70 Minutes Of Squid Game Season 2

Looper

"Squid Game" has a lot going on beneath the surface. Here's every small detail we can't stop thinking about as we wait for season 3.

Transcript

00:00:00Squid Game has a lot going on beneath the surface. Here's every small detail we can't

00:00:05stop thinking about as we wait for Season 3.

00:00:09Make a mistake in the title competition of Squid Game, and you may lose your life. Failing

00:00:13to catch some of the references and nods to the previous season while watching the show

00:00:17has much lower stakes, sure. But you don't want to miss anything, do you?

00:00:22In Season 1, it quickly becomes apparent that Gi-hun owes money to a loan shark played by

00:00:26Kim Pablé. It's also clear that his loan shark, coincidentally named Mr. Kim, is none

00:00:31too happy with him when he and three of his goons leave Gi-hun bleeding in a bathroom.

00:00:36While things aren't looking too good for Gi-hun at this point, after winning the top prize

00:00:40in the games, $45.6 billion won, things change.

00:00:44In Squid Game Season 2, not only does Gi-hun pay off the loan shark, he also hires him

00:00:49to look for the man who recruited him into the games. The show doesn't particularly underline

00:00:54the fact that Kim was originally Gi-hun's loan shark. The topic comes up in a conversation

00:00:59between the loan shark's guys about whether or not Gi-hun is delusional. They've been

00:01:03looking for the salesman for two years to no avail, so everyone's begun to doubt Gi-hun.

00:01:08But Mr. Kim says he believes him because he's had people who owe him money disappear recently.

00:01:12Plus, Gi-hun is his only client who has ever paid him back.

00:01:16This version of the loan shark is a lot nicer than the version we saw in the previous season.

00:01:20He even sacrifices himself for his recently married friend, Woo Seok. It goes to show,

00:01:25we all contain multitudes.

00:01:28In Season 1 of Squid Game, Kang Sae-byeok goes to a broker about getting her parents

00:01:32over to South Korea from China. The agent isn't very helpful. In fact, he tells her

00:01:37that it will cost her 40 million won to bring them to South Korea. In response, she douses

00:01:42him with hot coffee and holds a knife to his throat. She's clearly not happy, but she agrees

00:01:47to get the money, and she enters the games to do so, but dies before she can fulfill

00:01:51her promise.

00:01:52Three years later, Gi-hun has taken up her cause. In Season 2, Gi-hun sees the same broker

00:01:57about bringing Sae-byeok's mother over. The fascinating thing is that right after Gi-hun

00:02:01leaves his office, Noh Yul, the woman who works in an amusement park and becomes a soldier

00:02:06in the games, shows up. She is using him to locate the infant daughter she left behind

00:02:10in North Korea. Sadly, he's reached his limit and tells her to forget about her daughter,

00:02:15as she can't be found.

00:02:16The baby was one year old! How could she survive in North Korea without her parents?

00:02:21Even though the agent is nicer this time, it's clearly still a tough business.

00:02:25Gi-hun's hired hands, led by his former loan shark, finally find the man who recruited

00:02:30Gi-hun into the games, and that's when things go south. The salesman brings a bound and

00:02:35gag Mr. Kim and Woo Seok back to his place and has them play a deadly game for his own

00:02:40amusement. Then he plays a game of Russian roulette with Gi-hun. During these two games,

00:02:45the salesman plays opera. The first game is accompanied by Nassoon Dorma from the

00:02:49final act of Puccini's opera Turandot, which is about a game in which the suitor, Caliph,

00:02:54challenges Princess Turandot to guess his name. If she can do it, she can execute him,

00:02:59but if she can't, she has to marry him. The themes are fitting, and the song is also marked

00:03:03by Caliph saying, Binchero, meaning, I will win.

00:03:06In the salesman's mind, it's the perfect backdrop to Mr. Kim and Woo Seok's game. The second

00:03:11piece of music, Con De Partiro, is played to accompany the salesman and Gi-hun's game

00:03:15of Russian roulette in Gi-hun's pink hotel. The literal translation of the title is I

00:03:20Will Leave With You, though it's known in English as Time To Say Goodbye. Although it

00:03:25has a more overtly romantic air to it than Nassoon Dorma, it nonetheless still gets across

00:03:29its message for those paying attention.

00:03:31Who cares about rules? The only thing you have to do now is pull that trigger once.

00:03:38The actors for many of the characters in Squid Game have become internationally known

00:03:42because of their involvement in the series. But there were a couple that were already

00:03:45famous even before the release of the show — the man who plays the salesman and the

00:03:49man who plays the frontman. The salesman is portrayed by Gong Yoo. He has a small but

00:03:54memorable part in Squid Game, but he's even better known for his starring role as Seok

00:03:58Woo in 2016's Train to Busan, the Korean movie about a zombie virus that runs rampant on

00:04:04a train between Seoul and Busan.

00:04:06Even better known is the actor who portrays the elusive frontman, Lee Byung-hun. Lee has

00:04:10had a slew of roles in English-language films, including as Han Cho-bai in 2013's Red 2 opposite

00:04:16Bruce Willis, as a T-1000 opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2015's Terminator Genisys,

00:04:22and as Billy Rocks in the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven opposite Chris Pratt and

00:04:26Denzel Washington.

00:04:27But Lee might be best known for his work as Storm Shadow in 2009's G.I. Joe! The Rise

00:04:32of Cobra and its 2013 sequel, G.I. Joe! Retaliation. In addition, according to The Korea Times,

00:04:38Lee is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and was the first Korean

00:04:43person to present at the Oscars when he gave out an award in 2016.

00:04:47When we finally make it to the Games in Squid Game's second season, we learn that a friend

00:04:51of Gi-hun's has been recruited to the Games as well. The friend is named Joong-bae, the

00:04:56same friend that Gi-hun goes with to bet on horse racing in the first episode of season

00:05:00one.

00:05:02It'll block your card if you get it wrong again. You really gotta think about this one.

00:05:06Joong-bae's part in the first season is very small. He eggs Gi-hun on at an ATM where Gi-hun

00:05:11is using his mother's cards to get cash and then goes to bet on the horses with him. But

00:05:15it's clear that the focus is on Gi-hun, and minimal attention is paid to Joong-bae. Besides,

00:05:20when Joong-bae finally shows up in the second season, he not only looks older, but the context

00:05:25has changed. He apparently hasn't seen Gi-hun in three years, during which time he's gotten

00:05:29divorced and his child is with his ex-wife. While it's not good for Joong-bae that he's

00:05:34in the Games, it's a great callback to season one.

00:05:37One of the new players is a rapper named Thanos, played by Chae Soo-nyeon, but he's better

00:05:41known by his stage name, TOP. While Thanos was known for being a runner-up in the Battle

00:05:46of the Bands, in real life, TOP has been a successful artist and rapper for around 20

00:05:50years, having premiered with the band Big Bang in 2007 as one of two rappers in the

00:05:55group. However, in 2017, TOP was fined 10 million won and received a suspended prison

00:06:00sentence of 10 months due to marijuana use. Because of this scandal, TOP confirmed he

00:06:05was withdrawing from Big Bang in 2022.

00:06:08With Squid Game, he's stepped back into the spotlight, but his casting has been controversial.

00:06:13Many fans of the series were disappointed that he was cast when he had drug-related

00:06:16charges on his record. Director Won Dong-yook has been vocal in his defense of TOP, though,

00:06:21telling Korean reporters that he's demonstrated a strong commitment to the role. While the

00:06:25controversy is still roiling, TOP has reportedly been excluded from promotional activities

00:06:30associated with the show.

00:06:32Noh Yul is a soldier in the Games who takes out the players who have lost with a big gun.

00:06:36But there's one player she may have a hard time shooting — No. 246. That's because

00:06:41player 246 is Goong Seok, the father of Nah Yun, the little girl that has cancer.

00:06:47Noh Yul got to know Nah Yun at the amusement park that both she and Goong Seok worked at.

00:06:52Before the Games, she was a costumed character who won his daughter over by offering her

00:06:56a lollipop during a parade, and he was a cartoonist.

00:06:59While one of Noh Yul's last acts outside the Games was to return the little girl's hat

00:07:03to her when she went into the hospital, she also heard Goong Seok telling the doctors

00:07:07that he would figure out how to pay for his daughter's treatment somehow.

00:07:10Noh Yul sees him in the first game and realizes what's happened. It seems like she'll try

00:07:15to preserve his life, even though she's been cold-blooded about everyone else. That is,

00:07:19until he dies at the end of season two.

00:07:22Throughout the show, there are several pop culture references that you may have missed.

00:07:26First is a joke about Thanos, the name of player 230. When he asks Saimi to partner

00:07:31with him on the second game and tells her his name is Thanos, she asks him if he's gotten

00:07:35all the Infinity Stones yet.

00:07:37Marvel fans know that Thanos was once the Big Bad of the Marvel Universe, and that his

00:07:40objective was to get all six Infinity Stones so he could snap half of the universe out

00:07:44of existence.

00:07:45Don't even need to snap, kill half the universe with a rap.

00:07:48The fifth episode of the second season has interesting references as well. First, Dae

00:07:52Ho references Kim Pyung Hyun when he's referring to Jung Bae's successful performance in the

00:07:56second game. Kim Pyung Hyun was a successful Korean pitcher who played for the Arizona

00:08:01Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox. Notably, he was on the Diamondbacks when they won the

00:08:05World Series in 2001, making him the first Korean player to win a World Series.

00:08:11One more deep cut. The first name of player 149, Jiyoom Cha, is the same as the main character

00:08:16in Park Chan-wook's Lady Vengeance. Both characters are in their current situations because of

00:08:21someone else. Player 149 wants to get her son out of debt, and the Jiyoom Cha of Lady

00:08:26Vengeance is taking the fall for someone else's crimes.

00:08:29Though it's not clear that this is a deliberate reference, the similarity is striking.

00:08:34In the first season, we discover that the man who runs the games, known as the Frontman,

00:08:38is Hong Joo-ho's brother In-ho, right before In-ho shoots Jun-ho and sends him into a coma.

00:08:43In season 2, we get to know the Frontman better because he becomes player number one, and

00:08:48to his friends in the games, he's known by the name Young-il. He says that his wife has

00:08:52cirrhosis and needs a liver transplant, plus she's pregnant and determined to give birth.

00:08:57None of that is true, at least not now. In-ho's wife died years ago, and while In-ho did win

00:09:02the games, that didn't save her.

00:09:05Jun-ho mentions to his mother in episode 2 of the second season that In-ho was caught

00:09:09taking bribes. In-ho explains the situation to Gi-hun two episodes later, saying that

00:09:14his vendor offered to help with his wife's situation, and his employer incorrectly assumed

00:09:18it was a bribe and fired him. This is how he ended up in the games.

00:09:22Jun-ho and his mother also don't appear to know anything about the child. It's possible

00:09:26only In-ho and his wife knew about the child, and when she died, the child died as well.

00:09:31Or it's possible there never was a child. The fact remains that In-ho is currently running

00:09:36the games without a wife or a child, and one way or another, something happened that made

00:09:40him less merciful to his fellow contestants.

00:09:44Between Squid Game's compelling characters and life-and-death stakes, it's impossible

00:09:47to look away. But even if you forgot to blink, here's another round of tiny but important

00:09:52clues you may have missed in season 2.

00:09:55In the frontman's office where he watches the games, there's an automaton band that

00:09:58plays Fly Me to the Moon. The frontman controls a machine with a remote, and the automatons

00:10:03are set up as an American jazz club. Each of them plays an instrument, or in the case

00:10:06of the female automaton, sings.

00:10:08In episode 1 of the first season, the band plays over Red Light, Green Light. It plays

00:10:12again at the end of episode 8, when Sae-byeok dies and is cremated. In the second season,

00:10:17the automatons make a comeback. They can again be heard over part of Red Light, Green Light,

00:10:21which takes place in the third episode this time.

00:10:23What you may not have noticed is that this time the song is faster, with more layered,

00:10:27modern orchestration. That is, until the frontman abandons his office and the song stops.

00:10:32There's no denying that K-pop is one of the world's largest music genres, with diehard

00:10:36fans spread across the globe. As Squid Game is an incredibly popular South Korean production,

00:10:41it's not surprising that the cast would feature a few noteworthy K-pop entertainers.

00:10:45While Choi Sung-hyun, aka T.O.P., gets plenty of screen time as Thanos, he's not the only

00:10:49K-pop star to take part in the games. He's joined by two others who are famous both in

00:10:54and out of South Korea. Choi Yuri, who appears as player 222, the character of Kim Joon-hee,

00:10:59hit the world stage in 2017 via a reality TV competition called Idol School. The show

00:11:04featured dozens of K-pop wannabes hoping to join a new girl group. While she didn't win

00:11:08that competition, she competed the following year on a similar show, Produce 48, where

00:11:13she placed third and earned a spot in the group IZONE. This made Yuri a star, and after

00:11:17her three-year contract with the band ended, she launched a successful solo career.

00:11:21Squid Game's is her first major acting role, but it likely won't be her last. Yim Si-wan

00:11:25entered the K-pop industry in the band G.E.A., which debuted in 2010. The group was enormously

00:11:30successful, and Si-wan parlayed that fame into an acting career. He began appearing

00:11:35in K-dramas in 2012 and eventually moved into feature films. Si-wan is player 333, Lee Myung-gi,

00:11:41a crypto-influencer who's hounded by Thanos and others after his failed cryptocurrency

00:11:45suckers $10.3 million out of his formerly loyal followers.

00:11:50The second contest in Squid Game's Season 2 is the Six-Legged Pentathlon, where five

00:11:55players' legs are locked together for a race against the clock. They must travel around

00:11:58the track together and play five childhood games, each handled by a different player.

00:12:02Any mistakes are likely deadly, and this is especially true for Song Gi-hun's team. He's

00:12:06joined by player 001, Oh Young-il, a.k.a. Hwang In-ho, who slyly sabotages their game, possibly

00:12:12to make it more difficult. The way he does this is rather insidious, as it involves using

00:12:17his non-dominant hand for the game he plays. Young-il is responsible for the spinning top

00:12:21game, and as he winds the cord around the top, he uses his right hand.

00:12:24At the end of Squid Game's Season 1, In-ho as the frontman shoots his brother while holding

00:12:28the pistol with his left hand. People don't typically fire guns using their non-dominant

00:12:32hand, which suggests In-ho purposefully uses his right non-dominant hand to wind the top.

00:12:37Fail!

00:12:38Sorry, guys. That's on me.

00:12:41The team quickly breezes through their challenges before it's his turn, but the spinning top

00:12:45sets them back for a frightening chunk of time. And ultimately, when he gets it right,

00:12:49he uses his dominant left hand.

00:12:51It's unclear why he would do such a thing, as having the team lose would likely screw

00:12:54up whatever plan he has in place to mess with Gi-hun. But several eagle-eyed viewers spotted

00:12:59this detail, suggesting that the frontman is playing a game most viewers would never

00:13:02notice.

00:13:03A subplot in Squid Game's Season 2 involves player 333, Lee Myung-gi, who's on the run

00:13:09after scamming his followers out of more than $10 million. This type of scam isn't included

00:13:14in the season on a whim. It's actually a huge problem that's cost many South Koreans a great

00:13:18deal of money.

00:13:19"...currently wanted for fraud and violating multiple communication and investment laws.

00:13:24Total debt, 1.8 billion won."

00:13:27In 2021, months after the first season dropped, Squidcoin cryptocurrency began trading with

00:13:31a valuation that soared to over $2,800 per coin. The scam involved a purported online

00:13:37Squid Games platform, in which the coins would be used to participate. The coin's price skyrocketed,

00:13:42and it became impossible to resell them, dropping the value to $0.00. As a result, every Squidcoin

00:13:48was worthless, and the developers cashed out, having scammed more than $3.4 million from

00:13:53their investors.

00:13:54"...are you guys gonna compensate me if I can't trade my coins?"

00:13:57While that scam was directly related to Squid Games and likely inspired the scam created

00:14:01by player 333, it's hardly the only crypto scandal to happen in South Korea.

00:14:06"...in short, there's not a lot that investors can do. It's not clear who was behind the

00:14:10project, let alone who withdrew the money."

00:14:12In 2024, South Korea police arrested 215 people suspected of carrying out a crypto scam believed

00:14:19to have netted $228 million. Over 15,000 people lost their money to the criminal organization.

00:14:25These scams and others make the inclusion of the so-called MG coin in Squid Games season

00:14:302 topical to South Korean culture. It's no wonder player 333 is despised by the people

00:14:35he scammed.

00:14:36In season 1, the frontman who wears an iconic black mask is revealed to be Hwang In-ho,

00:14:41the brother of police officer Hwang Joon-ho, whom he shoots in episode 8. In season 2,

00:14:45the frontman decides to play the game himself, entering the competition as Yong-il, player

00:14:49001. This is important because in the first season, player 001 isn't who he presents himself

00:14:55to be either.

00:14:56Season 1's player 001 is an elderly gentleman whom Gi-hun befriends and keeps safe. However,

00:15:01Gi-hun eventually takes advantage of 001's forgetfulness, brought on by a brain tumor,

00:15:06to win a game of marbles, sentencing his friend to death. It's ultimately revealed

00:15:10that player 001 doesn't die. His real name is Oh Il-nam, the financial tycoon who created

00:15:15the Squid Game. After winning the game, Gi-hun is summoned to Il-nam's deathbed, where he

00:15:19confronts him.

00:15:20But even though Gi-hun learns player 001 was a plant when season 2 begins, the whole thing

00:15:25seems to have slipped his mind. He shows no suspicion whatever of the new player 001.

00:15:29It's glaringly obvious to the audience that one should never trust player 001, but for

00:15:34some reason, Gi-hun never makes the connection, falling victim to In-ho's machinations.

00:15:38Viewers who watch Squid Game dubbed are inevitably going to miss a lot of nuances in the original

00:15:43performances. Well, those who watched the original Korean version might be confused

00:15:47by those same factors. One language-based detail that stands out is the way Thanos speaks

00:15:51random lines in English, both when he's rapping and in regular conversations, often when introducing

00:15:56himself or cursing.

00:15:57Why does he do this? Listen to K-Hip-Hop and you'll understand. Korean rappers commonly

00:16:01throw in random English phrases among mostly Korean lyrics, so it makes sense that Thanos

00:16:05would do the same.

00:16:06What's up? Nice to meet you, my brother. Welcome to the Thanos world.

00:16:11Given the exaggerated, comedic nature of the character, try-hard lines like,

00:16:14"'Welcome to the Thanos world' and calling everyone bro' play like a parody of how ridiculous

00:16:19a lot of the English lyrics sound. They're also an opportunity for the actor to show

00:16:23off his sense of humor and English fluency to his international fanbase.

00:16:27At the start of the Red Light, Green Light game in season 2, Gi-hun is successful at

00:16:30instructing the other players when to move and freeze, avoiding any casualties. Alas,

00:16:35everything goes wrong when a bee lands on the neck of player 196.

00:16:38You got a bee crawling on you.

00:16:41A bee?

00:16:42AHH!

00:16:43She moves and gets shot, leading to mass panic. The bee seems like a random coincidence until

00:16:47you stop and think about it. How did the bee get in there?

00:16:49While the painted backdrops of open skies might make you forget in the moment, the game

00:16:53takes place in unenclosed space, and we don't see any insects. In all likelihood, those

00:16:57running the games intentionally released the bee to set things off.

00:17:00Shun-Ju

00:17:01Shun-Ju, a transgender ex-soldier who entered the games to pay for gender confirmation surgery,

00:17:06has become one of the more talked-about new characters this season. There was controversy

00:17:09over casting a cisgender man to play a trans woman. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has said that

00:17:14he wanted to cast a trans woman, but that there was almost no out actors in Korea.

00:17:19Despite this issue, responses from trans viewers have leaned positive, as Shun-Ju proves to

00:17:23be one of the show's most heroic characters. Commenters have speculated that the character

00:17:27of Shun-Ju was inspired by a real transgender soldier named Byun Hee-soo. Hee-soo was discharged

00:17:32from the South Korean army in January 2020 after transitioning. She was found dead in

00:17:37her home in March 2021, seven months before the court ruled her discharge was unlawful

00:17:42discrimination.

00:17:43The new games in Season 2 each have their own ironic song accompaniment, though Western

00:17:48audiences are unlikely to recognize them. As Gi-hun's team makes it through the six-legged

00:17:52pentathlon in Episode 5, To You by Shin Na-chul plays in the background. This is one of the

00:17:57most iconic South Korean pop songs of the 80s. It's a staple at school festivals and

00:18:01sporting events, making it perfect for this scene.

00:18:04Episode 5 also features the start of the Mingle game, which continues into Episode 6 and is

00:18:08scored to the Korean children's song, Round and Round. This song is commonly sung while

00:18:13playing games like musical chairs, though typically, those games don't involve executing

00:18:17the losers. It's just another way Squid Game twists the innocent into the horrific.

00:18:22Audiences know from the start that Player 001 is actually the frontman, and if Gi-hun

00:18:26had paid attention, he would've seen the signs that this guy is too good to be true.

00:18:30For starters, it's worth noting how In-ho's hair is parted during the games. It's the

00:18:34same hairstyle Cho Sang-woo wore in Season 1. Sang-woo was a former classmate of Gi-hun's,

00:18:39and the two had a bit of an alliance throughout much of the competition. In-ho's hairstyle

00:18:42could be seen as him subconsciously trying to get on Gi-hun's good side by reminding

00:18:46him of his dead friend.

00:18:48Additionally, there's a moment in Episode 5 where In-ho offers his milk to Kim Jun-hee.

00:18:52Just take it. I don't want it. I can't drink milk anyway.

00:18:55Gi-hun does the same thing in Season 1 when he gives his milk to Ali Abdul. It's an intentional

00:19:00act meant to make Gi-hun think he and In-ho are kindred spirits, and perhaps they are.

00:19:05It's possible In-ho plans to convince Gi-hun to become the new frontman once Season 3 rolls

00:19:09around.

00:19:10In Episode 4, Six Legs, Captain Park accidentally lets slip that he knows about Gi-hun winning

00:19:15the games, information he shouldn't be privy to.

00:19:18Hold on, Captain. You already know about Mr. Song?

00:19:21He quickly covers, claiming that someone else told him, and the conversation continues.

00:19:25However, a similar slip-up happens inside the games.

00:19:28I'll do whichever one you think, Gi-hun.

00:19:31How did you know my name?

00:19:33In-ho covers the slip-up by saying he overheard it from Jung-bae. We know In-ho is lying,

00:19:37so the fact these similar moments occur in the same episode should clue super-observant

00:19:42fans into the fact that Captain Park was also lying. In Squid Game, it's never a good idea

00:19:46to take people at their word.

00:19:48Obviously, In-ho isn't going to enter the games if he's at any risk of dying. It's unclear,

00:19:52for example, if he even competed in Red Light, Green Light, or only entered the mix during

00:19:56the first round of voting, and one fan theory suggests that he cheated during Mingle.

00:20:00In Mingle, players stand on a rotating platform, and when a number, say 10, is called out,

00:20:05they must form a group of 10 and race into an available room for safety. At one point,

00:20:09they divide into groups of four, which means Gi-hun's crew of five has to split up. In-ho

00:20:13offers to find another group.

00:20:15The team is relieved when he survives the round, but one fan theory suggests he may

00:20:18have simply ducked out of the game, since none of the guards would have shot him. When

00:20:22the round is over, he then returns and walks over to Gi-hun, all smiles. However, at the

00:20:26end of the round, 168 players remain, a number that's divisible by four. If In-ho hid, then

00:20:31the number should have theoretically been 169. Regardless of how In-ho survived, that's

00:20:36not the point of the scene. When he rejoins Gi-hun, he says something significant.

00:20:40People say I'm pretty friendly, so, you know, I do alright in these kind of things."

00:20:45That charisma is why Gi-hun and Jung-bae were so quick to accept him as a member of their

00:20:49alliance.

00:20:50Red Light, Green Light is somehow even scarier the second time around because we and Gi-hun

00:20:54know exactly what horrors are in store. The objective is the same as in Season 1, cross

00:20:58the finish line in the allotted amount of time without moving after the doll yells,

00:21:02Red Light. But there are some inconsistencies during the game this time. Gi-hun knows that

00:21:06if you move at the wrong time, you get shot. That's why he covers his mouth, to communicate

00:21:10with everyone else about how to play the game without triggering the doll's motion sensors.

00:21:14Those sensors are clearly very sensitive. One woman, whose hands are only trembling

00:21:18a little too vigorously, gets shot. However, there are a couple of moments where Park Young-sik

00:21:22twitches but survives. He has a noticeable reaction once other players start to be picked

00:21:27off, but the snipers ignore him.

00:21:28A few other players also appear to be spared despite breaking the rules. For example, Player

00:21:33222 jerks severely at one point. Granted, she's behind some other players, but her arms

00:21:37move out pretty far. You would think the doll would've caught such a big movement, but somehow

00:21:42she manages to avoid detection. Because of the nature of Squid Game and the fact that

00:21:46these violations are shown to us, there is likely some significance to these characters'

00:21:50survival.

00:21:51In the first episode of Season 2, well before Gi-hun returns to the island, the deadly games

00:21:56have already begun. The salesman ties up two of the loan sharks and forces them to play

00:22:00Russian roulette. At first, there's only one bullet in the revolver, but after a few

00:22:03lucky rounds, he loads an additional four bullets, increasing the chances of dying from

00:22:081 in 6 to 5 in 6.

00:22:09However, one eagle-eyed Reddit user noticed something about the bullets the salesman used.

00:22:13The first bullet was actually a dummy bullet, meaning there was no way for either man to

00:22:17die. The user writes,

00:22:18In the second game where they play with five bullets, the recruiter adds three more dummies

00:22:22and one real bullet. You can tell as it's flat, so the primer hasn't already been hit,

00:22:26so there was actually only a 1 out of 6 chance of dying.

00:22:29If that's true, then even when a real bullet is in place, there's still only a 1 out of

00:22:336 chance of dying. It's just coincidence that it happens to go off as early as it does.

00:22:37This all fits the salesman's sadistic, cynical view of humanity. He simply wants the men

00:22:41to suffer more before actually killing one of them.

00:22:44Season 2 ends with a violent revolt that costs many players and guards their lives. However,

00:22:48the games will presumably resume once Season 3 comes around, and we may already have an

00:22:52idea of what they'll be.

00:22:53In the first season, each game played is hinted at through drawings on the wall in the main

00:22:57You can see the shapes used for Dalgoma, as well as some stick figures playing tug-of-war.

00:23:02Season 2 continues this foreshadowing, and from what we can see, several of the games

00:23:06depicted haven't yet been played. For starters, it looks like some stick figures are playing

00:23:10on monkey bars, suggesting the remaining players will need to climb across something in order

00:23:13to survive.

00:23:14From another angle, you can see what looks like a chess or checkerboard. Human chess

00:23:18has the potential to be the most devastating of these games. One can imagine a scenario

00:23:22where the frontman and keyhorn are the only ones controlling the board, deciding which

00:23:25pieces go where and who dies if they get captured. It would make for the perfect showdown.

00:23:29Whatever happens, one thing's for sure — the bloodshed is far from over.

00:23:34There's a new face in the world of Squid Game, but it's actually older than you think. Here's

00:23:38the backstory for that creepy new doll.

00:23:40A hallmark of any successful show is an instantly identifiable character, and Squid Game has

00:23:45those in spades. The pink jumpsuits and ominous masks worn by the game's guards make for excellent

00:23:51Halloween costumes, but the show is also defined by Yong-Hee, the giant girl doll featured

00:23:56during the Red Light, Green Light games in both Seasons 1 and 2. And the mid-credits

00:24:00scene of Season 2 hints that she's about to get a friend.

00:24:04The brief sequence shows some players entering an arena with Yong-Hee, as well as a giant

00:24:08boy doll named Chul-Soo. His inclusion in the show has been a long time coming. The

00:24:13show's creator, Hwan Dong-Hyuk, teased the doll back in 2022 and revealed that Chul-Soo

00:24:18is Yong-Hee's boyfriend.

00:24:20In the context of Squid Game, it's hard to say how relevant that information is going

00:24:24to be. Yong-Hee became utterly terrifying in Red Light, Green Light, tracking every

00:24:28player's movements to determine who should be eliminated.

00:24:31Maybe Chul-Soo has been saved for the third and final season for something even more horrific.

00:24:41That seems likely, but there's actually a deeper history between these two dolls that

00:24:45you probably don't know about.

00:24:47Yong-Hee and Chul-Soo aren't just a random girl and boy. Their names are actually derived

00:24:51from traditional South Korean childhood stories, with the pair frequently being found in school

00:24:56textbooks to teach kids how to read or impart basic moral lessons — sort of similar to

00:25:01how a lot of kids' stories in the United States will use the names Jack and Jill or Dick and

00:25:05Jane.

00:25:06So in that light, their inclusion in the games make total sense. Yong-Hee and Chul-Soo harken

00:25:11back to the players' childhoods, which is the entire framing device surrounding the

00:25:14games. Every competition, whether it's Red Light, Green Light, or Tug of War, is rooted

00:25:18in the things the players would have done when they were kids, creating an instant juxtaposition

00:25:23between the innocent nature of the games and the deadly outcome for most of the participants.

00:25:28Given that Yong-Hee and Chul-Soo are often compared to Jack and Jill, a popular fan theory

00:25:32online is that the first game in Squid Game Season 3 will be some version of the Jack

00:25:37and Jill nursery rhyme, where players have to get a pail of water up a hill. Elements

00:25:41of Red Light, Green Light might be thrown in as well, with players only able to move

00:25:45when one of the dolls says Green Light. But we've got to go ahead and call Red Light on

00:25:49that theory, since the challenges in Squid Game are based in Korean culture. Drawing

00:25:53from a Western nursery rhyme doesn't make one bit of sense.

00:25:56Besides, Hwan-Dong Hyuk has already hinted that there'd be something really big in store

00:26:00for viewers once Chul-Soo shows up on screen. He told Entertainment Weekly that the new

00:26:04doll would be part of, in his words, the most exciting game in the third season. If

00:26:08he's hyping it up that much, it must be pretty special. The only other hint we get in the

00:26:13post-credits scene is a train crossing sign switching from red to green. Previously, the

00:26:17doll would just say the words Red Light or Green Light, so the signal suggests something

00:26:21else will trigger the game's events. It's possible the players will participate in an

00:26:25even more messed-up version of Red Light, Green Light that incorporates new elements,

00:26:29but we'd expect them to come up with something totally new, rather than dip back into the

00:26:33same well for the third time.

00:26:34Is that all they want us to play? Red Light, Green Light?

00:26:38But of course, this is all just speculation for the time being. Until we get Season 3,

00:26:42Chul-Soo will remain one of the most intriguing, unanswered questions of Squid Game's Season

00:26:472.

00:26:48Put on your green jumpsuits, Squid Game is back, which means it's time to learn a new

00:26:53slate of deadly games, as Season 2 refreshes the tried-and-true Battle Royale formula.

00:27:00Here's a rundown of all the new games in the follow-up to Netflix's smash hit.

00:27:05The first new game introduced in Squid Game Season 2 is a tweaked version of Rock Paper

00:27:11Scissors, unique to Korea. After watching the mysterious recruiter play cruel mind games

00:27:16with several unhoused people, Gi-Hun's hired associates get themselves captured by the

00:27:21sadistic salesmen. They awaken in a dark room, where they are bound together, held at gunpoint,

00:27:27and forced to play this new game, called Rock Paper Scissors Minus One.

00:27:32This variant requires players to use both hands for each play. Instead of throwing out

00:27:37only one choice each round, each player throws out two, then removes one from play after

00:27:42seeing their opponent's hands. It adds an additional layer of psychological gameplay

00:27:47to the original recipe contest, which makes it even more fitting for Squid Game.

00:27:52The threat of death in Rock Paper Scissors Minus One comes from an additional game of

00:27:57Russian Roulette being played on the sidelines by the recruiter. Russian Roulette involves

00:28:02two or more people loading a standard six-shooter revolver with only a certain number of bullets,

00:28:08thus leaving blank spaces in the cylinder that will not react when the gun is fired.

00:28:13Each player then takes turns firing the gun, gambling with their own life.

00:28:17Not much is known about how Russian Roulette came to be, but as seen in Squid Game, it's

00:28:22a very adaptable game, the dynamics of which can be altered dramatically by a number of

00:28:26factors. When the recruiter first begins the game, he spins the cylinder for each round,

00:28:32meaning each pull of the trigger carries the same one-in-six chance of ending a life.

00:28:37When he later plays the game with Gi-hun, however, he does not move the cylinder after

00:28:41the initial spin, which means the likelihood of death increases each time the trigger is

00:28:46pulled. Their contest ultimately results in one of Season 2's biggest, most jaw-dropping

00:28:51deaths.

00:28:53If there's one game in Squid Game Season 2 that most viewers feel confident they could

00:28:57beat, it's Flying Stone. The second game in the six-legged race, it simply consists of

00:29:03a player throwing a stone at another standing stone, which eerily looks a lot like a headstone

00:29:09in a graveyard. If they knock the stone down, they succeed, and are allowed to move forward

00:29:13in the race. If not, they must make their way back to the stone, retrieve their wayward

00:29:18projectile, and start again. Stone throwing as a means of recreation is obviously not

00:29:23specific to Korea, and has been around since at least the days of Ancient Greece.

00:29:29The third game in Squid Game Season 2's six-legged race is Gongi, a tricky test of skill. Played

00:29:36with five colorful stone pieces, the game tests your hand-eye coordination by having

00:29:41you throw one stone up in the air while trying to collect others from the playing surface.

00:29:47You begin by throwing all five stones in front of you like dice. Then, as Squid Game

00:29:51Season 2 explains, you simply toss and grab each stone consecutively, but it's not that

00:29:57simple. You then throw all five stones in the air, and attempt to catch them with the

00:30:02back of your hand. And finally, you launch them from the back of your hand and catch

00:30:06all five one last time. As involved as it sounds, Squid Game makes it look a lot easier

00:30:12than Flying Stone, or the dizzyingly difficult game that follows it.

00:30:16If you give up now, I'll kill you before any of your damn gods can.

00:30:21After the players complete Gongi, the six-legged race progresses to the spinning top. The rules

00:30:26are seemingly very simple here. A player must wrap a length of cord around a top, launch

00:30:32it from the palm of their hand, and successfully get it to spin once it lands on the ground.

00:30:37Think of the Japanese spinning toy Beyblade, but much more difficult, and in the world

00:30:41of Squid Game, definitely more deadly.

00:30:44It also bears a similarity to the Korean game, Pangi Chigi, which also involves launching

00:30:49spinning tops with lines of cord. In that game, however, the player is also required

00:30:54to prolong the top's spin as much as possible with a wooden stick.

00:30:59The final contest of the six-legged race is Jegi, which American viewers will likely recognize

00:31:04for its similarities to the game Hacky Sack. Like that game, Jegi consists of a player

00:31:09hitting an object with their foot as many times as possible. In this case, it's the

00:31:13namesake Jegi, which looks like a small, paper-wrapped disc adorned with ribbons, similar to a badminton

00:31:20shuttlecock.

00:31:21The origins of Jegi are not exactly known, with even its cultural genesis being up for

00:31:26debate. Some attribute it to Korea, others to China. Today, it is largely played at festivals

00:31:32during Korean holidays, including an autumn harvest festival and the Korean New Year.

00:31:37Arguably the best new game of Squid Game Season 2, Mingle is just as diabolical as it is fun

00:31:44to watch. The third official game of this new slate after the six-legged race, it takes

00:31:49place in a large, rotating room with a carousel at its center. As the room rotates, a song

00:31:55plays for a random amount of time. Once the room and the song stop at the same time, a

00:32:00number is called. Players must then get in groups of that number and find safety behind

00:32:05one of the room's locking doors, or be eliminated.

00:32:09Mingle is a popular game across the world that is often used as an icebreaker, in environments

00:32:14like college dorms or new office buildings. Sometimes, once a group of a certain number

00:32:18is formed, players will be prompted to exchange facts about themselves.

00:32:23Don't call me dude, we're not friends, got it?

00:32:26Hopefully, when you bust out Mingle, or any one of the games from Squid Game Season 2

00:32:30at your next party, things don't get quite as intense.

00:32:36After years of waiting, Squid Game Season 2 is finally here. Although it leaves a lot

00:32:40of unanswered questions, here are the Squid Game mysteries keeping us up at night.

00:32:45Song Gi-hun doesn't die at the end of Squid Game Season 2, but things don't look great

00:32:49for him. The frontman and the guards have kept him alive while killing almost everyone

00:32:53who took part in his rebellion. He's been openly trying to stop the games from the beginning

00:32:56of the season, so why keep him alive? And what's in store for him once Season 3 rolls

00:33:01around?

00:33:02What is Gi-hun going to do now that he has lost everything and failed all of his attempts?

00:33:07How is he going to carry on?

00:33:09It's possible the frontman wants Gi-hun to suffer a fate worse than death. Maybe he'll

00:33:13have him re-enter the games to torture him a little longer. Or maybe the frontman has

00:33:17something more nefarious in mind.

00:33:19The frontman, aka Hwang In-ho, is Player 001 in the Season 2 competition. In-ho actually

00:33:25won the games previously, before taking on the role of the frontman. And it's possible

00:33:29he wants Gi-hun to come around to his point of view, that no good people actually exist.

00:33:34Maybe In-ho wants Gi-hun to become the new frontman and oversee the games after he steps

00:33:38down. Gi-hun dying seems at first like the most tragic ending possible for Squid Game.

00:33:43But Gi-hun losing his soul and continuing the games himself may be even more devastating.

00:33:48One of the most intriguing additions to Squid Game Season 2 is Kong Noelle, who becomes

00:33:53Guard 11 in the games. She's a defector from North Korea who's trying to find her child,

00:33:57who's still in the North. In the games themselves, she's a ruthless sniper who actively works

00:34:01against the organ-harvesting operation. Some of the guards keep the eliminated players

00:34:05alive to take their organs later, but Guard 11 makes sure to kill the intended victims,

00:34:10leaving their organs non-viable and earning the hatred of her fellow guards.

00:34:13I told you not to kill them. We need them breathing if we want anything good.

00:34:17It's unclear why she does this. Maybe she just has a stronger moral code than the other

00:34:21soldiers. But her morality could be tested when she realizes Park Gong-seok, the father

00:34:25of the little girl Noelle bonded with when she worked in the amusement park, has been

00:34:29killed during the rebellion. Gong-seok's daughter was sick, so it's likely he entered the games

00:34:33to pay her medical bills. Noelle knows this, and his murder may turn her into more of a

00:34:37menace when Season 3 rolls around.

00:34:41Every time we answer one question about the frontman, two more raise. He was an enigmatic

00:34:45figure throughout the first season. What's interesting is that in Season 2, the frontman

00:34:49actually competes in the games as Player One, the same number Oh Il-nam the game's

00:34:53creator wore in Season 1. Hwang In-ho is Officer Hwang Jun-ho's stepbrother, and when In-ho

00:34:58befriends Gi-hun, he mentions having a sick wife as his reason for entering the games.

00:35:02This tracks. We know the frontman donated a kidney to Jun-ho years ago, which is why

00:35:06he couldn't sell one of his kidneys when his wife got sick.

00:35:09There are shades of the truth in what In-ho tells Gi-hun, but given the nature of Squid

00:35:13Game, there's always more to the story. One of the most significant lines in Season 2

00:35:17comes early on, when the frontman taunts Gi-hun in the limo.

00:35:20Did you really think you could end the game like this? With one little gun?

00:35:24Maybe Gi-hun's got it wrong, and violence is the wrong way to end the game. If there's

00:35:28another solution, it likely begins with figuring out what makes the frontman tick.

00:35:33With so many soldiers at the game's disposal, it's a long shot that Gi-hun's rebellion can

00:35:37succeed. But they're not really lost until Kang Dae-ho goes back to the main room for

00:35:41more ammunition and doesn't return. Instead, he stays behind and cowers, which doesn't

00:35:45really track for a former Marine who should have plenty of military training.

00:35:49There's a chance Dae-ho suffers from extreme post-traumatic stress disorder, and when the

00:35:52guards start firing at them, he shuts down.

00:35:55"'Dae-ho! What's going on? I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

00:36:02On the other hand, he may just be a liar. Yes, he and Marine Jung-bae compare matching

00:36:06tattoos, but you can probably get anyone to ink a Marine insignia on your arm if you pay

00:36:11them.

00:36:12A curious aspect of Dae-ho's backstory is that he's an expert at gonggi, a Korean game

00:36:16typically associated with women.

00:36:18"'A Marine who knows gonggi?'

00:36:20"'Uh, yeah, growing up I had, uh, four older sisters, and that meant lots of gonggi with

00:36:25them at home, so I learned how to play.'"

00:36:27Seeing as he's one of the few rebels left alive, we should learn more about his history

00:36:30once Season 3 comes around.

00:36:33Mingle is a brutal game. Players stand on a rotating platform, then race towards rooms

00:36:37to the appropriate number of people for each round. It forces players to make brutal decisions,

00:36:42demonstrating their true loyalties. This means So-Nyo, a so-called shaman with a lot of anger,

00:36:47gets left in the lurch when her team shuts her out. But she manages to survive, and puts

00:36:51the chilling curse on Cho Shun-Ju and the rest of her former alliance.

00:36:54"'Today I sat and pleaded, asking the gods of heaven and earth to help put an end to

00:37:00your existences.'"

00:37:02Squid Game isn't a supernatural show. There's no way So-Nyo is a legit shaman with mythic

00:37:07powers, but she is developing her cult of personality. Following Mingle, players can

00:37:11vote on whether to end the games, and some contestants appear to vote to keep playing

00:37:14under So-Nyo's influence. It's possible she could manifest her curse by manipulating her

00:37:19disciples into carrying out her whims and sabotaging others.

00:37:22"'You've bad karma, but I can help with that.'"

00:37:25In a life-or-death situation, it's understandable that some players resort to praying to higher

00:37:29powers to save them. So-Nyo is clearly taking advantage of that, and positioning herself

00:37:34as some all-powerful entity. But as tends to be the case with cults, it usually doesn't

00:37:38work out that well for the underlings.

00:37:41In Season 1, Jun-Ho learns that the island where the games are played is booby-trapped

00:37:45with bombs designed to detonate if anyone gets too close. In Season 2, after his team

00:37:49opens a mysterious hatch, a bomb explodes, killing one man and injuring another. We don't

00:37:54get much more from the boat's storyline this season, so it remains to be seen if they've

00:37:57actually found the island or if the whole thing is a decoy.

00:38:00However, setting up the bomb storyline in Season 1 to have just one go off in Season

00:38:052 doesn't feel like enough payoff. And it's not like Squid Game to leave a major thread

00:38:09like that hanging, at least not so far. Maybe Season 3 will see Jun-Ho and his team continue

00:38:13to explore the island, with Captain Park working hard to throw them off the scent.

00:38:18The Rebellion certainly puts a damper on the games, leaving a lot more players dead. Gi-Hun's

00:38:22fate hangs in the balance, as so does the future of the game. Dae-Ho and Hyun-Joo are

00:38:26still alive, although they actively participated in the Rebellion. It's possible the soldiers

00:38:31don't know that, since they make it back to the main room before Gi-Hun is captured. As

00:38:34for everyone else, there are basically two options left on the table. First, the games

00:38:38continue as though nothing happened. The alternative would seem to be starting the games from scratch.

00:38:43We know that Front Man is all about the players having an equal chance of winning the grand

00:38:47prize.

00:38:48These people suffered from inequality and discrimination out in the world, and we're

00:38:52giving them one last chance to fight fair and win."

00:38:55Maybe the Front Man will bring in more players and have everyone start back on equal footing.

00:38:59More players and more death would be a fiendish way to torture Gi-Hun, but if the Front Man

00:39:03wants to break Gi-Hun so he'll take over for him, it's a good plan.

00:39:07Let's wrap things up.

00:39:08This is new territory for the games, so whatever happens, we're looking at a new wrinkle for

00:39:12Season 3.

00:39:14Squid Game Season 2 is full of twists and turns, but one of those twists was actually

00:39:18given away several episodes before the end. Did you catch it? Major spoilers ahead for

00:39:22Squid Game Season 2.

00:39:24In the first season, Joon-Ho was shot by the Front Man after learning that the Front

00:39:27Man was, in fact, his brother, In-Ho. In the second season, we learn that Joon-Ho survived

00:39:31his brother's assault because a boat driven by a fisherman named Captain Park pulls him

00:39:35out of the water. After that, Captain Park takes Joon-Ho and his team, assembled by Gi-Hun,

00:39:40on excursions to every island he can think of that might contain the games, with no success.

00:39:45But in the final episode of Season 2, it turns out that the unassuming Captain Park is actually

00:39:48a stone-cold killer. He reveals his true colors when he murders one of Gi-Hun's henchmen,

00:39:53who catches Park in the act of sabotaging their search drones. Yes, Captain Park works

00:39:57for the games, and you can bet he won't let Joon-Ho and Gi-Hun's men find them. But there

00:40:02was a huge clue about Park's true nature before this, even if both the characters and viewers

00:40:06failed to see it.

00:40:08Captain Park never reveals his true agenda to Joon-Ho, but he makes a mistake while waiting

00:40:12to take off in his boat with Choi Woo-Sok, the leader of Gi-Hun's mercenaries. When Park

00:40:16asks Woo-Sok why they're looking for the island with renewed intensity, Woo-Sok tells him

00:40:20he can't reveal exactly what they're doing. But let's slip that they have an insider on

00:40:24the island.

00:40:25The man who was in the games?

00:40:28Huh? Who?

00:40:29Yep, he's talking about Gi-Hun. But instead of being suspicious of how Captain Park knows

00:40:34that, Woo-Sok is quickly placated by Park's explanation that Joon-Ho has filled him in

00:40:38on everything. Woo-Sok is soon singing like a bird about what they're doing and why, none

00:40:43the wiser that he should be suspicious of Captain Park. In fact, this clue is so subtle

00:40:47that you might have fallen for Park's even-handed explanation as well.

00:40:50I thought all that crap was in his head, with the games and the 45.6 billion won.

00:40:55He gives a smooth performance, but the bigger question is what Park's role is in the larger

00:40:59picture. The most likely explanation for his presence at this stage of the story is that

00:41:03the frontman had him save Joon-Ho because he didn't want his brother to die. Granted,

00:41:08Joon-Ho ended up in a coma for a year, but if it had been anyone else, you can bet the

00:41:11frontman would have been perfectly happy to let them drown.

00:41:14Still, the frontman would want Joon-Ho watched, because Joon-Ho had already infiltrated the

00:41:18games once. Captain Park had the perfect excuse to look in on Joon-Ho because Joon-Ho commissioned

00:41:23him to look for the island. And Captain Park may not be alone. The frontman may also be

00:41:27responsible for the other captain that takes half of Ji-Hun's men to another section of

00:41:31the islands. Between the two of them and the many, many soldiers that help run the games,

00:41:35Joon-Ho and his colleagues could be up against more than they realize.

00:41:38And to be honest, Joon-Ho's storyline throughout Season 2 wasn't the most exciting thing going

00:41:42on. He just goes from island to island searching for the games, doesn't have to face any real

00:41:47antagonists to speak of, and hardly makes any progress in his search. In fact, he's

00:41:51even further away from finding the truth than he was in the first season. But with the revelation

00:41:55that Park is indeed an opponent to him and Ji-Hun's hired hands, Season 3 may be more

00:41:59interesting for Joon-Ho, when he does find out there could be a major showdown between

00:42:03them.

00:42:04Of course, Joon-Ho's main goal is to find the frontman and put a stop to what he's doing.

00:42:08But in the meantime, Captain Park will be a dangerous nemesis for Joon-Ho and a good

00:42:11substitute for the frontman — at least until Joon-Ho manages to have his moment of truth

00:42:16with his brother.

00:42:18Squid Game Season 2 has deadly games, tense shootouts, and inventive set pieces galore.

00:42:23But it's also filled with lines of dialogue that take on a whole new meaning once you've

00:42:27navigated the follow-up's many twists and turns.

00:42:31Right out of the gate, heavy lines are exchanged between Song Ji-Hun and the enigmatic frontman.

00:42:37Picking up from the cliffhanger at the end of the Season 1 finale, Ji-Hun chooses to

00:42:41leave his plane to America, and by extension, his family, to chase after the orchestrators

00:42:46of the games.

00:42:47He makes sure the frontman knows of his intentions to hunt him down no matter the cost.

00:42:51How about you stop running your mouth and show yourself?

00:42:55Stop hiding like a rat.

00:42:56In Squid Game, characters are constantly compared to animals in a way that dehumanizes them.

00:43:01Moments before, in the same conversation, Ji-Hun tells the frontman,

00:43:05Listen carefully.

00:43:08I'm not a horse.

00:43:11I'm a person.

00:43:13Ji-Hun also calls the mysterious unnamed recruiter a dog, and Hwan-Joon-Ho is referred to at

00:43:18one point as a pig.

00:43:20Interestingly, the VIPs who enjoy the games at the end of Season 1 do so through animal

00:43:24masks, in a way dehumanizing themselves to make it easier to watch such a grotesque spectacle.

00:43:31In the season premiere, Ji-Hun experiences a nightmare in which he is visited by the

00:43:35frontman at the Pink Hotel.

00:43:36Player 456, looking for these?

00:43:41He's holding the decapitated heads of Cho Sang-Woo and Kang Se-Byeok, Players 218 and

00:43:4767, respectively.

00:43:48They're his closest friends from the first game, and the last two players to die before

00:43:52he won.

00:43:53Though simple, this line calls into question what Ji-Hun is actually looking for in the

00:43:57investigation, and lays out both his inner conflict and one of the season's core ideas.

00:44:02On the one hand, Ji-Hun believes he's shutting down the games because it's the right thing

00:44:06to do — playing the hero, as the frontman will ultimately mock in the season finale.

00:44:11But there's also an aspect of Ji-Hun's quest that is embroiled in guilt, arguably more

00:44:15than he realizes.

00:44:16Ji-Hun places all responsibility for the lives lost in his games on the frontman and his

00:44:21co-conspirators, but this season seeks to challenge that by honing in on the responsibility

00:44:26he debatably shares for returning to the games after knowing the stakes.

00:44:31One of the more surprising storylines sees Ji-Hun team up with Sunshine Capital, specifically

00:44:36the vicious debt collectors who once tormented him.

00:44:39Having repaid his debt to them, Ji-Hun then starts paying the men to aid in his search

00:44:42for the frontman.

00:44:44This search begins with an aggressive hunt for the recruiter, who is found in a public

00:44:47square offering struggling people a choice between a lottery ticket and a bread roll.

00:44:52Maybe he's not so bad.

00:44:54This line, said at the beginning of an obviously cruel game, reflects similar games played

00:44:58by real people at the expense of others' dignity.

00:45:01This form of charity is seen all over social media, where the powerful coerce vulnerable

00:45:06people to make tough choices, embarrass themselves, and get used for content creation, all while

00:45:11being seen by many as acting with genuine kindness.

00:45:15As the Sunshine Capital men watch the recruiter play this banally evil game and subsequently

00:45:20destroy the bread before the eyes of those who needed it, the same question is on everyone's

00:45:25mind.

00:45:26Why?

00:45:27Why all this trouble just to end it this way?

00:45:29We get a clue through the recruiter's line before he begins to stomp on the bread.

00:45:33He says,

00:45:34"'I'm not the one here who wasted this.

00:45:38That was you people.'"

00:45:40On the surface, he's talking about the bread, but the subtext here sure seems reflective

00:45:44of his view on the games themselves.

00:45:46In a season all about the nature of personal accountability in exploitative systems, the

00:45:51recruiter reveals his own fascinatingly messed-up internal logic.

00:45:55He isn't responsible for anyone's death, whether inside the games or out.

00:45:59Competitors and homeless people alike threw their own lives away in his eyes, turning

00:46:03them into trash, as he describes them later during his confrontation with Gi-hun.

00:46:08As to why the recruiter goes through this seemingly self-imposed ritual, it's likely

00:46:12he needs this reaffirmation of his worldview in the same way Oh Il-nam sought similar comfort

00:46:18through the game he played with Gi-hun in his final moments.

00:46:21The game and the ultimate proclamation are the recruiter's ritual to maintain his own

00:46:25sense of reality, based on the moral code of personal freedom of choice.

00:46:30The recruiter's view of personal responsibility eventually comes back to bite him when he

00:46:34comes face-to-face with the barrel of a gun.

00:46:37The ironic thing is that he had a way out.

00:46:39When given the gun for the last time, he could have easily just shot his opponent, but that

00:46:43would have been breaking the rules.

00:46:45Not only the rules of the game, but of the worldview that has seemingly guided the recruiter's

00:46:49entire life, shattering that illusion was apparently more terrifying than death itself.

00:46:54In the aftermath, when his body is discovered, Gi-hun has some cold words for Jun-ho.

00:46:58I wasn't the one who fired the gun.

00:47:01We played a game and he just happened to lose.

00:47:04To some extent, Gi-hun shares certain parts of the recruiter's worldview.

00:47:08On top of that, it also calls back to the end of Season 1, when Cho Song-woo died by

00:47:12suicide in order for Gi-hun to win.

00:47:15With the amount of guilt Gi-hun clearly carries, being haunted by Song-woo's spirit, as another

00:47:19character later defines, it's possible he's been telling himself this line since long

00:47:24before the recruiter died.

00:47:26With the help of Hwang Jun-ho and their mercenary contractors, Song Gi-hun finally gets what

00:47:31he's been after — an audience with the frontman, sort of.

00:47:34Once again, their confrontation is reduced to a phone call, this time in the back of

00:47:37a limousine.

00:47:38The frontman's voice comes from a speaker hidden inside a pig.

00:47:42It appears to be identical to the piggy bank that hangs over the contestants in the games.

00:47:46It also might be a sly nod to the fact that he's secretly a former police officer — or

00:47:51pig, as one of the characters would call him.

00:47:53Did you really think you could end the game like this?

00:47:56With one little gun?

00:47:58This touches on an idea that will become central to the season once Gi-hun re-enters into the

00:48:02games — voting as a mode of action versus violence.

00:48:06We have to end this right now so we can get out of here alive!

00:48:10Everyone!

00:48:12At the end of the season, when Gi-hun finally chooses violence after several disappointing

00:48:16elections, an undercover Hwang In-ho, aka the frontman, subtly calls back to this taunt

00:48:21with a question.

00:48:22How are you going to fight them?

00:48:27After all, they've got guns.

00:48:29Well, it turns out he's not too shabby with a gun, either.

00:48:33When we first get back to the games, one of the newcomers is player 44, Song Yeo, a self-professed

00:48:38shaman, she immediately gravitates toward Gi-hun and somehow deduces that he's being

00:48:43haunted by the dead.

00:48:44Whether or not she's genuinely psychic, this line clearly stirs in Gi-hun's memories of

00:48:49Cho Sang-woo and Kang Se-byeok.

00:48:51Because of these ghosts, she also correctly surmises that Gi-hun is not exactly there

00:48:56by choice.

00:48:57You didn't come here of your own volition.

00:48:59This line positions Song Yeo as one extreme with regard to the season's central theme

00:49:04of choice.

00:49:05To her, choice does not exist — only destiny.

00:49:08But it also points to the fact that here, one's freedom of choice can be undermined

00:49:12by the system they exist in, calling into question whether or not the freedom to choose

00:49:16really exists at all.

00:49:19On the other end of the spectrum is player 100, Im Jong-dae.

00:49:22With the massive debt of 10 billion won, nearly $6.8 million, it's implied that he carries

00:49:27the greatest personal debt of anyone in the games.

00:49:30However, when this is brought up by one of the guards during the orientation, he speaks

00:49:34proudly of his burden.

00:49:36They don't give all 10 billion to just anyone!

00:49:39You have to work in the big leagues for that!"

00:49:41With this comment, he aims to elevate his superior status among the other contestants

00:49:46who accept his framing and treat him as a smart businessman.

00:49:49It also deflects accountability.

00:49:51His debt wasn't a moral hazard because he was a wealthy businessman in what's allegedly

00:49:55a merit-based society, and not just some average poor person.

00:49:59But the truth is that he's in the same predicament as everyone else, and he's also a significantly

00:50:04worse person.

00:50:05By leading the charge for the games to continue, he's forcing more vulnerable people to take

00:50:10accountability for his financial mistakes.

00:50:13No matter how deluded he is, he's not better than anyone, but he is uniquely detestable.

00:50:19When Gi-hun willingly sends himself back into the games, he does so because he's secretly

00:50:23concealing a tracking device in one of his molars — or at least he thinks he is.

00:50:27In theory, this tracking device would allow Jun-ho and the mercenaries to find the island

00:50:31even easier.

00:50:32Though to do so, they unfortunately enlist the help of the duplicitous Captain Park.

00:50:37As they head toward the beacon, emitting a signal from a nearby island, Park shares with

00:50:41Jun-ho that he's actually familiar with the island.

00:50:43He says,

00:50:44"'These days, nobody really goes out there except to fish on shore.'"

00:50:48With the twist in mind, this line slightly reveals that Park was probably the one who

00:50:53hid the molar implant after it was removed from Gi-hun's mouth.

00:50:56It's eventually found on the island with a fisherman, fitting in a box of literal bait,

00:51:00at which point Park is safe on the boat where he cannot be identified by that very fisherman

00:51:05as the culprit.

00:51:07After Episode 3's twist reveal, the next episode sees Hwang In-ho and Song Gi-hun confront

00:51:12each other face-to-face for the first time.

00:51:14Though Gi-hun is none the wiser, he's in the presence of his arch-nemesis.

00:51:18In-ho, on the other hand, immediately endears himself to Gi-hun despite his own yes vote

00:51:23in the initial election, telling him that he voted to stay because he believed Gi-hun

00:51:27could help them survive.

00:51:29"'After the first game, I thought I was gonna quit, and then I saw you.'"

00:51:34Already In-ho is laying the groundwork to destroy Gi-hun's heroic sensibilities, which

00:51:38don't exactly jive with his own callous sensibilities.

00:51:41For this plan to reach its full effect, though, he needs to also undermine Gi-hun in the eyes

00:51:45of the other players, so he waits until Gi-hun is surrounded by scared contestants and insists

00:51:51that Gi-hun must know what the next game is.

00:51:54"'Sir, you know what's next, don't you?'

00:51:58As a consequence, when the next challenge turns out not to be the honeycombs game, the

00:52:02other players blame him and rally around figures like Im Jong-dae, who will continue to push

00:52:07the games forward.

00:52:09Because Kang Noel refuses to stand aside and allow the organ harvesters to do their work,

00:52:14they begin violently intimidating her, first by forcing entry into her room and assaulting

00:52:19her.

00:52:20"'F-----g commie's got a lot of bite.'"

00:52:22Noel is a North Korean defector and, as such, has been derisively branded a commie by her

00:52:27enemies.

00:52:28The divide between North and South Korea has created deeply anti-communist attitudes in

00:52:33the capitalist South.

00:52:34It's not uncommon for politicians such as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yool, currently

00:52:39facing arrest for his failed attempt at enacting martial law, to label political enemies as

00:52:44communists in order to rally support against them.

00:52:48Midway through the season, surviving players are starting to dream of life outside the

00:52:52games, including Chung Joong-cha.

00:52:54She's already planning a dinner party and inviting everyone from her team to join.

00:52:59In the process, she finds out that her new friends all surprisingly live, at max, a half

00:53:03hour away from her.

00:53:04"'How on earth do we all end up living so close?

00:53:06That can't be a coincidence.

00:53:08This is fate!''

00:53:09She's right.

00:53:10It's probably not a coincidence at all.

00:53:12It's more likely that the recruiters spend most of their time in poorer neighborhoods,

00:53:17intercepting potential contestants via public transportation, like the bus Hyung Chu could

00:53:21take to meet up with them.

00:53:23In Thanos' Crew, a smaller storyline develops around the relationship between the soft-spoken

00:53:28Park Min-soo and his surrogate big sister, Sae-mi.

00:53:31As they head into the third and final game before all hell breaks loose in the dorms,

00:53:36Sae-mi warns Min-soo against trying to fit in with Thanos' crew, because he isn't like

00:53:40them, and from her perspective, shouldn't want to be.

00:53:43He's at risk of dying in the games, and needs to vote with her against them.

00:53:47"'You won't last in a place like this.'"

00:53:49In the following game, Mingle, Min-soo sadly proves her wrong when he turns his back on

00:53:54her in order to secure a place in Thanos' safe group of three.

00:53:57She survives also, having found a group of two to join, but clearly loses faith in Min-soo

00:54:02as a person.

00:54:03That said, it's debatable that Min-soo saved them both, as they could just as easily have

00:54:08wasted time wandering with other inseparable groups of two who refused to make the cutthroat

00:54:12sacrifices Thanos did.

00:54:14This line also winds up being darkly ironic, as Min-soo outlives Sae-mi during the XO massacre.

00:54:20One of the most heartbreaking storylines of the season is that of Geum-ja, who entered

00:54:24the game to pay off her son's debts, only to find him in there with her.

00:54:28Yong-sik carries a lot of shame due to how his debts have impacted his mother, yet votes

00:54:32to continue the games before the Mingle round in order to pay them off himself.

00:54:37During the game, he and his mother are separated, and it briefly seems as though he sacrificed

00:54:41her for his own survival.

00:54:43When it turns out they both survived, he cries to her and attempts to apologize for

00:54:47abandoning her.

00:54:48It's okay.

00:54:49We're both here.

00:54:50No, sweetheart.

00:54:51It's okay.

00:54:52We're both here.

00:54:53That's what matters.

00:54:54This isn't just about them surviving the game, but her accepting that even though she's had

00:54:58to bail out her son time and again, their mutual survival in the world is what matters

00:55:02most.

00:55:03It's a moment of total forgiveness that allows her to let go of the resentment that has been

00:55:07present throughout their time in the games.

00:55:10In the final episode of the season, Gi-hun and Hwang In-ho seemingly team up to take

00:55:15down the games once and for all.

00:55:17During the initial firefight, In-ho saves Gi-hun's life, and Gi-hun thanks him, leading

00:55:21the secret frontman to say this deliciously ironic line.

00:55:24After this is over, buy me a drink.

00:55:28This line could also be another subtle connection between In-ho and Oh Il-nam, the creator of

00:55:33the Squid Game competition.

00:55:34When Il-nam and Gi-hun meet outside the games for the first time in Season 1, the two share

00:55:39a drink on Gi-hun's dime.

00:55:41And when Gi-hun arrives at Il-nam's deathbed, the camera and script make a point of emphasizing

00:55:45when Il-nam asks Gi-hun to pour him a drink.

00:55:48Gi-hun clearly has a habit of unwittingly serving his enemies.

00:55:53Squid Game focuses on Song Gi-hun, a down-on-his-luck man who finds himself embroiled in a series

00:55:58of children's games with deadly consequences.

00:56:01But he's just one piece of a complicated puzzle.

00:56:04Oh Il-nam, Player 1 in the Season 1 games, is an old man with a brain tumor who occasionally

00:56:09appears to suffer from dementia.

00:56:11But while that all may be true, there's a lot more to him.

00:56:14In fact, Il-nam turns out to be an uber-wealthy moneylender and the originator of the games.

00:56:19But all that happens later, after Gi-hun believes he's responsible for Il-nam's death, then

00:56:23discovers that his friend was lying to him all along.

00:56:26On his deathbed, Il-nam tells Gi-hun why he invented the games.

00:56:30He explains his point of view, that the one similarity between the very rich and the very

00:56:34poor is that there's no longer any pleasure to be had in life for either of them.

00:56:38So he and his wealthy clients got together, talked it over, and created the Squid Games.

00:56:43What could we all do to finally have some fun?

00:56:49The first games happened in 1988.

00:56:52Though we don't know what was played, it's probably fair to say that the basics were

00:56:55there when they started.

00:56:57The first games that anyone can play and win, and literal death to the losers.

00:57:01In Season 1, we get a brief glimpse of the game logs going back to 1988, and clearly

00:57:06see that there's been just one winner each year.

00:57:09So even though there's the promise that more than one person can win, it's never happened.

00:57:13This is most likely by design.

00:57:15After all, the games can easily keep going until there are only two players left.

00:57:19Besides, if more than one person were to win, they could band together and go to the authorities,

00:57:24putting the whole enterprise in jeopardy.

00:57:26Song In-ho, the current frontman, won the games in 2015.

00:57:30In Season 2, we find out he had a sick wife who died in 2019, though he tells Gi-hun about

00:57:34it like it's happening presently.

00:57:36She was diagnosed with acute cirrhosis and needs a new liver.

00:57:39Most likely, In-ho entered the games to pay for her treatment after he was accused of

00:57:43taking bribes and let go by his boss.

00:57:45At least, that's what we think.

00:57:47In-ho is the very definition of an unreliable narrator.

00:57:50All we know for sure is that, despite winning the games and presumably a truckload of money,

00:57:55In-ho couldn't save his wife, and now he's the frontman.

00:57:58So somehow, in the intervening years, In-ho has become deeply cynical about humanity.

00:58:03Kang No-el is a sniper in the games, but before that, she was a soldier in North Korea.

00:58:08The officer, her boss at the games, finds her quite impressive.

00:58:11I couldn't believe you killed the team pursuing you with one rifle, and got past the fences

00:58:16at the demarcation line without any kind of help at all.

00:58:18What the officer doesn't mention is that No-el is a mother with a small child whom she had

00:58:23to leave behind in North Korea.

00:58:24She desperately wants to find her daughter, but it's been seven years.

00:58:28No-el understands what it's like to have no help.

00:58:30This is what resonated with her when she initially decided to join the games.

00:58:34She was going to be helping the hopeless by ending their misery.

00:58:37She still believes in that mission, but now she realizes there's more going on behind

00:58:41the scenes, and she doesn't like it.

00:58:43All we're doing is using their organs to help save others.

00:58:47What's wrong with that?

00:58:48Before he participates in the games, Gi-hun is broke.

00:58:51He drinks and gets in bar fights.

00:58:53He lives with his mother and seems to rely on her for most things, constantly asking

00:58:57her for money and getting frustrated with what she gives him.

00:58:59In fact, he steals her bank card and takes money out of her account.

00:59:03It's not the first time, either.

00:59:04It should be my birthday.

00:59:06Pin number changed on you, huh?

00:59:09Guess your mother finally abandoned you!

00:59:11Gi-hun knows her well enough to guess the new one.

00:59:13Though the money his mother gave him was for a birthday dinner with his daughter, he uses

00:59:17it to play the ponies, which appears to be his main occupation.

00:59:20This time, he wins big, but after promising his daughter a fancy dinner, he gets his pocket

00:59:25picked by a young woman, leaving him empty-handed once again.

00:59:28It's in this broken-down state that Gi-hun agrees to play Dokji with the salesman, walking

00:59:32away with some extra cash and the mysterious card with the squid game phone number.

00:59:36Later, when his mother tells him his daughter is moving to America with her mother and stepfather,

00:59:41it pushes him to call the number and sign on to the games in hope of keeping his daughter

00:59:45in his life.

00:59:46Gi-hun and the other players wake up in the dorm, ready to play.

00:59:50The first game is red light, green light, with a deadly twist.

00:59:53Over half of the players die on the field of play.

00:59:55As a result, a narrow majority of the players vote to stop the games.

00:59:59Returned unceremoniously to his life, Gi-hun goes to the police, but no one except Officer

01:00:03Wong Joon-ho believes his weird story.

01:00:06Meanwhile, Gi-hun's mother has been hospitalized with severe diabetes, but because Gi-hun canceled

01:00:11their health insurance, there's no money for treatment.

01:00:13You haven't been home in days now, out doing whatever it is you're doing lately.

01:00:18Now you're a good son, huh?

01:00:20Gi-hun returns to the games for the money to help his mom.

01:00:23Others have their own reasons for coming back.

01:00:25For example, Gi-hun's childhood friend, Cho Sang-woo, has stolen from his clients and

01:00:29is wanted by police.

01:00:30Kang Se-byeok, a North Korean defector like Noel, wants to get her little brother out

01:00:34of an orphanage and to pay someone to smuggle her parents from the North.

01:00:38The players' stories are all different, but they have one thing in common.

01:00:41They're all desperate for money.

01:00:43The games resume, and they're increasingly brutal.

01:00:46At long last, it's down to Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and Se-byeok.

01:00:49But before the final game, Sang-woo kills Se-byeok.

01:00:52Whether she would have made it to the end is debatable.

01:00:54Se-byeok was hiding a gash on her abdomen from the earlier Glass Bridge game and looked

01:00:58like she was close to bleeding out.

01:01:00Although Gi-hun begs him not to, in the final game, Squid Game, something they used to play

01:01:04together as children, Sang-woo stabs himself, asking Gi-hun to take care of his mother before

01:01:09he dies.

01:01:10Gi-hun wins the games, but returns home to find his mother dead.

01:01:14She was his reason for playing.

01:01:15So now what?

01:01:16For a year, Gi-hun suffers from crippling survivor's guilt, barely touching his winnings.

01:01:21Then he finds a new purpose.

01:01:22He wants to stop the games for good, if he can find them.

01:01:26Jun-ho has been looking for his brother, Wang In-ho, since he went missing in 2015.

01:01:30As he overhears Gi-hun fruitlessly trying to report the games and the hundreds of murders

01:01:34at the police station, Jun-ho spots the mysterious invitation.

01:01:38His brother had one before he vanished.

01:01:40So Jun-ho follows Gi-hun when he re-enters the games, then chokes out one of the guards

01:01:44and steals his jumpsuit, going undercover.

01:01:46Bring him to me alive.

01:01:48Jun-ho learns a lot behind the scenes, but it all comes to a head when he's confronted

01:01:52by the frontman at the edge of a cliff.

01:01:54The frontman takes off his mask and reveals himself to be In-ho.

01:01:58Jun-ho's brother tries to convince him to join him in the games, but Jun-ho refuses.

01:02:02So instead, In-ho shoots him in the shoulder and sends him tumbling off the cliff into

01:02:06the water below.

01:02:07In-ho, why?

01:02:09Fortunately, Jun-ho is picked up by Captain Park, but he falls into a coma, something

01:02:16he's just coming out of at the start of Season 2.

01:02:20Near Christmas, a year after winning the games, Gi-hun is drinking by the beach when a flower

01:02:24seller slips him a note from his gangbu, asking him to come to his building on Christmas Eve.

01:02:28Gi-hun believes Il-nam is dead, so when they are face to face again, he has one big question.

01:02:33Why did you do that to us?

01:02:36Il-nam, a gamesman to the end, is more interested in betting on whether an unhoused man downstairs

01:02:41will make it through the night.

01:02:42Il-nam, with his fatalistic view of humanity, bets the man will freeze to death.

01:02:46Gi-hun bets that he'll be saved.

01:02:48And in Il-nam's final moments, Gi-hun turns out to be right.

01:02:51Someone does come.

01:02:52Look at that.

01:02:53There's someone who cares.

01:02:56But Il-nam has died, and we don't know if he's aware he lost his final wager.

01:03:00What's certain is that his death means that the frontman has taken over the games.

01:03:05Gi-hun starts to use his money after Il-nam's death, and one of the things he uses it on

01:03:09is Sae-byeok's little brother, Kang-chul, and by extension, Sang-woo's mother, who runs

01:03:13a fish shop and dearly misses her son.

01:03:16Gi-hun gets Chul out of the orphanage and leaves him with Sang-woo's mother.

01:03:19The suitcase Gi-hun leaves with Chul is full of cash, along with a note saying it's the

01:03:23money he owes Sang-woo.

01:03:25After all, Sang-woo sacrificed himself for Gi-hun in the final game, even though Gi-hun

01:03:30wanted them to quit and walk away.

01:03:32Let's go together.

01:03:36As it turns out, Gi-hun couldn't have picked a better caregiver for Chul.

01:03:39He grows and thrives under her care, and she's no longer lonely.

01:03:43When the frontman tells Gi-hun to get on a plane bound for America, Gi-hun realizes he's

01:03:48being tracked.

01:03:49He gets a utility knife, finds the device behind his ear, and cuts it out.

01:03:53While there are certainly other ways the people from the games can get information about what

01:03:56he's doing and where he's going, Gi-hun has made it more difficult.

01:04:00Gi-hun counts this as a victory, and his determination to stop the games grows.

01:04:04Since taking out his tracker, Gi-hun has recruited a band of mercenaries run by his former bookie

01:04:09Mr. Kim.

01:04:10The crew have been tasked with finding the salesman.

01:04:12They've been trolling the city for two years without a sighting.

01:04:15You know what my wife says?

01:04:16I should find that motherf-----, get myself into the game, and bring the 45 billion won

01:04:21home.

01:04:22Finally, Mr. Kim and his associate, Choi Woo-suk, spot the salesman playing ddakji in the subway

01:04:26and follow him, observing his sadistic behavior from afar.

01:04:30Even though Gi-hun warns them not to, they decide to take him on.

01:04:33They get knocked out for their trouble, then come to, tied up in the salesman's apartment.

01:04:37There, the salesman has them play a sadistic game of rock-paper-scissors minus one, where

01:04:41they play two hands and then take one back.

01:04:44I was sitting there with two rocks, I couldn't hear it, but boss had scissors and paper!

01:04:50It looks like Woo-suk is done for, but Mr. Kim disqualifies himself, dying for his friend.

01:04:55A year after being shot, Jun-ho comes out of his coma and enlists Captain Park to look

01:05:00for the island where the games take place.

01:05:02But there are hundreds of islands in the area where Park found Jun-ho, and after two years

01:05:06of searching, they're still no closer to locating the games.

01:05:09Where the hell are you, mystery island?

01:05:12Jun-ho decides to give up the search.

01:05:14That is, until his partner pulls Gi-hun over and Jun-ho recognizes him.

01:05:18He traces Gi-hun to the Pink Hotel.

01:05:20He shows up there, and after some initial hesitation on Gi-hun's part, including a

01:05:24conk on the head for Jun-ho, they begin working together.

01:05:28After Mr. Kim dies, the salesman gets Woo-suk to tell him where Gi-hun is hiding.

01:05:32When he and Gi-hun are again face-to-face, the salesman tells his own story.

01:05:36He was working for the games incinerating bodies when they put a gun in his hand.

01:05:40After he killed his own father, a player, the salesman realized he'd found his calling.

01:05:45You con anyone who's almost at the end of their rope.

01:05:49I don't think that someone like you could ever understand what I need to say.

01:05:53The salesman proposes a game of Russian roulette, but without spinning the chamber between rounds.

01:05:57The salesman loses, but before he does, he tells Gi-hun that the key to the person he

01:06:02wants to talk to is in his pocket.

01:06:04In the pocket is an invitation to a club on October 31st.

01:06:07Before he goes to the club, Gi-hun gets a tracker implanted in his tooth.

01:06:11It seems like the perfect plan.

01:06:12Who would think to check his teeth for contraband?

01:06:15It's Halloween when Gi-hun shows up at the club, and everyone is wearing masks.

01:06:19This presents the perfect cover for a couple of masked guards to sneak in and steal Gi-hun away.

01:06:24Gi-hun gets into a limousine, and Jun-ho and his crew begin to tail them.

01:06:28But snipers quickly take out all their cars, leaving Gi-hun on his own.

01:06:32Realizing this, he does the one thing he can think of.

01:06:34Let me play the game again.

01:06:36The next thing Gi-hun knows, he's waking up in the dorm.

01:06:39As a returning winner, he knows something the others don't.

01:06:41When the first game, Red Light, Green Light, starts, he tries to warn the other players,

01:06:46but it doesn't go well.

01:06:47What exactly are you saying?

01:06:49That we're all gonna die playing Red Light, Green Light?

01:06:52Really?

01:06:53Then the first person gets shot, and suddenly, the players are hanging on his every word.

01:06:57Gi-hun also realizes the tracker has been removed from his tooth, and his survival is,

01:07:02once again, entirely up to him.

01:07:04But this time, there's a new wrinkle.

01:07:06After each game, the players vote on whether to put a stop to everything and leave, or

01:07:10to stay and continue playing.

01:07:12But once that giant hanging piggy bank begins to fill up, so many of the players are seduced

01:07:16by the money that a majority of them vote to stay.

01:07:19The same happens after the second game.

01:07:21But when they vote after the third game, there's a tie, further complicating things in a twist

01:07:25that feels like déjà vu.

01:07:27The frontman is posing as Player 1, using the name Oh Young-il.

01:07:30Meanwhile, Jun-ho, Woo-seok, and the team of mercenaries search for Gi-hun, who's now

01:07:36on the island, deep into the games, making their search all the more urgent.

01:07:40They divide themselves between two boats to cover more ground, and go off in different

01:07:44directions.

01:07:45Jun-ho and Woo-seok go with Captain Park, hot on the trail of Gi-hun's tracker.

01:07:49But instead of the tooth, they find the tracker in the tackle box of a random fisherman on

01:07:53a random island.

01:07:54Are you really going to sit here and let those people die?

01:07:56How long will you keep insisting on this ridiculous story?

01:07:59If it's real, bring me proof!

01:08:02Soon after, as the team checks out a possible entrance to the island complex, they get blown

01:08:06up and one of the mercenaries dies.

01:08:09And that's just the beginning.

01:08:10Later that night, one of the men catches Captain Park sabotaging their drone.

01:08:14He calls him out, and in a clue that was hidden in plain sight, Captain Park kills

01:08:18him like a trained professional and tosses the body overboard.

01:08:21Clearly, Captain Park is not the friend Jun-ho thought he was.

01:08:25After the third game, there's a 50-50 split of players who want to leave versus those

01:08:29who want to stay.

01:08:30There's also a brawl in the bathroom that results in several deaths, ensuring everyone

01:08:34is out for blood.

01:08:35But instead of turning it against the players who want to stay, Gi-hun gathers the people

01:08:39who want to leave and focuses their anger toward those working for the games.

01:08:43We're going to put an end to it all!

01:08:45They're going to pay for everything they put us through!

01:08:48When the lights go out, they hide as the players attack one another.

01:08:51Then, playing dead when the guards come in to shut it down, they ambush them and steal

01:08:55their guns.

01:08:56Gi-hun takes anyone who can use a gun and attempts a coup d'etat.

01:08:59They hold the soldiers off for a little while as they battle in the hallway leading to the

01:09:03front man's office.

01:09:04Gi-hun and his childhood friend, Jun-bae, split off and head for the control room.

01:09:08Meanwhile, Dae-ho is sent back to the dorm to collect ammunition from the pockets of

01:09:12the dead soldiers.

01:09:13Dae-ho!

01:09:14Dae-ho!

01:09:15Can you hear me?

01:09:16Where are those magazine soldiers?

01:09:17When Dae-ho doesn't come back, though, Yoon-ju, the transgender woman who leads the players

01:09:21in the battle, returns to the dorm to find Dae-ho, only to discover him cowering by the

01:09:26back wall with the player non-combatants.

01:09:28She's about to leave with the ammo herself when the soldiers swarm in.

01:09:31Jun-cha stops her from taking them on single-handedly, while almost all of the other players in the

01:09:36hallway die.

01:09:38Headed for the control room, Gi-hun and Jun-bae need help, so they call Young-il for backup.

01:09:43Young-il and two other players come to their aid.

01:09:45He finds them on the stairway in the management wing of the building, but they're pinned down

01:09:49by the game's soldiers.

01:09:50Young-il suggests going around the back, which seems like a great idea.

01:09:53They can fire on the soldiers from both sides, giving the players a chance to win the day.

01:09:58But as Young-il heads off, instead of firing at the soldiers, he shoots the two players

01:10:02who are with him.

01:10:03He then radios Gi-hun with a grim message.

01:10:05I'm sorry, Gi-hun.

01:10:08It's over.

01:10:12Now that Young-il is dead, he can return to being the frontman.

01:10:16Gi-hun and Jun-bae have surrendered.

01:10:18He then executes Jun-bae in cold blood.

01:10:21While that ending would be traumatic enough, there's more.

01:10:24In a brief post-credits scene, we see the doll that runs the red light green light game

01:10:28next to another boy doll as a railroad crossing sign turns from a red light to a green light.

01:10:33What could this post-credits scene mean for Season 3, and who will be left to play?

01:10:38Witness the consequences of your little game.

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