Advertised and hyped up as one of the most thrilling survival series, I decided to watch it to see what the fuss was all about. While I enjoyed all the episodes, I have to say, for Korean Drama standards, the plot falls way below expectations. Plus, the bar was set already high for Squid Game as there are well written predecessors of the same genre.

☆ The drama is buoyed by the excellent and admirable performances of the cast, who did a wonderful job portraying the variety of characters. I stuck through for them. But, I did not have anyone that I was particularly fond of or attached to.

☆ The sets were brilliant in a dark manner. The production value of Kdramas rarely disappoint.

Now…

☆ I am definitely among the minority here, but the plot was really lacking, especially since it's a Korean Drama. SG depends on the strengh of it's characters. It attempts to emotionally pull you in. (And it seems to have succeeded, considering the hype.) Out of most of the countries I've watched, Korean Dramas, if given the right script and a good planning, usually produce excellent shows that are highly satisfying, regardless of their one hour long duration. While I understand the intention of letting the horror of the childrens' games in the drama sink deep, the backstory or motive behind the organizers of the game seems to be added almost as an afterthought. Game after game would be going on, but I was interested in only one plot thread involving No. 29 Guard. Ofcourse, they writers chose a trope for several character arcs.
The Games themselves were not intense, but it was the price that had to be paid for failure that was horrible. At one point, I stopped expecting anything different since most of the players made it out purely because of dumb luck or experience. There were some scenes and gore that as @WandeRer mentioned in his review: gratuitous. They served little to no purpose at all or even if I was interested in it, I got no proper explanation. I even felt that some deaths were added on for the sake of shock value.

☆The last three episodes are the ones I enjoyed the least. There seemed to be a sudden twist for one character in particular. Not to mention, some of the explanations were highly unconvincing to me. Maybe the writers are hoping to tie up a few loose threads in the second season. But, I don't know if I'd watch it.


☆ The OST, unfortunately for me, did not do the trick. This might be a result of me not having any particular attachment to any characters, but some scenes that were supposed to rile up intense emotions fell flat. I couldn't get the right 'survival' or 'thrilling' vibes that I was supposed to be feeling. Regular Kdramas such as Flower of Evil or Strangers From Hell managed to pull that in a better way according to me. I was more focussed on guessing who was going to come out alive since many of the actions' by the characters were predictable. All that remained was how long they survived.


☆ I've been seeing people compare it to Imawa No Kuni No Alice, but I see nothing similar among them except for the 'survival game' theme. I've also heard that the script writer was inspired by a few TV shows, one of them being the Liar Game. While I can definitely see the influence, I can't compare any of them since the purpose behind each is entirely different.

☆ Squid Game is not a bad drama. It's a decent watch. Long time watchers of this genre would find nothing new since Survival Games all have their own tropes. I can see that the hype surrounding it is by most people who accidentally stumbled upon KDramas for the first time or are new to this genre.

It all comes down to personal preference at the end. I enjoyed it, but the plot, particularly the last bit, managed to render the drama's build-up to almost nothing. It didn't have enough momentum to tempt me into watching a second season, unfortunately.