I binged watched this series from start to end, and it's extremely, extremely rare for me to do so. The recent last times I did so was probably when I watched both of the seasons of "Kingdom". It really is that good. No spoilers review:
This series was really very well written, acted and directed with a surprising amount of sympathetic characters, well placed twists, intriguing plots, unflinching gore, and a really nice soundtrack. This series is basically what would happen if "Hostel" and "Alice in Borderland" had a child but "Battle Royale" being 'God' and choosing the child's gender (I may have missed out on some series but that's roughly what I would describe it as).
Take the concept and the tragedies of "Battle Royale", mix in the creativity, amazing set pieces, nice soundtracks, twists and style of "Alice in Borderland" and the gore and structure of what drove "Hostel", and you get this masterpiece. The acting is so well done to complement the show that I give major props to the actors. Take a bow, guys. Y'all did fantastic. The characters that were given backstories; you can't help but feel strongly for them - for them to succeed. But unfortunately.... I really didn't know who to support the most, as they were all so compelling and easy to root for. In the end, I guess I had my answer (The character didn't make it).
This series explores the very real and human reasons how someone might end up needing a lot of money, why they do what they do, and what they are willing to do to get it. You'll get to see characters unravel as the series progresses. The protagonist tries to keep his conscience, sanity and morality throughout, but of course, given the nature of this 'game', he's forced to make certain decisions. But he never gave up on trying to save as many people as he could. He went in to the 'game' all wide eyed and smiles, and as the series went on, he became more and more hurt and torn that it is quite frankly captivating to watch. Edit: I haven't had this much thrill in quite some time. What a ride.
You'll probably get the sense that anything can happen; that you do not know what's going to go down, throughout the series. I thought of "Will any single person really win and get the prize, or will something like what happened in "Battle Royale" happen?" The ending was maybe typical and it raises a lot of questions, but no complains from me. That wasn't a slight on the ending, by the way.
I told myself by the time I was watching episode 4 that I was definitely going to do a review. I really cannot heap enough praise for "Squid Game". Watch it A.S.A.P.