Squid Game (FULL SEASON SPOILERS)

[freeryan]

Crazy. Some amazing shows and movies collect dust and then are finally given to us and they're huge. Timing is everything though I'm curious how certain things would've been received decades earlier.

 

[absolutehell]

Crazy. Some amazing shows and movies collect dust and then are finally given to us and they're huge. Timing is everything though I'm curious how certain things would've been received decades earlier.

There's another based on the same concept called "Alice in borderland". It has much better storyline than the squid game, but the presentation was a CGI orgy. I think the success of the squid game is it's simplicity, they kept it as simple as possible and that gave people something new. Personally, I'm a fan. Can't wait for the season 2.

 

[freeryan]

Yeah I mentioned Alice earlier. It feels like mad max and saw. I prefer squid game but both were awesome. Squid game's concept was simple but the people in it were complex and that makes for an amazing show. Can't have cookie cutter characters. I couldn't stop watching korean and japanese horror series after squid game. Another that was simple but fun was Alive. The zombie series.

 

[UnderBro]

I thought the show was good, but does anyone else thinks it's being overrated?

 

[Steve-FreeOnes]

I thought the show was good, but does anyone else thinks it's being overrated?

Everything is overrated and underrated.

 

[freeryan]

Totally agree, Steve. It's all subjective and I don't know what rating system we use to call a show not as good as a lot of people think it is. Exactly why I never check with rotten tomatoes, imdb or youtube critics.

 

[hoochimama]

I thought the show was good, but does anyone else thinks it's being overrated?

I noticed it had top billing on cnn's frontpage for days on end, assumed that meant it was either unbelievably good or very politically correct, turned out to be neither. A good bit of popcorn fun (and no PC agenda) but it's no Westworld/GoT S1 and somewhat predictable (pegged the old man from the first conversation).

Of course it turns out I'd already read the japanese comicbooks it's based on and also used to watch Takeshi's Castle decades ago so it didn't exactly feel original.

Shortly after, the local/national newspapers started reporting how young schoolkids were hurting themselves imitating whatever they saw on Squid Game. Schools trying to warn parents not to let their kids watch the show, the police saying they're closely monitoring the situation, child psychologists talking about "Squid Game addiction" and that the government should come up with ways to make sure that you can only watch age-restricted videos on netflix if you're old enough...

Totally agree, Steve. It's all subjective and I don't know what rating system we use to call a show not as good as a lot of people think it is. Exactly why I never check with rotten tomatoes, imdb or youtube critics.

The trick is usually to find people/reviewers who have a track record of sharing the same taste/opinions as you so you can get good recommendations.

 

[FreeOnes_Adam]

I thought the show was good, but does anyone else thinks it's being overrated?

I went into it on a whim without knowing anything about the hype, so it had nothing to live up to. I knew I liked it episode 1. A few episodes in is when someone told me it was popular as shit.

 

[freeryan]

I noticed it had top billing on cnn's frontpage for days on end, assumed that meant it was either unbelievably good or very politically correct, turned out to be neither. A good bit of popcorn fun (and no PC agenda) but it's no Westworld/GoT S1 and somewhat predictable (pegged the old man from the first conversation).

Of course it turns out I'd already read the japanese comicbooks it's based on and also used to watch Takeshi's Castle decades ago so it didn't exactly feel original.

Shortly after, the local/national newspapers started reporting how young schoolkids were hurting themselves imitating whatever they saw on Squid Game. Schools trying to warn parents not to let their kids watch the show, the police saying they're closely monitoring the situation, child psychologists talking about "Squid Game addiction" and that the government should come up with ways to make sure that you can only watch age-restricted videos on netflix if you're old enough...


The trick is usually to find people/reviewers who have a track record of sharing the same taste/opinions as you so you can get good recommendations.

Sure but people and their tastes change so I just rely on my own interests. However, if it's pretty popular, I'll put it on the back burner.

 

[freeryan]

I went into it on a whim without knowing anything about the hype, so it had nothing to live up to. I knew I liked it episode 1. A few episodes in is when someone told me it was popular as shit.

I heard people talk about it but didn't know how popular it was. Just heard it was similar to saw and that was enough for me. I too was hooked from the start. Especially Gi-hun's infectious personality. imo, no episode felt unnecessary or boring and the entire show had a really good pace to it.

 

[legmann61]

I heard people talk about it but didn't know how popular it was. Just heard it was similar to saw and that was enough for me. I too was hooked from the start. Especially Gi-hun's infectious personality. imo, no episode felt unnecessary or boring and the entire show had a really good pace to it.

It had a very good pace and kept me intrigued from start to finish. In fact, I binged it over two days. It generally takes me a week to binge a whole season lol.

 

[freeryan]

Same here. I couldn't stop watching but it was getting late so I went to bed and continued watching the moment I got up haha.

 

[tvstrip]

It certainly took A LOT of stuff from other Japanese hits. We've talked about Battle Royale and Alice in Borderland, but a really obvious one is "As the gods will"

I mean, it's a bunch of kids games with deadly consequences, and the very first game is literally the Japanese version of Red Light Green light.

 

[hoochimama]

No, your kid probably shouldn't watch 'Squid Game'
Slowly getting there

 

[tvstrip]

the entire show had a really good pace to it.

The pacing really was good. It was great how they kept it exciting by not dragging themes out which are usually saved until the very end. Killing off the initial antagonist and avoiding the stale black & white showdown was good, and the marble game could easily been one of the last games, but they got right to it.

That marble episode though... easily my favorite. Every matchup had you emotionally invested.

 

[tvstrip]

It certainly took A LOT of stuff from other Japanese hits. We've talked about Battle Royale and Alice in Borderland, but a really obvious one is "As the gods will"

 

[Steve-FreeOnes]

As the Gods Will was crap though. Squid Game did a far better job with a couple of the ideas in that than Takeshi Miike did.

 

[tvstrip]

As the Gods Will was crap though. Squid Game did a far better job with a couple of the ideas in that than Takeshi Miike did.

I think that's highly subjective (obviously).
Hindsight is 20/20, so the one that comes later gets the benefit of seeing what works. But they also have to deal with the criticism of being a copy. Hwang at least admitted that Battle Royale was an inspiration, so that's better than nothing, I guess.

Moreover, let's not forget that as a film, Miike only had a quarter of the runtime to work with. I pretty sure SG would have suffered too if they had to condense it into a film. That's why I mentioned earlier that it would be awesome if they adapted Battle Royale into a TV series (or a movie trilogy) to do justice to the manga/novel. That would be epic.

The great thing about SG is that the popularity is making other streaming services look for foreign series projects and not just films, so maybe some of those deserving hidden gems will get their chance in the spotlight.

 

[freeryan]

I totally would've been a huge fan as a kid if this came out decades ago. Certainly wouldn't copy the show but at least learn the games the deadly versions are based on. Two of which (red light green light and tug of war) I already played. Parents can only do so much but never blame the entertainment. There are ratings (my parents didn't give a damn about) for a reason.

 

[tvstrip]

Pitch meeting being pitch perfect as always.

Flashing lights dorm killing scene:
"Players are going to die?"
"Yeah, a whole bunch of them are going to die... along with some epileptic viewers at home as well"