Squid Game (Season 2)
(Netflix)

SQUID GAME 🦑 (Season 2)

Korean television series have always had a strong and dedicated audience, but the series that brought the appeal of Korean storytelling to the global stage is the Emmy Award winner and the most streamed show of all-time on Netflix—SQUID GAME.

After winning the Squid Games, the guilt-ridden Player 456, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae—Star Wars: Acolyte), has taken it upon himself to align with a local gang and ex-military forces to fund an operation to take down the puppet master(s) behind the games. During their initial takedown operation, things spin violently out of control, forcing Seong Gi-hun into a corner where he chooses to go back into the Squid Games and take down the masked men from the inside while trying not to die in the process.

I had such a blast watching this season!

Obviously, it’s hard to replicate how great the first season was in terms of general curiosity because part of its allure as a viewer was being exposed to this lawless environment for the first time and trying to piece together clues to make sense of it all.

Even though the shock factor has worn off, the ruthlessness has ramped up, making it just as thrilling as the first season, but in an entirely different way.

The first episode is one of my favourite episodes of TV ever made. That ending had me on the edge of my seat and really set the tone for what was to come. It plays to the fact that we, as the audience, know the ins and outs of a lot of what’s going on and they use Seong Gi-hun as an avatar to make the decision the audience would make if we had the opportunity at a second chance at the games. A lot of it also felt very meta.

In the same way Seong Gi-hun feels like an extension of the audience, Player 1 felt like the voice of the creators.

Player 1 asks questions like, “Why would you want to return if you know this is how the game goes?” and by the cliffhanger, it feels like their way of saying, “You had your fun; now let’s show you the reality of your decision to come back.”

This season reminded me a lot of what reality shows turn into after people become aware of how to gamify every situation.

When we are first introduced to this world, everyone seems wide-eyed, and there’s not a whole lot of strategy other than blindly trusting people and praying you don’t get betrayed, but this season everything felt more methodical in regards to gameplay—which I think could turn people off because of how numb you become to the deaths of characters you have no emotional tie to.

My favourite character this season by far was Choi Seung-hyun, also known by his Korean rap name, T.O.P. He plays Thanos a chaotic wild card, and the way he navigated this world, plus his hilarious use of English to flirt, made him so much fun to watch. Then there’s Lee Byung-hun, who has a Mads Mikkelsen quality about him that’s half stoic and half deranged dead eye panning that works so well for the way he successfully plays a double agent.

Squid Game season two has a little less conversation but a whole lot more action, converting life and death into play or die, and though this felt like a bridge season with no real ending, it has me extremely hyped for the final season that’s set to release later this year. 

Enjoy!

7.9/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 60mins

Episodes: 7

Where: Now Streaming on Netflix

Squid Game Season 2 Review (2024) The Richmond Reviewer - January 7th, 2025.

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