TV

Squid Game

Surviving under capitalism is child's play.

Photo: Youngkyu Park/Netflix

Seong Gi-hun is down on his luck — as are at least 455 other people in South Korea who accept an offer to escape financial hardship by playing a series of children’s games. The catch? Only one person can win the ₩45.6 billion (and growing) grand prize, and anybody who loses dies.

Squid Game, a thrilling and dark indictment of capitalism and class disparity from South Korean creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, became Netflix’s most-watched series shortly after its September 2021 premiere, and it is the first non-English language series to be nominated for Best Drama at the Emmys. Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, HoYeon Jung, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, and Kim Joo-ryoung star.

  1. Episode 9 One Lucky Day
    Squid Game Season-Finale Recap: You Are the Horses A winner emerges, but the game continues.
  2. Episode 8 Front Man
    Squid Game Recap: You Aren’t That Kind of Person Gi-hun and Sang-woo finally have it out, and there is no coming back for them.
  3. Episode 7 VIPS
    Squid Game Recap: A Different Kind of Fun As Gi-hun and Sae-byeok hold onto their last shreds of humanity, Sang-woo goes full villain mode.
  4. Episode 6 Gganbu
    Squid Game Recap: Your Stories Are Way Too Dark A brutal twist forces the players to place their lives in the hands of those they’ve come to trust the most.
  5. Episode 5 Stick to the Team
    Squid Game Recap: Last Chance to Fight Fair and Win An exposition-heavy episode gives us more insight into Jun-ho’s investigation and Gi-hun’s backstory.
  6. Episode 4 Stick to the Team
    Squid Game Recap: Lights Out Alliances are broken just as quickly as they’re formed. Then again, how much can you trust other players in a death game for millions of dollars?
  7. Episode 3 The Man with the Umbrella
    Squid Game Recap: I’m Screwed While the episode serves as a coming out party for Mi-nyeo and her chaotic gameplay, Sae-byeok is the episode’s MVP.
  8. Episode 2 Hell
    Squid Game Recap: Out There, I Don’t Stand a Chance The game is paused, and we get a glimpse of everyone’s tragic and debt-riddled lives.
  9. Episode 1 Red Light, Green Light
    Squid Game Series-Premiere Recap: Don’t Get Hurt Too Bad Netflix’s South Korean survival drama is a brilliantly nasty series that plunges its characters into a mysterious, deadly game for $39 million.

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  10. close read
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