When SQUID GAME was released on Netflix in 2021, the 9-episode series had an intense, heart-breaking, but emotionally satisfying ending. From creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, SQUID GAME was a deadly, visceral, heart-pounding takedown of capitalism and the growing disparity between the rich and the poor. It needed nothing further, but Netflix, infamous for canceling beloved shows like THE OA and MINDHUNTER, had found a rare piece of foreign-language content with wide American appeal. And ironically, because of capitalism, Netflix created the SQUID GAME ‘universe’ which includes seasons 2 & 3 of this show, SQUID GAME: THE CHALLENGE (a reality-competition show based on it), and a far less deadly in-person pop-up experience. Almost like the meaning of the series went over the heads of the Netflix executives, and they only saw dollar signs. This brings me to why SQUID GAME S2 is just as wonderful and how it’s more relevant than ever.
S1 ended with a sliver of information that could lead to a sequel, but I never expected us to get one. I was initially disappointed to hear there would be more. And yet here I am giving this sequel season a glowing review. I didn’t know I needed it, and it won me over in a really big way. What made S1 so captivating was how shocking it was. Could something like this ever happen? We’d like to not think so, but the destitute go missing all the time, and we never hear about it in the news. Would the most desperate give their lives for such a slight chance at financial riches and freedom? SQUID GAME S1 reminded me of other Korean content I’d experienced that told a story of the haves and have-nots. Bong Joon Ho’s 2019 Oscar winner Parasite is a shining example of this. When I finished the season over 3 years ago, I felt, perhaps unfairly, that it was uniquely Korean. This was a story that couldn’t be told about America. S2 put that feeling entirely to bed.
Unlike S1, we already know the game now. And because of the previous winner, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), many other people will know about it, too. So here, instead of being faced with the games as an unknown entity, we and many of the characters have a good idea of what will happen, and yet, we will play anyway.
I couldn’t help but make a connection to the recent US presidential election. When faced with a choice between a path forward, millions of voters chose to go back to something that was familiar to them, even if the consequences could be dire. SQUID GAME S2 was likely finished several months before November 2024, but I can’t get the comparison out of my head.
The biggest thing that made S1 work so well was the characters. Gi-hun/Player 456, his friend Cho Sang-woo/Player 218 (Park Hae-soo), detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), the mysterious Player 001, Oh Il-nam(O Yeong-su), and so many more. For S2 to pull me in, we needed players and supporting cast members who were just as compelling. There are some one-to-one correlations here. Gi-hun finds another friend from the outside world within the games, Park Jung-bae/Player 390. There are bullies again like before, especially rapper Thanos/Player 230, and his henchman, Nam-gyu/Player 124. There are incredibly sweet characters such as Cho Hyun-ju/Player 120, the pregnant Kim Jun-hee/Player 222, and Jang Geum-ja/Player 149. These harken back to S1 characters such as Kang Sae-byeok/Player 067, the woman who defected from North Korea, and Ali Abdul/Player 199, the Pakistani immigrant. I knew they would break my heart, just like those in S1 did. But SQUID GAME S2 isn’t just going to repeat the same old thing. Three years have passed, both in the show and the real world. The working class is hungrier now to achieve 1% status or give their lives to take it down completely.
Some of my favorite moments from S2 aren’t the games themselves, but the days in Seoul when Gi-hun and others are just trying to get anyone to believe them that the events of S1 happened. Even if accidentally, this again reminded me of the American political spectrum. People on the left are desperately trying to warn moderates of the danger that millions of lives will be in. But constantly being told, “it could never be that bad.” SQUID GAME S2 shows us that it can be even worse than anyone expects it to be, and even knowing this, the most desperate will vote against saving themselves.
Netflix is one of the few streaming networks that’s still dropping some full seasons all at once. SQUID GAME is a show that’s so dark, violent, and intense that it’s hard to binge. It’s also equally as fascinating that you don’t want to wait a week, a day, hell, even a few hours to find out what is happening next. It took me 2 nights to finish these 7 episodes, five of which clock in at 1 hour or more. Because I knew what the show would be like, S2 wasn’t as emotionally draining as S1. But I did immediately dream that I, too, was a competitor in the games.
SQUID GAME S2 is currently streaming in full on Netflix.
