Beware of spoilers!
It’s not hyperbole to say that if you’ve never heard of Squid Game, you’re living under a rock. No, I mean literally. Have you been on any social media platform lately?
When I first saw Squid Game show up on my recommended shows on Netflix, it gave me extremely hard 2000s-esque Disney Channel games vibes. I kept scrolling to watch my go-to safe show, Grey’s Anatomy (I know, I’m sorry). That same exact day, I saw a TikTok about it. Recognizing the name and laughing at the TikTok with literally no context, I gave that bad boy a like. Now, here’s the thing. That singular like convinced the algorithm that I like Squid Game, which brought me straight to Squid Game TikTok. I let it slide and for a few days I just scrolled, but then I saw tweets about it, and Instagram stories and Facebook posts. There clearly was something big happening and my FOMO would never let me look past it.
So rather than studying for a huge human physiology lab exam, I watched Squid Game. From the very beginning, I was into it — to the point where I binged it all in one night. The interesting thing is that my Netflix automatically had the English dubbed version as the default with the voices being horribly off from the actual actors. I never really watch anything that’s not in English or Spanish but had recently seen Demon Slayer, so I have that under my belt in dubbed experience.
There are so many videos and threads on the internet right now asking why is it that everybody and their mother are talking about Squid Game. There are theory videos and easter egg breakdowns and deep literary analysis on why it has taken over pop culture — and beat Bridgerton to the most-watched show on Netflix. But honestly? My take on this is a very simplistic one. We were consumed with Squid Game because the rules of the game are so incredibly simple, the characters are easy to understand and despite this, it still lures us in. What’s the real story behind the games? I think you can obviously tell that the main character is going to win the games and the prize money; not for one second did I think his life was on the line. But, there was still the suspense of wanting to know how the other characters die.
I really appreciate the cultural significance Squid Game has right now. I’ve never seen a show that’s not predominantly Western or white become that incredibly popular. People began looking into Korean culture and finding ways to immerse themselves in the show. This makes me hopeful for a world one day where shows in other languages all have the ability to become mainstream. Representation matters and I recognize this as a huge step in the right direction. Now that I’ve binged the entire season, I, and 111 million others, are just going to have to wait and see what happens next.