Skip to main content

SHOULD YOU WATCH SQUID GAME ON NETFLIX?

Nothing much is changing today, so far.

It took me two weeks, but I watched all 9 episodes of Squid Game Season 1 and 7 episodes of the second season.  Each chapter is about an hour long.  I normally would be discrete about sharing too much from these productions, but will make an exception for this series.

Most of you don't know South Korean culture, nor their performers.  I think you will more fully enjoy these two seasons knowing the backstories.  So if you continue reading, you will know who will survive into Season 3.  Significant revelations, but, perhaps, more useful to understand what is happening.  All this will better prepare you for S3.  I think I'm doing most of you a favor.  Rotten Tomatoes gave Season 1 95/83 ratings and Season 2 83/63.  About right.

I thought there surely would be more episodes in Season 2 after watching #7, for the game was nearing a conclusion.  But it suddenly ended.  My immediate thought was that the writers were burnt out and ran out of ideas.  Maybe that's what happened, but TUDUM by Netflix reports on how the two leading cast and members and creator explained the ending.

  • So the main character Seong Gi-hun (above, actor Lee Jung-jae), Front Man Hwang In-ho (right, actor Lee Byung-hun, but also Young-il as player 001) and director/writer Hwang Dong-hyuk were interviewed.
  • I'm just now getting what happened in S1 and S2, but Player 001 has always been an administrative spy placed there by those running this game to manipulate situations.
    • In S1, it was Oh Young-su, who was not a down-on-his-luck old man desperate for a  fortune.  He was a wealthy business scion behind the creation of the game.
    • In S2, Player 001 was Front Man or HI or LB (the FM is the one in the black mask and controls the game).
    • But keep in mind, these two individuals know that they themselves could easily get accidentally killed in the process of living out this role in the actual game.
  • Of the two competing main characters, the Front Man believes there is absolutely no hope for the world or humanity, while the main character, SG, now back into the game after winning S1, hopes for the best in society.  This contention is at the heart of S2.
  • Yes, these initials and relationships are hard to remember, but using their full names in this posting makes it even more awkward.
  • What is the Front Man's backstory?
    • FM earlier had given one of his kidneys to his step brother, Hwang Jun-ho (person on right, a former police officer, who quits his job to find FM, who HJ thought was somehow involved in the game). 
    • FM or HI or LB (from now on I'll only use FM for Front Man) was also a police officer, and his wife had a kidney ailment.  He couldn't give another kidney to his wife, so in trying to borrow money for one, got into legal problems and was fired.  She was also pregnant, but soon passed away.
    • Despondent and in debt FM was recruited for Squid Game in 2015, and won.
    • The SG administration subsequently hired him on their staff, who did well and in time became the FM.
    • They never say this, but the first SG began in 1988, with 33 annual competitions into 2020.  Season 2 was the 37th Squid Game. 
  • Another character to watch is popular actress Park Gu Young, who plays a North Korean deserter, No-eul, searching for her infant daughter she left behind.  She becomes Pink Guard 011 only in S2.  You'll first see her as a mascot at a theme park.  She is likely to continue into Season 3.
  • Also looking good to be in S3 is Cho Hun-ju, who is Player 120 in S2.  She is a trans-woman who is kicked out of the military after coming out.  She joined the game to support her gender-affirming surgery and move to Thailand.   The role is played by cis-gender male actor Park Sung-hoon.  This concept, as well as other social conscience themes, is purposefully inserted into the film.  Should you want more info, click on this.  
  • Someone who won't return to S3 is Choi Seung-hyun as Thanos, a purple-haired villain who stood out...and died.  He is known professionally in Korea as T.O.P., a rapper, singer, songwriter and actor.  He was selected for a lunar spaceflight aboard SpaceX's Starship in 2024, but delays cancelled his participation.  Watch his most popular rap song, Turn It Up.
  • In short, Squid Game S1 and S2, in addition to the gore and twists, also attempt to address socially controversial issues.
  • By the way, if you don't like to see blood, avoid watching Squid Game at all costs.
I'll close with the most popular Korean songs of all time, 
  • Maybe Gangnam Style because it so captured the attention of the world a dozen years ago.
  • Today, Arirang represents the symbol of unity lost in the Korean War.
  • This is the only Korean song in my early memory.

- 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...
Post a Comment
Read more

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that   Oktoberfest   in Germany is mostly in September?  The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3.  Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September?  The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich?  These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11.  Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town.  It was drizzling a bit.  We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served.  We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall.  So no one came to serve us beer.  After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine.  Thus, we might have been the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with  Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....
Post a Comment
Read more