Squid Game Season 2: A High-Stakes Return or a Gamble That Doesn't Pay Off?
Written by Seann Maribbay
Last month, the highly anticipated second season of Netflix’s Squid Game by Hwang Dong-hyuk was released. Piggybacking off the initial success of the first season, it has quickly become the center of discussion among various social media and entertainment outlets online. I thoroughly enjoyed the first season when it first released, and upon hearing about there being another season, I was curious as to what topics they would tackle in the second season that could make it different from the first. Thus, I binged through the second season, and there are some things I want to discuss.
The general consensus of the show is that the second season isn’t as good as the first season, and I agree with that. It’s hard to top the first season now that it has something to be compared to. Like the players in the first season, we didn’t know exactly what the games were, and we were equally as shocked when we saw the first people getting shot dead in the Red Light, Green Light game. It’s a feeling most of us aren’t going to experience again, and the second season doesn’t exactly give us a new experience.
The first few episodes of season 2 introduce the story of Hwang Jun-ho’s mission to find his brother and stop the games and also introduce Kang No-eul, played by Park Gyuyoung, and her story on how she became one of the Pink Guards in the games. Once the games start, less and less attention is put on those plot points and focused more on the games themselves.
While there are some different games than shown in the previous season, the show creates a cycle that can get tiring to watch: play the next game, show the death of players, show reactions of surviving players, repeat. That’s why I believe that season 2 isn’t as strong emotionally as season 1. It takes emotional shortcuts trying to tug at our heartstrings, and yes, there were moments that were sad, but all it did for me was make me think, “Dang, that’s crazy,” and continue on with the episode. Not enough time was spent understanding the characters’ struggles, and thus the emotional weight of most of their deaths/actions was hollow.
Reading about season 3, I discovered that the creator of the show, Dong-hyuk, had wrote season to for a 14-episode arc but decided to split it in half for season 3. I found this an interesting choice because now it makes more sense why season 2 didn’t reach the heights of season 1—it was just setting up season 3. Knowing this, I could give some grace to season 2 and its shortcomings, but that also makes me believe that some plot points should have been moved around or better paced so that season 2 could stand stronger on its own. Since season 3 is supposed to come out later this year, I think it would be better to even call it the second part of season 2 because the arc continues into the following season.
Regarding positives of the season, there was strong acting all around from the main cast, especially from Lee Byung-hun (Player 001) and Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun. Some standouts from the supporting cast include Park Sung-hoon as Hyun-ju (player 120) and Choi Seung-hyun as Thanos (player 230). Gi-hun’s character development throughout the series so far has been great to see, and Lee Jung-jae (player 456) does a fantastic job portraying his happiest, worst times before his first time in the games and his darker, more jaded time after witnessing the horrors of the games. The writing for his character arc has been great so far, and I’m excited to see where season 3 takes his character. There are also bits of foreshadowing that were shown on screen that were pretty neat to catch onto.
Quit note: If you find it hard to follow all the names mentioned, you can get a detailed rundown on each character on their fandom page on Netflix’s Tudum site.
Overall, while I did enjoy my time watching season 2, I couldn’t help but feel it left more to be desired, which makes sense considering its arc isn’t going to be finished until season 3. But it should still be able to stand on its own, which it fails to do, and not just as a foundation for what’s to come.
Hopefully, season 3 can steer the show back on course and make the payoff worth it.
Writer’s Bio: My name is Seann Maribbay and I'm a film lover who is passionate about watching films and making films. I have an interest in working in video production but I also love watching and reviewing films as well.
