Squid Game, the newest Korean drama to air on Netflix, has taken over American media like a thunderstorm. Airing on the 17th of September, Squid Game has been number one of Netflix charts since its release, and it definitely lives up to being one of the biggest shows in America right now.

Imagine you are millions of dollars in debt to banks, gangs, and people you owe in real life. Now imagine you are offered to play a game that if you win, you can earn so much money that it not only clears your debt, but even ensures that you can live a financially stable life afterwards. Now imagine you agree to join this game against 455 other players, but you find out that once you lose one of the 6 games that are based on old, childhood Korean games, you lose not only the prize money, but your life. Ladies and gentleman, the plot of Squid Game!

No one could’ve predicted the global success of Squid Game because of its little to no marketing, but due to social media and word of mouth, this foreign show has made its way to become one of director Hwang Dong-Hyuk’s biggest shows. Beginning as a passion project and taking almost 10 years to produce because of its constant rejection, Dong-Hyuk finally got to release his project to the world thanks to Netflix.

Squid Game heavily focuses on individuals deep in debt, and the lengths they would go to for a normal life with financial stability. Our main character, Seong Gi-hun, is a dad who cares deeply for his daughter, but is heavily in debt and addicted to horse racing gambling. When he encounters the mysterious man who offers him a spot in the games, Gi-hun skeptically accepts only to find out how gory and violent these games are.

 I personally loved every character in this show. A North Korean defector (that has taken away a lot of peoples’ hearts), Gi-hun’s childhood best friend who is wanted for financial fraud, a detective in search of his brother who is somehow involved in the games, a Pakistani migrant, and a crazy lady who serves as comedy relief, every character in this show had amazing impact on the show, and truly made the show so bingable. I never knew what to expect from each character, and the plot twist(s) at the end was truly unexpected for me.

Squid Game’s main themes circled around debt, betrayal, friendship, and what lengths people would go through to save their lives, and make it out of financial debt. There were so many references to the topic of capitalism, classism, and the abuse of the lower class from the wealthy. Many of the characters’ backstories resemble how flawed the wealth inequality in Korea is, and balances out how flawed each character is. 

Squid Game definitely did an amazing job at balancing out the variety of moods when it came to each scene. Despite all the gore and violence, Squid Game also contains funny, heartwarming, and depressing scenes. Each actor in this show truly showed off their acting skills, as I was laughing alongside many comedic scenes, and crying my eyes out during others. 

To conclude, Squid Game is definitely one of the most binge-worthy shows in America right now. If you have a strong stomach that can overlook gore, but also a lot of tears to spare, I highly recommend this show that exceeded all my expectations.