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Shows centered on death games are nothing new. The concept has appeared in anime like Sword Art Online or movies like The Hunger Games, but even old concepts can be rehashed with new and exciting twists. The newest addition to the genre, Squid Game proves that there’s still a lot of room for the idea to be developed further, as long as it is done right.
Since its release on Netflix, Squid Game has earned numerous fans, and its influence has grown to the point that people are trying to reenact the challenges at home. While those challenges originate in innocent childish games, there’s nothing innocent about the harsh realities the participants in the Squid Game have to face.
10 Every Player In Squid Game Struggles With Heavy Debt
One of the standout elements in Squid Game is the fact that almost everyone in the series is motivated by money. Money is something that echoes the current state of affairs in the world, making the characters very relatable. Without money, people are powerless and their existence has no meaning. Every participant in the Squid Game is specifically chosen for the fact that they struggle with heavy debt.
The main character Seong Gi-hun suffers from a gambling problem and has an ailing mother & a child about to move to the United States. His friend Cho Sang-woo – who later turns into his rival – owes a debt of six billion won after stealing his clients’ funds and losing them in the stock market. Meanwhile, Kang Sae-byeok is originally from North Korea and simply wants to bring her family back together.
9 They Are Manipulated Into Joining A Death Game By The Charismatic Recruiter
While many characters in Squid Game are in desperate need of money, it’s doubtful that they would have resorted to something like the Squid Game had they truly known what it would involve. However, they are specifically targeted by the charismatic recruiter, who plays a game of ddakji with them and allows them to win.
The trade-off – the physical violence involved – does alarm the future players, but when faced with their usual difficulties, the recruiter’s offer suddenly becomes very appealing.
8 Players Get A Cruel Wake-Up Call When The Game First Starts
After agreeing to join the Squid Game, players are sedated and taken to a secret island, where the competition takes place. While the element of mystery makes many suspicious, the promise of money is more powerful, leading them to accept to play.
It is only during the first game Red Light, Green Light, that they get their cruel wake-up call. One wrong move is all it takes for hundreds of people to be cruelly mowed down. The first game kills over half of the original participants, thereby gathering a hefty sum as a prize – the price for every life that was ended.
7 Even If They Leave The Game, There’s No Way To Escape
An interesting twist in Squid Game is the fact that players can opt-out of a game as long as the majority agrees to end it. After the first massacre, the participants do just that, and surprisingly, they are freed. But when they are back to their regular lives, they have to face their old reality.
Their money problems are still there, and now, the teasing promise of a light at the end of a tunnel exists. When they receive a second card from the game’s organizers, most of them rejoin. Gi-hun is the perfect example, as the reason he goes back to the game is over news that his mother is in desperate need of treatment for her diabetes. As it turns out, his ordeal is for nothing, since she dies alone in his absence.
6 The Games Are Often Heavily Reliant On Physical Strength
While the competition includes a wide variety of games, it is perhaps unsurprising that many of them rely on physical strength. Games such as Marbles or Dalgona – the honeycomb candy game – involve this factor less, but with others, it is very pronounced. One of the most eloquent examples is the Tug of War game, where teams of seven players challenge each other in a deadly battle of strength. Gi-hun’s team manages to pass the trial, but they start out at a clear disadvantage.
Similarly, the Squid Game itself – the final challenge – is brutal and violent, with physical strength playing a huge role in a possible victory. Like in Tug of War, strategy makes a difference in the final battle between Gi-hun and Sang-woo. Even so, the confrontation ultimately involves hand-to-hand combat. It seems unlikely that an opponent who is physically weaker could have ever prevailed.
5 Players Can Be Killed Outside The Actual Games
Even outside the actual games, physical strength and violence take the stage among the contestants. The organizers actively encourage hostility between the players by giving them less food. It is a form of ‘special game’, a culling that shows just how twisted and manipulative the competition truly is.
One of the major antagonists in the series, Jang Deok-su is the main perpetrator of violence against other players. He takes another ration of food from the staff, and upon being called out on it, he starts an actual riot among the contestants. Many people die without even participating in the remaining games.
4 Even Trusted Friends And Allies Betray Or Lie To Each Other
If there is one lesson that Squid Game endeavors to teach, it’s that trust is a weakness and may very well be taken advantage of. Abdul Ali learns this the hard way when Sang-woo betrays him during the Marbles game. But ironically, it isn’t Sang-woo who is the biggest surprise. One of the most likable characters in the series, the old man Oh Il-nam, shines as Gi-hun’s gganbu.
Their unexpected connection leads Gi-hun to partner up with him, but even Gi-hun ends up trying to cheat Oh Il-nam out of his marbles. In a heartbreaking moment, Oh Il-nam offers Gi-hun his last remaining marble, to his apparent death. But in the show finale, it is revealed that Oh Il-nam survived and was the orchestrator of the whole event.
3 Players Are Used For The Enjoyment Of The Rich Sponsors
The Squid Game exists for one sole purpose – to entertain its rich sponsors. The VIPs watch the events with great amusement and even occasionally manipulate them for their own satisfaction. During the glass bridge game, sponsors show their displeasure when the glass factory employee is able to detect the difference between the secured glass and the plain one. As a result, the Front Man turns off the light, taking away the contestant’s ability to see. Now at a loss, the player is unable to continue. He ends up getting killed by Sang-woo.
2 A Player’s Hell Can Continue Even After They’re Officially Eliminated
It seems hard to believe, but even after players are shot and eliminated, their hell can still continue. Players can survive, but that isn’t actually a good thing. Some of the staff members manning the Squid Game have a lucrative organ trafficking business.
A participant in the game, Doctor Byeong-gi is recruited for his expertise in surgery. He’s not exactly careful with his patients. Some have been known to wake up while they’re being operated on. A particularly horrifying case involves a woman surviving her elimination in the game, only to suffer repeated sexual abuse and have her organs harvested.
1 Winning Isn’t A Guarantee Of Starting Over
As appealing as over thirty million USD is, winning doesn’t actually mean former contestants get to start over. Protagonist Gi-hun makes a conscious choice to not return to his family, his anger and trauma so powerful he wishes to stop the game for good. But he’s not the only one in this situation. The mysterious Front Man is actually In-ho, the brother of the perceptive detective Hwang Jun-ho, who sneaks onto the island in an attempt to investigate In-ho’s fate.
In-Ho is the winner of the 2015 edition of the Squid Game and presumably returned home, to his usual life. And yet, he couldn’t go back to his previous existence. The reasons for this are unclear, but it could be that he struggled with the same survivor’s guilt Gi-hun experiences. The end result is that he rejoins the game, this time as a member of the staff, instead of a player.
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