Content warning/Editors note: this review will feature spoilers for “Squid Game 2.”
Squid Game 2 has been a popular topic of the media since its release on Dec. 26: The new season features a new array of characters with vibrant personalities and houses a series of mysteries and plot twists. It follows the same protagonist of season one, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), as he re enters himself into the Squid Games and attempts to end them for good.
Gi-Hun begins the season on a mission to locate the front man and where the squid games are held. To do this, he inserts a tracking device into himself so detectives Jun-ho (Wi Ha-Joon) and Woo-seok (Jeon Seok-ho) can locate him. At a Halloween party, Gi-hun is escorted via limousine and confronts the front man using a speaker asking him to end the games. The vehicles of the detectives following Gi-hun are shot down, and he asks to re-enter the games as a player.
Before the beginning of the first game, Gi-Hun warned players that losing would result in death. Everyone laughed in disbelief and believed he was only trying to scare them so he could win the games and collect the entirety of the cash prize. Players shortly realized Gi-Hun was telling the truth when Wi Ha Joon (Jo Yu-ri) and several other players who moved were shot and killed.
Following the first game, the front man offered a gesture that wasn’t offered in the game before: After the conclusion of each game, the players were given the opportunity to vote whether or not they wished to continue playing. If the majority agreed to stop, everyone would stop playing and the cash prize would be distributed equally amongst the remaining players. If the majority agreed to stay, all players would be victims of continuing the game with the cash prize building with each death. This gesture became a significant aspect of “Squid Game 2,” as players would be divided based on their vote, and the players who voted to continue the game would eventually attack and kill most of the players who voted to leave.
After the game of mingle, Gi-Hun formed a plan with a handful of his peers he had allied with. When the fight broke out at night, he advised them to stay hidden under the beds so nobody would target them. Then, when the night was over and guards came to scan and collect the bodies of those who were killed, they would attack them by surprise, take possession of their weapons and masks, and hunt down the front man.
Their plan was successful, and a small number of remaining players volunteered to help Gi-Hun and his allies fight against the guards and front man. Through radio, the players were able to maintain communication with each other in different locations of the facility. The problem of lack of ammunition arose quickly: The group sent an individual to retrieve ammo from the lobby but he didn’t return because of his unwillingness to put himself back in danger’s way. When the players ran out of ammo, Oh Young-il (Lee Byung-hun) radioed to the other players, telling them that their only option was to surrender. Gi-Hun hears the sound of a gunshot over the radio, and the sound of death. It’s revealed, though, that Oh Young-il is the front man: The audience watches him kill two individuals, staging his death on the radio, and his identity remains under wraps from any other players in the game.
After surrendering, Gi-Hun was spared by the front man and the season concluded.
I found that “Squid Game 2” was hard to follow considering the lack of character development compared to the season before it: The players who were given appropriate development were killed off quickly. For example: Thanos’ (Choi Seung-hyun) backstory was clearly established unlike most, but was killed off in the bathroom fight scene in episode four. I also thought that the plot moved very slowly. By the end of the season, the game had not even come to an end. The ending was a little predictable, considering that last season the front man was also player 001. On the other hand, there was a lot more action in this season than the one before it and I enjoyed how the game was not about winning, but about taking down the leaders behind it all.
Though I prefer the first season of “Squid Game,” I thought season 2 offered many new, fun characters and I’m eager to watch “Squid Game 3,” (releasing in 2025) considering the cliffhanger watchers were left on. Anyone who enjoys a mystery or thriller will enjoy this series because of it’s constant action and nail-biting scenes. Will the game continue in the next season?