Entertainment

Netflix’s “Squid Game” is the show of 2021

This review contains spoilers for “Squid Game.”

Everyone has been talking about the 2021 Netflix show “Squid Game.” I knew I had to see what the hype was all about. People standing under a large piggy bank full of money.

In this thriller series, hundreds of individuals who are in debt accept an invitation to compete in games with deadly stakes and a huge cash prize. 

The players compete in six children’s games. As the games progress, players who lose are told they will be eliminated. In this sense, eliminated means killed, but the players have to find that out the hard way. 

The main goal is to survive all six games to win the prize money. 

There is no television experience I can compare to watching episode one, “Red Light, Green Light,” for the first time. 

This is the episode where the players learn the true meaning of elimination. A mass murder ensues in what was expected to be a lighthearted game of red light green light. 

People in tracksuits standing in a line.
“Squid Game” contestants.

For most of the show, my favorite character was Il-nam, otherwise known as player 001, or the “old man.” I came to like him because of how wholesome and innocent he was. My heart could not handle it when he got eliminated.

This was until the huge twist at the end when we find out that he is still alive and has been the creator of the game the whole time. I literally sat there with my jaw wide open. 

Something about how good the show was the whole time had my standards set really high for the finale, which did not let me down. 

I really like the way they left the story open-ended, and it makes me hopeful for a second season. 

Overall, I really loved this show and it lived up to the hype. 

“Squid Game” perfectly encompasses human nature and the power of greed and love. It was shocking in the best way possible and is hands down the show of 2021.