The Power of Money – Squid Game (Season 1) (T.V. Review)

“Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes.” – Letterboxd Synopsis

Squid game took the world by storm in 2021. It was inescapable and I think it came out at the perfect time, in a world that was still in the immediate recovery from Covid. It is simply a stark inditement on not just capitalism but the idea of wealthy people beyond imagination being able to do whatever they want and the various ways that any person can find themselves in a hole of debt with seemingly no way to get out of it. Squid Game tells the story of an age old thing. Money will make people do anything, it controls people. I finally got around to fully watching it and I do love that messaging. I love a lot about this show but there’s just so much weighing it down that in the end it fails under its own weight in some regards.

The best thing about this show is when the actual games are going on and the focus is on the characters and their actions. Gi Hun is a great main character, very flawed, a bit scummy in some ways but ultimately he has a good heart and just like a lot of people participating in this game he found himself in this financial hole that eventually led him to the games not fully of his own fault. A strike, which led to some trauma and losing his job and family, which led to a gambling addiction and owing the mob money. Other characters are in debt for trying to escape a bad situation. Some are just awful people who messed with the wrong people and now owe money. Whatever the case may be, the central focus on the contestants and the main characters that we follow in the game is always so compelling. The character development and devolvement of some is genuinely amazing as the money starts to become more and more attainable and so much death has already happened. We see these characters ask themselves why not more? Why waste this opportunity? They chose to participate, knowing the stakes, but the prize is just so alluring. These things are especially prominent in episodes 2 and 8. It’s interesting but also sad because of how real the situations these people are in are, and if given this opportunity, I think people in real life would participate and on the flip side of that I have no doubt in my mind that some of the obscenely wealthy people in the world would immediately create something like this for their own amusement.

The games are very interesting and investing to watch. The idea of using children’s games in a life or death way is unique enough but also connects to the overarching feeling of how the people running this thing view the contestants. I’m not Korean, so it was interesting learning about these games that they play over there and drawing similarities to games Ive played in my childhood, also the strategies that they employ are interesting to watch. Every single game had me glued to the screen. The tension is also so thick you probably couldn’t even cut it with a knife. They let these moments breathe, with just the right amount of music or a lot of times no music at all. Just the raw visceral sounds of people trying to win or end up dying in very brutal fashion. It’s very well done.

Now for what I didn’t like. If the show was everything I said above, it would’ve been a 10/10 one of my favorite shows ever. Sadly, it’s not. There are a few glaring issues I have with this show which mainly boil down to everything that doesn’t have to do with the contestants is at minimum boring and sometimes just dreadful. This season has 9 episodes, most of which being around an hour and there’s so much I would personally cut from it. There’s a whole b plot with a detective sneaking in and basically playing a Hitman mission, trying to find his brother and figure out what’s going on. It’s sort of interesting for the most part. It has some cool reveals, and it exposes a lot more shady things going on in the facility than just the games, but overall it was alright. Towards the end of the season, the VIPS come to watch the last two games and I 100% get what they were going for with these mega wealthy characters. It was just awful, though. Every scene with them in it was bad. My biggest gripe with the show is the ending though.

I won’t spoil anything outright. I think this show is still very much worth the watch, but I want to just allude to some things in the end. The show makes a bold point about money and society and its emphasized at the end when the winner is crowned. In the aftermath, it follows them and just shows that no amount of money can really save your mind or soul from what you had to get through to get it. Eventually there’s a big plot twist at the end with a character who’s revealed to be more important that they let on. The winner and said character are pretty much locked into this philosophical debate about human nature and money. The more this character talked and revealed who they were and why they did what they did and the sad music builds up to him eventually passing away I sat there and thought to myself, was I meant to feel bad for them? They revealed so much about their true evil nature and flat out showed no remorse, regret, or general introspection about anything they did before passing and that wouldn’t have rubbed me in such a bad way if it wasn’t being played to be a sad moment. There’s no sympathy there for that character at all. And then to add a bit of insult into injury, even though it is in character of the winner to do what he does at the very end, it just felt like sequel bait.

So yeah, Squid Game is phenomenal when it focuses on the games and the contestants. Outside of that, though? It’s pretty rough but there’s no denying this shows cultural impact and the great things that it has done. Despite my gripes with it, it has a very strong message, and it fully delivers that messaging with great iconic characters and iconic moments. Despite its glaring flaws, I believe this is a must watch show with a lot to take away from it and a lot of relatable aspects. Sadly, I don’t really have high hopes for season 2 but that’s for another time.

Squid Game (Season 1) – 7/10