: Season 1. It would’ve been more appropriate to let the Chinese adapt this script; they’d feel right at home with the greed and the joy of killing each other for money. Yes, I said it, and I meant it!
Squid Game: Season 1 reminds me of the international South Korean hit movie Train to Busan. You know, that overhyped piece of mediocrity that international audiences adored, crying over that cheap South Korean melodrama I’ve seen a thousand times before. So it’s no surprise to me that the international audience loved Squid Game: Season 1—this piece of crap series. And no, I’m not trying to be a snob. I’ve watched a lot of South Korean movies over the last 20 years, and I’m just here to speak the truth and warn those who haven’t seen it: this isn’t the series you think it is.
The problem lies in the characters, most of whom are terribly written. The only character with some depth is the protagonist, but I couldn’t care less about him because he’s a loser. Everyone participating in the deadly games is an economic loser. Why the hell should I care about them? Learn to count, losers! They tell their sappy backstories—if they live long enough—and you’re supposed to connect with these poorly written characters because of their sob stories. The scriptwriting in Squid Game: Season 1 is a mess. No wonder Netflix bought the rights.
And then we have the deadly children’s games where people must die. This was such a disappointment. Just watch the Japanese TV series Alice in Borderland for a much more exciting and suspenseful take on death games. The games in Squid Game were boring, and I couldn’t care less about the characters. It felt like I was in the Wild West, where no one cared about rules or fair play. Even after a game ended, people still killed each other. Where’s the fun in that? I get what the series is trying to say, but this barbarism ruined a lot for me.
It’s the usual story: characters form a group to protect themselves from the most evil group, led by the excellent Heo Sung-tae. He was my favorite character in the series because I love him in villain roles like this.
Minor spoiler warning: Then we have the people organizing the games. If you’re over 14 years old, you already know what’s going on: the almighty white devils show up to gamble. I don’t care if this spoils anything—it’s obvious this tournament, or whatever you want to call it, is for gamblers and the most important ones are evil, fat white men.
And then there’s Lee Byung-hun. When I couldn’t find him anywhere, it was obvious who he was—he was the masked character. The others look like they’re missing a button from a PlayStation controller. They look ridiculous. Honestly, if it weren’t for the graphic violence, Squid Game: Season 1 would almost feel like a family series. The script is so thin, the cinematography is ugly, and overall, the series looks bad. The script screams “Made for kids.”
And don’t get me started on the last episode—it’s one of the worst anticlimactic endings ever. After 40 minutes, it felt like I’d been watching for four hours. The final scene is garbage—I have no other words for it. It’s so anticlimactic. I doubt they planned to make a second season, and now I’m stuck having to watch a season I wish didn’t exist.
I don’t have much more to say about this huge disappointment. This is a series for young teenagers who haven’t watched many movies or TV series and who like colorful manga aimed at children.
And that hair color in the final episode? When I thought the series couldn’t get any worse, they gave us red hair to symbolize a character’s broken soul. Sure, he’s broken after the games, and you understand why, but do you care? No, because he’s such a boring idealist.