El Juego Del Calamar (2021)

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

At it's worst, what desperation can mean to many when pushed to the maximum, even at the cost of gambling their lives away in life threatening games. Competing for the grand cash prize of ₩45 Billion (USD38 Million), these contestants know that it is the only way for them to resolve their financial problems which are hounding them incessantly in their daily lives. Hence, the game starts with the famous "Red Light, Green Light" ....followed by a series of childhood games which gets harder and thrilling by each episode. Imagine....as the game starts with 456 contestants, ending with "Squid Game", with ONE last person standing in the end...., how many are 'assassinated' along the way, as each and everyone try to stay alive in whatever means they can.

This genius of a drama is not only able to keep our attention with it's visually and mentally thrilling games, but as it unfolds, it also tells a story of basic human nature of kindness, love, greed, betrayal, sacrifice and much much more depicting the good and bad that exists in each of us. And that, when it comes the time to decide, one can 'choose' to do the right thing.......or not.

Like many, I was also SURPRISED by this survival drama. Not a fan of action dramas and too over-loaded by romance drama, I was not thinking that Squid Game will be a likely choice for me to watch. Thought I'd just watch one episode and call it a day. But, I kept hanging on to it and spent a full day binge watching 9-episodes and after that thought to myself 'dang', what a fabulous show, even till the last drop!

I have not seen Lee Jun Jae since 2010, "The Housemaid", that I nearly forgot what a great actor he is. In Squid Game, he played his character Gi Hun (No. 456) so well, from the gullible, trusting, loser of a guy to a true survivor, is well deserved of an award. His best friend Sang Woo - No. 218 (Park Hae Soo) is no slacker too, who in the drama, is the head of an investment team at a securities company, wanted by police for cheating his clients.

The rest of the cast (1) Sae Byeok-No. 67 (Jung Ho Yeon) North Korean defector, (2) Il-Nam-No. 1 (Oh Yeong Su) elderly man with a brain tumor, (3) Deok Su-No. 101 (Heo Sung-taek-su) a gangster with massive gambling debts, (4) Abdul Ali-No. 199 (Anupam Tripathi) a Pakistani foreign worker, (5) Han Mi-nyeo-No. 212 (Kim Joo-ryoung) a mysterious and manipulative woman who claims to be a poor single mother AND (6) Wi Ha-joon -Guard No. 29 (Hwang Jun-ho) a police officer who sneaks into the Game as a guard to find his missing brother are ALL worth mentioning for their perfect acting. Not a single flaw and had great energy playing off each other's strengths and together with the two main leads.

Such a memorable show. As you watch, there are also many clues from what the actors say and surroundings.....keep a look out on the walls too! This drama has now such a huge global following....kudos to another Korean show that is truly entertaining and well suited for international consumption.

And, finally, last but not the least, having Gong Yoo and Lee Byung Hun in special appearances was the icing on the cake!! Writer and Director Hwang Dong Hyuk (who also directed Gong Yoo in "Silenced") did a fabulous job. Such a genius, I await eagerly for the second season of Squid Game.

Squid Game is a highly recommended watch, don't miss it!

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confusingly good.

This is a show where you would cry, get excited & be confused af.
I was so excited watching this series, because I knew it would be good
and it was trending all around especially it’s a netflix series.

So, was it worth to watch?
Yes, It was really good it’s thrilling & the fact that I finished it in 1 day it’s
because it was really thrilling & interesting to watch.
But if you have a kid watching this with you, please remember that it may traumatized
your child even me lmao…

Story: 9/10
The story was good, It’s about adults playing kids game back in their childhood
trying to survive for money.
It shows how humans can risk their lives just for it, and at the end is all regrets
A huge lesson that money can maybe less up your problems but can it be
your happiness?…you may get that huge piggy bank with billions of cash but at the end you will
feel guilty that the money your spending was all people’s lives.

I was also confused what will happen next im pretty sure there would be s2
because the ending was soooo questionable.

There’s also a huge plot twist which did not made me shock because of the stupid
spoilers in every social media app i used but i do not want to ruin the show so i will not
give any spoilers ^^

I also didn’t think that this series was gonna be painful i still can’t get over it
so be ready, get your tissues.

Acting/Cast: 9/10
The cast was great, their acting was good too.
They all pulled their character well, my faves would be Jung Ho Yeon & Lee Yoo Mi.

Lee Jung Jae (Seong Gi Hoon)- The personality of his character was kind of childish, he was
a bad dad & a bad son, imagine relaying to your mother who is literally old but he doesn’t care
but he had a lesson in the ending. he is kind tho :)

Park Hae Soo (Cho Sang Woo)- He was a traitor, imagine the so called “smart guy”
would do something that bad. (But still made me teared up at the end :()

Jung Ho Yeon (Kang Sae Byeok)- She’s reallly pretty she look like niki + felix but a girl & she was
blackpink jennie’s friend aww. (she is also a model)
This was her acting debut/first drama which made me shock her acting is soo good,
and her first drama was already a big hit rn. Looking forward for her next dramas.

Not much to say to her character she was really great.

The supporting roles was also good Ali was also my fave he was so kind-hearted but..
The old man made me cry the most he was so adorable in the drama but…
Lee Yoo Mi look like late sulli :( i love her…


Music: 5/10
Idrk if there was any music but the only one I remember was the first ep.
+ most of it was just instrumental but i’ll give a half score for that.

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What was all the hype about? ** SPOILERS **

DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED


I'd been waiting to watch squid game for a while whilst I watched other dramas and due to how popular it is, I thought it'd be worth a watch. I was quite wrong, as this is the worst rating I have ever given a kdrama. I actually thought the first few episodes were brilliant, I liked the style of the show and it seemed the the plot was meticulously planned out and had somewhere to go. I also really enjoyed the acting in this, I think it's the best part of the show. However there were major drawbacks that made it almost unwatchable after episode six.

SPOILERS


So, I did like how we got a backstory to some of the characters and why they decided to take part in the game, however I think they should've shortened it right down so that they could include more characters and also so that it gave no indication as to who were going to make it through and win, because Gihun was the main focus. I just didn't like that there were so many deaths that added absolutely nothing to the plot and it made me so frustrated throughout, like the death of Kang Saebyeok, Jang Deok-su and Ha Mi-nyeo, also Ali's death made me mad but it did make more sense to the plot than the others. We never get an explanation as to who the staff are in pink and why they are partaking in the games. The police officer's death was annoying as he could've led to further plot development and a different angle, but all the work he did was for nothing and getting to know him from the start made absolutely no sense to me, as he died uneventfully anyway. The information he finds was half explained at best. I don't understand why they introduced the VIPs with those stupid masks, it made it almost unbearable to watch with cringe, it would've been a better idea to say the guy with the man did it because he was evil, sick and twisted. We have absolutely no idea to who the guy is who plays the games at the train station, whom we believe we will get an explanation for from the beginning. Apart from Kang Saebyeok, the other main characters' morals kept switching and it really annoyed me. One minute they were throwing their teammates off the bridge and the next they were sacrificing themselves. It made me mad that the whole reason saebyeok had to survive was because her friend gave up her life for her, but she died needlessly, whereas it was okay Gihun survived because the old man did as well, but it turned out not to be true. Don't even get me started on how cheap the so called "plot twist" with Il-nam was, it just ruined Gihun's character development and the best answer the could come up with is that it was "for fun". Didn't make any sense to me.

All in all, I thought the music and the acting was good and the actual idea was there, it just needed refining. Apart from that it was a step away from unwatchable and I wouldn't put myself through it again. However I'm sure if this was someone's first kdrama, they would like it. Sorry if I didn't make any sense or sounded a bit ranty, it's my first review :)))

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L'art de Netflix d'américaniser les dramas... ^^'

« Squid Game » est un série comme on en voit beaucoup depuis quelques années : un Death Game/Survival. Il s’agit d’une mode qui a touché le continent asiatique comme américain & à laquelle nous ne pouvons réchapper ^^.

Me voici donc lancée dans ce nouveau Death Game qui m’annonce du « lourd » de par sa bande annonce. Cependant, très vite, nous nous rendons compte que le schéma ne sera pas différent des autres dramas de ce genre (comme pour « Alice in Borderland » également produit par Netflix). C’est ainsi que nous retrouvons l’éternelle bande de personnages considérés comme « nuisibles » par la société qui finit dans un jeu où la plupart perdra non seulement leur humanité mais également leur vie… (Ba oui, après tout, c’est le principe d’un Death Game x’D !!)

Donc finalement, en quoi ce drama se démarque-t-il ?
• Les jeux utilisés pour ce « Death Game » sont des jeux d’enfants… (Et oui, cela devient quelque peu traumatique d’imaginer que des jeux pratiqués en toute innocente deviennent la cause de nombreux morts… Les coréens ne reculent vraiment devant rien ! x’D)
• Des hommes masqués qui surveillent le bon déroulement des jeux. Ces derniers portent des symboles sur le faciès afin de définir leur place dans la hiérarchie. (Dans l’ordre de hiérarchie : le rond, le triangle, le carré, le sans symbole & finalement les masques d’animaux)
o Cerise sur le gâteau… Un des membres imminents du jeu s’est glissé parmi les candidats afin de participer aux différents jeux… (Il y a vraiment des malades partout =D)
• Les décors sont étonnamment bien réalisés. Je retiendrai particulièrement les nombreux escaliers avec des portes sans fin =D !

Finalement me voici à la fin du drama mais de nombreuses questions sont restées sans réponses… En voici quelques-unes :
• Qui est réellement derrière tout ça ? Car les VIP (qui sont des américains) font la remarque que les parties en Corée sont les meilleures… (Ce qui sous-entend que le groupe de personnes réalisant ces Death Game est bien plus large que ce que l’on nous montre…)
o On nous dit que le jeu a été créé par ennui des gens qui ont trop d’argent… Et puis ? On ne nous donne aucune réelle justification x).
• Pourquoi faire rentrer un policier dans l’infrastructure du jeu… Le laisser évoluer & graviter autour du jeu si c’est pour le faire tuer à l’avant dernier épisode ? (En prime, par son frère ? Encore une fois, on ne nous donne aucune réelle explication…)
• …

Et parlons de cette fin s’il-vous-plaît !!! Netflix a vraiment l’art de nous laisser sur des fins qui ne n’en sont pas réellement… Je finis donc encore une fois, frustrée en finissant cette histoire… (Comme souvent hein ! Puisque Netflix aime ce genre de fin x’D)

En somme, « Squid Game » est un Death Game des plus classique produit par Netflix… (On ne peut d’ailleurs pas douter que cela soit l’une de leur production… Pourquoi ? Car nous retrouvons le genre de scènes que je fuis dans les séries américaines… En gros… Principalement du sexe & des hommes plus misogynes les uns que les autres… x’D !)
Vous l’aurez compris, ce drama n’apporte rien de nouveau au genre & se campe même dans les fondamentaux…
Néanmoins, il reste plaisant à voir & découvrir pour les non-initiés comme les initiés !

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Unpopular opinion: Overhyped (great start,poor ending)

When life becomes a game, brings out the scariest ride of life. This has a fascinating story line not new but still it's captivating games relating to childhood is really interesting.

Good points :The starting is really great showing people economic condition so that we feel bad for them and showing pity to have us emotionally bonded, that's great. It's didn't look forced

The production design is great. The cinematography and ambience created is spot on for me. The actors all stood out in their characters specially grandfather character, cop and that wild girl haha.

Twist: The participants can choose to quit and participate again if they want was kind of surprising totally not expected.

Bad points: See this is not a new story line where character participate in game and dies when they cannot complete task.
Like #CUBE and #ESCAPE ROOM they have done before. So ,it was kind of similar nothing really unexpected happen.

The ending, it sucks. The last episode was boring felt disconnected from other episodes. Of course , a setup for next season but really do we need it?

Definitely, there are loop holes if thought carefully like how that grandfather character can be in two places at the time of VIP thing and no one notice a contestant being missed?

But, at the end of the day, this show shouldn't be missed.

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Sentimental, not strategic.

I hated that the show highlighted the sentimental aspect and not the games. Besides the 3rd game, the other games were lame and anti-climatic with so little strategy. If you plan to watch this because of the strategic aspect of the games, lower your expectations.
The only saving grace of the show was Wi Ha Joon's character, but alas look how that turned out... a cliffhanger plothole, literally.

*Spoilers below*
I also hated that MC, I wish Park Hae Soo's character would be the MC instead. The MC is a goody-two shoes but has no sense of reality at all. He returns back into the game knowing that people were gonna die but he is still nice to everyone, even till the end he thinks they can win without people dying. I wished they removed the whole segment where they all left the game because that episode just made the series draggy for me and made me think the MC has no sense of reality. There has to be a second season or that ending would be tragically terrible.

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Overrated, just watch Liar Game. Here's my rant...

YeaH... this was pretty overrated. The production, cinematography was great but... The "VIPs"... omg their dialogue was soO cringe. These are some fake a$$ rich ppl if I've ever seen any. LoL.

The motivation behind why the game came to be? Yeah not very convincing...

Also, was pretty disappointed that there were soO many predictable moments. Especially with the old man doing a "Jigsaw".

And what happened to the daughter? Was the Gi Hoon soO depressed that he just gave up on her even though she was the damn reason he went back to the game?!

It seems that they set up the beginnings for season 2... But with the foundation being season 1, I seriously can't imagine watching.

Omg one more thing, when Gi Hoon was having a serious heart-to-heart dialogue with Ali... Wtf was that sh!t? LoL. Conversation literally was:

Gi Hoon: "So why are you here?"
Ali: "Money"
Ali:"What about you?"
Gi Hoon: "Money"

Well damn.

I sure hope so, cause this ain't no slumber partY.
D:

Sorry this was much less a review and more of a rant. But I can't help it. It just— it could have been soO good. It could have beenN something. But it wasn't. And that to me, is maddeninG.

Please abandon ship and don't make a season 2 lol.

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This is my first time writing a review I felt that the cinematography was amazing i loved the contrast with the the content of the show which had a lot of gore and the light background with the games that had light colors, overall the acting and music was great i just really hate the main character I expected some sort of development from him character wise it felt like he only won in the end out of luck he didn't really earn that money, this is someone who literally signed away his physical rights the loan sharks were going to take his organs and they most likely were not going to do it in a hospital so after or maybe during the process of the organ harvesting he could die he was in mortal danger and yet he didn't take that seriously even his diabetic mother wasn't enough to motivate him were it not for his childhood friend killing himself he wanted them to quit together and then what were they going to do financial wise, I felt like that didn't make any sense the writers wanted him to be a 'good' person a little too much most of the other main characters were willing to do whatever it took to survive and he just wasn't the same.

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So, squid games.

I've taken a lot of time thinking what to write on it. Everyone who has watched it has absolutely loved it.
I absolutely understand the hype-the cast, the cinematography and the directing deserves the appreciation.

In the beginning, it absolutely hooks you. The games, the adrenaline rush, human dying in a wink.

The sneak peak into the background of the characters contributed so much into the understanding of the different characters and their reasons for doing the things they do during the game.
The relationships they forged, the various games, the music; everything was going well...
Until.

Until it fizzled out.
It could have done with 6-7 episodes with more compact writing - after episode 6, it went downhill for me.
1. The reasoning behind the game was unconvincing and washed out. (Maybe the fact that after episode 6, I knew who was the mastermind, it took away the shock element and the surprise that I should have felt).

2. What was the purpose of the inspector? (Yes, I do know he will be in the next season), but what was his purpose in this season?
The reunion with his brother, again, didn't surprise me. Was the reunion supposed to be surprising? Or was Lee Byung Hun playing the brother supposed to be surprising. I felt that it was latter.

3. Gi hoon's characterisation was a bit flat for my liking. He was afterall -a son who'd not hesitate to steal and gamble and an irresponsible father and I don't know when he developed a moral compass!!
There is also this glorification of GH and vilification of SW that i have seen around and I do not agree with.
Maybe it was intended, maybe not.

Having said all, I would be eager to watch a season 2 of it, to see where it all culminates.

And I'd like to know the secret of the inspector's phone. The battery lasted hella long.
Mine drains out after 12 hours!

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Best Korean Drama of 2021

This drama is 100% addictive and really keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first episode on until the very end. This is not your typical korean drama - the story of Squid Game is something completely new and extraordinary. Hopeless adults with more debt than they can ever pay off come together for a survival game consisting of mainly children’s games to hopefully survive and win an insane amount of money in the final game. From being excited, shocked, disturbed, scared, angry and sad, it really is an emotional rollercoaster that made me go through all the emotions.

Another thing that was absolutely fantastic about this drama were the many incredible sets that looked so real but so artificial at the same time and really made up the whole atmosphere of the drama. Together with the unsettling music and the amazing acting of the actors and actresses everything just worked together so very well.

Talking about the characters - the actors all did an amazing job. The characters were interesting and each had their individual story and reason to take part in the game. It was interesting to see their relationships with each other as well as the change they went through individually.

This drama had so many plot twists, hidden meanings and connections and really has me craving for more. There has to be a season 2 in the future!!!!

Lastly I do want to warn that this drama is very brutal and gory. So if you can‘t see violence or blood, this might not be a good choice for you!

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