SQUID GAME REVIEW: A NEW SHOW TO REMEMBER

If you’ve been anywhere on the internet since Sept. 17 you’ve probably seen or heard of the No. 1-streamed show on Netflix currently, “Squid Game.” The show is an iconic piece of media within the same gilded vein as the 2019 film “Parasite,” where the commentary is powerful enough to ring true with most people like me currently existing in the lesser side of our society, and its dark truthful nature.

Warning for spoilers here – but the episode that stood out to me most was the second episode, titled “Hell.” It begins with less than half of players returning from the first game, scarred and desperate, realizing that to win the distasteful amount of money offered, there could only be one singular survivor.

After a great amount of begging for their lives, Sang-Woo brings up the third clause of the contract for the game, that if the contestants wanted to, they could vote to forfeit the game, thus beginning a vote. Before the vote even begins however, the Square Mask guard reminds the curated assortment of gambling addicts that after the first game and the elimination of over half the players, the amount of prize money currently stands at 25.5 billion won (21 million U.S dollars) and that the total prize money at the end will be 45.6 billion won (38 million U.S. dollars).

The lights dim as a golden piggy bank descends from the heavens, and money slowly drops into it. Ominous music is played in the background but is drowned out by a chip tune that recurs throughout the series to signify money being added to the bank. We look at the group to see reactions ranging from bewilderment to seething frustration. The vote begins, and from there we see the ugly truth come out during a very close election.

In the middle of it, people start getting desperate. “Please! Think about what just happened out there. Come on, let’s go!” says 369.

“Where am I supposed to go?” says an angry 322. “Out there I don’t stand a chance. I do, in here. I’d rather stay and keep on trying in here than go back to the bullshit out there.”

The theme of this episode follows with that very dialogue, and even when they finally vote to end the game and go back to their stressful lives, more than half of the players realize, “out here, the torture is worse.”

So, despite the democratic vote of 101-100 to end the game, more than half the players return again – and I think this brings out a very sad reality that mirrors most of us in the sense, that we didn’t get to choose the life we are currently living.

For me personally, I will soon have to have a bottom-jaw surgery that is “covered” with insurance but will still put me $10,000 more in debt. And I think I can relate with the show’s creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, by saying that if these games were real I would consider participating. I wouldn’t be happy to join – in fact, I’d be very reluctant – but currently it’s either I die from lack of money or I could die trying to earn some money.

This world we live in currently is not really meant for humans, because all we do is repeat the same process as long as it’s profitable – and if you can’t profit or spend, then you’re at the mercy of the world that birthed you.

Squid Game helps make this point. When our main character, Gi-Hun, returns home to find his mother hospitalized for untreated diabetes in her feet that could require amputation, she quickly leaves the hospital since she has accepted a reality that her son couldn’t face: the fact that if she gets treated, she wouldn’t be able to work to pay for her rent or her hospitalization, not to mention that her son’s gambling addiction has cost them their insurance.

This conversation ends with Gi-Hun’s genuine side coming out to say that he will get her the money she needs – the only problem being that the only avenue to earn that much would be The Game.

It’s sad to see that the world’s people can no longer help each other (because we need to) but we don’t have the money to do so. We often wonder if it’s wrong to steal bread to feed a family, but we never can just give bread. As a whole, we produce more bread than people can eat, so instead of giving it away it often is just left to rot, instead. We have the tools to help each other, it’s just that we introduced money as a sick middleman that has corrupted our morals and given reason to throw each other away, just like that bread.

If you can’t function in this prestige-driven society, then nobody’s to blame for treating you like dirt. You may be made of the same flesh, skin, bone, and brain, but who’s to say we can’t divide you based on it, or the money you accumulate with your flaws as a benefactor. It’s either you’re built just right, or you’re born to be cared for – and the money isn’t caring for you.