On premise, this sounds like Hunger games for the impoverished, and the respective trailers give the impression this is going to be an over-the-top gore-fest with comically flying limbs and 'buckets o blood'™, but I can assure you, if you're not convinced by episode 3 that this is running a little deeper than than that, then the end of episode 6 will crush you.
A a non-Korean speaker, it can be tricky keeping up with who's who by name alone, and Imdb doesn't help, but thankfully the performances by the amazing cast will imprint these guys in your memories for months, particularly our main anti-hero Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-Jae). The first episode is spent mainly in his company, as we follow him as he makes an endless stream of poor life choices, culminating in him giving his daughter a gun-shaped novelty lighter for her birthday, which he won from a fairground grab machine, after losing his racetrack winnings which fell out of his pocket while being chased by someone else he owed money to. He's a loser, basically. But even during all this, there's a little moment where his true generous nature is shown, which almost immediately lends him a tiny amount of salvation, practically if not morally.
At his last ebb, he's approached by a suave gent at a subway station, who asked him to play a game. If our guy wins, he gets several thousand Won. If he loses, he gets a rather harsh slap in the face. Needless to say, he loses a lot, so much so that when he finally wins, all thoughts of money are forgotten, and he just wants to slap back. Here's the first spark of genius in the storytelling, as we're with Gi-Hun at this point. I forgot about the money as well.
There are little touches like this throughout the narrative. The games, as sadistic as they are, require a touch of lateral thinking to get through, a lot of the advice for which comes from player 001, Oh Il-Nam, a very frail & unwell elderly gentleman who Gi-Hun bonds with, and becomes his protector as his brain tumour has a gradually depreciating effect on his abilities.
SPOILER:
How much of this is genuine remains to be seen.
There's not much else I can say without going into spoilers, but at this point I've just to the end of Episode 6 ('Gganbu') which is just a breathtaking episode and worth the wait, for performances & revelations alone.
Got 3 episodes left, might binge later
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