This text incorporates main spoilers for “Squid Recreation” season 2.
The ending of “Squid Recreation” season 1 makes it abundantly that the present’s seven-episode season 2 will function a rich and revitalized Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who’s on a quest to carry the titular sport down as soon as and for all. Sadly, the mission is struggling even after a two-year time skip, and he finally decides to personally re-enter the lethal sport.
Much more sadly, Gi-hun severely underestimates the Entrance Man (Lee Byung-Hun), who seems to wield the best authority over the Squid Recreation after Oh Il-nam’s (O Yeong-su) loss of life. This time, the masked overseer — whose true id is disgraced cop Hwang Jun-ho’s (Wi Ha-joon) stepbrother In-ho — is not content material along with his standard cephalopod-themed social disparity homicide hustle. As an alternative, he is both fascinated by Gi-hun’s battle or adamant on personally sabotaging it, so he decides to play the sport himself after the protagonist declares his personal intention to put on the emerald tracksuit as soon as extra. The nail-biting (and from Gi-hun’s perspective, utterly unwitting) team-up of the 2 former Squid Recreation winners lasts a number of episodes, and culminates within the gamers’ violent insurrection in opposition to the guards … which is finally a failure and earns Gi-hun’s poor pal Jung-bae (Lee Search engine marketing-hwan) a bullet to the top.
With the sophomore season’s steadily growing stakes and cliffhanger finale, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk pushes the pedal so near the metallic that it is easy to see why “Squid Recreation” is ending with season 3; there is no believable option to increase the stakes any additional with out reaching endgame territory. So, what occurs on the finish of “Squid Recreation” season 2, and the way does poor Gi-hun fare within the carnage? Let’s take a second to investigate the best and bloodiest sport on Netflix.
A brand new sport with a brand new array of risks
Gi-hun begins “Squid Recreation” season 2 sturdy. In episode 1, “Bread and Lottery,” we discover that he is positioned a tracker gadget the organizers implanted in him. He is additionally used his wealth to prepare a manhunt for the Recruiter (Gong Yoo), and ultimately defeats the smirking Squid Recreation recruiter in a Russian roulette-themed sport. After becoming a member of forces with fellow season 1 survivor Jun-ho, he follows the breadcrumbs to a Halloween-themed get together, has a tense speaker dialog with the Entrance Man, and decides to get again within the sport — armed with a secret tracker implant of his personal, no much less.
Alas, the home is not accustomed to shedding. When Gi-hun as soon as once more wakes up as Participant 456 in episode 3, “001,” his tracker has been eliminated and his staff on the surface has no dependable manner of discovering him. Unbeknownst to Gi-hun, the brand new Participant 001 is the Entrance Man himself, who quickly weasels his manner into the protagonist’s interior circle. The video games after “Purple Mild, Inexperienced Mild” are additionally totally different from those Gi-hun performed, which undermines his reliability. Regardless of all this, the protagonist manages to realize a following, and the battle between his “X”- marked game-leaving fans and the “O”-marked gamers who vote to remain involves symbolize the philosophical tug-of-war between him and the Entrance Man.
Becoming a member of the principle gamers is a strong solid of recent Squid Recreation contestants, marching towards a near-certain doom in hopes of a life-changing win. Notably, the season additionally devotes loads of time to folks working for the sport, from North Korean guard No-eul (Park Gyu-young) to the Masked Officer (Park Hee-soon) main the guards’ organ-smuggling community — and, after all, the duplicitous Captain Park, who secretly sabotages Jun-ho’s mission to seek out the island.
A cliffhanger ending and a bloody mutiny
If you happen to watched “Squid Recreation” season 1 and questioned why the gamers by no means attempt to overpower the guards, the season 2 finale, “Buddy or Foe,” addresses your issues. Episode 6, “O X,” options the hectic “Mingle” sport and a battle that kills a number of gamers, together with rapper Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun). “Buddy or Foe” continues the mayhem by bringing the season’s voting theme to a head with a variation of season 1’s dorm room “particular sport” — this time with the 2 voter teams particularly engineered to assault one another at nighttime. Gi-hun, who’s anticipated one other lethal dorm room battle, lastly will get what he braced for and types a really totally different assault plan than the organizers anticipated.
As an alternative of combating different gamers, he and his crew faux to be useless within the aftermath of the inevitable mayhem, and ambush the armed guards once they draw close to. This results in a surprisingly environment friendly insurrection the place Gi-hun’s freshly-armed faction fights the guards in acquainted Squid Recreation places. Lamentably, nonetheless, they run out of each bullets and luck.
The mutiny forces the Entrance Man to desert his disguise as Participant 001 and pretend his loss of life earlier than resuming his acquainted organizer position. It is clear that he isn’t precisely delighted with the best way issues play out, seeing as he punishes Gi-hun by personally capturing his finest pal, Jung-bae. Nonetheless, it seems that the sport organizer emerges on prime regardless of the turbulence. The episode’s many deaths counsel that the “go away” faction is now a transparent minority and that the sport is destined to play out in full … and due to Captain Park actively sabotaging Jun-ho and Gi-hun’s mercenaries as they try and find the island, assist appears very distant.
The Entrance Man is the important thing to the Squid Recreation thriller
To completely admire the ending of “Squid Recreation” season 2, we should first bear in mind the season 1 finale, “One Fortunate Day.” In that episode, Gi-hun’s aged pal Oh Il-nam — the season’s supposedly useless Participant 001 — seems to be the sport’s ultra-wealthy creator, and the pair’s dialog on Il-nam’s deathbed establishes their opposing views of humanity. Gi-hun’s optimism prevails over the wealthy thrill-seeker’s nihilistic views when the protagonist wins their closing wager over whether or not passersby will assist a person in want, however Il-nam perishes earlier than any actual classes may be realized or put to make use of.
As Il-nam’s protégé, the Entrance Man shares his destructive view on humanity, and readily shoulders the outdated man’s duties — each because the Squid Recreation chief and the brand new, secretly villainous Participant 001. What’s extra, he shares a private reference to Gi-hun as a fellow Squid Recreation winner, and even has touches of the primary season’s Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) as a succesful however opportunistic and duplicitous ally. Aside from Gi-hun, the Entrance Man additionally has a sophisticated historical past with Jun-ho, because of their familial relationship and opposing sides within the bigger Squid Recreation battle.
Except a brand new menace emerges or the season 1 VIPs return and significantly up their sport, the Entrance Man appears destined to function the present’s final adversary. Nevertheless, many unanswered questions linger, as many elements of his backstory stay shrouded in thriller and it typically appears that he is genuinely struggling to outlive — notably, he breaks a fellow contestant’s neck in his desperation to outlive the “Mingle” sport. Count on the character to proceed his position because the present’s shadowy centerpiece in season 3, which can hopefully lastly reveal his complete deal.
Plot threads and new video games await the Squid Recreation devoted
The place “Squid Recreation” season 1 focuses on the sport itself and the downtrodden folks attempting to outlive it, a lot of the sophomore season revolves round two Squid Recreation winners and their diametrically opposed philosophies. Nonetheless, that does not imply the sport is not afoot on many different fronts, as effectively … and due to the truth that the season ends in a cliffhanger after the Entrance Man and the guards subdue Gi-hun’s insurrection, most of those plot threads are left hanging in a manner that makes it very clear {that a} third season is on its manner.
Aside from the principle storyline throughout the sport and its cliffhanger insurrection, No-eul’s organ harvester storyline with the Masked Officer and his co-conspirators falls by the wayside with the implication that she’s been bullied into submission. Likewise, Jun-ho’s long-winded quest to seek out the sport island does not actually go anyplace, although it does get a promising last-minute increase when a mercenary finds out that Captain Park is a saboteur and will get stabbed and thrown into the ocean for his troubles. Each plot traces will doubtless obtain their payoffs throughout season 3 — and in case of a shock third-act Entrance Man redemption arc, they could even present the present with useful backup villains.
Regardless of the season’s comparatively abrupt finish, followers don’t have any motive to be pissed off. “Squid Recreation” season 3 is slated to drop in 2025, so the wait to see how issues pan out will not be unbearably lengthy. For now, viewers can console themselves with the post-credits scene of a brand new, much more ominous-looking “Purple Mild, Inexperienced Mild” sport with two creepy large dolls and a real visitors gentle. In any case, it signifies that the ultimate season of “Squid Recreation” intends to tug out all of the stops … after which some.
