Squid Game is a Netflix original series that holds deadly games for a big cash prize. It was released on September 17, 2021. The show takes place in South Korea, with many cash-strapped people competing for millions. The games are all life or death, with only one real winner in the end.

Squid Game begins with the main character, Seong Gi-Hun. Gi-Hun is a divorced and indebted chauffeur, former assembly worker, obsessed gambler, and father. Gi-Hun took out a massive loan from loan sharks, who threatened to take his life if he could not repay his large debt. A strange man called The Salesman approaches Gi-Hun, making him a direct offer within a subway station. The task is to win a round of Ddakji (a traditional Korean game similar to the game Pogs) for 100,000 Won. Gi-Hun repeatedly loses, only paying with slaps to his face, but eventually wins. The Salesman gives Gi-Hun the money, a mysterious card, and an invitation to play more games to win more money. The mysterious card holds a phone number which prompts Gi-Hun to call and he ends up entering a van where he is knocked out with sleeping gas and kidnapped. Thus, the games begin.

Gi-Hun, along with 455 other broke people, arrive at an off-shore secret facility that holds the competition. The contestants are all competing for 45.6 Billion Won or $38.6 million, and there can only be one winner. The 456 players play “Red Light, Green Light” during the first round. Typically, if you are moving during the game, you are eliminated, but in Squid Game, eliminated means murdered, and 255 players are killed during the first round. Everyone is aghast, and according to the rules, a vote happens and the majority decide to withdraw from the games. 

Gi-Hun goes to the cops in the real world, but the police think his report and everyone else’s of the games is crazy. Gi-Hun desperately needs the money, so he decides to return to compete for his daughter, as without the proper funds he cannot see her nor provide for her. While 14 of the players do not return, 187 participants return to play. 

“I thought Squid Game was a really interesting show,” said junior Sophie Messmer. “It was attention-grabbing, and the ending was very unexpected. My favorite part about the show is all of the different characters, they’re all pretty complex and ethier loveable or hateable.”

SPOILER WARNING! (There will be spoilers to the rest of Squid Game present within the rest of the story)

Back within the games, the participants play five other games. The second game features the participants trying to cut a circle, umbrella, star, or triangle out of a dalonga cookie, a famous Korean cookie made out of melted sugar and baking soda. The players had to cut out their shape perfectly or die. The third game is a tug of war with teams where one team lives and the other falls tragically. The fourth game was played in pairs with marbles. The players choose any game involving marbles with one winner and the loser getting shot. Game five involves the players treading across a paneled glass bridge with two sides. One side remains intact while the other makes the player fall to their doom. The sixth and final game is ironically named Squid Game or ojingeo, a traditional Korean playground game.

In the end, with 440 dead players, our main character Seong Gi-Hun emerges victorious. Gi-Hun has all 45.6 billion won but does not spend any of it for a year. 

After coming to terms with himself, Gi-Hun dyes his hair and spruces himself up. Gi-hun is moments away from flying to the United States to see his daughter when he decides to recall the number on the mysterious card from The Salesmen. He is told not to get “any absurd ideas.” He then turns around and starts walking away, presumably to expose the game’s organizers. 

“I liked Squid Game,” said senior Alex Mason. “My favorite part was when the games ended and the main character Seong Gi-Hun got to go home. I feel like there is definitely going to be a second season, and I expect Netflix to explore more on who made the games when they were made, and why.”

Squid Game is genuinely a high-stakes show. Each episode features the players fighting for their lives and other miniature stories to the main plot. There is drama, fighting, and more. Squid Game is undoubtedly a thrilling horror show with much drama and is worth binge-watching.

10/10 

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