Inference

Squid Game- Why is it a Top watched series?

South Korea after having given Samsung to the world is further trying to push three industries which are K-Pop, Cosmetics, and K-Drama. A sudden surge in K-Drama is happening in the past couple of years and this is only going to increase with time. I was a person who dislikes watching anything with subtitles but now suddenly I am thanking my wife with “Kamsahamnida” every single time, all thanks to the K-Drama series. It is true if you watch even with subtitles for a long time you start to understand the language and culture. K-Pop has been getting a lot of attention from the baby boomers or current teenagers, while I was surprised that Korea has a market share of 3% of the entire world cosmetic industry when this number surges to 10% in the next few years, I would not be surprised. Cosmetics play an integral part in each of our lives these days, in the age of 2021 a lot of cosmopolitan men have also started using them, the search for organic, real, and no chemical makeup and makeup kits are essential which is also something South Korea is providing to the current market. Most of the salons are using such cosmetics, the best place to find out the top salons for eyebrow threading is Salonandspareview.com, check out their website and they will recommend which salon to go to in the United States.

A sensation these days on Netflix is a series called Squid game, I was quite reluctant to watch it despite reading a lot of reviews about it coming out good, but it really hit me hard when a bunch of my colleagues started discussing it and I was utterly left out. I thought, let me give it a try and guess what completed the series in a 3-day work week which for me is an achievement (For some I know can do the entire series in one sitting).  The series is insane and now I completely understand why it is getting the traction it should be receiving Below is my take on why the series hit a record high amount of viewership on Netflix. Please do not worry, there are no spoilers ahead.

Importance of every character

Although this is a generic observation about Korean drama yet worth mentioning. One distinct factor I happen to notice in the Korean series is how the director portrays the importance of every character. There is always the main protagonist and an antagonist who does get a major share of screen presence but nevertheless, a great amount of effort is being put to share the story of all other characters involved as well. Each side character is telling their own stories and are directly or indirectly related to the major characters and are part of the main story. This kind of direction blows my mind and hence every single of us can connect easily.

It has a unique story

The moment I saw the trailer for Squid games it almost seemed like Money Heist especially with the kind of costumes are being used, money being portrayed and showed, almost instantly we feel it is yet another bank heist show. But it is not, the story slowly grips you, episode after episode. The director ensures that you are not bored in between and are wondering the next part of the story. The story building is exponential slowly and steadily revealing the nature of the individual. Nothing of this sort has been done in the past to particularly fit itself into a genre easily.

The games are nail-biting

Once you finish the first episode and after watching what happens, somewhere in our little minds, we wonder “Oh what’s the next game going to be like?” This keeps the episodes ticking. They pretty much have on an average 1 per episode. The level of drama involved is predictable but it’s not the drama in general, but the execution of the drama keeps viewers glued in.

Dark, White, and Grey Side portrayed

No matter how strong or pure we are as individuals, all of us do possess different shades of character. This is beautifully depicted in the series. A subtle change in people’s mindsets like a professional thief can have a true feeling or a person with a pure heart can or will have a sense of becoming dark just to save their lives. This psychological trait messes with your brain and tries to convince a logical reason to do so.  

Vulnerability and helplessness

The show is based on the fact that the weak and vulnerable get attracted to such schemes and fall trap into. Day to day each of us is vulnerable to many facets of life and does feel helpless. This trait has been utilized in favor of the show and hence connects with the person watching it. A not single person tends to question the necessity of the characters not participating in the games. The very reason is that all the viewers can understand and justify it clearly in their minds of the situations the characters are in their routine lives.

Inquisitiveness to know about bad folks

The antagonists are masked throughout and every one of us has the habit of seeing a person by face. The need to know who these people are and why are they organizing such a game becomes stronger with every episode passing by. There are many plots that run in our own minds as to what the entire gameplay could be. Each has a different take.

Hope you had a great time reading through and with every point were able to connect to certain roles and role play in the series. For people who have not watched, this article has no spoilers as mentioned earlier. It is sure for not weak-hearted who cannot handle violence or gore. Watch it at your own risk. I can vouch for myself it does get dark in between and lingers in your mind for some time. My advice is not to watch it at night before sleeping, instead, watch it during the daytime.