Netflix’s new Korean show “Squid Game” has climbed to the top of the charts in most countries of the world where Netflix is available. It is the Number One show on Netflix in cumulative country-wise rankings, beating even Sex Education Season 3 to the number one position, even though both shows premiered on Netflix on the same day, that is 17th September.
Intriguingly, “Squid Game” is also the most repulsive show to come out in a long while. It is so disgusting that many viewers are unable to watch it in a single sitting. To put it in plain and simple words, Squid Game is enough to leave even the most hardened viewers traumatised. Yet, Squid Game is also one of the most compelling shows on streaming currently. It has scored a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It is the talk of the town on social media. But its “disgust quotient” cannot be denied.
What is it about Squid Game that is so repulsive, you may ask. For one, it is full of blood and gore. Second, the killing, shooting, murdering sequences are so vividly shot that they leave the viewer deeply unsettled. The show is about a group of 456, desperate-for-money people who are lured into playing a set of games with the carrot of massive prize money that runs into millions of dollars – 45.6 billion won or $38.5 million, to be specific.
As the players begin playing the seemingly harmless children’s games, they realise that the stakes of losing a round are deadly and dangerous. For instance, the participants begin playing the common game “Red Light Green Light”, only to realize that if anyone is caught moving when it’s “red light”, they’re shot dead with real bullets!
As the participants go higher up in the game, the games get increasingly brutal and the stakes get gorier and bloodier. What’s even more compelling is that the playrooms are decorated in cheery and pleasant pastel colours, a sharp contrast to the carnage that is unleashed in each. Carnage might seem a harsh word to use, but if you watch the show, you’ll know that’s what it’s all about.
The punishments for losing a game are varied and many – participants are shot at close range, or stabbed, or dropped from a height, and killings take place in the hundreds. Vital organs are removed from the dead bodies – there’s even a vivid dissection on display in the show. All the while, an unsettling feeling of doom and fear hangs over the narrative.
Squid Game is being compared to similar older films such as The Hunger Games, Cube, Battle Royale and others of the ilk. But if you watch it, you’ll know it’s even more brutal and traumatising than the aforementioned ones. Deeply disturbing is also the fact that the show mirrors the reality of society, where the rich pull the strings, and the needy are but hapless players in the games controlled by the rich.
Squid Game is one of those shows where you are so fascinated by the brutality happening on screen that it’s hard to look away even though you’re completely, totally repulsed and horrified by it.
Watch it if you still haven’t. It’s definitely the most compelling thing on streaming right now.
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