Current Events > Is Squid Game actually good? It doesn't sound like anything special.

(+) Yeah! (+)

It sounds as unremarkble as Strange Things.

You should try out for Edge magazine. Might be able to make a second Doom review for them.

The overall plot is decent but gets ruined with anime levels of unnecessary exposition, horrible special effects and embarrassingly-bad acting from antagonists who show up later in the show.

It is. But if you go in expecting it to live up to the hype that pretty much nothing can live up to after the hype dies, you moght fall into nitpicking it. Just go in expecting it to be decent.

I enjoyed it, but I'd recommend Hellbound which is another Korean show which came out around the same time and got completely overshadowed by it

No. Pretty average.

it's definitely worth the watch. dunno how you could compare it to stranger things without it just being a very weak trolling attempt tho

Its very entertaining

Sunhawk posted...

It sounds as unremarkble as Strange Things.

I'm so surprised that the guy reviewing shit he hasn't seen can't spell.

Will_VIIII posted...

I enjoyed it, but I'd recommend Hellbound which is another Korean show which came out around the same time and got completely overshadowed by it

I liked both. But yea, Hellbound is great. Another good one is All Of Us Are Dead

All 3 are getting seasons 2s

its about a squid that plays games.

really grabs your soul...

Squid Game and then 100 Presidents a month later

I thought it was mostly really good.

I enjoyed it. But if you're one of those people that hates anything that's not a 10/10 revolutionary masterpiece, then you'll probably hate it. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's got good characters

The first episode is the strongest. There are also a few high points in the middle. But it's mostly downhill in the second half and it ends on a bit of a whimper.

It's mostly a middle-to-bottom of the barrel YA show that got a lot of traction because Gen Z peeps thought it was some sort of genius scathing commentary on capitalism.

It's entertaining, but not that great imo. Acting is terrible sometimes.

VIXVLV posted...

It's mostly a middle-to-bottom of the barrel YA show that got a lot of traction because Gen Z peeps thought it was some sort of genius scathing commentary on capitalism.

what part of the show is YA?

Overall it's like 7/10 but there's some really good episodes like the glass bridge one.

its a good, fun watch.

I guessed the twist fairly early and it made it not as fun

The_Yahtz09 posted...

what part of the show is YA?

...the plot is essentially Hunger Games. Or The Maze, or the billions of other YA lit that follows the same formula.

VIXVLV posted...

It's mostly a middle-to-bottom of the barrel YA show that got a lot of traction because Gen Z peeps thought it was some sort of genius scathing commentary on capitalism.

Lol. Old man post. It definitely wasn't just Gen Z.

VIXVLV posted...

...the plot is essentially Hunger Games. Or The Maze, or the billions of other YA lit that follows the same formula.

Or Battle Royale, which was basically the one that started it all.

But just because Young Adults (which isn't the case in squid games) are involved, that doesn't make it Young Adult.

bigblu89 posted...

Or Battle Royale, which was basically the one that started it all.

But just because Young Adults (which isn't the case in squid games) are involved, that doesn't make it Young Adult.

I'm just saying that the plot is structurally identical to a large swath of YA lit. Idk what makes something YA if that doesn't.

VIXVLV posted...

...the plot is essentially Hunger Games. Or The Maze, or the billions of other YA lit that follows the same formula.

Yeah, YA novels share plots with things that aren't YA. There are no young adults (which I am sure you know is what YA stands for) in Squid Game.

I don't think young adults need to be in YA. The YA designation is about the audience lol.

The thing Hunger Games rips from is literally not YA fiction lol

"It's Young Adult fiction because American writers appropriated an explicitly adult work of fiction" is some really uncultured nonsense to believe in

It's bad. Theres not a single original concept here that hasn't been done in a garbage blumhouse film 50 times, the acting is weak, and the plot goes absolutely nowhere. The twist at the end is just insulting box-checking.

I truly have zero idea how this show got any traction at all. The fantastic Parasite must've sent waves through the industry, because Im always seeing people praising that god awful All Of Us Are Dead series as well, and that's several tiers below even Squid Game.

Surprised Alice in Borderland hasnt been mentioned. That show is top notch and the second season is coming out in around 2 months.

anyways Squid Game is like, fine? It's pretty derivative and predictable but ultimately I enjoyed it. Not a GOAT series or anything but it had a lot of memorable bits & pieces

SpiritSephiroth posted...

Surprised Alice in Borderland hasnt been mentioned. That show is top notch and the second season is coming out in around 2 months.

I've been waiting for season 2, didn't know it was that close

Covxy with another weird ass take.

Zikten posted...

I liked both. But yea, Hellbound is great. Another good one is All Of Us Are Dead

All 3 are getting seasons 2s

I think I liked all of us are dead the most out of the three but agree all of them are great.

I thought squid game and stranger things were both awesome

you guys love hating popular stuff

It was really good. I loved it.

MICHALECOLE posted...

you guys love hating popular stuff

This part is fine even. It's when they fall into delusions where they have to pretend certain groups they don't like are the ones pushing it just because they don't like it themselves. They just seem disconnected from the world while using a device connecting them to that world lol. It's tunnel vision like crazy

Zero_Destroyer posted...

The thing Hunger Games rips from is literally not YA fiction lol

"It's Young Adult fiction because American writers appropriated an explicitly adult work of fiction" is some really uncultured nonsense to believe in

I mean, you'd have to explain why it's not YA, if it features all of the plot and themes, and largely appeals to the same audiences. Like, hunger games also had scathing commentary on capitalism, power, and media. Not sure what differentiates them.

Like, gore maybe? That's..uh, not super convincing.

VIXVLV posted...

I mean, you'd have to explain why it's not YA, if it features all of the plot and themes, and largely appeals to the same audiences. Like, hunger games also had scathing commentary on capitalism, power, and media. Not sure what differentiates them.

Like, gore maybe? That's..uh, not super convincing.

how about you name a YA that doesnt have a YA protagonist. Or why dont you explain what you think YA means since however you define it is clearly something only you agree with.

edit: Im talking about squid games being YA not Battle Royal.

VIXVLV posted...

I mean, you'd have to explain why it's not YA, if it features all of the plot and themes, and largely appeals to the same audiences. Like, hunger games also had scathing commentary on capitalism, power, and media. Not sure what differentiates them.

Like, gore maybe? That's..uh, not super convincing.

Look, it's not my fault you don't know what Battle Royale is lol

Zero_Destroyer posted...

Look, it's not my fault you don't know what Battle Royale is lol

Idk why you think a single title defines an entire constellation of literature lol

Guess well just have to reiterate that calling squid games a YA show is one of the dumbest opinions out there and can only really come from someone with no knowledge of the different types of fiction or why fiction is separated into children fiction, YA fiction, and adult fiction lol.

Zeeak4444 posted...

Guess well just have to reiterate that calling squid games a YA show is one of the dumbest opinions out there and can only really come from someone with no knowledge of the different types of fiction or why fiction is separated into children fiction, YA fiction, and adult fiction lol.

I mean, typically YA features a simplfied social commentary on top of characters who display raw emotion as the discover the devious society that they are a part of.

Strange how all you experts of literature have been completely silent in defining or describing anything lol.

it doesn't have a romance plot, not YA

Anyway, yeah, I'd say the defining chacteristic of YA is audience lol.

And because of it, the plots tend to resemble the social commentary version of a flatlanders observation of reality.

VIXVLV posted...

Anyway, yeah, I'd say the defining chacteristic of YA is audience lol.

And because of it, the plots tend to resemble the social commentary version of a flatlanders observation of reality.

when are we gonna discord my man

what's the 3d vision of that

I liked it, kinda like a live-action Kaiji.

almost all recent korean media is incredibly overrated, it's just en vogue for whatever reason

the korean gov subsidizes its entertainment industry in order to advertise and astroturf heavily in poorer southeast/south asian countries which then leads to immense signal-boosting on social media platforms

I love me some Squid Games and Strange Things and Battle Royal.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/4/0/AAfV-XAADwUU.jpg

Majority of people found squid games through social media, which tracks as it was up on neflix for a long while (i want to say on the order of a month) before it blew up. 20% found it through TikTok. 20%!

The idea that this show didn't blow up because a bunch of younger people hyped it the fuck up on social media is clearly attempting to wash away history.

I even remember telling my partner we should watch the show. But we didn't until she saw it blowing up all over her social media.