Squid Game is a nine-episode South Korean Netflix original series, released on September 17, 2021, about a group of four hundred and fifty-six people that are invited to take part in schoolyard games for a cash prize of 45.6 Billion Won (38 Million USD). Unbeknownst to the people playing, there are deadly consequences for losing these schoolyard games.  With such a dark premise, seeing that this show is very popular right now is pretty surprising, but then again seeing as how well the first episode hooks you in, it isn’t very surprising at all. The story follows the character Seong Gi-hun, a chauffeur and gambling addict who is invited to take part in the games in order to pay off his debts and to pay for his mother’s surgery. 

  *MINOR SPOILERS WARNING*

The first game Red Light Green Light started out with 456 players. During the game, 255 lives were claimed. After the first game, the remaining 201 players put it to a vote and the majority decided to leave the game and go home, but only after a week of being back home and dealing with their poor-quality lives, about 187 players decided to come back to win the money while risking their lives.

The writer of Squid Game Hwang Dong-hyuk came up with the idea of the show by writing about his monetary struggles early on in his career. The inspiration for the story aside Squid Game was in production limbo, being unable to find production support from 2008 until 2019 when Netflix decided to pick it up in order to expand their foreign programming. When Dong-hyuk signed the deal with Netflix, they agreed he would get to direct and write all nine episodes. This was an incredibly smart move on the part of Dong-hyuk because the show was done incredibly well. Overall, Squid Game was really enjoyable, but towards its end, it started to lose steam. Nonetheless, the show is a 7 out of 10.