The following contains spoilers about the plot of the second season of Squid Game.
Squid Game, the South Korean Netflix production created by screenwriter and director Hwang Dong-hyuk recently premiered its second season, and is already one of the most watched and talked-about series on the platform.
Premiering in 2021, the dystopian thriller that combines action, drama, gore and social criticism became Netflix’s number one show in 90 countries and the streamer’s most successful non-English speaking program.
With more than 95 million plays in its first days of streaming, Squid Game broke all records for the digital service and won several awards, including a historic Emmy for South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae and director Hwang Kong-hyuk.
In its first season, the popular streaming series revolved around Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), an irresponsible, gambling-addicted father who joins the lethal Squid Game competition with the intention of earning enough money to pay off his debts and take care of his daughter and elderly mother.
This thriller follows a group of debt-ridden people who end up battling on a remote island to win a hefty cash prize. Specifically, 456 participants are recruited to face “deadly” versions of traditional children’s games.
The Squid Game trials range from “Red Light, Green Light”, to “Tug of War” but, each and every one carries an unthinkable condition: those who lose, not only are out of the game, but also lose their lives in the most violent ways.
As you can see, the concept of the South Korean show is unsettling, but perhaps even more frightening is the idea that all these people would willingly participate in a bloodbath. And the fact is most of the contestants are so desperate about their financial debts and heartbreaking reality that they would rather risk almost imminent death than return to their day-to-day lives.
At its core, Squid Game is a disturbing portrait of human greed, class inequalities, capitalist exploitation, and the erosion of morality. Throughout the nine episodes of the original series, Seong Gi-hun and his companions advance through unsuspected and macabre trials, facing all sorts of moral dilemmas and uncovering the murky secrets behind the organization that controls them.
In the words of director Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game is an entertaining, hyper-violent satire about “how contemporary capitalist society and its boundless competitiveness has exacerbated wealth inequality…”
After a solid first season, many viewers wondered how the trajectory of this peculiar dystopian thriller would continue. Now it’s clear that there was no reason to worry. The second installment of Squid Game is more twisted, bizarre and gripping than ever.
Squid Game is back: Are you ready for round 2?
If the first season of the Korean thriller introduced audiences to macabre games and a capitalist hell, the second part is dedicated to examining the different and controversial layers of this universe. This time, Hwang Dong-hyukel delves deeper into the gears of the story and shows different points of view on the tournament.
The second season of Squid Game begins with Seong Gi-hun, the reigning champion of the games, canceling his trip to the U.S. and returning to Seoul. The plot takes place three years after the deadly events of the first season and follows Seong Gi-hun, aka the 456th player, as he once again enters the Squid Game with the clear goal of taking down the sinister organization that has been orchestrating such barbarism.
At the same time, we meet police officer Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) again, who had previously infiltrated as a game guard in order to find his missing brother. Now, we are faced with a hardened Hwang Jun-ho who has been transferred to the traffic department, but works secretly and relentlessly to locate the “mysterious” island.
Soon, Seong Gi-hun and Hwang Jun-ho cross paths and decide to team up to take down the VIPs of the sadistic competition. However, as expected, nothing is as simple as it seems, and standing in their way is the fearsome Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), whose motives remain mysterious.
As in the first installment, once we are on the island we get to know the new and eclectic players. Among them are a mother and son duo looking to collectively settle a debt (Kang Ae-shim and Yang Dong-geun, respectively), a YouTuber with fraud on his back (Im Si-wan), a former special forces soldier and transgender woman (Park Sung-hoon), a young former marine (Kang Ha-neul), and an erratic but revered rapper named “Thanos” (Choi Seung-hyun); no doubt, some of the tensions of this new group are familiar from the last time Seong Gi-hun participated in the competition.
It is worth noting that in this second season, the dynamics of the games change somewhat: at the end of each trial, the contestants can vote whether they are willing to continue or whether they would prefer to drop out of the bid. If the majority of contestants choose to quit, the game will stop and the money accumulated so far will be distributed. This is when the voting becomes a source of drama and horror, as Seong Gi-hun pleads with the survivors after each round to accept the deal, only to hear again and again that they cannot give up the money.
At its core, this twist highlights that in a materialistic society, unhealthy ambition will always prevail, leading people to use and abuse each other.
The seven episodes of Squid Game overflow with tension and take their time, both with character development and, crucially, with the childish games we already know, and those we are about to discover.
Without fear of exaggeration it’s fair to say that the second season of Squid Game keeps the audience on the edge of their seat as the body count rises and the plot thickens.
Our Verdict
The new season of Squid Game faces the difficult task of meeting the high expectations of its predecessor, and the good news is that it succeeds. Populated with intense, ultra-violent, disturbing episodes, and with renewed perspectives, the second installment is a worthy continuation of the survival drama.
It’s undeniable that the seven-episode arc – agonizingly gory but genuinely inspired – moves Squid Game’s story forward to what will be an epic conclusion, when the third and final season premieres in the middle of this year.
Finally, Netflix has just announced that the second season of Squid Game racked up over 65 million views in its first three days of streaming, surpassing the record for the show Wednesday, which at the time had garnered just over 50 million views.