The Perfect K-Drama To Watch Before Squid Game Season 2 Adds A Dark Twist To The High School Genre

Squid Game has led the way for a wave of new K-dramas that continue to follow in its footsteps, including one that puts a dark spin on the high school genre. Thanks to Squid Game’s record-setting success, Netflix is producing more Korean content than ever and Netflix’s 2024 K-drama releases look to be more exciting than ever. Other platforms such as Prime Video and Disney+ have also begun to adopt this strategy and create new content for their own platforms. Yet despite there being more K-drama content than ever, Squid Game’s effect continues to seep into many new releases.

Squid Game’s brutal approach to children’s games gripped audiences worldwide and put the world of K-dramas on a global platform. Audiences’ love for digestible violence was further solidified by the success of Netflix revenge thriller The Glory, which became one of the most exciting Netflix K-dramas of 2023. Now, with Squid Game’s second season on the horizon, a new K-drama is set to follow in Squid Game’s footsteps while forging its path as a gripping yet disturbing tale of high school violence.

Pyramid Game Is A Dark Story About Social Hierarchy & Bullying

It makes a clear statement about problems in society

Pyramid Game is a K-drama based on a webtoon of the same name and tells the story of transfer student Sung Su-ji (Kim Ji-yeon) and her experience playing the elusive Pyramid Game at Baekhyeon Girls High School. Social status is everything in Pyramid Game and those who cannot garner the favor of their classmates are instead at their mercy, and brutally bullied by those who are more popular. Pyramid Game turns social status into a vicious game of chess, where allegiances are everything and the next move is never predictable.

Pyramid Game’s almost entirely female cast of rookie or rising actors brings fresh new life to this cruel tale. Kim Ji-yeon’s Sung Su-ji and Jang Da-ah’s Baek Ha-rin serve as different sides of the same coin and are the linchpins that drive Pyramid Game to success. Their classmates in Pyramid Game are just as well-written and individually distinct, with their motivations for how to play (or destroy) the game clear. Alongside a fantastic storyline that never fails to surprise, Pyramid Game is a great new addition to the K-drama thriller genre that deftly dances the line between social commentary and violence.

How Pyramid Game Is Similar To Squid Game

They both have unfair playing fields

Pyramid Game and Squid Game are both brutal games of survival that comment on aspects of Korean society, with Pyramid Game highlighting South Korea’s bullying problem and Squid Game looking at the effects of capitalism and class disparity under the guise of violent children’s games. Both games require a uniform to give the appearance of a level playing field: Squid Game’s green uniform is now synonymous with the series, while Pyramid Game’s black and white school uniform gives a nod to the game of chess. Yet, as both shows demonstrate, the playing field is never fair when money is involved.

Money is a common factor that also connects Squid Game and Pyramid Game as their respective game creators share similar reasons for designing them. Squid Game’s Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su) was tired of a life with money and looked to relive his youth through children’s games. Similarly, Pyramid Game’s teenage heiress Baek Ha-rin (Jang Da-ah), revels in the torture of her classmates as they fight against receiving an F Grade and the consequences that would come with it. Both antagonists take pride in their games, and watching the lengths they will go to secure their success is riveting.

What Makes Pyramid Game Different From Squid Game

Their stories are the reverse of each other

Though Squid Game and Pyramid Game boast many incredibly well-written characters, Squid Game’s players’ fates are somewhat fixed. However, Pyramid Game’s monthly vote significantly impacts each character and their situation and allows the K-drama to flourish. Regardless of whether they are a leading or side character, no one in Pyramid Game remains the same throughout the series, making this wild game of allegiances incredibly thrilling to watch. What sets Pyramid Game apart from Squid Game though, is Sung Su-ji. Despite sharing a last name with Squid Game’s Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), her ambitions drive Pyramid Game in the opposite direction.

Seong Gi-hun chose to participate in Squid Game to better his life, though his will to win slowly withered throughout the game as he became more traumatized. Pyramid Game’s Sung Su-ji’s situation was thrust upon her, and she was forced to compete in the game regardless of her wishes. Though Sung Su-ji initially elected to weather the storm, she soon changes her mind and chooses to topple the game alongside social outcast Myeong Ja-eun (Ryu Da-in).