Netflix's 'Squid Game' review.

Yesterday I managed to finish watching 'Squid Game' a super popular 'survival' series that was released on Netflix a month ago. I watched the series after hearing a lot of good news about it from my friends who had already watched the show and had managed to like it.

Indeed, they said that this South Korean 'Battle Royale' style series, even though violent, was something that they got hooked on and couldn't stop watching. The series was entertaining and despite its brutal nature had a message that they could relate to.

So having now finished watching the first season of the series - nine episodes total - I have to say that I'm pretty glad that I gave the series a chance. 'Squid Game' managed to be fairly entertaining, even though I have some issues with how the show was written in certain places.

Premise-wise, we're dealing with a situation where people who are in a financially dire situation are given a chance to 'redeem' themselves. They are given a chance to take part in a mysterious, secret game in a secret place, in which they can win significant amounts of money.   

The big catch here - that they don't know about before they participate - is that if they - at any spot - fail at these games, they get killed. They will be executed on the spot by the organizers of the game, who will show no mercy towards the participants. 

Character-wise, our main character is Seong Gi-hun (Lee-Jung-jae) who as a divorced gambler is in a dire situation. Deeply in debt and being chased by the loan sharks, he lives with his elderly mother and is desperate to get anything going on in his life. 

The catalyst in the story is when a mysterious person in the subway makes him an offer  - as Seong finds out that his ex-wife is about to move to the U.S. with his daughter - he's willing to do anything. He takes the bait and - after being put to sleep - is taken to an island.

Not that surprisingly, once he wakes up in a facility with hundreds of other 'players', things get brutal rather fast. As the 'green light, red light' children's game starts and the failing players get gunned down, the situation that they're in becomes completely clear.

Quality-wise, when it comes to the show's overall quality,  I have to say that for the most parts of the show, I was able to appreciate the quality of 'Squid Game'. There were a lot of things that the producers and the writers managed to do fairly well here.

By that I mean that there's no question that the series as a whole has pretty solid production values. The series looks really good - despite its pastel color palette - and its clear that a lot of money was spent to make the sets and locations look believable.

Acting-wise, if we don't count the VIP-characters that are awful, the acting was pretty good too. Especially when it comes to our main character Seong Gi-hun, the actor manages to make the character - despite his personal flaws - surprisingly likable and relatable.

Story-wise, it has to be said that the first five episodes are easily the strongest in the series. This is when all the different characters are still being introduced/developed and the 'children's' games that the contestants are forced to play are interesting to the audience.

 

However, the real problems start with the sixth episode when not only do we have to get rid of some of our 'supporting cast' but the games they play - as unfortunate as it is - become boring. The show loses pretty much all of its direction and energy here. 

Indeed, in the sixth episode when the contestants play a marble game of their choice that decides who gets killed, the show gets pointless and come to a standstill. The episode goes nowhere and there's at least 30 minutes of material that could have been easily cut.

Furthermore, this section is also where we're introduced to the VIP persons who come to the island 'for fun' to observe the massacre. They don't work at all and especially when it comes to all their lines, the exposition (ultra on-the-nose) and the acting is abysmal.

Fortunately, even though this part of the series doesn't work (I think includes also the organ harvest sub-plot), it manages to rebound from this. Once we get back to the remaining battles that are a bit better and we have gotten rid of the cast, the series gets watchable again. 

After all, even though in the final act the 'cop angle' (including too many convenient close calls) doesn't get resolved properly, the story beats for the main character are good enough. The finale is pretty entertaining and the reveals are somewhat logical and expected.

In that sense, when it comes to the show as a whole, I think it's clear that 'Squid Game', despite some of its problems that are pretty obvious, still manages to deliver. There's clearly a lot of things going on in here that work and the hype for the series is earned.

After all, even though the writing could have been better, when it comes to the show's message, that part definitely works. The series drives well across its point of what rogue-capitalism, cruelty and overall lack of empathy can do in society, if we don't take care of each other. 

In that sense, in the end, when it to comes to whether you should give the show a chance - in case you haven't managed to watch it yet - I think the answer is fairly clear. You should watch it and give the show a go and not be discouraged by its violent content.

After all, even though there's some violence and bloody content here, that's not what the show is about. The show has other things going on in it and these aspect, like it being entertaining and having a solid message is what makes it worth watching and worth your time.

'Life is Strange 3' is a disappointing game.

So when it comes to me playing interactive 'choice' based story games, I haven't actually been playing them that much lately. Ever since I finished the first 'Life is Strange' game a couple of years ago, I haven't tried to play any of them if I'm being honest here.

Indeed, even though I managed to buy an interactive game like 'Detroit: Become Human' for my Ps4, I haven't actually played it. I also skipped 'Life is Strange 2' for some reason and didn't purchase it when it was released a couple of years ago on different platforms.

Yet, surprisingly enough, even though I've been slacking with these games, a couple of weeks ago I decided to check the latest 'Life is Strange'. As I noticed that 'Life is Strange 3: True Colors' was released, I had to check whether its story was even remotely good.

Having now watched the full walkthrough of the game on youtube (I wasn't going to pay 69€ for the full game), I have to say that I was rather disappointed with the game. Even though there were some parts that worked, as a whole its story was poorly constructed.

Premise-wise, this time we're dealing with a young, troubled female called Alex, who decides to reunite with her brother Gabe. Once she's out of foster care, she goes to see him in Haven Springs in Colorado, a beautiful small town where life seems to be easy and simple.

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Indeed, unlike in her past - that we aren't really told much - in this place everything seems to be in balance. Her brother is living a good life with his girlfriend, who also has a son and everyone seems to be welcoming our protagonist's arrival to the place.

Catalyst-wise, the game's inciting incident happens when Gabe dies during a search & rescue mission for his step son Ethan. As Alex manages to save Ethan's life in the mountains, an explosion in the vicinity of an old mine causes a rockslide that takes Gabe's life.

Not surprisingly, the main story arc is about why the explosion happened and killed Gabe. As Alex notices, things aren't as simple as she had thought at first and people in the town - as she tries to help them - have their secrets that their trying to hide from others.

Theme-wise, it has to be said that I didn't have a problem with the story being about 'healing'. The idea of our protagonist trying to solve the problems of others with her empathy (she has a skill) is something that is pretty commendable in my opinion.

At the same time, the problem with the game is that story-wise pretty much everything in 'Life is Strange: True Colors' is way too amateurish. There are so many problems with the game's screenplay that - apart from the game's first hour - are just mindboggling.

For example, when you take a look at game's story, very few things make sense. The main storyline about the death of his brother and why it happened is so poorly constructed and is so full of plot holes that it's just painful to experience the story.

Indeed, if we exclude the beginning that works - basic things like exposition, pacing and story plausibility are all wrong. Severe mistakes are made like introducing new characters in the last act and using 'deus ex machina' resolutions again and again. 

Furthermore, when you think about how short the game actually is (6 hours with a poorly placed 1 hour Larping scene at hour 4), that's not exactly a good thing either. There just isn't enough content to justify the game's price tag if we're being honest here.

In that sense, when it comes to 'Life is Strange 3' as a whole, even though I did enjoy some aspects of the game, those aspects are not enough. The good things like the game's relaxing atmosphere, its music and how beautiful it is don't really manage to outweigh the negatives. 

Indeed, when you think about those bad things like some of the characters changing abruptly, 'Gabe' shown in a negative light (flashback) in the last act or the 'Usb stick plot', those were awful. You can't make mistakes like these if you want to be a professional writer.  

In that sense, in the end, if you're perhaps thinking about purchasing the game based on how much you possibly liked the first game, I wouldn't get too excited. I wouldn't think that the third 'Life is Strange' is going to be worth your hard earned money, 

On the contrary, even though the first 'Life is Strange' had its issues, there were still tons of good aspects in that game. Those solid aspects outweighed the negatives (weak last act), which is something that unfortunately cannot be said about this third game in the series.