Korean drama Squid Game (오징어게임) is the number one show on Netflix in the US as well as much of the world right now. Squid Game is also scoring a perfect 100% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes. If this news surprises you, you obviously have not yet seen this incredibly stylish series that grips you right from the start and continues to shock its way through each episode.
The drama follows 456 willing participants who compete with each other in a mysterious tournament that is like the Hunger Games on steroids. The contestants are all desperately in debt and if they win, they get a huge cash prize. If they lose, let’s just say they won’t have to worry about finding their way home.
Veteran actors Lee Jung Jae and Park Hae-soo are in peak form in roles that feel fresh and authentic. Newcomer Anupam Tripathi is terrific as a Pakistani who has come to Korea to find work only to get defrauded by the factory that he works for. In his first major role, Tripathi manages to steal every scene he’s in.
Squid Game is smart, modern, and thoroughly Korean harkening back to the childhood games we played as kids back in the old country. Each character is engrossing and real, and their financial hardships are heartbreakingly common in Korean life.
What deadly game will come next? What twisted person is behind such a crazy yet impeccably executed operation? You hardly have time to think while sweating the life and death stakes of the chilling Squid Game, but you’ll have plenty to ponder after each episode.
Cast & Crew
Written by: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Directed by: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Starring: Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Jung Ho-yeon, Anupam Tripathi
