Where Were the Squids?

 Hello Friends,

there's so much going on right now so let's take a moment to talk about something important that's taken over the news recently: The Squid Game.

Did you watch it?

So Squid Game is on Netflix and it's a South Korean series (9 episodes) and it's bloody as hell. Completely engrossing. Fascinating. Made me curse, cry and and cringe numerous times.

Premise: super rich assholes who have no interest in life invite 456 people to a remote location to play childhood games. The winner will win 456 billion won. (Won = $$) The drawback: when you lose a game, you die.

So the first game is played and half the people are killed and everyone says "WTF! Get me outta here!" and they all leave but then they all come back to play and they cheat, lie, show their horrible sides and even their heroic sides until the last man is left standing.

Doesn't sound very good, does it?

So why is it as popular as it is? Because the absolute despair, the crippling lives these people are living that brings them to this place where the only options are death or a 1 in 456 chance of winning a childhood game is a little bit too close to many of us. When every day you wake up and think you can't do it anymore, or you're at your limit and then something else happens...

And the fascination of watching even the best person cheat to stay alive. When you invest in a character and then see what happens when they're out of options, out of chances. Because you hope for a character to survive and they don't. And some of them break your heart because they don't betray their own hearts.

It's manipulative as hell. It's also well made and engrossing. There's a sub plot with a cop which is super uninteresting but the actor is gorgeous (he starred in the K-romance "Romance is a Bonus Book" so even though his story was yawn, it was nice to watch him.)

Anyway, if you can stand blood and want to get lost in darkness, Squid Game is perfect. Carolyn: stay away from it.