Squid game has taken the whole world by storm. Since the worldwide release date September 17, 2021 it’s dominated as Netflix’s most streamed series worldwide. In the matter of a few short weeks the series has already surpassed 111 million streams (adweek.com). 

The ‘Squid Game’ series follows a group of people entering a game for a money prize willingly, but are surprised by the conditions they find themselves facing during the game. A number of people who have watched ‘Squid Game’ have various opinions on it’s ending, characters, and plot of the series. 

“My favorite character is Kang Sae-Byeok because she came there to help her family and I love her attitude,” says Hansika Lanister, the person behind @squidgame_fanpage_  fan account on Instagram. The charisma that Kang Sae-Byeok projects on the screen has made her one of the favorite characters from the show.

While watching the show people made connections with certain characters and scenes in the series. “I connected to Ali in the marble game because they showed how it’s hard to lose a relationship,” responded Lanister. The show made real life connections with people, making it easier to correlate with the feelings and circumstances the characters face.  

“The strongest association would have to be character 067 and the marble game, not only because of the heartfelt emotions expressed between her and character 240, but also due to the lasting impact her and 240 made within the episode and to the audience” stated, Joanne Lee, a participant of the “Liberty in North Korea” club at North Hollywood High School. The emotions the characters were able to express through the screen, transcended to the viewers by seeing women have a heart to heart conversation during the circumstances of their lives on the line. 

When people first began to watch the show they were surprised by the factors they saw through the screen. “I watched the first episode thinking it was a family show. It was not,” expressed Heather Jung, a senior attending North Hollywood High School. ‘Squid Game’ is an innocent name to call a show that has people competing for a game of money where the losers don’t come out alive. 

“The drama has very traditionally Korean elements like it’s games and their clothes/food,” replied Jung. The K-drama stuck to their culture not trying to westernize the show, illustrating how the show’s production took over the world staying true to the Korean broadcasting style.

The amount of popularity the Netflix series has accumulated surprised a huge number of people and did not expect to become the global success that it is now. “I was indeed surprised at the view counts and amount of attention it received worldwide, especially for a K-drama,” stated Lee. 

The viewers all have different critiques about the finale of the show. “It was okay…It was obvious that Gi-hun was going to win, so I wasn’t surprised,” replied Eunice Choi. The ending to some people felt a little predictable, knowing who  was going to win the game didn’t cause the viewers to be so shocked by the resolution of the show.

Raquel Smith, a junior at North Hollywood High School stated, “Yes and no. Starting off with yes, it’s nice to see that he wants to help other people avoid going through misery… but at the same time I feel like it’s not really worth it.” Smith felt like the winner of the game didn’t deserve it, and is conflicted by the personality of the protagonist. This left her unpleased with the ending.

The number of viewers watching ‘Squid Game’ continues to grow, spreading the world with Korean culture and bringing Korean actors to a bigger audience. The show has people left on the possibility of a second season. Due to all the different opinions and feelings people have on the series at the moment, it’s fair to say that if and when another season comes out, there’s no doubt it will once again receive an enormous amount of attention.