Squid Game 2 Review

Last Edited: Jan 10, 2025

Since I haven’t watched the first season of Squid Game, I may not be qualified enough to write a review on its second season. In reality, though, I may be in a relatively unbiased position because I didn’t have high expectations beforehand. Overall impression: I really enjoyed the show! Some parts of it (i.e. the voting scene) felt repetitive, but I can see why certain episodes lagged a bit.

Spoilers ahead! There were only 2~3 big twists in season 2, so these spoilers shouldn’t be too bad.

The Voting

Frankly speaking, this took up at least a third of the running time of season 2. At least, that’s what it felt like. Season 2 felt very political and it was meant to be that way; Squid Game is a mini-society that mirrors real-world politics, and the politics of the game have gotten more intricate with Ki Hoon rejoining the game. With the players now having the chance to vote whether or not to continue the games after each round, things get even more interesting.

A surprising number of players continuously vote yes because the prize money is not large enough. Their saying yes implies that they strongly believe in surviving the next round, which seems incredulous to me. The Russian Roulette in the first episode freaked me out; if I went through anything of that sort, I would be permanently traumatized and escape no matter the cost. Is the fact that the people who vote yes stay the majority throughout the games somewhat unrealistic? Maybe they are significantly less risk-averse since so many of them are gambling addicts. But this can’t be just it, since every element of the show is meant to be representative of (Korean) society as a whole.

This Korean architect YouTuber discusses how the voting process in Squid Game 2 symbolizes the pitfalls of public voting and the political division that comes after. Even the people who press the ‘yes’ button have their reasons, and you can’t just call them out; this is not how you do politics. Inevitably, too many players do this after the first two (or three?) rounds of voting, and all hell breaks loose. A very good prediction of the future of Korean politics.

Hyun-ju (Player 120, 조현주)

Speaking of people who had good reasons to want to continue playing, we have Hyun-ju, a former Special Forces soldier whose life fell apart when she came out as transgender. She needs the money to go to Thailand, finish the gender-affirming surgery, and start a new life. Hyun-ju’s character is handled very gracefully for a kdrama, considering the prejudices people hold against the LGBTQ+ community (perhaps in a more optimistic, positive light than real life).

The way Geum-ja takes in Hyun-ju’s identity is quite impressive. Geum-ja is a very old woman, and she initially crosses boundaries and makes everyone in the room noticeably uncomfortable when asking Hyun-ju about her trans identity. Over time, however, she sees how compassionate and caring Hyun-ju is and embraces her identity. This left a bit of hope for LGBTQ+ issues in Korea.

The Games

The two new games in season two were pretty good. Even better, the Six-Legged Pentathlon is a combination of five (or six) very cool games! Gonggi is the best game of all time. I can’t help but appreciate the background music for this one, the utter contrast between the games and the music never ceases to impress me.

Young-Il (Player 001, Front Man, 오영일) and Ki Hoon (Player 456)

The best twist of this season, and top-tier acting: having the Front Man himself join the game was quite delightful. On the one hand, Ki Hoon got too serious and did nothing but give a bunch of speeches. (that didn’t even work!) On the other hand, Young-Il made the show come alive. His appearance makes viewers wonder how he became the Front Man. He himself seems to have been a participant, and probably a winner. He is much more merciless than anyone else in the show, and all the scenes with Young-Il give you chills.

My prediction for season 3: Ki Hoon goes through the exact same thing Young-Il went through before becoming the Front Man. Young-Il and Ki Hoon seem to come from very different backgrounds, but I don't think Young Il was evil from the very start. Maybe Ki Hoon has a change of heart, maybe he doesn’t but pretends to fake it, but the only way for him to survive is to be one of the Pink Soldiers or the Front Man. Maybe he ends the games, maybe he makes them even more brutal. But bottom line: I think season three is going to get even better.