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Squid Game - Netflix

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By Droopy
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On 10/1/2021 at 12:20 AM, millhouse said:

How did none of the players pick up that the games they would play are tiled on the wall in the dormitory?

Are they added as the game is played? I only noticed them later in the show, and only saw the games that had been played appearing.

Also, how was it that only one guy knew the sugar cookie game, yet they all assumingly grew up in Korea? Seems like a small enough country there wouldn't be "regional" kids games.

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AngryDragon

AngryDragon 270

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Are they added as the game is played? I only noticed them later in the show, and only saw the games that had been played appearing.

Also, how was it that only one guy knew the sugar cookie game, yet they all assumingly grew up in Korea? Seems like a small enough country there wouldn't be "regional" kids games.

As far as the main characters, GiHun isn't really smart...Ali is a foreigner...the girl is from North Korea..the old man has dementia. I'd assume some of the others figured it out from seeing the shapes but that wouldn't really be shown and maybe the playground gave the indication it would be a different type of game.

Edited by AngryDragon
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Guest

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Posted

Except that they showed the lines when passing out the cookies and they were all pretty equal. And you don't have to be "smart" to know not to pick the umbrella if you know the game.

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AngryDragon

AngryDragon 270

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Except that they showed the lines when passing out the cookies and they were all pretty equal. And you don't have to be "smart" to know not to pick the umbrella if you know the game.

Yes, clearly he didn't figure out the clues. Also those cookies can come in a variety of shapes in the middle. I only really remember trying the star and circle when I lived there. 

Edited by AngryDragon
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BayouBill

BayouBill 835

Posted
Posted

Going back and forth between the the dubbed version and subtitles only, I do agree it was overall better with just subtitles. But one thing I thought the dubbed version was actually better in was whenever the squid game masked workers talked. Gave them all the same voice (I think) and it came off as very unemotional and matter of fact...to me that made it more ominous.

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utxmike05

utxmike05 1828

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, 52-80 said:

so the playground squid game is a real thing in korea, but does anyone actually play this weird envelope flipping shit? 

264121?crop=16_9&width=660&relax=1&signa

 

I saw some theories that if you got red you became a worker....and blue you became a player.  

The whole show I was constantly thinking about the cost, logistics, preparation, execution of the whole game/environment.  The project manager in me I guess.  Not to mention the cover up/ risk. 

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 144

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 9/23/2021 at 10:27 AM, Prepuce of Doom said:

We're about 1.5 episodes in and enjoying it. 

Not sure how long Mrs. Doom can handle Korean-style ultraviolence, but the plot seems to have her enthralled enough, at least for now. 

My wife bailed out after episode 4-- too much for her. I ended up watching the entire thing and thought it was very meh. Like others have said, the brother thing didn't make sense, the main guy wasn't likeable and the old man twist was really stupid too.

I feel like this caught fire via word of mouth and hype, but it's really pretty mediocre if you take a step back. It's ultraviolence and sort of unique, but it's not very good on the balance. 

It reminds me of that stupid movie with Sandra Bullock that got a ton of hype and cultural capital, Bird Box, but then people sobered up and realized it was actually kinda stupid and it's 15 mins of fame were up.

Edited by DonkeyCigars
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Texas St. Armadillos

Texas St. Armadillos 1381

Posted
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1 hour ago, utxmike05 said:

I saw some theories that if you got red you became a worker....and blue you became a player.  

The whole show I was constantly thinking about the cost, logistics, preparation, execution of the whole game/environment.  The project manager in me I guess.  Not to mention the cover up/ risk. 

I would have liked more backstory on the workers.  How they found themselves in those roles.  How they got promoted, etc.

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Quagmire

Quagmire 2147

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My wife bailed out after episode 4-- too much for her. I ended up watching the entire thing and thought it was very meh. Like others have said, the brother thing didn't make sense, the main guy wasn't likeable and the old man twist was really stupid too.
I feel like this caught fire via word of mouth and hype, but it's really pretty mediocre if you take a step back. It's ultraviolence and sort of unique, but it's not very good on the balance. 
It reminds me of that stupid movie with Sandra Bullock that got a ton of hype and cultural capital, Bird Box, but then people sobered up and realized it was actually kinda stupid and it's 15 mins of fame were up.

That’s how I feel as well. Was still decent enough to watch , but the characters didn’t really draw me in
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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 144

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For those interested in this sort of thing (the business of streaming), I read an interesting article about how Netflix's business model enables a lightning in a bottle type break-out hit like Squid Game because they basically throw a bunch of crap (quantity versus quality) at the wall to see what sticks, versus like a Disney+ or AppleTV (known canon and platforms with built-in fans and quality over quantity, respectively). 

Squid game was considered an instant break-out and runaway hit, as it took off after 2 weeks. 2 weeks doesn't seem instant, but when it's a brand new thing nobody has ever heard of, it's instant. The only thing comparable in popularity has been Stranger Things, fwiw.

Anyways, I think it's fascinating that this blew up, but I still think it will be a more flash-in-pan thing once the hype dies down. The international markets love this even more than Americans so that may keep it going for a while globally, though.

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 144

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The conversation of why Squid Game was a break-out hit seems to reside on the fact that you could binge all 9 episodes at once versus wait week-over-week like with, say, Ted Lasso or Loki or whatever.

Quote

 

This is another big way in which release-all-at-once pays off. Weekly episodes for well-known shows have promotion built-in, which works not only to acquire an audience but also to acquire reviews and a certain amount of guaranteed buzz. That model only stretches to so many shows, though, like, say, the amount that Disney+ or Apple TV+ releases; Netflix, though, is about quantity over quality.

On one hand, this by definition means that most of the shows aren’t as good, but on the other hand, it also increases the chances that Netflix gets a new hit out of thin air, like Squid Game. What is critical is that when that hit materializes it is able to generate escape velocity on its own, which means that having all of the episodes available immediately is essential. One episode doesn’t get sufficient social media buzz going, but a season does, and the reviewers and write-ups follow.

It also helps that, in addition to shelling out billions to produce its programming, Netflix invests millions more to make sure shows like Squid Game are easily watchable even for folks who don’t speak the language used in them. Netflix offers subtitles in 37 languages and dubs its shows in 34, far more than any other major streamer. That means subscribers who don’t have the patience for subtitles (read: a lot of Americans) are now much more likely to get invested in series and movies they otherwise would have skipped (dubbing scolds be damned).

 

 

Edited by DonkeyCigars
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Bartles

Bartles 769

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Posted

I'd say this show was worth the buzz. The first 7 episodes are very compelling, the last two were more like just show us what happens. So much of the plot was really far fetched, from the premise itself to some of the strategies ("Why didn't he/she just _____ instead of causing unnecessary deaths" in various games.)

But the main thing that stuck out to me was the cardboard cutout dialogue of the Americans. I assume it was written by Koreans who don't really know how we talk, and I'm sure the same thing happens in reverse all the time. Those guys were written and performed as such morons it's not believable they had any money.

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 144

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40 minutes ago, Kwix said:

If you liked this show, check out Alice in borderland. Much better. 

Or apparently a movie Squid Game is accused of plagiarizing, A God's Will: Hit Korean drama series Squid Game has been faced with allegations of plagiarism for its supposed similarities to 2014 Japanese movie As The Gods Will

https://www.nme.com/news/tv/viewers-call-out-squid-game-for-allegedly-plagiarising-as-the-gods-will-3057726

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AngryDragon

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51 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

Or apparently a movie Squid Game is accused of plagiarizing, A God's Will: Hit Korean drama series Squid Game has been faced with allegations of plagiarism for its supposed similarities to 2014 Japanese movie As The Gods Will

https://www.nme.com/news/tv/viewers-call-out-squid-game-for-allegedly-plagiarising-as-the-gods-will-3057726

The guy who created it worked on it in 2008-2009. It just sat there for 12 years. 

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AngryDragon

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1 hour ago, Kwix said:

If you liked this show, check out Alice in borderland. Much better. 

Will completely disagree here. Liked Alice in Borderland enough and the story was quite good but the acting wasn't great and the special fx looked outdated and hokey(like it was made in 1990 instead of 2020). 

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austingirl

austingirl 2191

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On 9/26/2021 at 12:53 PM, Prepuce of Doom said:

Finished it last night. Good stuff. 

  Hide contents

I thought the marbles episode was the hardest one to watch. 

That said, for all of the "purity/fairness of the contest" talk, and the fact that there we huge sums of money wagered on it, it seems unreasonable to me (yes, I get the absurdity of such a statement - maybe "internally inconsistent" is better) than 001/The Host would essentially throw the game by giving 456 a free pass in that round. Sure, 456 was kind to him, but that seems a little out of character for someone who has killed (or at least facilitated the deaths of) 10,000ish people over a few decades. 

Am I missing something here, or just picking nits? 

 

Spoiler

I think it comes down to what he said at the very end on his deathbed, about how playing with him over the course of their time together had been the most fun he'd had in a long time. He was the only VIP who wasn't a total cartoon and I think he was saying that the point of the whole thing, at least for him, was to feel something. That was the "fun" he was looking for. So he let 456 keep going. Don't get me wrong - his heart didn't grow three sizes that day or anything. But this theory makes sense to me.

 

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Tommy Shelby

Tommy Shelby 188

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On 10/4/2021 at 6:24 PM, 52-80 said:

The most intriguing part of the show for me was the subplot of the cop infiltrating the whole operation. 
 

the primary storyline and its characters and its premise…meh

Spoiler

When the Front Man saw that the cop made it to the well, it made no sense that he didn't go up and check his room immediately. Where else could that tunnel go? Especially given how intelligent he seemed the rest of the show. 

 

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Fud

Fud 9551

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Regarding whether the overrated or properly rated, I have no idea, but I really enjoyed it. It's similar to The Queens Gambit in that regard to me; a fresh and extremely well made show gets hyped up by people who accidentally stumble upon it, then the next wave of viewers hype it up even more, and then it catches fire and next group post-hype all like it but say it's overrated and overhyped. I'm not sure who's right, but in any event, it's a really interesting show and is worth watching

While there were a lot of nits to pick for me (possible plot holes that you have to go a long way to explain to make sense, unnecessary storylines, terrible VIP characters, primary character being obtuse to the point of being a caricature, etc), overall I thought it was an extremely well made show technically, was interesting, and the good parts overwhelmingly surpassed the nits  

For those who liked this and are interested in Korean cinema, I did a ranking of their movies that I liked

Spoiler

Some of these I've only watched once, and some of those were years ago while I was probably drinking, so they're a little fuzzy, but I remember the general view on them. Anything 7+ is a movie I recommend, and anything in the 6 range is something that I think is watchable 

If you're going to check some of these out, remember that Korean movies can be weird as shit and/or fucked up in various ways, but they're also some of the more badass movies you'll find from the past two decades, imo. I think maybe some good entry points that aren't too weird/fucked up might be The Man from Nowhere, Parasite, A Bittersweet Life, Memories of Murder, and Joint Security Area 

Oldboy- 10/10

The Handmaiden- 10/10

Burning- 10/10

The Wailing- 10/10

Parasite- 10/10

A Bittersweet Life- 9.5/10

Memories of Murder- 9.5/10

The Man from Nowhere- 9/10

Lady Vengeance- 8/10

Joint Security Area- 8/10

I Saw the Devil- 8/10

Train to Busan- 8/10

Mother- 7.5/10

The Host-7/10

Age of Shadows- 7/10

Tale of Two Sisters- 7/10

Snowpiercer- 7/10

Okja- 6.5/10

Cut- 6/10 

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance- 6/10

Chaser- 6/10

Need to watch- Poetry, Thirst, The Berlin File, New World, A Company Man, Peppermint Candy, Spring Summer Autumn Winter and Spring, The Good The Bad The Weird

 

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ajax

ajax 2605

Posted
Posted

A Korean show is the most popular thing on Netflix. Kpop groups top the charts and get insane amounts of views on YouTube (and Kpop Stan's are absolutely insane). And a Korean movie won Best Picture.

How did this all happen?

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52-80

52-80 19147

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, Fud said:

Regarding whether the overrated or properly rated, I have no idea, but I really enjoyed it. It's similar to The Queens Gambit in that regard to me; a fresh and extremely well made show gets hyped up by people who accidentally stumble upon it, then the next wave of viewers hype it up even more, and then it catches fire and next group post-hype all like it but say it's overrated and overhyped. I'm not sure who's right, but in any event, it's a really interesting show and is worth watching

While there were a lot of nits to pick for me (possible plot holes that you have to go a long way to explain to make sense, unnecessary storylines, terrible VIP characters, primary character being obtuse to the point of being a caricature, etc), overall I thought it was an extremely well made show technically, was interesting, and the good parts overwhelmingly surpassed the nits  

For those who liked this and are interested in Korean cinema, I did a ranking of their movies that I liked

  Hide contents

Some of these I've only watched once, and some of those were years ago while I was probably drinking, so they're a little fuzzy, but I remember the general view on them. Anything 7+ is a movie I recommend, and anything in the 6 range is something that I think is watchable 

If you're going to check some of these out, remember that Korean movies can be weird as shit and/or fucked up in various ways, but they're also some of the more badass movies you'll find from the past two decades, imo. I think maybe some good entry points that aren't too weird/fucked up might be The Man from Nowhere, Parasite, A Bittersweet Life, Memories of Murder, and Joint Security Area 

Oldboy- 10/10

The Handmaiden- 10/10

Burning- 10/10

The Wailing- 10/10

Parasite- 10/10

A Bittersweet Life- 9.5/10

Memories of Murder- 9.5/10

The Man from Nowhere- 9/10

Lady Vengeance- 8/10

Joint Security Area- 8/10

I Saw the Devil- 8/10

Train to Busan- 8/10

Mother- 7.5/10

The Host-7/10

Age of Shadows- 7/10

Tale of Two Sisters- 7/10

Snowpiercer- 7/10

Okja- 6.5/10

Cut- 6/10 

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance- 6/10

Chaser- 6/10

Need to watch- Poetry, Thirst, The Berlin File, New World, A Company Man, Peppermint Candy, Spring Summer Autumn Winter and Spring, The Good The Bad The Weird

 

Okja was the weirdest oddest thing

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YChang

YChang 3443

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 10/8/2021 at 2:13 PM, ajax said:

A Korean show is the most popular thing on Netflix. Kpop groups top the charts and get insane amounts of views on YouTube (and Kpop Stan's are absolutely insane). And a Korean movie won Best Picture.

How did this all happen?

Conveniently enough there’s a Vox explain episode on Netflix about the rise of K-pop. In short the gov & entertainment industry recognized this is a good way to project Korean soft power around the world.

Edited by YChang
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gsoda3

gsoda3 3245

Posted
Posted (edited)
Spoiler

when was 001 ever away from the rest of the participants?  trying to reconcile the timeline with him taking off the golden cat head and telling Front Man he couldn't watch with the other VIPs because he was going to play

 

Edited by gsoda3
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Gene Parmesan

Gene Parmesan 4002

Posted
Posted
41 minutes ago, futureman said:
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someone explain 001 participating in the tug-of-war. I guess he was willing to die? there was a very real chance of them losing that game. 

 

Spoiler

Him being the creator was a dumb way to end it.  Yeah he was dying so he just wanted to feel the thrill of the games firsthand. 

 

33 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:
  Hide contents

when was 001 ever away from the rest of the participants?  trying to reconcile the timeline with him taking off the golden cat head and telling Front Man he couldn't watch with the other VIPs because he was going to play

 

Spoiler

I don't think the old man was the host.  He was the creator of the games.  The host was the detectives brother, who couldn't be there with the VIPs because he was hunting his brother.  Or at least that's what I thought.

 

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TriStone

TriStone 1724

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

If you like “Squid Game” there’s a Netflix show out of Japan called “Alice in Borderlands” that’s pretty similar, but two episodes in has some good twists. 

The best thing about Squid Game was that watching it put AiB in my recommended list.  Much better show. 

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