MiyamotoMusashi

Wow another great episode, hopefully the drama won´t have the usual mid drama slump or questionable ending.

Lee El is really killing it. I have only seen her in villainous roles so far, this drama really is something different and really shows her acting skills.

There is a lot to unpack in each episode, feelings the characters share that you either have experienced yourself or in others or at least sympathize with, whether it´s about the club talking about the mundane day to day life, or showing more emotions, even if they are negative, to people closer to you (which is not a good thing in my opinion) and so forth.

Watched the first six episodes, it´s very good so far.

It has the potential to be really great though if it does not simplify the complexities of adult life that they have set up in the first episodes.

First drama i will follow weekly since Hospital Playlist.

Thank you for the answers. I will try and see it for myself and make a judgment.

I was actually looking forward to this because, while not always great, Noh Hee Kyung´s dramas are always interesting.

Can somebody tell me why it is rated so low without spoiling?

Lord of Money

This sounds awfully familiar to a webtoon i am reading, though it has a different name.
The setting is exactly the same though, employee gets murdered, takes over the body of the youngest son.

The next game participants, saving them, is definitely a part of it. But i think it´s a more far-reaching and fundamental decision, he is revolting against the world-view of the people orchestrating the game and thus ultimately those that orchestrate the current system and society.
And the red hair is just one metaphor for that. He could not accept that he was just seen as a play thing, a horse to bet on, hence why he articulates, i am a human. It goes further than revenge, since revenge would mean it´s just his personal business, i think he takes upon himself to carry the weight of people similar to him and rebel against that world-view, that´s my interpretation.

I can completely understand that, like i said, part of me was also "just go to your daughter and get out", since we were invested in the main character on a personal level, and that was part of his character arc, to become more reliable for his mom and his daughter, for the former he has no chance anymore, but for the latter, definitely.
But the decision he mad was not personal i would say.
And, i may be reaching here, i would say trying to change the game/system, the decision might partly be motivated by the existence of his daughter as well, meaning he does not want her to grow up in such a world and maybe suffer the same fates.

The legal trouble came from the money he stole, hence why needed to definitely give it back. And the show underlines, money solves everything, so i do not think it´s the case. He definitely needed the money, but getting it would mean he would solve everything. Just look at Gi-Hoon, he got the money, nobody remotely cared where someone like him got that money, they were interested to get a part of it, whether it´s the bank, the authorities and so forth.
Just think about it, Sung Woo would know himself that he had no future and would have articulated it, yet several times he underlines that getting the money would mean he is saved, not only his mother, he himself.
So yes, i think it was a conscious decision of him to completely trust Gi-Hoon and do something that does not fit the worldview of the people who created the game/system.

That´s also why Gi-Hoon was so sad at the end, because he understood that at the end, Sung Woo was able to get rid of that ruthlessly calculating mindset. Gi-Hoon´s decision at the end was not necessarily to save SW in particular but to not fall into the mindset and behavior pattern they expect of him.

You are only looking at the consequences of the character´s actions at the end and not what they represent.
Sure, if you want to look at the MC´s decision of not going to America as only breaking the promise to his daughter, ok, sure it´s a questionable decision based on his role as a parent (though the daughter lives in a very good family).
But his decision has far more reaching implications, he is basically revolting against the world view and the view of most normal people of the rich who orchestrate this game/system. It´s an act of defiance against the system that sees people as working animals, and by trying to destroy the game, he is metaphorically trying to destroy the system, the system that punishes kindness and trust in people, and only thinks in economical and cold terms.

Sang Woo´s decision for suicide at the end were because of economical reasons, that´s true, but it also underlines that at least at the end, his worldview and view of people changed, and that´s because of Gi-Hoon. During the game, he always saw Gi-Hoon´s actions as stupid and naive, he meddled too much with other people, was too kind and so forth, yet at the end, he knew he could actually trust Gi-Hoon, because the latter showed that he can think outside of the mindframe of the system, by forfeiting the money to save Sang Woo´s life. In the end it´s still 6 million US dollar approximately, and to trust someone to give away that kind of money is regarded as stupid and naive in our world, yet he could take that leap.
Yet he was already in the position of debt that would destroy his mother, so he still needed the money, hence why he trusted Gi-Hoon and did what he did.

I do not disagree that the personal fates of the characters were a pity and also too restricted by the writer´s aim to underline the themes of the show. Sometimes they felt more than representatives of specific archtypes within the system rather than three dimensional characters, and that includes what happens to them.
The motivation behind the suicide scenes are completely different, in one he was trying to run away, in the latter he embraced Gi-Hoon´s worth and trusted him to save his mother.

I strongly disagree.
The show´s main message is, the system we live in does not allow or even punishes the traits or behavior that we were taught were honorable or admirable, with the entire setup of the game (and the succession of the game itself, the games and their order were not chosen randomly) being a metaphor for the ruthless capitalistic system.
Helping someone rarely benefits you, tricking people is a common and advantageous act and so forth.
And the games ending with death underlines that even if people feel the tendency to help other people, trust other people and so forth, you lose in the current system.

It is anything but superficial, contrary to most K-Dramas and even Western fiction, it does not lay it out there immediately, but the requires the audience to comprehend and then reflect for themselves what actually happened and how the characters behave.

Did not really spoil anything in my post but ok.

Just to quickly refer to the motivation part, Il-Nam says it was about having fun, which is legitimate, but when he is shown in the bed at the end, we understand why it was fun. He was yearning for the times in which he had not adopted the world-view and the despicable view of people he currently had, so much so that he can´t trust anybody anymore, but unfortunately to the end he did not understand this. That´s why the act of kindness at the end also coincided with his death, it underlined that he was so far gone with his views, there was no way back. Hence why he feels so nostalgic about his childhood, and also when he was poorer with his wife and son who he refers to several times. He is someone who has striven for economical progress all his life, yet at the end of his life, the thing that he yearns for is people he could trust and be together with. Unfortunately, he never understands this to the end, and only thinks that playing games was the crucial part.
And he, as representative of the super elite, shows that while these people orchestrate the system, at the same time they are also victims of the system, and can´t think outside of it. Hence also why at the end when the MC decides to not go after the money but wants to end the game and thus metaphorically steps outside of the system, the system both the rich and the poor think is the only possible thing, they all can´t believe it, it never even crossed their mind. And that´s the crucial part of the metaphors and symbolism of the squid game.
We live in a system that punishes humanistic behavior, and the game is a perfect metaphor for that.
Hence why the MC and his childhood friend are also the perfect counterparts within this game.

I do not disagree that the games themselves were at best ok, and that the twists were not really twists for me (basically saw everything coming pretty early). But at least the social and economic commentary was spot on, and the characters to underline that commentary fit as well.

What the mastermind said his motivation is is not his actual motivation. Him stating his boredom was the motivation underlines that those at the top also fail to understand what the problem actually is. And what he desires shows this hypocrisy.

The violence having a pornographic tone to it was the point, though i agree that the characters felt more like a representation of specific groups within SK society rather than three dimensional characters. They were mostly supposed to fit the overall message and criticism, for the most part.

The decency aspect was part of the show from episode 1.

I mean if you rate a performance, that´s also ok, but i doubt that´s the case, it´s more a fandom supporting their crushes.

Yep, at this point, rating is irrelevant to me to decide what i will watch next, considering how often it does not align with my tastes and opinions.
It does not mean that all high rated shows do not deserve it, there are some that are accurate in my view but most are really overrated.
At this point, i look at the writers and directors, and try to decide actors i liked to choose good projects.

Totally agree, i mean it was always questionable, but the ratings in the last few years on this site have really gone downhill, at least for me personally. I almost always feel disappointed by high ranked shows on this site of the recent years.
Heck, more than half of the shows on the first page of top shows are from the last three years...

Yep, i always thought in the past that Korean stories, while having their perks, can be too one-dimensional at times, especially compared with Japanese shows, but in the recent years, they can´t be stopped.

Don´t think so, in the recent years, K-Dramas have been and become far more unconventional, so that creators are not really scared or pull back in trying new stuff out.

Just a few years ago, there was a clear divide in Korean fiction, before the decade of the 2010s. For the most part, you only had three different K-Dramas and a combination of the three:
Innocent, pure and idealistic romance stories, makjangs, and historical shows.

In the beginning of the last decade, this started to chance slowly but steadily.
Now with Netflix, tvN, jTBC, OCN and so forth existing, doing unconventional shows in itself is not unconventional anymore, as paradoxical as it sounds.

Squid Game basically rode the Parasite wave, doing a social commentary packed in a suspenseful story, only that the creator chose a survival game as his metaphor, whereas Parasite had the heist setting as metaphor.

What does viral mean? Admittedly, Squid Game is the most successful Netflix Original series of all time, so you might have a point, but i would argue there have been a lot of non-violent shows that were very successful, even in the most recent years, even if you only look at Netflix. Bridgerton, Lupin, Money Heist and so forth.

Being sensitive is not a fault though, never think that. I agree that the world is very desensitized in regards to violence and sex, and both make it much easier to be successful.

Having said that, at least in Squid Game i do not think it´s mindless violence, it has a purpose, so at least in this case i think it´s ok.

The violence is there to underline the severity and cruelty of what it symbolizes, namely the current overly capitalistic society. The swearing is there because it is more realistic, especially for the type of characters shown.

You can make a social commentary with less commentary (Parasite did very well without violence for the most part), but nothing speaks against it either.

But i get what you are saying, it´s definitely not pretty and a breather from daily life.

Why was the end weak?

I don´t think he is or needs to be hated, he is a necessary character to the overall theme and messages of the drama.
Sung-Woo has seen more of the world than the protagonist, he was far ahead on the socio- economical ladder than the protagonist, and thus more corrupted already, hence why his moral decay happened within the game (if you could call it decay in teh first place). Basically, the symbol of red and blue throughout the manga is alluding to the SK flag/the flower in the middle of the flag, symbolizing positive and negative forces. And the drama highlights that we live in a world, and thus the game as representation of that, that rewards the negative forces, tricking people, or beating them down and then profiting from it. Hence why the host has such a bleak outlook on the world.

The protagonist on the other hand, while also going through the constant struggle between these two forces, in the decisive moments, still chooses to follow his ideals, that´s the contrast.