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A group of people deep in debt and on the brink of financial ruin are recruited to play a dangerous series of games.  Sponsored by the overly rich and bored, each contestant stands to earn billions if they can survive a series of children’s playground games;  each with a deadly twist.  The group grows smaller as the games go on, and the competition becomes more brutal, as greed wins out over compassion.  But a few will fight desperately to maintain some semblance of humanity in the face of temptation.  Who will take home the fortune and what will the victory cost?

Park Hae Soo as Cho Sang Woo (#218)

Cho Sang Woo is deep in debt because of a string of poor investment choices.  He teams up with Gi Hoon and the others because it is obvious that no one can survive on their own.  As the games go on, Sang Woo becomes more greedy and competitive.  Eventually Gi Hoon realizes that Sang Woo can’t be trusted and they begin to drift apart.  In the end, when faced with a way out that would forfeit the prize money, Sang Woo sacrfices everything to save his own pride.

While Cho Sang Woo isn’t always a likeable character, you can’t exactly fault him either.  He, like all the others, is in an impossible situation.  That is how the games are designed.  When Sang Woo betrays Ali to win the marble game, we see his grief and anguish.  And Sang Woo isn’t the only one who had to cheat his way out of that particular game.  Gi Hoon also tricks Il Nam.  Sang Woo’s biggest fault is that he tries to justify his choices instead of admitting that the situation is hard and showing some empathy to the players around him.  I love Park Hae Soo as an actor and I think he fits this role well.  I felt the inner turmoil of Sang Woo and my heart broke for him.

Wi Ha Joon as Hwang Joon Ho

Hwang Joon Ho is a police officer who heard about the games when Gi Hoon made a police report, but no one believed him.  Joon Ho believes that his brother may be among the players.  So he stows away in one of their vans and poses as a guard.  While investigating the case he learns that his brother is involved, but it is not what he had originally thought.  

♥ Visual Playground

“Squid Game” has amazing sets full of lights and bright colors.  The backgrounds help to highlight the stark contrast between the innocence of the children’s games and the brutal violence of this new version.  From giant dolls who play Red Light, Green Light to a glass bridge lit with colorful twinkle lights, every stage is decorated to the extreme.  And that colorful staircase they lead the players through looks straight out of Dr. Seuss.  It’s hard not to be impressed with this visual wonderland of props and colors.  

♥ Sae Byeok and Yeong

Being single young girls in this physically competitve environment can’t have been easy.  It’s no wonder that Sae Byeok and Yeong originally kept to themselves.  And that makes it all the more heartwarming in their final scene, when they just spend time talking together.  It’s one of those scenes that is so beautiful as you are watching it, even though you know you are about to be emotionally kicked it the gut.  

Big Takeaway

From the scenes with the awful VIP’s, we have already seen that the point of the game is solely for the rich to use the poor and financially desperate for their own entertainment.  So, when Il Nam mysteriously reappears, I was hoping for some bigger message.  But instead, he really just reiterated what we already knew, from a more personal perspective.  Somehow, I was just hoping for something more.

Joon Ho’s Story

Joon Ho’s story is a weird one for me.  Obviously, as the only non-player, he is different from the rest of the characters.  But I feel like his whole story left us with loose ends.  What is the story behind how his brother became the Frontman?  And after being shot, is Joon Ho really dead?  Sure, it seemed like a pretty direct hit, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he died.  Is all of this just crumbs for a second season?  They certainly have left the door open for that.

In many ways, the end of “Squid Game” is obvious.  Joon Ho has a face off with the Frontman, who turns out to be his brother.  After removing his mask, his brother shoots Joon Ho in the chest and he falls off a cliff.  The final game comes down to Sae Byeok, Sang Woo, and Gi Hoon, but Sae Byeok is injured with a shard of glass from game five and dies before the last competiton.  Game six is, of course, squid game, which was easily predictable.  Sang Woo ends up losing and kills himself.  When Gi Hoon returns home, he finds his mother has died.  One year later, Gi Hoon hasn’t touched the money from his winnings.   He takes Sae Byeok’s brother to Sang Woo’s mom and leaves her with the boy and a suitcase stuffed with cash.  Gi Hoon is summons by Il Nam, who is still alive, but on his deathbed.  He confesses to starting the games and then dies.  The final scene shows Gi Hoon on his way to the airport to visit his daughter.  He sees a man being recruited for the games and steals the card.  When he calls, the Frontman tells Gi Hoon to just get on the plane, but instead, Gi Hoon gets out of line at the last minute and heads back out of the airport.  The end.