The squid game season three divides viewers when the dark topics hit home

Warning: This article contains spoilers.

Millions of fans say goodbye to the squid game, the Emmy TV series, which topped the Netflix charts and have become a symbol of South Korea’s rise in Hollywood.

The inventing show follows players with their bonded money, as they fight in a series of traditional Korean children’s games – with an upper turn as the losses kill themselves in every round.

The play of squid has sucked into viewers since 2021 with its kits of candy and gloomy messages about capitalism and humanity. And with their third and last season, released last Friday, fans around the world are returning to reality.

However, some South Koreans have been reflected in society, which inspired the dystopian series.

“I feel that the Kamari game 3 revealed the real feelings and harsh inner thoughts of Korean people,” said a comment on YouTube under a clip of season three.

“It reflected reality as well as how in real life, at work, it is just full of ruthless people ready to crush you. This show nailed it.”

The squid game was born against the backdrop of a throat -cut competition and expansion of inequality in South Korean society – where are the people Too stressed to have children and an university accommodation exam is regarded as The defining moment of a person’s lifeS

The varied characters of the show – which include a salary, a migrant factory worker and a cryptocurrency scam – are extracted from figures that many South Koreans would find acquaintances.

The story of the main character Song Gi-Hun, a car factory worker who was fired and later began to strike, was also inspired by an event in real life: a strike in 2009 at the SsangYong motor factory, where workers encountered Riot Police for widespread cuts. Today remembered as One of the largest confrontations of labor in the country.

“The drama may be invented, but it feels more realistic than the reality itself,” said in his review of the last season of Squid Game Jeong Cheol Sang.

“Uncertain work, unemployment for young people, broken families – these are not just story devices, but the struggles we face every day.”

These darker messages seemed to be thrown away on Saturday night, as a massive parade celebrated the release of the last season of the blockbuster. A giant killer doll and dozens of impersonal tracksters in tracksuits – among other motives of the deadly games – they went to Central Seoul to many fanfare.

For South Korea leaders, the Kalmari game has become a symbol of the success of K-Drama on the global stage. It is also part of a series of success-even with K-POP Act BTS and an Oscar-winning movie parasite that the newly elected President Lee Ji Mun wants to take advantage of as he focuses on the export of K-culture far and wide.

There are signs that the squid game can even go further: the last scene of the show, where Kate Blanchett plays a Korean game with a man in an alley in Los Angeles, nourishes the rumors of American Spinof.

The series ended at an “open” note, said Lee Jung-Jj, the star of the series, told the BBC. “So this raises many questions to the audience. I hope people talk about these questions, think about themselves about the questions, and try to find an answer.”

In the later seasons of the show, viewers follow the Gi-Hun’s desire to download the games of the same name, which are packed as fun for a group of rich VIP.

But his rebellion fails, and by the end Gi -hun is forced to sacrifice to save the baby to another player – an end that has polarized viewers.

Some claim that Guy -Hun’s actions do not equate to the dark portrait of reality that the showrooms have developed – the one who has so well captured the ruthless elements of human nature.

“The excessive altruism of the characters was disturbing – almost to the extent that it seemed continuous,” Nate Pan’s popular discussion site said in a comment on the popular discussion site for South Korean. “I felt like a false, performative kind of kindness, a priority of strangers over my own families for no real reason.”

But others said that Gri-Hun’s death was in line with the show’s commitment to uncomfortable truths.

“This perfectly describes humanity and the message of the show,” another on YouTube commented.

“As much as we wanted to see the GI-HUN to win, to kill the frontman and the wip, and to stop the games once and for all, before we ride in sunset, this is simply not the world in which we live and it is certainly not the one in which they lived.”

Hwan Dong-Huk, the creator of the show, told reporters on Monday that he understood the “mixed reaction” of the last season.

“There were no expectations in the first season, so the shock and freshness worked. But by two and three seasons, the expectations were high and that made everything different,” Haveng said on Monday.

“The fans of the game wanted more games, others wanted deeper messages, and some were more invested in the characters. Everyone expected something different.”

At least for some, the last choice of ga-hun has offered hope for a reflection of reality: that even in times of discomfort, kindness can prevail.

“This paradox – of cruelty and heat existing – is what made the finish so touching,” said G -N Jeong, The movie blogger. “Watching the squid game made me think about myself. As someone who worked in education and consulting, I asked if kindness could really change something.”

“That’s why I stayed with this story. That’s why I call this region beautiful.”