The following article contains major spoilers for season two of Squid Game, including its final episode.
The new Squid Game is a pretty cautious season of television overall. But you can understand why: with the weight of expectation that comes with building on such a massive cultural behemoth, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk opts largely to replay the hits, taking us—and series hero Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae)—back into the game after an opening couple of episodes reacquainting us with Squid Game‘s characters. (We’re introduced to a few new faces, too, who mostly end up as fodder for the world’s deadliest gameshow.)
But then again, what else could Squid Game be? It’s in the title. And beyond the obligatory go at Red Light, Green Light, there’s an array of new challenges to surprise everyone. It feels somewhat weird to describe the poor saps who are conned into taking part as “contestants,” but this season especially has the air of a fictional reality series, albeit one with mortal consequences: it has all the big personalities of a season of Big Brother, the tear-jerking personal stories and colourful, camera-ready sets. Moreso than the last this season feels like a direct parody of reality TV—both its charm and its harm.
The main thrust of the plot of this season concerns the effort of Gi-hun and cop Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon)—who is revealed to have survived being shot at the end of season one—to bring down the game. An impossible task from the outside, given its shroud of secrecy; no one even knows where the island it takes place on is. This is why Gi-hun allows himself to be abducted into the game for a second time, once again taking the identifying number 456. But there’s a big twist further to the revamp of the challenges themselves: the menacing Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) also places himself inside the game, taking the number 001, ostensibly to stop Gi-hun. Look, it’s all very melodramatic and silly, but it adds a welcome wrinkle of intrigue to a season that might’ve otherwise felt like an empty redo.
