“Squid Game” was a global phenomenon and a cultural classic overnight when it aired in 2021 because of its deadly games and Netflix’s massive promotional campaign.
Since that inaugural season was such a hit, the hype for the second season was at an all time high when it began streaming on Dec. 26.
The first season did a great job of showing human nature and how far people were willing to go for an ungodly amount of money, $45.6 billion South Korean won (about $30 million in US dollars).
Season 2 opens a year after the events of the harrowing first season, where the protagonist Gi-hun is left to sit with the trauma from participating in the games. But it’s not a redemption arc when he returns to the real world. Instead, he wrestles with the consequences of his actions and the reality that he hasn’t really been able to get away from what he has experienced.
Gi-hun is no longer just a victim of circumstance as he has transformed into a symbol of resistance, promising to bring down the shadowy individuals behind the games and end this vicious cycle once and for all.
This shift in Gi-hun’s character lies at the center of the second season, which is less about an individual player’s experience than it is about the systems of power and greed that keep such games alive.
This season really amped up the central tension of the series, addressing the human cost of survival and moral compromises people make.
The overriding theme of this season is that societal inequalities are merely a symptom of a bigger empathy problem. In doing so, the show transcends the moral dilemmas of an individual player and moves deeper into political and economic forces that keep the cycles of poverty and violence going.
Similar to the first season, a new group of contestants are thrown together, all with their own backgrounds and reasons for joining the game. The new characters are often just as morally complex and deeply flawed as the original players, offering new insights into the show’s central themes.
The games themselves remain horrific, but they also take on a new dimension as they reflect the increasingly twisted nature of the human experience.
One of the most disturbing challenges this season involves some deeply complex moral dilemmas, placing the players into situations where they are much more pitted against each other and even farther from having their motivations clear.
Familiar characters also return for Season 2, but now they’re deeper and more intertwined.
There’s more emotional depth and development of the character Han Mi-nyeo, a somewhat erratic and unpredictable player from Season 1. Meanwhile, mysterious front man actor Lee Byung-hun reappears this season with significantly more screen time since being introduced as the actual head behind the mask that designed these sick games.
At the same time, Gi-hun is allowed more complexity throughout it. He is no longer a pawn in the game’s brutal system but an acting figure for justice. His journey this season signifies a movement from victim-hood to activism, and the inner battle he wages between vengeance and redemption is nuanced and deep. Gi-hun’s battle to unravel the truth behind the games leads him down a dangerous path.
Will he find out the nasty secrets of the people behind the games, or will he just be another gear in the system? Watch to find out.
The new season shows there is still a lot of story left in this universe, while also giving the fans a lot to work with until new episodes release later this year.
Netflix stated the final season of the series will be released later this year on June 27. Will all the loose ends be tied up nicely or will it end in chaos this summer?