Joe Hildebrand: Everyone except me had heard of Squid Game on Netflix

Squid Game has become a worldwide phenomenon because it has something other shows can only dream of, writes Joe Hildebrand.

Given the way 2021 has gone so far, it was probably inevitable that an overdubbed South Korean TV series about people in jumpsuits being slaughtered by brightly coloured toys in a death match named after an overgrown mollusc would become the No.1 television show in the world.

But I still didn’t think I would end up watching it.

It all began when I was hosting Afternoons on Sydney’s 2GB and Brisbane’s 4BC networks and our regular film reviewer mentioned that the top show on Netflix was an obscure Seoul-based production called Squid Game.

Now I know my AM radio afternoon audience very well, and I know they are many things, but I was pretty sure that televisual K-pop aficionados was not one of those things.

And, as usual, I was wrong.

I asked out loud if I was the only person who hadn’t heard of Squid Game and if anyone out there had seen it. I expected radio silence but the board lit up like Alice Springs on cracker night.

A scene from Netflix series Squid Game.

It turned out I really was the only person who hadn’t heard of it and so when I got home my wife insisted that we watch it. I insisted that I wouldn’t and she insisted that I needed to in order to write this column about it, which I would inevitably end up doing.

And so I did.

My first thought was there have been plenty of shows about humans killing humans for sport — from the Roman Colosseum to the Hunger Games — so why should Squid Game stand out?

Isn’t it just another remake of The Running Man?

But then I realised that it’s not really a show about death, even though the first episode alone had a body count that rivalled the Korean War itself.

Squid Game has captivated Australians.

In fact, it’s a show about addiction. SPOILER ALERT: The difference between Squid Game and the others is that the doomed contestants actually choose to be there — well, most of them — because they are hooked on the risk and reward.

And that’s what makes Squid Game incredibly addictive itself: Unlike the Hunger Games this show has some actual hunger in it.

Joe Hildebrand is on 2GB Nights with John Stanley on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8pm