SPOILER ALERT: A LOT OF PEOPLE DIE!!! I would describe Squid Game as Hunger Games in reverse with adults acting in stead of children killing other man children while playing children's games (Such a nostalgic American introduction to Korean traditions). The show is depressing, a chilly personification of present societal decay and a potential insight into what the future may hold if the current political situation does not change. The similarities are uncanny: (1) Everyone's desperate and resultantly, more easily influenced. (2) Financial duress is fueling fear and addiction (e.g., the protagonist's addiction to gambling). (3) Massive debt due to severe money mismanagement by everyone (including the government), (4) An ineffective political system, (5) Onset childhood nostalgia brought on by the hellscape created here on Earth by adults. (6) A numb, defeated, demoralized, and desensitized general populous  (7) An excessive amount of violence. I'm not religious in the conventional sense of the word, but as the Bible has so eloquently stated, "There is no new thing under the sun". Sure, even in the midst of a societal collapse, we've all a few glimmering moments.  

Before I stick a final dinner fork into this show (It'll make sense after watching it), I'm going to make an attempt to praise select aspects of the show. Squid Game places a huge emphasis on community–The good, bad, and everything in between. Aside from the obvious message that desperate people do desperate things (An unfathomable concept in reality, but for some reason far more palatable when represented in extremes), Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung) enters the contest in search of a better life for his family a friends in addition to repaying two large debts he owes. Gi-hun is an alcoholic, low-wage earning chauffeur growing more estranged by the day from his ex-wife and child...The epitome of down and out. He makes for an interesting, yet safe choice for a protagonist because he's relatable to the down and our adults watching the show. He allies himself with the other debtors who also seem to have hearts of gold. Cho Sang-Woo, a junior classmate and childhood friend of Gi-hun's before attending Seoul National University's prestigious business school. He's wanted by the police for stealing money from his clients. Kang Sang-byeok, a North Korean defector who desires to bring her mother to South Korea and rescue her younger brother from an orphanage. Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su), an old man with a brain tumor who would literally rather get rich or die trying.