Squid Game continues to make history and set itself up as the frontrunner come Emmy season

Squid Game just made history at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards with three wins, making the Netflix series both the first Korean and foreign language show to take home SAG statues stealing Succession’s thunder. Squid Game was also the most rewarded show of the night.

Squid Game has been a phenomenon since it hit Netflix, and unlike other fan-obsessed sensations such as The Walking Dead, the South Korean drama has not been ignored by the elite awards circuit.

Squid Game won the Outstanding Action Performance as a Stunt Ensemble SAG, a well-deserved nod for the physically taxing work that dominated the nail-biting series where financially disadvantaged individuals find risking their lives in high-stakes children’s games is preferable to the dehumanizing everyday stress they face in the real world. If there’s a country that has its pulse on classism, it’s South Korea, beginning with the brilliant Parasite (also was the first non-English language film to win the Best Picture Oscar), which I consider the best film in at least the last ten years.

Plus, who didn’t want to cheer for Squid Game wins? I mean look at how supportive they are of each other! Their enthusiasm was infectious.

I readily admit that I am obsessed with Korean entertainment. I’m like a walking televangelist for the genius of Parasite, and constantly check the internet for any updates for Season 3 of the historical zombie show, Kingdom (if anyone has insider knowledge, please contact me. Seriously.).

I was expecting great things when I started the first episode of Squid Game, but the tense drama about social inequities surpassed all my expectations. I started Episode 1 in the early afternoon, and by the time 2 am hit that night, I was almost done with the complete season. The last time I binged an entire season of a series within 24 hours, it was the first season of Downton Abbey over a decade ago, and I was sick with the flu. I had no such excuse this time.

Much of that has to do with Lee Jung-jae’s engaging performance in the lead role of Squid Game. When you watch the way he desperately licks the umbrella cookie shape to complete the task under threat of execution, you knew you were watching something great, and something I couldn’t take my eyes off of. It’s no surprise that he won the SAG for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. Expect him to be a favorite in the same category once this year’s Emmy nominations are announced.

Same with HoYeon Jung’s poignant turn as Kang Sae-byeok. a North Korean defector who is trying to improve her circumstances so that she can rescue her brother from an orphanage and provide a better life for them. Watching her harrowing story was difficult enough, but (without giving away anything, if you’re one of only like a handful of people who haven’t seen Squid Game yet) it’s her emotionally nuanced journey that haunted me the most about the series. She also deservedly won for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series on SAG night. Considering that Squid Game was her television acting debut (she had been on Korea’s Next Top Model in 2013), it’s even more remarkable.

It may be too early to predict the Emmy awards winners, but Squid Game is sure to continue to be stiff competition to the much-admired Succession. Just like Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, expect Squid Game to emerge as the surprise frontrunner for Best Drama come Emmy Award night (or at least it should).

Also, if you’re dying for more Squid Game, plans for Season 2 are already in the works, and talks are going on for a possible S3.