Okay, first of all, What. The. Hell? I've seen some twisted stuff, but man oh man is this show a piece of work. I remember when I first heard something - vaguely - about it. I actually thought it was a legit Japanese game show and they were joking about contestants actually DYING as part of the games.
So when I realized it was actually a South Korean TV show that was insanely popular, I thought i'd give it a whirl. I'm generally a fan of Korean cinema, and know they do a lot of dark, DARK stuff (e.g., Oldboy, Parasite, the Handmaiden, etc.). Still I was not prepared for the....level of....of....evil.
That being said, it IS extremely compelling. Extremely appalling, and yet extremely compelling. I think it was the pathos. I don't know that I've experienced the level of pathos I felt while watching this. I was torn between wanting to stop watching because it was so emotionally exhausting, and yet couldn't STOP watching. TV show as a huge car wreck on the highway you can't help but gawk at.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely not. I mean, very well done, technically, good production values, good acting, etc. Villains to root against and plenty of folks to root FOR - for what it's worth since (spoiler alert but not really) literally everybody dies. I would be interested to hear what others thought of this?
Of course the ending teased an American version, but I absolutely will NOT watch it. You know it will be even MORE violent, MORE grotesque, and with even slimier villains. BUT let me share my rankings of the best heroes, worst villains, and most appalling games (SEVERAL SPOILERS BELOW):
THE 3 MOST APPALLING GAMES:
1) Hide & Seek. While I was very emotional during most of the games, this one was the only one that had me full on crying at the end. Obviously, turnning them full on loose on each other made this one intense, but the trans character getting it - and how/by whom - was bad enough, but sympathetic old lady being forced to kill her own son, while he APOLOGIZES to her, and then ends up hanging herself in grief? Seriously, kill me now.
2) Flying Squid Game. I was a Nervous. Wreck. all during the last game just because of the baby. I thought, "Surely, they won't kill a baby!" But then I remembered all the other things they'd done and all I could do is chant to myself as the game started/played out, "I'm so unhappy! I"m so unhappy!"
3) Mingle. I was almost sobbing and begging them to stop as this one went on. "Please, don't do another round, PLEASE don't do another round!"
Honorable mention: Glass Bridge and Marbles. I would have lost for sure on glass bridge as - discounting my fear of heights - my "lucky" numbers are 2 and 5 so I would have picked one of those. And died. Marbles was awful coz folks picked buddies/relatives to pair up with and then.....well, you know.
THE 3 BEST CHARACTERS:
1) Seong Gi-Hun. At first, I thought, THIS is the main character? He ws NOT very sympathetic or likable at first, but he grew. And he tried really hard to be a hero. And I was very, very angry when he died.
2) Ali Abdul. The rage I felt when this dude got gypped in marbles! And how I then hated #3 below because of it!
3) Cho Hyun-Ju & Jang Geum-ja (tie). They ended up being tied together in wonderful and horrible ways and I was devastated when each died - particularly the horrible way the latter went.
THE 3 WORST CHARACTERS:
1) Collectively, the VIPs. I was SO grossed out by these people - while also totally seeing these folks as plausible in this day & age of shitty human being billionaires - that I actually started tuning out the scenes with them with their disgusting commentary. Seriously, off with their heads.
2) Jeong-dae. This sorry old bastard couldn't die soon enough for me.
3) Cho Sang-woo. Sad and yet also utterly despicable and vile. Cloaking his evil in "pragmatism" made him no more likable.
Okay, folks, let me hear your thoughts if you've seen this. Am I too delicate? Will you be watching the American version? Which games freaked you out most? Favorite and least favorite characters? Tell all!