Recensioni de* critic*

There is, perhaps, a conflict of a sort between “Squid Game’s” aesthetic and its material; Hwang gives the show a slick, handsome veneer, as rich in detail as the organization that’s behind the games is in resources. Grime clutters in the corners and at the edges, but for the most part, it’s barely window dressing. Whenever the plot takes us to the compound where the games commence, that grime disappears entirely, replaced by a visual sense best described as a head-on collision between M.C. Escher and “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” It’s glorious and weird, a combination to savor in a series that demands savoring.

Squid Game’s VIPs are one-dimensional grotesques lumbered with clumsy English dialogue, where a touch more nuance would have sharpened the sadism rather than blunted it. But the series itself is a winning addition to the burgeoning dystopia subgenre, stirring horror, science fiction and social commentary into only the latest manifestation of pop culture’s favourite way of critiquing the dog-eat-dog world of late capitalism.

It’s tightly written, each episode packed with enough pace to make it truly binge worthy. Universally engaging themes of wealth inequality, capitalism, honour, justice, and survival offer compelling reasons to keep watching well beyond bedtime.

To say a viewer learns to deal with the brutality of "Squid Game" is not a sufficient assurance for the squeamish, nor should it be. But the bullets and blood may also obscure some of Hwang's key questions about humanity and societies, such as: Which is more dangerous to our collective health, desperation or greed? And which is more corrosive?

The messaging is not subtle: Anyone, whatever their background, can be humbled by debt. In this arena, every player has a supposedly equal opportunity at striking gold if they successfully complete the games, which have a bloody twist to them. But the show suggests that humans are constantly in a state of indebtedness to a cruel system—whether that’s a macabre competition or a punishing societal structure.

The fact the money is won via childlike games (red light, green light; tug of war) has a touch of Lord of the Flies about it: oh how quickly “civilised” people devolve into savagery. But what is not captured in the trailer is how bighearted the show is, how joyfully funny and compassionate it is to its characters.