“Squid Game,” the Korean thriller/drama that took the world by storm in 2021, has returned at the end of 2024 for its second season and is expected to return once more in mid-to-late 2025 with its third season. “Squid Game” was created and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, who won an Emmy for his directorial work in Season One of the show. Season Two was released on Netflix on Dec. 26th, 2024, to much excitement by many fans worldwide. Season two boasted an even more star-studded cast than the initial season with the return of beloved actors such as Gong Yoo, Lee Byung-hun, and Lee Jung-jae, as well as an assortment of new actors such as T.O.P. and Jo Yu-ri, both former K-pop idols.
The basic premise of the show is that a large group of people in poverty and/or crippling amounts of debt are taken to a mystery island to play children’s games with the hopes of winning the prize money of 45.6 billion won (approximately 31 million USD). They play these games as entertainment for the rich and elite members of society. Squid Game is a critique of capitalism and not a very subtle one at that. In the first season, all the players are given the opportunity to leave the game or stay, and while the majority of the players vote to leave, almost all of them come back after realizing the reality of living in poverty and in debt is worse than dying on a mysterious Island and never having your loved ones know. Season One of “Squid Game” became a global sensation, becoming the most-watched non-English language show of all time. With the growing popularity of the show, the original message on class struggle and the harms of capitalism seemed to be left behind.
At the time of Season One’s release and the following months, Squid Game-related products and content were on the rise. Most shopping centers had something Squid Game related, the children’s toy kiosks at the mall all had little plushies of Squid Game guards and YouTubers recreated the games played in the show. The show was originally meant to critique the horrors of capitalism but became completely detached from that message and turned into marketable plushies and YouTube challenges for prize money. It became a sensation with kids despite the show’s incredibly dark and violent content. The main takeaway people seem to have taken from the show, rather than its discussion on the harms of capitalism, is just the fun games, bright colors and shapes. A prime instance of this detachment of the message from the show’s content would be Mr. Beast’s “Beast Games” on Amazon Prime. The show is a reality TV show inspired by the likes of “Squid Game” but completely misses the original meaning of the show. “Beast Games” is a show where regular people compete to play games to win 5 million dollars to produce entertainment for the mega-corporation Amazon to sell for a hefty profit. This show, while inspired by “Squid Game,” entirely misses the mark by turning these challenges from this dark dystopia into a reality without acknowledging the show’s original message.
In Season Two the show makes some changes to the rules of the squid game, with new games to play and an interesting twist where the players can vote at the end of each game if they wish to continue or not, where the majority wins. The latter addition to the show furthers the idea presented in Season One that life in the game where you may die a brutal and violent death is better than facing the horrors of their lives of debt in the real world. The different characters of the show portray different types of people struggling with debt. Some of the highlights include a mother and son duo who are there to pay off the son’s gambling debt, a rapper and drug addict who lost his money on a dog-themed crypto coin, a YouTuber who is in legal debts due to his promotion of said faulty crypto coin, a pregnant woman in debt also from this same crypto coin, a father who needs to pay for his sick daughter’s medical treatment, and a transgender woman who was fired for her gender identity and in medical debt from the various surgeries she has had. This season also dabbles with the implications of the “don’t give up” mentality. Many of the characters don’t want to leave the game as they view it as giving up, they have a mentality that “we’ve come this far, why give up now”, and the new rules introduced allow this season to really play with this idea. This ideology is something we see a lot in our society. Instead of stopping, people will continue doing things that harm them in the hope that their struggles will pay off.
“Squid Game” made its views on capitalism and class struggle very clear with little to no subtlety, and Season Two continues representing this idea. Alongside this, the show also seems to touch on how the original message of Season One was forgotten in exchange for the popularity of the games played throughout the show. The editing, cinematography and music within Season Two make it feel like the show is aware of this, particularly during the second game. The way the scenes are shot and the music that is included distract the viewer from the fact that if they lose they die. The music feels motivational, everyone is cheering when the players pass the Finish Line and they all jump for joy. Then, the camera pans out, you see them jumping in puddles of the blood of those who died and you remember this is not just a game. The way these scenes play out creates the feeling that the players within the game are forgetting the repercussions. The show frames the “six-legged race” game in a way where the viewer is excited and rooting for the characters in a way that feels heartfelt and like a community. The elements of these scenes frame the game in a way that feels like they’re trying to make you the viewer, and the players of the game, forget the reason they are playing these games – that being because they are willing to die here rather than face the realities of their financial debts, burdens and struggles out in the real world.
One of the highlights of Season Two is the new representation of different characters such as Cho Hyun-ju, the transgender character. This sort of representation of transgender people is incredibly uncommon amongst mainstream television, especially East Asian television. The way she is written is very well executed, her gender identity is not the focal point of her character and the way other characters connect with her feels incredibly realistic. Another highlight is the season in that it has several good and unexpected twists that you would expect from a thriller. The show also has various humorous moments that feel natural within the story despite its dark nature and that mostly do not distract from the contents of the show.
Season Two is not perfect, and neither was Season One. There were several writing issues that did not go away in the second season. The show’s writing has an issue with the show-not-tell rule, where the dialogue unnaturally explains elements of the show that the viewer would have been able to figure out. Another issue with Season Two is the character of Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim was the loan shark from Season One who was written as a threat to Gi-hun’s life. He was written to be cutthroat and heartless, even making Gi-hun sign a contract with his own blood. But in Season Two his character is completely rewritten; he becomes a comedic-style character. All the seriousness and intensity from Season One was forgotten, and he becomes a goofy leader of a small-time gang of hooligans. This change feels unnatural and jarring. The show’s ending also leaves something to be desired.. Season Two ends on a cliffhanger but not necessarily a good one. Season One left off on a cliffhanger that felt more fitting and conclusive while Season Two feels more like an episode ending rather than a season. Season Two ends without this round of the “Squid Game” even ending. Seasons Two and Three were created side by side meaning that whichever point they chose to stop Season Two was likely to feel incomplete. Regardless, only the release of Season Three will show where this story is heading next.