Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Squid Game (Netflix, 2021) was the most-watched non-English series on Netflix ever, and the cultural saturation has not aged it badly. The premise is grotesque but the execution is precise: 456 financially desperate Koreans agree to play children’s games for a 45.6-billion-won prize. The losers die.
Lee Jung-jae anchors the series as Gi-hun, a divorced gambling addict trying to win his daughter’s custody. Park Hae-soo as Sang-woo provides moral counterweight. Jung Ho-yeon’s Sae-byeok — the show’s emotional center — became an international star overnight.
The production design (the pink jumpsuits, the white-walled corridors, the children’s-playground games) is iconic for a reason. The class-warfare subtext is the same as Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, made for a global Netflix audience.
Season 2 is good. Not as good as Season 1. The phenomenon is real either way.
