I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me a Korean drama about people competing in homicidal children’s games would become the most popular Netflix show in the United States today. But that’s exactly what Squid Game has done, unseating Sex Education season 3 as the most popular Korean series on Netflix and ensuring its place as the most popular Korean series ever.
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| Credit: Courtesy of Netflix | Twitter |
‘Squid Game’ tells the story of a group of people who
take part in a secret survival game with a prize pool of $45.6 billion for the
winner. To become the ultimate victor, the participants all put their lives on
the line by playing deadly games. This project was taken up by director Hwang
Dong Hyuk, who is well known for his popular films ‘The Crucible (Silenced)’
and ‘Miss Granny.’ This Netflix series stars Lee Jung Jae, Park Hae Soo, Oh
Young Soo, Wi Ha Joon, Jung Ho Yeon, Ha Sung Tae, Lee Yoo Mi, and others.
Netflix is no stranger to Korean films, having aired a
slew of them in recent years, the majority of which have been excellent,
ranging from the historical zombie horror The Kingdom to the North Korean romantic
comedy Crash Landing on You. The apocalyptic Sweet Home may have been the most
popular Korean series prior to today, but it appears that Squid Game has
surpassed it.
The show is hugely popular on social media, now with over
200,000 tweets delving into the ins and outs of the nine-episode series, which
puts desperate competitors against one another in children’s games with life
and death stakes.
Squid Game is a truly fantastic series, and not just because
of the gore and mayhem. Everything from the art direction to the performances
(the guards’ PlayStation button jumpsuits to the MC Escher stairway leading to
the festivities).
Is there going to be a second season? With the show’s
current popularity and the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger, I believe a
season 2 is highly probable. It should come as no surprise that, in principle,
another game with new contestants could simply be created, yet at least one
significant character, one of the few who survives the events of the first
season, would almost certainly return.
Almost everyone should watch Squid Game, in my
opinion. Yes, it’s kind of strange and brutal, but it’s also a compelling
production with standout performances, intriguing characters, and inventive
twists and turns. It’s a wickedly entertaining K-drama on Netflix.
‘Squid Game,’ a Netflix original series, has become
the first Korean drama to top the Netflix show rankings in the United States. On
September 21, ‘Squid Game’ was named the top show on Netflix’s ‘Top 10 in the
United States Today’ list. ‘Sex Education’ came in second, and ‘Clickbait’ came
in third. ‘Sweet Home,’ which scored #3 in the United States, previously held
the highest record for a Korean Netflix series. This record has now been broken
by ‘Squid Game,’ which came in first place in the United States.
Have you watched it yet?