The original post: /r/television by /u/notpermittedonreddit on 2024-12-30 04:30:59.
Squid Game is praised for being unique and unpredictable, but it comes at the cost of a disrespectful indifference towards human psychology and reality itself.
I had my issues with season 1, but season 2 topped it all off by devolving into a circus show of unfiltered nonsense same as shows like money heist, when the show-runners exhaust the potential of their main idea, one that made it unique and interesting, all for the sake of extending it for more money, or whatever the reason might be. Then the show is off to the insane asylum with characters running around shooting at each other on sets that appear to be made of foam.
A marine having panic attacks in a gunfight has no real impact when ordinary people can miraculously activate commando mode. But I don’t want to talk more about that part of the show because it was nothing more than an offensive joke. A slap to the viewer’s face.
How can a show be championed for being unique when it ignores all the things that stop other shows from being “unique”? What’s the point of wondering what’s going to happen next when whatever happens will ignore the limitations good writing imposes?
The desperation and insistence on making the show deep and thought provoking by having a brother v brother, friend v friend, friend and foe fighting alongside is so high that nothing feels earned. The scene where the “mastermind” asks the main character twice for the magazine is so silly that it’s laughable to think that they thought it would invoke some sort of philosophical discussion. To execute something like that you would first need to show the audience that the main character made his decision despite having doubts about In-ho’s intentions.
Moreover on that subject, you’ve got the cult. Of course you’ve got a cult leader within the span of a few days influencing people to vote to stay in the game. No logic or science behind it, nothing. Just shit happening for the sake of it.
We have obnoxious characters high on drugs dancing through the game of death. No constant tone or feel, just shit you can dose off to.
I want to talk more about the main character being back in the game and his reasoning for wanting to do so, or the recruiter deciding to kill himself (lol insane), but it doesn’t even matter. They want us to think that the main character is special because he’s an anomaly. That they can’t just kill him because he defies their understanding of some crucial truth they know about human nature, and that they operate on some code, the same code that doesn’t apply when harvesting organs. But the truth is that he’s not special because of the decisions he made, or because of his correct moral stance. He’s special because the writers deem him to be.
I know that shows like these don’t cater to viewers like me who want more than entertainment out of a show, but I felt like voicing my views was the least I could do after wasting time on two seasons of this crap.
I hope that bollywoodesque plots parading main characters as superior beings while everybody else is a worthless npc isn’t setting standards.