Korea’s TV sensation

In the world of Korean dramas and movies, Squid Game is one of a kind. Squid Game season one was released on September 17, 2021. Season two was recently released on December 26, 2025. Since Its release, Squid Game season two has grown to become a cultural sensation, capturing audiences worldwide with its strong plot and sensitive handling of touchy themes. The result is a highly suspenseful, emotionally weighted South Korean drama. Director Hwang Dong-Hyuk came up with super creative and flexible ideas for the group.  

Squid Game has been a largely known series since its first debut in 2021. A wonderful returning cast with Lee Jung-Jae, Gong Yoo, Lee Byung-hun and welcoming new faces with Jo Yu-ri, Park Sung-hoon, and more. At the heart of Squid Game, there is one objective. When 456 desperate players compete mysteriously for the chance to win an immense cash prize of 456 billion won. They are not ordinary games, but a deadly version of childhood games with high stakes testing human endurance and sanity.  Each episode grows more intense than the last, keeping the viewers hooked through more revelation of the characters, their pasts, and why they are willing to risk everything.

“It has some crazy plot twist, and it just shows how unfair life is,” Said DBHS sophomore Jayden Santos.

The catch with the games is that the players aren’t just ordinary people competing for money, but they are all living with a debt to pay, which creates a desperate need for money. But with the games being deadly, only one winner among the 456 players wins all the money. A previous character Seong Gi-Hun, played by Lee Jung-Jae, sets up an action-packed return to the show. Revealing the life, he’s been living since his victory in the last games, winning 456 billion won, and the memories he has to live with wondering if the money was really that worth it. 

Squid Games reached a big success since its release, leaving fans to want more from the series. These characters feel so real and the story is super unpredictable. This show has also hugely influenced pop culture, memes, Halloween costumes, and real-life versions of these games, but in a safer way.

“Yes, I would if it wasn’t deadly then I would think the games would be fun to play,” said DBHS freshman Lily Williams.

The thing about really Squid Games is that it deals with some universal issues: economic inequality, social pressures, and the bounds people go to survive. It raises several questions of morality, justice, and human nature. 

Squid Game is not a thriller but one that makes fans contemplate, feel, and question human nature. Hwang Dong-Hyuk reveals that this show is a critique of capitalism and modern society, admitting that he’s, “sick of it.”

Written by Rigby Scott | Graphic Designed by Rigby Scott 

Published February 19, 2025 | ePathfinder | Entertainment