“Squid Game” breaks global records with an original South Korean drama making it Netflix’s #1 most-watched show of 2021.“Squid Game” features famous childhood games from South Korea with a dark twist: you lose, you die. Four hundred fifty six players are picked up, gassed to sleep, and then sent to a remote island with no idea where they are. They are offered to participate in a series of 6 games each game correlating to an activity from their childhood. If they lose the game they are eliminated, and the elimination is death. Though they aren’t directly forced to play the game, many players resort to participating in hopes of winning a big cash prize of 45.6 billion won (38.3 million dollars in USD).

This show has racked up over 900 million USD in net worth, making it Netflix’s current #1 show with 781 global points. A movie receives ten points for a first place finish, nine points for a second place finish, eight points for a third place finish, etc. Squid Game can be found on the streaming platform Netflix, and honestly, it’s the real deal. The producer and director, Hwang Dong-Hyuk, wrote Squid Game back in 2009 but the show was not yet brought to life until June 2020.

The acting was absolutely phenomenal. I haven’t seen a show that truly kept me on the edge like ‘Squid Game’ did in a very long time. 

The actors knew exactly how to portray their characters and it definitely showed how real the characters were to them. The main character, Seong Gi-Hun played by Lee Jung-Jae, seemed to be connected not only emotionally but mentally to the character. Lee put everything of himself into Seong.

Though Lee is an amazing actor, his co-star actress Jung Ho-Yeon outshines his performance. Famous for her cold and distant personality and known as player 067, Jung won my heart. She knew how to display just the right amount of emotion and did not over do her performance. “Squid Game” is her debut role, something viewers would not conclude from her stellar performance. 

The set was like nothing I have ever seen, it was very childlike and brought back memories even I had. The playground-like structures, bright colors, and personality variance of the characters meshed perfectly with the ambiance of the show itself. It reminded me of how naive I was when I was younger, unaware of the dangers that scoured the world, this contributed  to the eerie tone of the show. 

Squid Game brought the two together and the action was not at all disappointing. The combination of childhood games and horror made for a very interesting angle for the show. 

All the scenes were evenly spaced. The show made each scene last enough to develop your own relationships with the characters. They dragged out in some places but showed the development of relationships between the characters throughout the episodes. Each scene held a different feeling than the scene before and kept you on edge, gripping your seat. Each set was made with intricate detail, almost like it was supposed to grow on you, just like the characters. 

Even though it had lots of positive components you should have a very high emotional distress tolerance before diving into this series, because it will surely put you to the test. 

With a rating of 10 being the best show I have ever seen, “Squid Game” is definitely an 11. Keep in mind, you may not feel the same way when you watch this show, but regardless, it is definitely worth the risk.