The news of late has been abuzz with Netflix's Squid Game. It's been paralleled with Alice in Borderland, which has a tie to deadly games and unwitting players, but this is a bit different.

At the very least, Alice in Borderland is set in Japan, while Squid Game is in Korea. More importantly, Alice in Borderland almost has hints at supernatural or extraterrestrial creation of the games, where the surviving population of Tokyo seems to be forced into playing the games to survive, and failure to do so will result in death from above. Squid Game has some hints of volunteerism in it, where the participants have joined, granted with quite a bit of deception, to play the games. In each, the losers are killed, in an effort to keep the players motivated.

Like Alice before it, Squid Game is not filmed in English, and is both dubbed and subtitled, and similarly, the subtitles and dubbing don't match, and sometimes hint at slightly different stories or interpretations of the dialogue. The stories follow a set of heroes as they try to figure out the games, the other players, and ways to survive. Squid Game adds asides as we see some of the people creating and running the games, with a side story of a policeman who has snuck onto the island where it takes place to find his long lost brother. Some of this doesn't shake out in the first few episodes, and develops in a way that fits and doesn't distract.

Much of the first episode is getting to know the main character, an under-employed dad, who lives with his mom, trying to scheme and plan and get a little bit ahead. He gambles and wins and loses all the money he was going to pay some loan shark debt with, and ends up getting an offer to play games for money. He disappears in a van to a secret place, where he's joined by 400 other players. They're not given many details, but are escorted to a game field, to play a little Red Light, Green Light. When the giant robot doll turns away and says "green light," players should try to approach, and when it turns back and says "red light," players should stop; just like the game kids play. People who are caught moving by the robot are eliminated; in this case by sniper rifle. There's a time limit, too, and in the end, those that don't make it to the safe zone are eliminated by machine gun.

That's the introduction to the series. I ended up watching a half-dozen episodes after everyone else went to bed last night, making for a tired day today, I'm sure.

The story telling, characters, challenges, and scenery are all a little compelling. There are some "this could have been better" moments in much of the character interaction. I found myself aligning with the main character, and his desire to just get through it so he can make things better for his family. The ambiguity of the games, the surprise of what to play, and even the relationship and interactions of the players (who aren't all in it together) really drew me in.

I'm sure some of the dialog, especially the taunts and threats or subtext, makes more sense or has more edge in Korea, but the gist is there, and allowing for the translation necessary for me to watch it, isn't too distracting.

Some choices could have also been translated differently. Like that they kept the won as the currency in the game; the numbers can seem like nonsense without checking to see how little a single won is worth--but that they're playing for the kind of financial recovery or safety that billions can bring fits even if you don't realize that translates to "just" millions. At one point the main character is given 10,000 won to take his daughter to dinner, and he complains that isn't enough to get a gift, too. It translates to about $85 today, which seems like it should be enough, but still leave room to want a little more. Hearing that they're playing for 45 billion, is really different if that's won or dollars. Still, the converted 37 million dollars that converts to isn't trivial. Not the same freedom of billions, though. In the game, though, so many otherwise poor people are millions of won in debt, which seems weird that could happen, until you realize that is really just short of a few thousand dollars. This still seems to be not a lot of life changing debt, especially when an average income in Korea isn't that far from an income in the US. It seems to be a lot to endure for what might really not seem like a lot. In a risk-reward consideration, that is. I'd do a lot for a few million dollars, but probably not play in a real life-or-death game. 

Squid Game certainly isn't something to watch with the kids, as death for failing to play a game, is a bit extreme, and even dubbed or subtitled, the language is a bit rough. Still, if you're past those hurdles, can suspend a little disbelief that a few hundred people would volunteer to do this, and the gratuitous violence doesn't bother you, it's entertaining.

I've got some episodes to go to finish, and the side stories are also picking up. I finished all of the Alice episodes, and found it to be pretty good, all the language and other stuff included. This is looking to be as good, or even better.