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Squid Game: Review, Cast, Plot, Ending Explained, and all other details that you need to know

Prachi SharmaOct 2 . 8 min read

Squid Game is a South Korean drama series released recently on September 17, 2021, on Netflix. The series is being loved all over the world and is appreciated a lot. It is getting popular on all social media handles. Its rating is 8.50 out of 10. This is an action-suspense survival drama written & directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk. The series comprises only nine episodes. The makers have not stated about the making of season 2 but the last episode ending leaves hope as the winner of the game disobeys the orders he receives.

The story is about a group of 456 indebted people. They are offered to participate in some games with a cash prize of 45.6 billion. This theme depicts a bitter reality of the society that no one is there to become a representative of socioeconomically backward people as they have to find the way out of their problems on their own.











Squid Game plot:


Episodes (1 to 5)

The story starts when Gi-hun meets a well-dressed man at the railway station and invites him to play a game to earn some money. He then receives another offer to play a higher level of games and earn more money. Gi-hun agrees to the deal and opens his eyes to a secret place along with 455 other candidates. All the masked men make arrangements. All of them are recognized by their numbers. The frontman announces that they all need to play six levels in six upcoming days to get the prize money and the Squid Game begins. The first game is Red Light, Green Light. The one who loses is to be gunned down instantly. It results in the killing of half of the participants. The survivors are petrified and beg to go back. On voting, the majority votes to end the game and all arrive at their home safely as promised in the agreement. After his return to his home, Gi-hun seeks help from the police but unfortunately, no one believes him but Detective Hwang Jun-ho because his brother had gone through the same but never returned. But Gi-hun needs money for the treatment of his mother. So, he decides to resume the game as per agreement. Some other players decide to resume the game too. Gi-hun is followed by Jun-ho when the staff comes to pick him up. The Squid Game starts again. Jun-ho hides among the masked men. Almost all the candidates return and they start forming teams. The second game begins. In this game, the players need to pick a stamped shape out of a sugar honeycomb snack. Some of them cheat, some help others and eventually Gi-hun wins. One of the players is a doctor and gets to know about the game beforehand as he helps the staff in extracting organs from the dead bodies. In a race to get prize money, riots erupt among them and many players are killed. In the next game of Tug of War, Gi-hun's team wins. Amidst all this, Jun-ho gets to know that his brother was the winner in the year 2015 and the game has been running for more than 30 years.


Episodes (6 to 9)

In the fourth game, teams of 2 players are made and the players are made to play against their teammates. It is a game of marbles. Gi-hun wins again but this time taking advantage of his opponent's weakness. A player commits suicide after winning against his wife. It is time for some VIPs to arrive at Squid Game spot. One of them tries to force himself of Ju-hon, disguised as a worker but he manages to escape from there.






The final stage of the Squid Game:

Here begins the fifth game in which players need to cross a bridge in 16 minutes, the front players die. As a result, they get three finalists Gi-hun, Sang-woo & Sae-byeok, who experienced great hospitality that night. In some series of events, Sae-byeok dies while the frontman reveals his identity as In-ho, Jun-ho's brother, and shoots him to death.











Is Swang-woo dead?

On the final day of Squid Game, Gi-hun manages to win over Sang-woo but using the third clause of the agreement, he denies accepting the prize money. Sang-woo stabs himself and requests Gi-hun to help his mother with the prize money.











Who wins the Squid Game?

After winning the prize money, Gi-hun returns only to find his mother dead. For the next 1 year, he does not touch the prize money and struggles to get himself out of that horrible experience. He meets one of the former contestants and helps him. He also gives Sang-woo's mother her share, and gets Sae-byeok's brother out of the orphanage. He decides to leave the country and meet his daughter when he sees a masked man with the same card and invites someone to play the deadly Squid Game. He snatches the card and calls the number. This time, he is very much determined to expose these people playing with the lives of innocent people.


Squid Game Cast:






  • Lee Jung-Jae as Seong Gi-hun, an addicted gambler
  • Park Hae-soo as Cho Sang-woo, head of the investment team at a company
  • Jung Ho-Yeon as Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector
  • OYeong-su as as Oh II-nam
  • Wi Ha-Joon as Hwang Jun-ho, a police officer who sneaks into the game for his missing brother
  • Yoo Sung-Joo as Byeong-gi, the doctor secretly helping the masked men in organ trafficking
  • Kim Young-ok as Gi-hun's mother
  • Cho Ah-in as Gi-hun's daughter
  • Park Hye-jin as Sang-woo's mother
  • Gong Yoo is a salesman whose job is to recruit candidates to play the Squid Game
  • Lee Byung-hun as Front Man


Development of season 1 of the Squid Game:






As per Hwang, the script for the show was ready in 2008. But due to some financial issues, he could not film it. He said that the story can be related to the present scenario of the world. The star cast for the Squid Game was finalized on June 17, 2020. The creator of the story, Hwang wrote the series all alone and it took him almost six months to prepare the plot for just the initial two episodes after which he approached his friends to seek their help in preparing other episodes. He has mentioned that he has no plans till now to produce the sequel of the Squid Game. He does not have any plot to write the story of the sequel. He might think about this in the future. But this time, he is not going to do it all alone. He would prefer to hire some staff of directors and writers who would help him with the task.

Squid Game music:

The music track for the series was also released on the same date i.e., June 17, 2021. A total of 20 tracks are played across all the episodes with a time length of about 69 minutes. The music was developed by Jung Jae-il and Park Min-Ju. All the tracks are played for only 1 or 2 minutes and a maximum of 3 minutes but not more than that.

Squid Game reviews:

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator approved the show with 100 ratings based on nine reviews. Among all the Korean Drama series released until today, this show has created history by securing rank one on Netflix in about 90 countries all over the world, the list includes the United States and the United Kingdom too. As per makers, it became possible because the Drama series has diversity in the characters as the middle-class viewers can relate themselves when they need money and no one is there for help. In those circumstances, they get ready to do everything for the betterment of their family. The audience can relate to the characters.

Although, the show received a huge amount of positive response but also drew some criticism because of its similarity with As the Gods Will, a Japanese film released in 2014.

As soon as the show was on-air, social media users found a new concept to build up a new game. The theme of these games is based on the games depicted in the Squid Game series like "Red Light, Green Light" and "Honeycomb cookie game." All have different perceptions regarding the show. A few people say it is too bloody while others say it is addictive.


Squid Game season 2:

In the last episode, it is shown that Gi-hun is full of guilt and wants to leave the country to reunite with his daughter when he spots a masked man with a card inviting someone to play the deadly and horrible Squid game. He snatches the card and dials the number on it to find out the identity of the organizers of this deadly game. The receiver on the other side receives the call and warns Gi-hun to board his plane if he wants to be alive to meet his daughter. Gi-hun disconnects the call and returns. The makers have not released any statement regarding season 2 of the Drama series but the first season ends with a note that season 2 can be filmed and it can show Gi-hun's struggle against the game organizers.

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