Squid Game 3

[+ purplekow]

Binge watched the entire third season last night.  It became even more far fetched in certain regards but I still found it compelling.  Certainly worth the time and the effort.  Secondary plot about the police officer's search for the island seemed like nothing more than filler.  

[Wings246]

Spoiler alert: stop reading if you haven't finished the whole series or if you are planning to start.

The whole series is just mediocre (at best) to me.  It is entertaining mostly, but the basic premise of the show is not novel: people desperate for $$$ are tested to sell their bodies, minds, and souls (and ultimately kill others for it).  The Hunger Games, Battle Royale, and countless other TV shows and movies share similar principles.  In a way, it's reflective of reality: how many people are slaving over jobs they despise every day just to earn a paycheck and health insurance/benefit in order to survive?  The show only dramatizes the concept to the extreme.

Overall, it's not gory, brutal, or outrageous enough.  Specifically, the ending where the protagonist sacrifices himself to save someone else's baby (who he just knows for under 6 days) is way too far-fetched, illogical, and formulaic to me.  I hate it when the writer tries to force-feed moral and ethical standards to the audience and this show does EXACTLY that.  I knew the show would end in the most cliche way the moment a pregnant girl was on screen.  Then, the show was over the moment the baby was born.

On 6/30/2025 at 4:25 PM, purplekow said:

Secondary plot about the police officer's search for the island seemed like nothing more than filler

I cannot agree more.   I can care less about the subplots with the North Korean girl as well.  Basically, I am sticking around to watch the actual games and how the contestants are tortured to death.

I have never been a fan of K drama.  I find the K actors/actresses typically over-act and exaggerate their emotions and expressions.  Subtlety is lacking.

Even that Cate Blanchett cameo doesn't intrigue me too much.  Will I watch an American version if it is made?  Probably.  Will I have high expectations?  Probably not.

All in all, it is not time wasted.  There are indeed brilliant and exciting moments.  But I still feel like the entire series is overhyped and overrated.

Edited July 14 by Wings246

[+ purplekow]

It is the show watched by more viewers worldwide than any other.  For that kind of response, I agree with you, it could have been in a more cinematic manner.  The pregnant girl was an obvious try for an emotional connection.  To be really compelling, the girl should have had to make a Sophie's choice:  either she lives or the baby lives.  She would have picked the baby is the obvious easy way out, but how horrifying if she chose herself, only to die of post partum complications.  The baby's revenge.  That would not be easy to watch, but it would be different than the others you mentioned.  

[Wings246]

On 7/13/2025 at 11:52 PM, purplekow said:

To be really compelling, the girl should have had to make a Sophie's choice:  either she lives or the baby lives.  She would have picked the baby is the obvious easy way out, but how horrifying if she chose herself, only to die of post partum complications.  The baby's revenge.  That would not be easy to watch, but it would be different than the others you mentioned

Now, that is a storyline I'd be very interested in watching.  Plots need to be morally ambiguous to reflect the true nature of human beings.  Unfortunately, in our politically correct world, stories must be either black or white; no gray area is tolerated.  The writer is forcing & lecturing us to accept the morally correct choice as the gold standard.  In this case, the baby must be saved at all costs even though such a decision is ridiculously irrational.  That's where the story feels like a contrived and trite idea to me.  Oh well, it's only a TV show after all.  It has to appeal to and appease the majority of the general public.  Anything too drastic will get criticized and then cancelled nowadays.  So we have to settle for mediocrity.