South Korean series Squid Game has climbed the Netflix charts in less than a month: here’s what it’s about and why it could surpass even Bridgerton and The Paper House
Slowly arrived on September 17, 2021, the South Korean TV series Squid Game has climbed the Netflix Top 10 worldwide in just a few days, becoming one of the most watched content on the channel. The platform’s co-CEO, Ted Sarandos is excited about it and has already called it “potentially the most popular Netflix series ever.” Even The House of Paper could be surpassed by this new series, then, maybe even Bridgerton.
After all, the success was not planned at all. Suffice it to say that the episodes are not dubbed, but can be watched only in the original language, Korean, with subtitles. The series has no advertising campaign behind it, it was not announced with special press releases. There is not even a cast with important names: the actors are completely unknown in the Western world. The popularity is due solely to the word of mouth of the public, which has increased day by day. But what is Squid Game about and what is the secret recipe for its success?
What is Squid Game about: the plot
The plot revolves around a group of desperate people in dire need of money: some are in debt, others have to pay for special care for relatives or themselves, some have to rebuild their lives, and so on.
One by one they are recruited to participate in a mysterious game: in the end, the Netflix audience knows 456 contestants, from the most diverse social classes, each with his own tragic story to tell. They are locked up in a secret location, where they compete to win a prize pool of 45.6 billion won (about $40 million).
The peculiarity of the competition is that it includes a series of typically childish games: from “one, two, three star” to tug-of-war and marbles. The games take place one after the other, and at each stage, the loser dies. Behind the apparent light-heartedness of children’s games lies a system designed to eliminate people without any mercy. There is no lack of scenes of violence, bordering on splatter. The dystopian world of Squid Game is, therefore, anything but playful, indeed each episode is full of drama and tension.
Squid Game: all about the first season
For the moment, on Netflix you can watch only the first season. It consists of 9 episodes, written and directed by South Korean director Hwang Dong-hyuk.
The main characters of the cast are played by Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Yeong-su Oh, Wi Ha-Joon, model Jung Ho-yeon, Heo Sung-tae (already seen in the series Your Honor), Joo-ryeong Kim and Anupam Tripathi. These names are unknown to Italian audiences, but given the success of Squid Game, their faces are already familiar.
The success of Squid Game confirms a worldwide interest in South Korean series, which has grown over the past year. However, still no product had climbed the Netflix Top 10. We still have to wait until mid-October (the service calculates the success of TV series over a minimum period of 28 days) to see if Squid Game will even surpass Bridgerton, the series that so far holds the absolute record of views on the channel.
In the meantime, thanks to Squid Game it is possible to understand how Netflix intends to justify the recent increases in the price of subscriptions. For those who have already seen this new series and were fascinated by it, however, we recommend reading our guide to other series like Squid Game.