| Name of the Drama | Squid Game |
| Starring | Lee Jung-Jae, Park Hae-Soo, Wi Ha-Jun, Oh young-soo, Jung Ho-Yeon, Heo Sung-Tae, Kim Joo-Ryoung, Tripathi Anupam, You Seong-Joo, Lee You-mi |
| Director & Year of Release | Hwang Dong-hyuk, 17th September 2021 |
| Studio | Bucket Studio Co. |
CHECKLIST Rating: 5/5
Reviewer: Maonglemla Jamir
“Squid Game” a South Korean dystopian drama, is the most-watched show on Netflix, where a top executive recently predicted that it could become the platform’s most-popular program ever. Ten days after it’s release, the series was already no.1 on Netflix in 90 countries.
About the Drama
In Squid Game, a group of 456 people, in debt and desperate, are lured into a bloodthirsty survival game where they have the chance to walk away with 45.6 billion Korean won ($39 million) if they win a series of six games… The games are simple enough – they are childhood games that the players grew up playing.
Spoiler –
Episodes 1: Red Light, Green Light: Hoping to win easy money, a broke and desperate Gi-Hun agrees to take part in an enigmatic game, unforeseen horrors unfold.
Episode 2: Hell: Split on whether to continue or quit,the group holds a vote. But their realities in the outside world may prove to be just as unforgiving as the game.
Episode 3: The Man with the umbrella: A few players enter the next round-which promises equal doses of sweet and deadly- with hidden advantages. Meanwhile, Ju-ho sneaks his way inside.
Episode 4: Stick to the Team: As alliances from among the players, no one is safe in the dorm after lights-out.The third game challenges the Gi-hun team to think strategically.
Episode 5: A Fair World: Gi-hun and his team take turns keeping guard through the night. The masked men encounter trouble with their co-conspirators.
Episode 6: Gganbu: Players pair off for the fourth game. Gi-hun grapples with a moral dilemma, Sang-woo chooses self-preservation and Sae-byeok shares her untold story
Episode 7: VIPS: The masked leader welcomes VIP guests to the facility for a front-row viewing of the show. In the fifth game, some players crack under pressure.
Episode 8: Front man: Ahead of the last round, distrust and disgust run deep among the finalists. Jun-ho makes a getaway, determined to expose the game’s dirty secrets.
Episode 9: One Lucky Day: The Final round presents another cruel test, how it ends depends on just one player. The game’s creator steps out of the shadows.
Verdict
Squid Game for me is by far the craziest K-drama to grace Netflix in 2021! It’s wickedly entertaining. With all Nine episodes giving us a chock-full of vivid thrills, spectacular sets, and terrific scores, its greatest strength is the plot. Amid the dramatic and bloodletting, there are important life lessons to gain through this drama. Eight life lessons that I learnt from this drama are:
- The Choices we make today affect our future.
- Appearances can be deceiving.
- Gambling Never gives you an assurance for a better life.
- The Best time to get insurance is when you don’t need it yet.
- Betrayal comes from the people you trust the most.
- Kindness sometimes comes from the people that you least expect.
- The kindness you show to others will always find a way of coming back to you.
- Money may be important, but it does not always guarantee happiness.
CHECKLIST is a review column initiated by Tetso College that aims at giving students, reviewers and writers a platform to review and reflect upon books, movies, television shows, documentaries, magazines, restaurants and catering services, games, software, and product reviews. The reviews should be a reflective writing encompassing the writer’s opinions about the subject matter while avoiding unprecedented subjective bias. This is an unsponsored review column. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the Institution.
Type your review in a Google Docs or MS Word document and email it to dottalks@tetsocollege.org.