I’d been holding off on this Netflix series for a time when I could binge it during my 31 Days of Horror, and it took over a year. However, I’m so glad I did hold out for the binge-watch, since having patience to wait and watch it in more than one sitting would have been nearly impossible! In other words…WOWZA! Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t all a slam-dunk. I was disappointed with the final couple of episodes (more on this to come). But this was a series filled with emotion, suspense, jaw-dropping horror, sadness, and thrills–sometimes all at once!
Set in South Korea, the story focuses on people who are down on their luck–most deeply in debt–who are given an unusual card which offers them a chance to play traditional children’s games to win enormous sums of money. Those who decide to play are transported to an isolated island where they are held by masked, gun-toting “soldiers” who are controlling the 456 contestants by order of the Frontman (who is also working under the orders of a mysterious person). Soon the games begin and the contestants learn that they are anything but the simple and pure games they knew and loved as children, as the stakes are now literally life or death. But not all the death comes at the hand of the gamemasters; the contestants also learn just how far they and others are willing to go to be the one lucky winner to take home the 45.6 billion Won (about $38 million).
Throughout the first episodes, we get to know many of the contestants, but mostly a core group of about 15 of them who we will follow through the games (until their demise). We learn of their lives, their hopes for the money, their hardships, and more. And we begin to see what type of people they really are. We also begin to see secondary plots unfold, and eventually in much later episodes learn more about why the games exist at all. One reason is revealed around episode seven, and I personally felt it detracted greatly from the storyline, mainly because it was over-the-top and didn’t fit well with the darkness of the rest of the series. The final episode also offers a big reveal which will be a jaw-dropper and is designed to set up Season 2 as well (though I, again, was disappointed with the final scene).
Overall, Squid Game is a shocking, gory, tense series full of emotionally gut-wrenching scenes and sadness. So why watch it at all? Honestly, because it’s full of fabulous acting, heartfelt connection, suspense, an amazing premise, and it’s kind of like a train wreck…you just can’t look away.
- Top Scare: Nighttime
- Heartbeats: 4 1/2 out of 5
- Gore Factor: 5 out of 5
- Scare Factor: 2 1/2 out of 5
- Recommended for: 17 and up, for very mature content, gore, violence, death