7 ms·
It's fun to look at the numbers for Squid Game (under TV/Non-English) over time. The first week on September 13 was better than most English TV shows...and then
by minimaxir 5y ago
It's fun to look at the numbers for Squid Game (under TV/Non-English) over time. The first week on September 13 was better than most English TV shows...and then the next few weeks nearly 10xed that first week performance. Even now, two months later, it beats most of the Top English TV shows.
- jedberg 5y agoI just started watching it yesterday. At this point I feel like I can't participate in American cultural society anymore without watching it. :)
- kenjackson 5y agoThere are short summaries on YouTube you can watch. I watched one and it seemed quite good. It was about 15 minutes and now I can at least understand references to it.
- jedberg 5y agoIf it's a good show I don't mind watching the whole thing. So far it's been slow going but I assume it picks up.
- Gigachad 5y agoIt’s starts out pretty brutal with mass death scenes but then about half way it pivots to being more emotionally disturbing with a focus on what the background story is and who is behind it.
- jffry 5y agoThe second episode is a little bit slow, a breather to show you more about their lives without a bunch of cheesy flashbacks, but yes it does pick up again after that.
- moate 5y agoUnpopular Take: It doesn't.
- mupuff1234 5y agoAgree. I found it to be ok, but basically felt like an overstretched black mirror episode IMO.
- 1cvmask 5y agoI hardly watch anything so I am still on the fence. I guess I might check out the short summaries first just to get cultural references. I skipped most series like Breaking Bad and don't feel amiss at all.
- oh_sigh 5y agoThe memes will pass in 2 weeks, just like tiger king
- 999900000999 5y agoIt's such a good show. Considering people skip heart meds when they can't afford em, it feels like we're all playing. At the same time, I feel American shows are too politically correct, too safe. Doesn't make for good tv.
- humanrebar 5y agoSometimes. Sometimes they're so progressive that it ruins the narrative and dramatic tension. At this point it ends up being a surprise when the terrorists aren't really a secret conspiracy run by a capitalist defense contractor or rogue domestic spy agency of some sort. And it's always the rich widow and never the creepy janitor who ends up being the murderer. Can't "punch down"!
- Iefthandrule 5y agoAnd they are unrealistic too. As if the wealthy would ever have private islands where they engage in pedophilic behavior.
- kspacewalk2 5y ago> Sometimes they're so progressive that it ruins the narrative and dramatic tension. At this point it ends up being a surprise when the terrorists aren't really a secret conspiracy run by a capitalist defense contractor or rogue domestic spy agency of some sort. This is a great example of being too politically correct and playing it safe.
- moate 5y agoIt's such an uninspired version of Running Man/Battle Royale/Hunger Games/Hostile/Movie of your Choice from the Dystopian "Rich people watch poor people do bad stuff for their entertainment" genre. IDK, I hate capitalism as much as anyone on this site, but UGH what a boring take. Honestly, "You" is a much better satire on the platform right now.
- knownjorbist 5y agoThe magic is in the acting around the premise, not the social commentary. It's head and shoulders above most other television right now in that regard.
- carlinmack 5y agoIt has 1 billion more total hours viewed in the first 28 days than the highest ever English TV show (Bridgerton)
- nelblu 5y agoI am probably an outlier but I can't stand shows that are too gory or violent. I prefer the old school shows where even when someone was murdered you could hardly see a drop of blood. These days almost any show that involves any kind of crime depicts so much violence and blood, I find it extremely disturbing. Is this just me? I really hope not.
- seoulmetro 5y agoSquid games isn't remotely gory. In fact it's only a slight step up from nothing. There was only one gory part and that was the glass game. The old days where baddies died without a drop of blood were pretty bad. It was just cheaper. The show is good. It's not amazing, but it's good and it wouldn't have made sense to use olden style of "no blood, ever". And I'm actually quite squeamish, so understand that.
- agumonkey 5y agoThings come and go, late 70s were filled with crude horror and gore. I don't like it much, but as a kid I enjoyed bits of this. There would be no Alien without the chestb... So even if older I wouldn't mind no gore and more subtle ways to express things, I can't be against either.
- Barrin92 5y agoI mean it depends on the context of how the violence or gore is presented. In a lot of Korean shows / films in particular it is extremely stylized to the point where it's less disturbing and sometimes more comedic even. I'd agree that gratuitous or cheap violence is kind of disturbing or at least the implication of what is says about the viewers is. But I think categorically saying that depiction of violence is disturbing isn't true.
- echelon 5y agoWe evolved under violent rather conditions. Think of life on the savannah, or more recently, hunter gatherers throttling one another to steal resources. Or barbarian life. It's only now that we get to live in comfy little bubbles. They're still occasionally punctuated by moments of the grim truth.
- 5y ago