Summary
- Season 2 of Squid Game is a thrilling ride with new characters, plot twists, and games.
- Kang Dae-ho’s role adds depth but leaves questions about his backstory and actions.
- Some moments, like the mannequin scene and unnecessary game elements, feel out of place.
Season 2 of Squid Game is a thrill from start to finish. With the addition of new characters, games, plot twists, and so much more, this season is worthy of all the hype and attention. It does, however, ask a lot out of the audience.
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The creator, writer, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, spent over ten years trying to pitch Squid Game with no success. He had a lot of trouble getting people on board with a show that was viewed as very violent, confusing, and over the top. These qualms obviously now don’t hold much weight, as Squid Game is a worldwide success. We did, however, notice some confusing, difficult moments and parts of this new season.
10
Why Does Kang Dae-ho Panic?
Big Tiger? More Like Little Kitten
Kang Dae-ho says he was a Marine, and he has a tattoo to prove it. He certainly acts and sounds like a Marine, saluting, yelling, and his name even means ‘big tiger.’ When the plan to rebel is fully happening, and when he was tasked with bringing more ammunition back, he panics and ends up staying behind, leaving his group without any ammunition.
- Is this PTSD?
- Was he ever in the Marines?
- Why is he in the Squid Game in the first place?
His character is well-rounded and adds a lot to the show; however, in this season, we are unsure of exactly who Kang Dae-ho is and why he acts the way he does.
9
Why The Good-Looking Fella?
Catch Me If You Can
What in the world is going on here? When all the hired henchmen were in search of The Recruiter, at the meeting, they had a mannequin representing The Recruiter. “He’s a good-looking fella in a nice suit, with a briefcase in hand.” Why did they need to put a cut-out image on this mannequin’s face? What was the point of this?
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The mannequin was about six feet tall, and it did have a center hair part similar to The Recruiter, but it was so random it felt comedic. Everyone took pictures, and during the scene, Choi Woo-seok tells everyone the Recruiter carries a briefcase full of money and that The Recruiter plays ddakji. However funny it may be, the mannequin is over the top.
8
The Bread Or Lottery Game
Do You Want To Play A Game?
This game fits perfectly with The Recruiter. It’s cruel, odd, and intense. However, it is sort of out of nowhere. Does this scene need to happen at all?
There are definitely attempts to add new games and add new thought-provoking elements, and this game is a good try at both of those things, and it does add to The Recruiter’s story, but it largely doesn’t move the story further or contain any pivotal information. We know what The Recruiter is capable of, so his weird ‘hobbies?’ are unnecessary.
7
Where Did The Bee Come From?
A Bit Unbee-lievable
In the third episode, during Red Light, Green Light, Kang Mi-na stops moving, and while holding still, a bee lands on her neck, causing her to scream. She moves and is killed. What doesn’t make sense is that the bee appears seemingly out of nowhere.
Characters are rarely bothered by outside forces during the games, as the arenas are very tightly organized and purposefully contained. The bee landing on her neck isn’t specifically said to have come from the higher-ups, but to the outside observer, it seems like the game was moving too slow for the creators’ liking, so they put the bee in the game. Are the creators capable of doing this more?
6
Why Didn’t The Guards Take Thanos’ Drugs?
Curiously Strong Mints
Early and often, Thanos takes a pill of something inside the cross in his necklace. One question is why didn’t the guards take these from him? Did they let him keep them because they thought it would make for more interesting games?
If they took the GPS tracker out of the back of Gi-hun’s mouth before the Squid Game, they definitely searched and found Thanos’sdrugs. They’re really powerful, and they seem to affect him almost instantly. Whether the guards thought they were mints or drugs, it is inconceivable that they went unnoticed as the guards took players’ clothes, shoes, phones, and even teeth, so why did they let him keep them?
5
How Did The Tracker Tooth Go Missing?
Maybe It Was The Tooth Fairy?
In the second episode, Seong Gi-hun had a tooth removed and replaced by a fake tooth with a tracking device. When he wakes up in the game, and is in the holding area, he checks to see that his tracker is still in place, which at the time it seemed to be. When he is playing Red Light, Green Light, he checks again, and he pulls out the tooth to reveal that the tracker is gone.
The crew looking for him end up finding it in a fisher’s bait. What doesn’t make sense here is why didn’t he realize it was missing the first time he checked, and why did he all of a sudden check once Red Light, Green Light started? It made for a more intense, well-timed moment, but it seems random that he nervously checks and realizes in that moment that the tracker is gone.
4
Six-Legged Pentathalon
Celebrate Good Times
During this iconic game, when Cho Hyun-ju (player 120) and their team win, all the players in the Squid Game celebrate. Player 001 is ecstatic, and all the other players jumped around and cheered for this seemingly amazing thing, as they are the first team to win the game.
If the vote of 183-182 meant anything, it should have meant that 183 people were mad that a team of five people was advancing. Players like player 100, Im Jeong-dae, should have been upset. The excitement makes sense to a small degree, in the feeling of ‘oh this is possible, we can do this.’ But at large, the celebration and comradery goes against the strong division elements seen in the form of voting, and the X’s and O’s velcro-ed to players’ uniforms.
3
Why Does Player 001 Stay In The Game?
Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Getting past the repeated storyline of Seong Gi-hun not suspecting that Player 001 was the Front Man, why did In-ho stay in the game past when his vote kept the games going? If he lost a game, would the guards have shot him? The guards know who he is. In the fifth episode, he tries to convince everyone to stop the game. This was another lie, right? Like when he said he needed to join the games for his wife and child? Or was he predicting the majority would still vote to continue the games? In the final episode of the season, his vote to leave makes it a 50-50 tie. He probably knew what would happen that night.
When Gi-hun comes up with a plan to try to rebel against the guards, and put a stop to the games, In-ho says he’s in, adding, “Are you suggesting that we make a small sacrifice for the greater good?” This implies that he may have a utilitarian, twisted moral backbone or sorts, but ultimately in the end, he ends up stealthily re-masking, killing two players, and taking his place as the Front Man again, so did everything go according to plan?
2
Na-yeon And Kang No-eul
Rabbit Hunting
In Episode 2, Kang No-eul is working at an amusement park dressed as a rabbit when she hands a small child a lollipop. She goes back to her dressing room to take off her headpiece with everyone else, where Na-yeon (the child) somehow manages to follow them inside. She gives No-eul a picture of the two of them that her dad presumably drew, and it’s revealed that Na-yeon has blood cancer and needs a bone marrow transplant. It makes No-eul a more rounded character if she joins partly because of Na-yeon, as she becomes a sniper in the games.
She seemed pretty down, taking pills and drinking in her car pre-Squid Game, and she burned the picture of Na-yeon and her when she enlisted in the game. When she is in the actual Squid Game, it is revealed that one of the officers recruited her early on. Originally, No-eul was told she would be putting people out of their misery. Instead, when she tries to do that this season, she gets into trouble. Her character arc is all around fascinating and confusing.
1
The Police Not Taking Hwang Jun-ho Seriously
The Boy Who Cried Squid
In this season, Jun-ho resigned from his police job, and then went back to ask the Chief to help him find the island. Nobody takes him seriously, and they encourage him to go to therapy. They want evidence, they say.
What’s frustrating about this is that the Squid Game has been going on for over 33 years. If there are presumably 456 players participating every year, that’s at least 15,000 people dead from the games so far. Not counting the public scene when The Recruiter stomped on the bread in broad daylight, these games must be known to more people. The police not taking Hwang Jun-ho seriously is crucial to the overall story’s believability, but it is by far the hardest and most confusing thing to grasp in this season.
