As of last week, the show has rocketed to number one on the Netflix charts in more than 90 territories. “It’s only been out for nine days, and it’s a very good chance it’s going to be our biggest show ever,” said Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos of the word-of-mouth hit. So, what are you waiting for? Here, we round up everything you need to know about Squid Game, from its breakout stars to all the best memes. Warning: There are mild spoilers ahead.
No, there aren’t any actual squid involved.
First things first, let’s clear up what the squid game actually is (and no, it doesn’t involve actual squid): It’s a playground game that was popular among children in South Korea during the 1970s and ’80s. So how does this play into the show’s brutal series of challenges? Each of the six games played by the contestants is based on a classic Korean children’s game—some, like Red Light, Green Light and tug-of-war, will be known to Western audiences—and the squid game is the final one.
There’s a lot—and I mean a lot—of gore.
The cheery, pastel-hued aesthetic of the various game setups might suggest that the competition is all sunshine and rainbows, but you’ll soon discover that couldn’t be further from the case. Brace yourself for an endless conveyer belt of blood-soaked killings and body horror from the first episode: everything from stabbings and shootings to a particularly stomach-churning sequence involving organ harvesting. Still, the most devastating parts of the series are the emotional cruelties and betrayals the contestants inflict on each other, as anyone who’s watched the episode with the marble game can attest.
It’s the performances that steal the show.
While the games provide the most thrilling and hair-raisingly tense sequences in the show, the richly drawn participants—and, of course, the brilliant performances that bring them to life—are what have made Squid Game such a hit. First, there’s Lee Jung-jae’s charming performance as the bumbling but ultimately good-hearted protagonist, Gi-hun, through whose eyes we largely see the other contestants. Other standout performances come courtesy of Park Hae-soo as Gi-hun’s morally ambiguous childhood friend, Sang-woo, and Kim Joo-ryoung as a delightfully unhinged scammer whose tryst with a mobster inside the games leads to chaos among the contestants. The real breakout star of the show, however, is former model Jung Ho-yeon, who plays a steely North Korean defector hoping to raise enough money to take her brother out of an orphanage. Don’t just take our word for it, either: Since the show premiered on Netflix a few weeks ago, Jung’s Instagram following has soared from a few hundred thousand to more than 13 million. It’s safe to say that this won’t be the last you see of her.
It has a universal (and political) message too.
It’s not just the high-octane excitement that has made Squid Game such an international sensation but the universal themes it explores—specifically its implicit critique of capitalism and exploration of class anxiety. Unlike in other dystopian thrillers with battle-to-the-death tournaments, here, every person has arrived at the island electively. Even after witnessing the horrors that the games entail, the majority of the contestants return out of sheer desperation, ground down by the bleak future of living with insurmountable debt. (The series arrives at a moment when household debt is at a record high not only in Korea but in the U.S. as well, and it’s contributed to a massive mental-health crisis.) “We are simply here to give you a chance,” say the masked villains overseeing Squid Game’s horrific proceedings, in words that distinctly echo the every-man-for-himself spirit of neoliberal late capitalism that is more than familiar to Western audiences.
Naturally, the memes have been coming in thick and fast.
Of course, for a new Netflix show to spread like wildfire, it helps to have a little traction on social media; and the bleak goings-on of Squid Game have proven perfect meme fodder, seeing users take the most chilling moments of the series and inject them with a dose of anarchic humor. A particularly popular subject has been the giant robot doll overseeing the Red Light, Green Light game (Vulture even ran a satirical interview with her), with people dubbing clips of the doll dancing to everything from Azealia Banks to Beyoncé’s “Green Light.” For a bit of relief after watching all those grueling deaths, you can find a few of our favorites here: