
Amidst the upcoming celebration of the new year, there was another long-awaited celebration—season two of Squid Game. This South Korean show has been beloved by fans worldwide since its first season release in September of 2021. With these titles, it has also been the most-watched show on Netflix, generating millions of views and fans.
We follow the second season with Seong Gi-hun (Player 456) who calls the Front Man after snatching an invitation from a person recruited for the games. This is a direct continuation of the first season and brings back many characters we saw at the beginning and end of the show. For instance, we see Gi-hun’s loan shark Mr. Kim again, and the police officer who got shot in the latter half of season one by his brother (who is also the Front Man), Jun-ho. These men team up together to try and put an end to the games.
The first episode of season two was exciting. Seeing how some of the old characters were doing two years later was intriguing, especially Gi-hun. Gi-hun seemed to be quite deranged while trying to find this mysterious recruiter. I think this unbalanced mentality contributed to his character, and just how deeply the games affected him. To add on, the difference between his first look in the games, and his second truly portrays his loss of innocence.
After episodes one and two, the following episodes were about the games themselves. With these games came all new players including Gi-hun’s best friend, Park Jung-bae (Player 390) which is a blast from the past. There was more character development in this season than the season prior, focusing on that specific aspect than many of the other parts.
Despite this, I feel like the characters in the first season were better than the second season. Although the characters had a large amount of development in the current season, they could never compare to the greed and seriousness of the old characters.
For instance, even though Thanos (Player 230) pushed many people to their deaths, he could never match up to the ruthlessness of Deok-su (Player 101) in season one. The same goes for the shaman-lady, Seon-nyeo (Player 044) who was just plain annoying and spoke in poetic riddles all the time. Her speech could not be measured against the malicious ridiculousness of Mi-nyeo (Player 212). Despite this, season two did have some fleshed-out characters, such as Hyun-ju (Player 120) and Dae-ho (Player 388).
Moving on, there was a shift in tone between the first and second seasons. The first season had a bit more shock factor since it was our first time seeing the games play out, and it felt more realistic. In season two, we already have the foreboding feeling that the games will play out the way they did in the previous season, giving us expectations for what will happen next. I would say the foreboding feeling was more chilling than in the first season, but now that we know what will happen to the characters, it’s thrilling to see how everyone will be affected differently.
The plot twist that The Front Man is Player 001 was very surprising, but I should have expected that, especially since the creator of the games was also Player 001 in the first season. Gi-hun befriends both of them, making him vulnerable to the Front Man’s scrutiny, which makes his failed attempt at the raid even more humiliating.
What I disliked the most about this season was the cliffhanger we were left on. Of course, this is common for most shows but with the anticipation that many people were left on from season 1 and having to wait four years for the second season, this feels unfair. I understand that it was probably very hard to condense season two with all that had been going on at the time, but the games in general could have been more fast-paced than taking up over thirty minutes. It’s a wonder to see what would happen in season three if the episodes had been paced as so.
Speaking of season three, I am most excited to see how this wonderfully woven story will be received at its finale. I don’t think that this story is going to have a happy ending, as the overall message that Squid Game discusses is how greedy people will always want more, and it’s quite impossible to get rid of all human greed alongside wealth inequality. What Gi-hun is fighting for is to get rid of all of these negatives, and it’s not going to work.
As a result, I think this final upcoming season will have a bad ending, but it will be somewhat satisfying for the viewers. Squid Game season three is coming out on Netflix on August 1, 2024, and who knows what will happen? Only time will tell…