Tag Archives: squid-game

Squid Game Season 3

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Squid Game Season Three dropped on Netflix yesterday and I was able to binge it on Saturday and what an emotionally ragged trip this show took us on over the last six episodes of the acclaimed Korean series.

If we are really being truthful, season three of Squid Game really should be considered the second part of season two, as season two left us with a huge cliffhanger and very little to nothing resolved. Season Two Part 2 or Season Three is really semantics, so who cares that much?

Season two had spent a lot of time building the characters participating in the Squid Game up, so we had connections to them and that we cared about them (or despised them, as the case may be). I guess we should have known that they were building up these characters in order to rip our hearts out in the last season… because that is exactly what happened.

Honestly, there were a few characters that I believed would survive this season because I couldn’t believe that the show would be that cold hearted. Unfortunately, the show could be that cold hearted because practically every character that I thought “no way do they kill them off” got killed off.

Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) was the one I was sure would survive, but the show had a fate for him planned out. He was truly our hero of the show and he showed what an honorable man he actually was. His efforts to save the baby, as well as others along the way, made him the show’s breakout character.

Geum-ja was another character that I thought for sure the show would not kill off, and then she hanged herself, after stabbing her own son to prevent him from killing Kim Jun-hee moments after she had given birth. That round of hide and seek was just horrific and filled with tension and anguish. Hyun-ju was another who I was sure had a great chance of being safe, but she did not make it out of the hide and seek, despite the fact that she found the exit before anyone else. She returned to get Geum-ja and Kim Jun-hee, whom had been together the whole game, only to get killed from behind by Myung-gi, right in front of Jun-hee and his daughter.

The jump rope section was also just rough and showed the worst in the players of this game. In fact, the worst of them kept making it through and the characters that I cared about kept getting killed off. I felt satisfied by the end with the deaths of those rotten players though.

However, the VIPs arrived to watch the games and they all had zero accountability at all. Man, I really wanted those VIPs to pay some kind of price for their cavalier attitude toward the games and their downright cruelty and wickedness. Nope, they see the ending of the games when Seong Gi-hun threw himself off the large pillar to save the baby and the VIPs are just never seen again. I really wanted someone to burst into the room and blast them all with some automatic weapon.

Who would guess that Cate Blanchett would be involved in the recruiting for more Squid Games in the world? She made a cameo as an American recruiter playing ddakji with some guy in an alleyway.

The last ten-fifteen minutes was spent wrapping stories up, giving us some ideas on what the few surviving characters were doing, specifically those secondary characters, such as Seong Gi-hun’s daughter.

This was a rough final season as so many of the characters that we had bonded with are killed rapidly. As I said, I really wanted more of a final ending that does not make me think that the Squid Games could be brought back or continue on as the show outright implied. The VIPs needed some kind of comeuppance for me to feel completely satisfied. The sacrifice made by Seong Gi-hun was beautiful and packed an emotional wallop.

A powerhouse of a series.

Squid Game S2 E6, E7

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“O X”

“Friend or Foe”

I finished up the second season of Squid Games on Netflix late last night and I have thoughts.

First, it sure ended at a strange place. It almost felt like this was a first part of a season like they did for Stranger Things and Cobra Kai. I have not heard any info on a second part to season two though. Perhaps it is just setting up for season three instead. If so, then season two would absolutely be the Empire Strikes Back of the Squid Games as things went oh so wrong for our heroes (PS… just looked at the end of the episode and it says season three will be back in 2025 so there is that.)

Gi-hun’s whole plan to take it to the people running the show by hijacking guns from the guards was wild and was never going to work. The pink suits had such a huge number of people that the handful of rebels were just not going to get through. However, it got fairly far and might have had a chance if they did not have a rat inside their team. Of course, that is In-ho, 001, who had been inside the game manipulating the situation. His eventual betrayal ended the uprising and led to the unfortunate death of Jung-bae. I had seen a spoiler about a death in the final episode that was shocking and this was the one. For a minute, I actually thought it was going to be Gi-hun instead. That would have been a shocker.

Defying all odds, Geum-ja has survived. I was sure she was going down after her son Yong-sik had changed his vote from X to O. I thought he was going to have to pay for his choice with his mother, but she continues to fight on. It did look like she was a goner during Mingle, but she was thankfully saved.

Speaking of Mingle, that was another game that was intense and very difficult to watch at times. The way alliances were tossed aside by some compared to those that were going out of their way to try and help the others.

Seeing Thanos get his final payment at the end of season six was very satisfying, and of course, brutal. Fork to the neck is not something I expected to see.

For a season that I was not sure was needed, this was a very tense and exciting seven episodes.

Squid Game S2 E3, E4, E5

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“001”

“Six Legs”

“One More Game”

The first two episodes of the season were character beats, setting up the characters we would be following in the Squid Game and developing them some. I found those episodes to be of great importance because we jump full into the games in episodes 3, 4, & 5.

The games themselves are always the most intense, stressful parts of this show. Even the Red Light, Green Light, which we saw in the first season and we know what to expect, was just insanity when it comes to execution. The show did a great job of giving us something different for us to stress over. In this case, Gi-hun taking the lead and almost directing traffic, despite several of the contestants not believing him or wanting to follow what he said. When Gi-hun ran back out to save the guy who had been shot in the leg, we saw what a heroic figure he had become from his days of season one.

The other characters all elicited some emotion from us as viewers, both positively and negatively. I hate Thanos, even if he does some funny things. I love Geum-ja. She is the ultimate mother figure in the games and she must be protected. There will be a time, I am sure, that the show will want to rip out hearts out and it will kill her. I do not want that to happen.

Player 001 turned out to be In-ho aka the Front Man (Captain). Much like last season, number 001 is a traitor, a man from behind the scenes inserting himself into the game. In this case, we are aware of the treachery unlike last year. In this case, In-ho is also a former winner of the Squid Game and his presence is curious. He sure seemed as if he was working with the group during the six-legged pentathlon.

By the way, that six-legged pentathlon was both the most invigorating and exciting game and the most stressful and horrendous game played. Watching the group of five try to make it through five children’s games in five minutes was unbelievably tense and suspenseful. It was also hard for the second game.

The show has done a tremendous job of building mood during the two votes we have had to try and end the games. The first vote coming down to the final player, 001, who voted to continue, and the second vote being more weighed toward the stay and do one more game.

I am afraid a bunch of the characters whom stated that they will play one more game and then leave are going to find their votes a tragic mistake.

I really thought doing a second season of this show was going to be a mistake, especially since the creators of the show had not intended on continuing the show past season one. However, this has been exceptional so far and it has taken an extra step in its exploration into human nature. It does not feel like a repeat of what happened in season one, and even when something similar happens, it is done in a totally different manner. The writing has been great so far as they have created a bunch of characters that I really want to see survive, even though I know they will not.

There are only two episodes left in this season, which I have heard ends in a cliffhanger, so I am excited about wrapping it up.