Squid Games

Everyone enjoys spending time with each other. No matter who you are with, whether it’s family, friends, relatives, or even your pet, it would be reasonable to watch a show or movie for everyone’s amusement. Netflix is the platform to go to. There are about 207 million subscribers to Netflix. Although you are watching Netflix with other people, what if you were alone? An action-packed, gory, horror, puzzle-solving thriller series may be a suitable genre for you. On September 17th, 2021, Netflix released an original series called Squid Games.

Squid Games is an action-packed, gory, horror, puzzle-solving, thriller series that revolves around people competing for money. As viewers start the show, they investigate the life of a protagonist named Gi-hun who is divorced and in debt to some Korean mafia. On the verge of being killed by the Korean mafia and losing his daughter to her stepdad, he finally wins the jackpot on a bet with horseback riding; however, he is robbed of the money and does not have anything left. Walking in tears, he encounters a man in a suit who asks him if he would like to play ddakji, which is a childhood game. He told Gi-hun that if he wins, he gets 100,000 won, but if he loses, Gi-hun must pay 100,000 won. Unfortunately, Gi-hun does not win the game and must give the man the money. Luckily for him, the man in the suit was nice enough to tell Gi-hun that he must use his body; therefore, Gi-hun gets slapped in the face. Since that was the only consequence of losing, Gi-hun keeps playing until he wins. Finally, Gi-hun was able to win, and he earned 100,000 dollars. The businessman tells him that there are a lot more games like that if he competes in the organization called the “Squid Games.” Gi-hun takes time to think about the offer and decides to go. When he arrives at the meeting spot, a mysterious man in a red suit with a mask with a shape on it picks him up. Gi-hun goes in the van and sees other people passed out. Soon, Gi-hun has also passed out. Once Gi-hun wakes up, he sees a lot of other people there wearing a green tracksuit just like his. He also sees other people having a certain number on their clothes. Gi-hun was considered Player 456. The competitors meet more of these red-suited men and accept the terms and conditions of the games. The superiors of the red-suited people told the players that every time they win, more money is added to their bank accounts; however, if they lose a game, they will be eliminated. Every time a player is eliminated, more money is added to their bank accounts.

Once everything is settled, while being unknown to their surroundings, the competitors play their first game. The first game was simple, it was Red Light, Green Light. The goal of the game is to make it to the other side of the field without being caught by the big robot. When it’s a green light, players are supposed to go, when it’s a red light, players are supposed to stop and be frozen. If a person is not frozen at a red light, or doesn’t make it to the end in time, they are eliminated. The game starts and players are already sprinting, trying to make it to the end; however, the first person who messed up because he wasn’t frozen on red light was shot. It took a while for the other players to realize that if people lose in the game, they will die. This led to a lot more people panicking and getting shot leading to more than 100 people dead in the first challenge. The first episode of the series is a gruesome one. Gi-hun luckily makes it across along with a lot of other people. Once the first game was over, the superior guards showed the winning players how much money was banked. Although it was a lot of money, people who won the challenge wanted to go home while some wanted to keep playing. The superior guards then revealed that everyone who is competing in these squid games are in debt with a gigantic financial loss. In order to leave squid games, everyone must vote to see whether or not people are still going to play or leave. Luckily, the voting results came to where everyone is allowed to leave safely.

Once Gi-hun was able to go back to his normal life, he encounters other people who were also in the game. It then switches perspectives to the other players with interesting back stories and problems in their lives. This helps create more development for the characters to help viewers have a better understanding of the story. When Gi-hun was walking around, he realizes that his mother is about to go bankrupt due to his brother, who was also in the squid games, selling her shop. This frustrates Gi-hun since not only his mother is suffering from financial loss, but his mother is also feeling very ill alongside with his debt to the mafia and wanting his daughter back. He realizes that he doesn’t have anything else to live for and goes back to the Squid Games once again with the other characters. As viewers continue to watch, they will stumble on new friends and foes for Gi-hun, new challenges to face, and plot twists of other perspectives. The main question for viewers is, what in the world is Squid Games? It is more than just mere games for money, so what is it?

Today, Squid Games is one of the most popular series on Netflix. Many people dressed up as them for Halloween, others made TikToks based on the series, and some even made their own version of Squid Games like Mr. Beast, a professional YouTuber who gives millions to people. Squid Games is overall a significant series to watch to solve mysteries and find out the reason why people take certain actions.