This review may contain spoilers
In defense of a controversial last season
I am already seeing a lot of people saying that this finale was a let down and I understand where they're coming from. That being said, I think only 2 parts here were poorly handled and I feel compelled to defend the decisions made in wrapping up this story.
The 2 parts I didn't like:
1. The VIPs (as usual): I wasn't aware of this until I got deep into kdrama land but essentially all English-speaking actors are extremely cringe (I'm from the US). Not just Squid Game; ALL of them, including great shows like Mr. Sunshine and Dali & the Cocky Prince (both of these shows have leads who are also leads in Squid Game lol). I didn't understand at first why the hell all of these actors are so awful but it makes sense. There are simply not that many actors to choose from. Finding native English speakers working in Korea to act in these roles might not be THAT hard but the fact of the matter is that most actors aren't GREAT actors. Excellent actors are overrepresented in our mainstream media for obvious reasons. Add to that that many of the English speakers living in Korea aren't native English speakers...you're going to have accents and intonation that can distract from the role.
That being said, especially by season 3 of the world's most popular show, they absolutely had the budget to fly out some good actors from the English-speaking world. I think the actors overall were better than those in the first season but it felt kind of unjustifiable to have any cringey acting by this season.
2. The American spin-off being set up: I think the beauty of this show, from an American perspective, is that I can get so immersed into a completely different country, language, and culture. I don't need any of this being Americanized. This show has been an introduction for many Westerners into the incredible array of content being generated by the Korean entertainment industry and I wish we could just continue to make space for that without centering ourselves as usual lol.
Onto my defense:
First, for any show that is this plot-driven, sticking the landing is always an EXTREMELY difficult task. There will always be naysayers regardless of how the show wraps because we are all here for the plot and the plot simply has to end. While intensely satisfying endings aren't impossible, we really just need to adjust our expectations (think Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, etc). The more intense and complex the story, the more opportunities for plot holes as it concludes. Endings may feel too forced but that can verge on inevitable if the writers want to create any kind of climax. Some people want happy and satisfying endings (I certainly do for romance shows) but with a show like this, how happy is too happy? This is a dark show and ending things in too positive a light can begin to feel like pandering.
This show has done a fantastic job of showing us the complexities of many social issues as well as our unsettling capacity for everyday cruelty. At the end of the day, the whole point of the show is that the patterns of cruelty and exploitation continue to outlive us by design. So often the only survivors or "winners" are the ones who keep the exploitation machine greased and maintained; staying true to ones principles can be a death sentence. This show has shown us how we go about defining the limits of our morality through the lens of richly complex and diverse characters.
i absolutely loved watching the frontman the most. i have to give it to both the writers/directors as well as lee byung-hun for creating a character as multidimensional as him. i just want more back story about him and that would make a great prequel, however i know the actor is getting older and playing his younger self will only get more challenging if it's to remain realistic.
some people hated the whole baby plot. i can see why but personally i thought it was beautiful and well handled overall. to think that the winner was a defenseless baby, despite such smart and talented contestants, speaks to the complexity of our humanity. even watching the dad fight to the end had me feeling conflicted and confused about him. was he good or bad? what were his overarching motivations? how much of it was money versus protecting his kid? i still don't fully know. yim si wan did a fantastic job as usual.
we got to see some very accomplished and talented actors in one show (lee byung hun, kang ha neul, yim si wan, park gyu young, among others). very complicated themes were fleshed out in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat and asking myself "what would i do in this situation?"
this was a hard landing to stick and i hope that more people will feel how i feel!
The 2 parts I didn't like:
1. The VIPs (as usual): I wasn't aware of this until I got deep into kdrama land but essentially all English-speaking actors are extremely cringe (I'm from the US). Not just Squid Game; ALL of them, including great shows like Mr. Sunshine and Dali & the Cocky Prince (both of these shows have leads who are also leads in Squid Game lol). I didn't understand at first why the hell all of these actors are so awful but it makes sense. There are simply not that many actors to choose from. Finding native English speakers working in Korea to act in these roles might not be THAT hard but the fact of the matter is that most actors aren't GREAT actors. Excellent actors are overrepresented in our mainstream media for obvious reasons. Add to that that many of the English speakers living in Korea aren't native English speakers...you're going to have accents and intonation that can distract from the role.
That being said, especially by season 3 of the world's most popular show, they absolutely had the budget to fly out some good actors from the English-speaking world. I think the actors overall were better than those in the first season but it felt kind of unjustifiable to have any cringey acting by this season.
2. The American spin-off being set up: I think the beauty of this show, from an American perspective, is that I can get so immersed into a completely different country, language, and culture. I don't need any of this being Americanized. This show has been an introduction for many Westerners into the incredible array of content being generated by the Korean entertainment industry and I wish we could just continue to make space for that without centering ourselves as usual lol.
Onto my defense:
First, for any show that is this plot-driven, sticking the landing is always an EXTREMELY difficult task. There will always be naysayers regardless of how the show wraps because we are all here for the plot and the plot simply has to end. While intensely satisfying endings aren't impossible, we really just need to adjust our expectations (think Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, etc). The more intense and complex the story, the more opportunities for plot holes as it concludes. Endings may feel too forced but that can verge on inevitable if the writers want to create any kind of climax. Some people want happy and satisfying endings (I certainly do for romance shows) but with a show like this, how happy is too happy? This is a dark show and ending things in too positive a light can begin to feel like pandering.
This show has done a fantastic job of showing us the complexities of many social issues as well as our unsettling capacity for everyday cruelty. At the end of the day, the whole point of the show is that the patterns of cruelty and exploitation continue to outlive us by design. So often the only survivors or "winners" are the ones who keep the exploitation machine greased and maintained; staying true to ones principles can be a death sentence. This show has shown us how we go about defining the limits of our morality through the lens of richly complex and diverse characters.
i absolutely loved watching the frontman the most. i have to give it to both the writers/directors as well as lee byung-hun for creating a character as multidimensional as him. i just want more back story about him and that would make a great prequel, however i know the actor is getting older and playing his younger self will only get more challenging if it's to remain realistic.
some people hated the whole baby plot. i can see why but personally i thought it was beautiful and well handled overall. to think that the winner was a defenseless baby, despite such smart and talented contestants, speaks to the complexity of our humanity. even watching the dad fight to the end had me feeling conflicted and confused about him. was he good or bad? what were his overarching motivations? how much of it was money versus protecting his kid? i still don't fully know. yim si wan did a fantastic job as usual.
we got to see some very accomplished and talented actors in one show (lee byung hun, kang ha neul, yim si wan, park gyu young, among others). very complicated themes were fleshed out in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat and asking myself "what would i do in this situation?"
this was a hard landing to stick and i hope that more people will feel how i feel!
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