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Sounds About Right 🌯

31 Oct, 104 tweets, 15 min read

@Soundsaboutleft

Let me tell you. One thing you never want to do is join a contest without having any idea about what it's about.

We went in there worrying it'd be something horrible. Instead, we just had to survive red light, gun light.

@Soundsaboutleft worked together to survive #SquidGame

If you don't know, this is actually a legit show.

I'm a huge Lee Jung-jae fan (his work in New World is beyond brilliant).

If you haven't seen New World, youtube movies has it free with ads. Watch it!

Again. I freaking love this show. LOVE IT.

Doesn't mean I'm not going to do my "idiot reviews movies" schtick.

So let's watch Episode 1.

Maybe it'll get you to go watch it.

It starts out in a flashback. A bunch of kids are playing a game called "Squid Game."

Basically, 2 teams (offense/defense) and...uh..

Okay...there's.

I'M NOT GOOD AT EXPLAINING GAMES!

I can tell you the music is sooo awesome.

But the end of the game is basically people beating the crap out of each other in order to either get passed the defense or to stop the other team.

We start out with Gi-Hun eating some awesome looking food as he lives with his mom.

This movie tries to imply a bit that he's a loser, but have you seen that food?

I'm jealous.

His mom gives him some money to buy his daughter a gift for her birthday.

I'm having Old Boy flashbacks.

Oh, except Old Boy didn't beg his mom for more cash.

Gi-hun is..okay. Bit of a loser.

We also find out she's constantly bailing his ass out, cooks for him, cleans up after him.

Holy crap, dude. Your mom is awesome. Recognize!

Then he goes and...oh come on. NO.

He riffles through stuff and takes his mom's bank card.

He goes to withdrawl all her cash.

Of course his mom, thankfully, changed her code.

He keeps trying it, but only had a couple guesses.

Gi-hun is there iwth a buddy, who suggests it's his mom's birthday.

Gi-hun has to take a minute to remember taht.

That doesn't work, either.

All this to say Gi-hun ...uh...he sorta sucks as a son and a father.

Then he realizes it's his daughter's birthday.

Oof. Gonna rob your mother and spend all the money on gambling?

No. Seriously. He takes all this cash to gamble with instead of buying his daughter something on her birthday.

Gi-hun is a perpetual loser. He loses at life and he loses at gambling.

He's about to snap when someone tells him to hurry up with his bet. He's got gambling to do, too.

He makes one more bet and gets lucky.

Of course this kind of "luck" will cause a person with a problem that they can do it again.

He wins about 4.5 million won which is

*googling*

$3800.

He even tips the woman at the window.

Gi-hun goes outside to call his daughter and celebrate his good fortune.

He's like "We can get anything you want. You want to shoot an endangered species and eat it??? Let's do it!!!"

That's when some men come after Gi-hun.

He bolts.

Hell, he even runs into a girl (Sae-byeok)

Then it's off to the races...actually. It's off inside the race track gambling area to escape a loan shark.

In the bathroom Gi-hun gets beat like he owes him mone...OHHHH.

THAT'S WHERE THAT SAYING COMES FROM!

Gi-hun offers the money he got, but turns out the girl had robbed him.

So he has nothing for the loan shark.

So the loan shark shows him by breaking his nose and...tasting his blood?

Got 'em!

Then the Loan Shark NOOOOO

Get that away from his nose no no no no.

Uh....this loan shark is going to bleed him and make food out of it?

WHAT THE FUCK??

So the loan shark offers him a delay in payment if he signs a document that basically says if he doesn't pay it off...he's going to start removing organs from Gi-hun.

Wow...uh...

PSA, kids. Don't use loan sharks who drink human blood.

Gi-hun is forced to use his own blood to sign and fingerprint it.

The loan shark leaves him, but not before Gi-hun asks for 10k won as a loan.

Dude...wtf.

Gi-hun then asks for the tip money back from the woman who counted out his wins.

We then see him trying to win prizes at a claw machine and he sucks at it like me.

Fuck you, claw machines.

That's when a little kid tells him the secret to winning lots of prizes.

He then asks the kid to win him a prie.

So...middle-aged man ...never mind.

Anyway, he wins a prize, celebrates, and goes to get his daughter.

At dinner with his daughter, man.

You can see the disappointment in his eyes and the sadness in hers.

Man.

Like he tries to be a good dad, but...he just is sorta a loser.

Luckily for his daughter, she ate a nice meal with his step dad.

Oof. Gi-hun is getting it from all sides.

Oh, and he gives her the present. It's..uh...a toy pew pew.

Ooops. It's a lighter

His daughter then begs him to stop smoking and holy hell, man.

Get it together for her sake.

She loves you.

He takes her back home, where he's met by his exwife.

She's mad that he's late and she isn't properly dressed and she was so tired she passed out as he carried her.

Then she leaves and...man. Gi-hun loves his kid, he's just a screw up.

We cut to him trying to get onto the subway, but he misses it.

Oh, and he looks like 8 kinds of ass.

So he goes to sit at a bench and contemplate his sucky life.

Then some random dude in a suit comes to sit down beside him even though there are other benches.

Man.

Luckily, the guy just wants to play a game.

OH, GOD THIS IS JIGSAW'S NEXT GIG!

The dude opens up his briefcase and it has FAT STACKS!

And the dude wants to play ddakji.

Which is a game where you try to flip this little...square thingy the other dude has placed on the ground.

Reminds me of marbles in a way.

The deal is simple. If Gi-hun wins, he gets money.

If he loses? He gets smacked the fuck up.

So what would you do?

You get offered 100,000 won ($85) if you win or you get slapped.

I don't think I'm that desperate or drunk.

Drunk me? Drunk me would play this.

Gi-hun keeps losing and keeps getting slapped (I would assume this was a kink thing if I saw this).

All the while this baller song plays.

I LOVE THE MUSIC IN THIS SHOW.

Imagine watching this.

Some dude in a business suit slapping the shit out of some guy who looks like 8 pounds of ass.

I assume there are rich people in that kind of public domination stuff.

I expect to see a rise of this kind of stuff in real life.

Gi-hun loses like 29829 times until finally he wins.

Gi-hun goes to slap the guy, but the rich guy stops him and gives him the cash.

Gi-hun looks like he's confused and yet...money is money, man.

We see time has passed and Gi-hun has won a few times, but his fucked up face shows he lost WAYY more.

Then the suited man offers him another game...

He even calls him by his name and talks about the contract he signed and we get Gi-hun's background from this guy.

If some suited asshole told me ALL this shit about me? I'd call the cops...after kicking him in the dick.

The guy gives him his card and says he can make serious money. Enough to get out of debt.

I gotta take a moment now and say this show is...incredible.

In the next episode, it shows way more depth of how desperate these characters are...but this episode sets it up.

We cut to Gi-hun bragging about making money to an older lady (who isn't his mom).

She's concerned he's gambling again (which explains the money and his fucked up face).

This woman is Sang-woo's mom.

Sang-woo is a very successful man Gi-hun knew.

Gi-hun takes some fish (she sells it) from the older lady and doesn't even give her the full amount.

We see him walking and then he feeds a starving kitty.

This shows he's not a total selfish monster.

We cut to Gi-hun eating dinner with his mom.

He gives her money. She's afraid it's coming from an evil source (stolen/gambling).

Oh, and let me stop for a second to say DO NOT SWITCH THIS TO ENGLISH DUBBING.

The dubbing and the subtitles don't match up. Not just with text, but characterization.

In this scene Gi-hun says "he's some money" as in a "hey...I'm paying you back." The dubbing says "He's an allowance." Which means he doesn't think he owes her.

Similar ideas of giving money, completely different character from those separate ideas.

Like the English dubbing makes him a POS while the subtitles shows him as a caring man who just...kinda is a loser.

We find out from the mom that his daughter and his exwife are moving to USA! USA! USA! USA! the following year.

Her stepdad has a new job there.

So now Gi-hun has a MASSIVE incentive to call taht dude and make that dolla.

Gi-hun seems stunned, but his mom is pissed. He wants him to do anything to keep her there.

She says he needs to get a lawyer and he needs financial support to get custody rights.

The mom is afraid moving to the US will make her forget Korean and forget her father.

Like...you have to feel sorry for Gi-hun and his mom.

We see Gi-hun looking at photos of his daughter at night.

You can see the pain and sorrow and fear.

Gi-hun takes out the playstation controller coded card and calls a number.

He's asked if he wants to participant.

He just needs to say his name and bday.

We cut to outside where Gi-hun is waiting for something...or someone.

A van pulls up and he gets in.

He gets into teh back of the van and there are people in there already...passed out.

That's when he gets gassed.

Which brings up a thought.

When it comes to knock out gas, you have to be very careful.

Too much and it'll kill them. Too little and they'll wake up.

The first poor bastard who got in has been gassed 4 times already!!!!

Gi-hun wakes up to classical music and he's in a bed.

He looks around and he's in the world's worst dormitory.

Just stacks of beds.

Oh, and everyone is in track suits.

Which tells you they strip them down and dress them.

We then see inside of the world's weirdest internet cafe.

People are in red uniforms with black masks with playstation controller symbols on them.

Gi-hun sees an older man with 001 on his adidas green outfit.

He's counting people.

Gi-hun realizes he's trying to count...the old man is like "I know what I'm doing!!"

Mostly, trying to keep his brain sharp. He has a brain tumor...

Oh, and Gi-hun is 456.

456 people there all confused WTF is going on.

Gi-hun is like "Hey, old man. Shouldn't you be home being fed by your daughter in law and stuff?"

The older guy is like "LOL...you're here, too, loser. BTW...I have a brain tumor. Did I say that?"

We then cut to the thief who'd pickpocketed Gi-hun getting beat the fuck down by a guy who looks like he would shank you for your pudding.

This is Sae-byeok (pick pocket) and Deok-su (the gangster).

We find out the girl is from N.K.

Before Deok-su can finish her, Gi-hun comes up to demand his money back.

Then we get some alpha male bullshit from Deok-su.

Before anything could happen, the door opens...sweet music plays...and the playstation controller people come out to say "Let's play a game."

We find out that there will be 6 games. If you win all 6...YOU GET PAIDDDDDDDDDDD!!!

The people in the audience are like "UH...fuck you. You gassed us, you took our shit, you undressed us and I think one of my balls got twisted, and you look like you take Among Us too serious!"

Sang-woo (Gi-hun's old friend) is one of these people.

The playstation guy emasculates him by going "LOL. YOU'RE IN DEBT IN THE BILLIONS OF WON!!"

Then they show dozens of others are just as financially fucked.

The playstation guy then is like "You played the game. We paid you. You called us. We gassed and groped you. We're going to pay you if you win. So either SHUT THE FUCK UP AND PLAY OR GET THE FUCK OUT!!"

Someone asks what games they'll play and they're like "You'll find out, dick."

Then Gi-hun asks how much money they'll make.

A literal piggy bank comes down from the ceiling and it's HUGE.

Playstation guy is like "We'll let you know how much after the first game. Now either play or fuck off."

They all get in line to sign a contract.

It has 3 simple rules.

1. You can't quit after signing this
2. If you refuse to play, you're eliminated.
3. If the majority agrees to end the game...the game ends.

Everyone signs as classical music plays are they walk in a line to make their way.

Oh...and there's some dude who is basically Dr. Claw watching them.

This whole thing is being filmed and watched in a control room.

It's Big Brother if Big Bro. loved voyeur...it's Big Brother.

Each person goes to get their photo and HOLY SHIT is Gi-hun just the best with that.

These images are their user images for this massive floor display that shows everyone to Dr. Claw.

We then see 2 guys who are like...kinda jerks to each other and we see a rivalry b/w them. We'll call them Jerk 1 and Jerk 2.

They then walk up the stairs of M.C. Escher's wet dream as we see the Goblin King grinding in a corner while singing.

We watch Dr. Claw get into an elevator and...no muzak. Lucky bastard.

Then all the contests exit out of a few doors onto a dirt-covered room. Like a fuckall huge, open rooofed room with trees and crap painted on the walls.

All are told to stay behind the white line and wait for instructions.

Dr Claw gets up there and gets a hone call.

It says "7 DAYS!"

Oh...and the game has begun, so Dr. Claw sits to watch a nice, big screen of the contestants.

At the end of this massive area is a tree with an ani..anim...a robot at the end of it.

It's HUGE.

The game they're playing is red light, green light. You can move when green...stop when red or be eliminated.

The robot will count and turn around on red to "catch" people.

Jerk 1 and Jerk 2 make a bet on who will win.

They have 5 minutes to finish.

It begins.

The robot says "green light"

Then says red light.

Jerk 1 moves and HIS FUCKING COLLAPSES AFTER BEING SHOT!

They continue forward and Jerk 2 is like "LOL...get up, dude."

No one realizes...he's been shot.

Jerk 2 freaks the fuck out and gets shot, too.

THEN IT'S GOD DAMN PANDEMONIUM!

Dozens up dozens of contestants run to the exits, but they're blocked.

And they all get shot...all of them who moved.

Imagine that shit. You're thinking you're playing some dumb kids' game when it turns out to be the realist of the real.

It's like the Battle of the Somme...just...awful.

Dr. Claw is enjoying it, though...weirdo.

Then the announcer goes "LOL. I told you not to move when it's red, dipshits. Now you're dead."

Oh...we find out eliminated means eliminated from having a pulse.

This...this shit is brutal.

Gi-hun got knocked over by a body...everyone else is paralyzed.

Well, everyone but the old man.

He's smiling ear to ear and exited to play this high stakes game.

The old guy is like "LOL...I'm gonna win, bitches!!"

The others are like "FUckk FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKKKKKKK!!!"

With each green/red switch...someone dies.

Sang-woo gives Gi-hun advice. Stay behind someone else...let htem die for ya.

I legit know I'd be dead in this game.

I'd just shit myself and it'd detect the poop rolling out from my pants as movement and they'd shoot at my butthole and ...it'd suck.

Or I'd get a fear boner and they'd blast my dong off.

All I'm saying is it'd suck.

Oh and the juxtaposition of a child's game and the robot going "green light, red light" as people die and the timer ticks down is...brutal.

This is the kind of shit the Nazis would have jerked it to.

Gi-hun's leg is grabbed by a guy who is wounded and begs for help.

Gi-hun has to leave him to his demise.

We cut to Dr. Claw and he likes jazz and little animoa..ani...little robot things that play jazz.

All the while watching people die.

Dr. Claw is a bit of a jerk.

Hahaha.

We get a cover of "Fly Me to the Moon" over this carnage with the old man smiling and the people around him dying.

It's...like this is some solid tv...just saying.

Holy crap this is brutal. Even having seen this before, it's just so visceral.

The fear and panic is palpable.

We even see people realizing they fucked up a split second before they die.

Finally people are crossing the finish.

THe old man wasn't first. How disappointing.

But this is a game that's pass/fail.

Where the fail is being burned in the basement (you find this out later).

Finally, Gi-hun is almost there when he trips.

He's grabbed by a man (Abdul) and prevented from falling to his death (when it sees him move).

Then they make it across the finish line with just a second to spare...holy crap.

Everyone else on the playing field is eliminated.

All at once.

There's like 2 dozen people just blasted all at once.

Except one poor bastard...the last one. He has several seconds to realize his death is coming...brutal.