Jocul Calamarului (2021)

Give it a chance

I must confess that I was a little bored watching the first two episodes. It felt as if the runtime was too long and I wasn't just thinking to myself "this could have easily be shown in 30 minutes"... But from there, suddenly the almost 1 hour felt like 30 minutes and I just wanted more and more. You have to watch it!The story is very interesting, despite having some plotholes. They ended up not going anywhere with the organ trafficking arc. I was a bit confused but I quickly forgot about it when watching the rest of the drama. I have a few questions concerning the logic of the Squid Game, logistics and all that I can't just write down here as to not to spoil the experience for those wanting to watch the show. Numbers 101 and 212 will forever be on my heart ?

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The pacing is a bit confused...

I watched this a while ago, but I'm only putting this review here now. If you haven't watched it yet, it's definitely worth it. Pretty much everything is perfect, except that it is too long. One or two episodes inbetween could easily be shortened or removed entirely. The ending also let me down a bit, but season 2 hopefully will explain more of why the ending was the way it was. Be mindful though that it is gory and blood with many horror elements. Not exactly a lighhearted watch. What blew me away the most is the acting and I found many of my new favorite kdrama actors through this show. Would for sure recommend!

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Serie più bella dell'anno, dove?

Ammetto che non è un genere che guarderei, ma ehi uno dei primissimi se non il primo kdrama guardato anche da chi non ha mai sentito nominare la Corea. Cosa fai, non lo guardi?
Ovviamente, anche per capire come abbia fatto a diventare il più famoso e sopratutto il più bello di tutti.
Ecco, sul più bello avrei qualcosa da ridire. My Country the New Age è proprio su un altro livello, eppure non viene minimamente calcolato da chi sta al di fuori degli amanti kdrama.
Squid Game non è nulla di innovativo. Nulla di speciale. La sola cosa che ho apprezzato è la bravura degli attori. Per il resto lascia molte lacune.
È ingegnoso per alcune cose (posso ammetterlo) e molto malato. Ma finisce lì. Non ho avvertito alcune emozione, alcuna voglia di andare avanti. Alcune piccole cose mi dicevano sì vai avanti come prendere un pesce (io) con l'amo. Ok, ma nulla di eclatante.
Mi ha deluso. Mi aspettavo molto di più da un'opera tanto acclamata.

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This reminds me of Maze Runner but in Money Heist X P.E Class costumes

I thought it would be interesting from start to end but nah I was wrong.
I thought it would be very new and different from other k-thriller dramas but nah I was wrong again. It is actually a clever idea to combine two phenomenal movies' ideas into 1 drama, and the idea of using childhood games as the main focus here is insane. I never thought child's games could be this dangerous. Set aside the clever idea, I personally hate the "blood" they're using, it looks too fake.
To be honest...
I really loved the overall drama...at first, but I lost bit by bit of my interest after the 1st half of the total episodes. As the episodes went on, this drama felt ordinary and bland. I became numb seeing their fighting and killing scenes, it happened too often and became boring (not to mention the ridiculous blood they're using, too watery!). I expect this drama to be different but it turns out as one of Netflix's typical k-crime action thriller drama with a hanging ending and lots of untold truth. Maybe there'd be S2? that'd be good, I'm not that interested tho.
Conclusion: that's okay, just give it a go, it's exciting.
Last but not least, WI HA JOON I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!

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Works because capitalism doesn't

I want to start off by saying that this is more a think piece than a legit critique of the show. You don't need me to tell you that this show is good, you've probably heard that before. But in case you want to hear me say it again: Yes it's good. It's fantastic.

I discovered my love for Korean cinema with Bong Joon-ho. So mý approach to Koreas movies and dramas has always been a political one and it's what I appreciate most about this country's media.
This is on every level a more than competent show, acting, writing, cinematography-wise. But its brilliancy lies in its portrayal of the struggles of the working class.

Squid Game is not subtle with its portrayal and criticism of South Korea’s economy. The entire competition as shown in the show is held by the elites, who watch poor people killing each other for entertainment. The super-rich organizers have become so detached from everything, that the suffering of regular working-class people has become funny for them. We see rich men enjoying expensive whiskey and making jokes while the people in front of them are dying. The participants of the game are no longer human to them, in fact it gets literally said out loud, that they bet on them like they’re horses. It starts with them only getting referred to by numbers. And with each game, the players get more and more de-humanized, more and more alienated. The competition and brutality is what the game thrives on. It’s why the organizers deliberately give the participants less food, to “weed out the weaker ones”.
But there is more subtext to Squid Game, which makes it so brilliant. None of the contestants have been “forced” to play. Unlike in titles with similar premises the characters are here according to their free will. In fact, after the first game, they vote whether they want to continue the games, and the majority votes for no. And yet they still return. Because they have nothing out there waiting for them. In the real world, they have no real, tangible opportunity, to earn the money they need to restore their life, but in this brutal competition, they do. They can turn the cash down. They can leave the competition. But as participant Mi-nyeo beautifully puts it: “It’s just as bad out there as it is in here.” And that’s the thing, no one is forced to take part in this- and yet they are. Because their circumstances leave them no choice. Because partaking in capitalism is not a free choice, it’s the illusion of free choice. They’re playing a game of survival, no matter if they’re in the real world or in the game. But here at least, winning seems more realistic.

The harsh reality of capitalism also plays a big role in multiple backstories of our leads. Gi-hun, our protagonist, is unable to get back on his two feet after losing his job. Not only that but he is also traumatized after watching a friend and colleague die through police brutality at a strike.
We have Ali Abdul, an exploited Pakistani immigrant, who basically has no rights as a worker in Korea, since he’s there illegally. Kang Sae-byeok also fled to the South half-island from the North hoping for a better life, but finds herself disillusioned and trapped in poverty. The players of the competition can only exist because of capitalism. They are not unique and unlikely cases but part of a structural problem.

The idea behind the games is to give the participants one last fair chance to success. The frontman says out loud, that he wants a fair competition. In the real world the players of the game have been discriminated, based on their social status, based on their gender, based on ethnicity. But in this game where they play seemingly arbitrary games, everyone is supposed to have equal chances.
But do they?
Even though every single player could, in theory, make it through the majority of the games unscathed, how high their chances are is almost entirely based on circumstances that pretty much are out of their control.
Just like in Squid Game, whoever gets the advantages in life is based in arbitrary factors. In which family or country, we are born in as well as dumb luck. It's the meritocracy lie, the lie of the American dream gamified. Haven’t we all been reassured time and time again, by the 1%, that our system is fair and just, even though it clearly isn’t? The prize money is just hanging there, barely unattainable yet sufficiently close enough to see it and we keep telling ourselves, that we will get there if we push ourselves just enough.

Then there are the guards of the competition, dressed in menacing red robs. Though it’s easy to hate them since we constantly see them actively taking the lives of players on screen, there is subtlety in their portrayal, showing that they too simply are clogs in a machine with basically zero autonomy. Aside from, you know, constant murder, their schedule reminded me of that of an average warehouse employee. Their schedule is tight and strict and they’re not allowed to ask questions. A disembodied voice tells them what to do, when to eat or sleep, not all that different from the schedule of an Amazon warehouse worker.

In an environment as brutal and bloody as the one in Squid Game, kindness is a privilege that is impossible to afford. To make it through, you have to play dirty. Everyone who is kind and trusting by nature, like fan-favorite Ali, gets crossed. Many people have stated, that Squid Game makes a thesis of human nature.
But Squid Game isn’t as much about human nature as it is about the circumstances our players are put in. Except for a few exceptions, like the over-the-top evil mafia boss and his goons, the participants are neither good nor evil, they’re desperate. And they want to survive. It simply shows what happens to people who have nothing to lose.
Our hero doesn’t get as far as he does because he is kind, or because he is witty, but based on luck and technicalities. But his soft heart is the reason why he is left a broken man, unwilling to even touch his prize money. Humans aren’t good or evil by nature, but you won’t make it to the top through honest work or good character.

Korea isn't the thriving capitalist utopia that we imagine it to be. Korea's economic growth lies on the exploited working class, which works an average of 52 hours per week. In comparison to other countries, unions are weak. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have consistently denounced the situation of workers. Kang Sea-Byeok, the Korea from North Korea in the Series, was hoping for a better life in the South. But when asked if that wish came true, she simply stays quiet. Kang Sae-byeoks story is not an unrealistic one. Many North Korean refugees live as second-class citizens. Forever strangers living in a country that speaks the same language as their homeland.

The fates of Gi-hun, Ali etc. are familiar to many Koreans, but claiming that Squid Game’s scenario is only applicable to Korea, would be a false deduction. Many American critics have now taken it upon themselves to praise Squid Game for its portrayal of South Korean workers specifically. Fact is, that Squid Game works because capitalism has failed everywhere it’s been tried. It’s certainly not a coincidence that the two Korean pieces of media that have reached the biggest global success are both deeply anti-capitalist.
One of the elites in the show watching the competition live, states that South Korea's games are the best ones, in a throw-away line, implying that South Korea isn’t the only country that organizes games like this one. Meaning that, in the world of Squid Game, what we see on screen is supposed to be happening all around the world.
It’s one of the most telling lines of the show. Explaining Squid Game’s success despite all its cultural differences is simple: We all speak the same language under capitalism.

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The drama is very good but not excellent, I didn't find a story or script in the subject
The series is about group ofpeople and these people are either poor or have debts that they cannot bury, so an organization run by rich people decides to play with the feelings of those people and drag them behind their need for money.
These people are taken to un island where survival games begin
These games are childhood games that were played pin Korea in the past, if you lose in them, you will be executed
In the series, you can expect what will happen, especially when you know the game, you will know how the events will unfold
This drama show the dark side of the people, and they can do everything for surviving even killing each other, or frind betray his friend, killing people with cold blood
Play with them like they are nothing
This is really sad to see humans do things like that ...

For me, the series was fun, but there is no story in it, like I am watching some kind of entertainment TV show
It's not the best Korean drama i see...... there is a lot of Korean or Chinese drama are amazing than it

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A brilliant show fully worth watching

This is a show that is simultaneously brutal and beautiful in its depiction and execution. It's a fantastic metaphor for capitalism and the illusion of autonomy, the compulsion to survive that drives the poorest when their supposed freedoms and choices are constrained by a need to survive. Anyone could have left the game but out in the real world, the pressures would not let them. So they stayed and played.

I thought Gi-Hun was a weak and unsympathetic character, I didn't like the actor's constipated expressions at everything and I thought the support cast was better in terms of sympathetic characters and acting. The plot itself was formulaic but still great. Lot of the deaths were foreshadowed but that often made the prelude thick with emotional suspense and a desperation to be proven wrong. The games were brutal and I thought in particular that episodes 4 and 7 were masterful.

Again, I felt let down by the main character and I also found everything on the side with the undercover policeman to be an unnecessary addition which could instead have been devoted to fleshing out the back stories of some of the other characters. I found the North Korean defector (sorry i can't remember her name) the most interesting whilst Ali and the old man were the most endearing. This show really though could only be endured if you hated the characters. As soon as you began liking someone, they were bound to die.

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É a natureza humana?

Lembro bem quando ouvi falar sobre ele, ainda nem tinha um elenco, fico feliz com o sucesso e em como vai trazer mais visibilidade para os dramas asiáticos. Em um primeiro momento é estranho que a classificação em todo lugar seja 18+ e apenas na Netflix esteja 16+, o primeiro é o mais correto ao meu ver.

O enredo não precisa ser explicado, obviamente onde se existem jogos por dinheiro, há muita brutalidade e sangue. Logo vem os questionamentos: Até onde a ganância pode levar? Dinheiro vale mais que sua vida ou dos outros? Particularmente amo observar a psique humana em situações extremas e a possibilidade de adaptação nessas situações.

A construção da personalidade foi interessante, a maioria deles tinham erros e coisas que podiam ter sido melhores como ser humano. Então aí o objetivo fica mais claro, mostrando toda sujeira que é escondida embaixo do tapete e máscaras caíram. Falsos moralistas a todo tempo foram expostos, até mesmo o principal não fugiu disso. Um comparativo seria os reality, onde uns jogam com o coração, outros são mais objetivos e sempre há pessoas assistindo para seu próprio entretenimento e pelo prazer de ver o sofrimento alheio. Daí fica a pergunta, alguém escapa de ser assim? É a natureza humana? Podemos criticar sem ser hipócritas, já que estamos fazendo o mesmo ao ver este drama?

Assim como outras produções coreanas, até as pequenas coisas tem um significado por trás ou referência. Como por exemplo, a caixa que fica os corpos é igual a que ele deu de presente para filha e ao convite do último episódio. Os jogos são simples, mas com consequências brutais, a meu ver o quinto foi o mais interessante. Imagino o trabalho para todo este resultado, vi que o escritor escreve ele desde 2008. Sobre a segunda temporada, pela minha experiência, poucos dramas coreanos tem mais de uma, mas quem sabe após os resultados talvez tenha. Eu acho difícil, mas não custa ter esperança.

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the plot and cast are great. this show might be the best in 2021 (so far) and it is also the best action-thriller. even better than taxi driver or penthouse. the soundtrack is mostly instrumentals and there are not many with singers singing but it also gives that bone-chilling feeling as if u are there yourself. what I will say for the rewatch value is that if u have a strong stomach and if u are used to watching shows like this, then go ahead. but overall is a 10/10 for me. but also do keep in mind that this show contains a high amount of violence and gore. so, if you're underage, u might want to try other dramas with lesser violence.

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Love-hate relationship

One of the most important elements to a successful drama is how satisfying /fulfilling the ending is.

It's not about what we might think is fair but what makes us exhale in ease at the end feeling it's finally wrapped and tucked nicely in our memory.

That wasn't the case here.

-We follow an mc who is very poor, very in debt, has an ill mother and a lonely daughter who will be taken away from him forever if he doesn't do anything.

None of that gets even remotely solved! Zero!

-We grew to know and love characters like Saebyeok and her scattered family and her last hope to bring them together.

Again, NOTHING CHANGES!
*well except a very very weak last minute forced scene that had no absolute value!

- We're introduced to a police officer who we expect to be the end of this organization. But guess what he adds to the story?
Right, NOTHING!

We, as viewers, are attached to these characters, feeling what they feel. We, and them, endured the horrors of the game bc of a purpose. We wanted them to achieve their goals, we wanted to see them happy at last. or at the very least for something to change!!

But to make all of these stories and characters and games and twists and emotional manipulation to keep everything exactly the way it is, is just weak writing in my opinion.

Even if they were planning on a season 2 from the start, (which I really hope so, for their sake. Otherwise this was the worst drama ending I've ever seen) they should've made it a little more (or any) satisfying to the viewers. They sacrificed the ending for s1 to build for a s2. But even that was very poorly written and executed.

The drama was great in the beginning, amazing even. I was at the edge of my seat the whole time, binging episode after another in anticipation. That's why I can't give it a lower rating.

All was great until the last two episodes or the last one really. It left me confused, mad and disappointed. And all I could think was "wth did I just watch?"

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