In defense of Red Light Green Light. I think making it the first game was perfect. 1. It gave a false sense of confidence for player 456 that he can help to save lives due to knowing what to expect. 2. It's a nod to the change that we experienced in season 1 where the fun was replaced by fear. It's the only game where you do not see the guards with guns. You still assume it's just a kid's game. That you'll even notice the guards only carry guns after the first game once the players know the actual danger and risk. It allowed player 456 to get to a "this is not happening again" space where he saved people's lives and got loved and hated. Loved for saving people. Loved for his knowledge and experience. Then hated for not letting enough people die for more money. Hated for not enjoying the money. Hated for not knowing what's next. It's a perfect setup. Any other game would be an immediate show of life or death and the fear would kick in immediately.
every entertainment is cash grab 😂 of course for money not for the viewers nice blue eyes😅 i think this term is just silly and saying something just for the money,of course they make . movies new musics etc to get more. 😅
@@Sorozatfuggoseg That's true, but in all seriousness, this was initially supposed to be a "limited series". A lot of Korean shows only have 1 season (of like 20+ episodes). So when Netflix saw how popular this became they asked the writer for more. That I think would fall into being considered a cash grab because the original plan shifted once they noticed more money could be made.
@@SENATORPAIN1actually i feel like their irony is a lot more interesting to combat that societal viewpoint on minority communities like transgenders. Like the way rhat Dae-ho was consistently boasting about his past in the marines, youd think in the final fight theyd give him that time to shine right?? The twist in expectations from Hyun-Ju being the actual one to take initiative while Dae-Ho has a PTSD meltdown is probabaly not just to make "the trans characyer look better" , i think it challenges how theyre treated by society based on their identities, Especrially in Korean society. its easy to figure out who would be better respected between a trans-woman and a solider, because thats how they outwardly express themselves.
I think the Front Man being in the game is quite obvious. He and Gi Hun were both winners of the Squid Game but they two are polar opposite in their philosophy in life. By joining the game, he was able to observe Gi Hun closely and try to understand his mentally why he wanted to end the game and in the same to prove Gi Hun was wrong about everything.
This is honestly my main problem with the season. 001 being infiltrated is SO obvious, it literally what happened in season 1, and for the life of me, I cannot understand how this guy would not be more skeptical about him. It is so in front of his face.
While an obvious parallel to season 1, I felt he was more compelling because of the reasons you said. It was compelling seeing that he may have a conscience and did not like seeing people die in front of him. Unlike season 1, he wasn’t smiling the whole time like the first villain. He still lived by his cynical view of the world, but being in the game yourself is different than watching it. The anticipation came from waiting for him to reveal his true colors and how he “gaslighted” (unsure if it is the wrong word for this situation) gi hun the entire time. I was just hoping Gi-hun would sense something was up and recognized his world view and cadence as he talked.
Idk I really like season 2. Everyone hates set up seasons until the last season comes out and it pays off. The characters are great and I like that you can tell that the frontman is trying to convince gi-hun to change his way of thinking while gi-hun is convincing the frontman to ditch his nilhism. The games this time around are really entertaining too. I get why people think it’s anticlimactic but I still enjoyed everything leading up to the ending
You said everything I thought in a nice concise way. Thank you. I really did love the two teams we focused on and they accepted influence from each other.
exactly. I loved the psychology of the characters and the realism behind their acting and actions. it actually felt like I was there with them. I don't understand why some people dislike it.
@ maybe because season 2 felt more grounded and less of a spectacle than season 1 did. While I get it, I feel that misses the point of the show. We shouldn’t want more death and gore, but I am hearing more comments like that and seeing articles of why people do. One person I watched on TH-cam said some characters should have died to raise the stakes a bit and improve it from a writing standpoint. And while she wanted more strategy and psychological stuff, I feel we got it with the season finale. Just them deciding to have the revolution and see how people are affected by it raises the stakes. Someone dying doesn’t always do that. Seeing how someone reacts to a situation like what we saw with the ex-marine does.
It does annoy me that the protagonist never though to himself I could use my money to help bring people out of poverty so they would less tempeted to join Squid Game. He could have made that hotel into a homeless shelter that helps people get back on there feet. The guy devotes so much time to revenge that completely ignores the fact that there other ways to attack Squid Game besides using guns. I get the concept of having blood money but at the end of the day underground gambling is always going to exist, you can't stop it but you can reduce it.
it is good to remmeber the person he was from the start of season 1,where his addiciton to gambling lead him to the squid games in the first place, and how he never got on that flight to see his daughter at the end, whcih is more proof that even after winning his nature of reaching for somwthing bigger and better will sort of always be there inside him.
Part of the reason I don’t hate GiHun’s CHARACTER (maybe not actually him as a person lol) so much is because it makes sense for him. He’s technically the protagonist, but I’ve never once seen him as this great person. Ultimately, he fights for a side that aligns more with our morals, but he’s ultimately driven by selfishness as well, and on top of that is sort of stupid (how could he not see Sang-Woo was betraying them earlier??) anyways, he’s very nuanced for a protagonist, sooo idk what the original point of this comment was but 👍
@jholmes553 it's implied Gi-Hun has barely touched his earnings. He's certainly not paying rent to hide out in the hotel and I would be surprised if it cost him even 2 million to pay the guys watching the subway out of the 31 million equivalent US dollars. That's still tens of millions he has to spare that he's made clear he has no interest in spending for himself
the purpose of the frontman being in the game, i think, is because he wanted to experience how it feels like being in the games (again) to see if he could still feel comradeship and sympathy for the people dying there.. that's how i read it. because you can see moments where it feels like he actually contemplates about it or where it looked like he actually showed kindness to his team. i think the tension was more for us viewers to wonder whether he can actually be a good guy in the story or whether he remains evil.
Naah I’m pretty sure it was to monitor Gi Han and make sure his plan to stop the games doesint work out. That’s why he made friends with him right from the start
@@Martiizzer that's definitely part of it too. but i just feel like that's the "too obvious" direction so it would be more interesting if he had a deeper reason than the one we would all automatically think from the start
Ill nam in the first season tells him that its more fun as a competitor than a viewer. Maybe that is why he joined the game plus to manipulate gi hun at the same time
@@MaybeCanNotBeespecially since he went from wanting the games to continue the first time to just pressing x all of the other times. He also didn’t secretly smirk or smile (at least from what I saw) when people died. Compared to season’s 1 villain, he did not have fun doing this. At least in my opinion. But part of his motivation was playing head games with gi hun. It feels like Snow with Katniss. I feel inho respects gi hun even though he doesn’t agree with him. They are foils to each other. Makes it compelling.
He wanted to break Gi-hun. He took alot more risks to do so but he ultimately believed that all the players are inherently selfish, hence why after every game there was a vote and every time they failed.
In terms of empathizing with 011 (squid guard lady), I think the point is that even the guards are a part of the same system that fucks over the people in the games. She has the same struggles and issues but is instead on the guards side rather than on the players side. Remember the times where the squid guards were unmasked and everyone is like "you're just a kid omg". And I feel like I can empathize her knowing her story but also feeling like if it wasn't her, it would've been someone else anyway. Is that necessarily right? no but I enjoy that grayness in her character. IF ONLY THEY WOULD EXPLORE IT MORE!! heres hoping for s3
S3 is most likely coming fall/winter. Def not summer. There’s a lot of competition for returning Netflix shows during the summer. SG is a stand alone show. Yall saying how quickly the show is returning are also neglecting the fact that it’s not gonna be a full season of SG. We are likely getting 3-4 extra episodes.
No-eul was a highly skilled North Korean soldier who defied her superior, ultimately defecting to South Korea at the cost of losing her daughter. Seven years ago, she was recruited by the Squid Game officers due to her expertise with firearms. When she discovered the true nature of her role, she focused on maintaining her sanity by ensuring that eliminated players were truly dead, sparing them the horrors of being exploited for underground organ harvesting. The hope of reuniting with her daughter kept her grounded, and her encounter with a sick child and her father reignited her determination to keep that hope alive. Since she had been with the Squid Game organization, she was there when Gi-hun won his turn because when they ran across each other in the stairwell, she remotely recognized him.
I wonder how they pick who gets to be a guard and who gets to play the game. Player 120 also turns out to be a very skilled special forces soldier, but she is not offered to become a guard... She probably wouldn't accept the job though, she is too emotionally intelligent.
I noticed a strong paternal theme in Squid Game. In Season 1, this theme was evident in Gi-hun’s relationship with his daughter and his mother. Even Player 001 mentioned that Gi-hun reminded him of his son, treating Gi-hun as such throughout their interactions. In Season 2, the focus seems to shift toward motherhood as a central theme. Jun-ho’s mother feels guilt over pushing away her stepson, In-ho, who ultimately becomes the Front Man. Sang-woo’s mother exemplifies unconditional care, fully embracing her role as Cho-eul’s guardian. There’s also the mother-son duo, where the mother is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her son safe. Lastly, Player 222, the young pregnant woman, represents the potential for new life. If she survives, she’ll become a mother, further emphasizing this maternal thread. I believe Player 222 could either be the sole survivor among the players or saved with others if Jun-ho’s team successfully infiltrates the Squid Game compound. Her pregnancy could play a pivotal role, with her baby symbolizing hope, renewal, and rebirth amidst the darkness of the games. Then there’s No-eul, Pink Squid 011, who tragically lost her baby after defecting to South Korea. She might play a key role in helping Player 246 escape or could end up adopting his ailing child if he do not make it out alive.
Imo the purpose of the frontman being in the games is first, like you said, to keep the games going and keeping the protagonist on check. But second and more importantly, since he had already played the games before and is a previous winner himself, he wanted to witness by himself the downfall of the protagonist, as someone who was in the same conditions but had a totally different outcome and mindset. I think he is intrigued by the thought process of the protagonist while at the same time waiting for him to make a wrong decision or do something that proves that they are not so different after all. The front man also put on this entire show and got close to the protagonist to make the betrayal more impactfull: "you were fooled by a fellow player not once but twice" and maybe that will make him question or even resent and change the good natured heart and good faith. So yeah in conclusion the role of the infiltration of the front man is imo very important and I think we'll see the aftermath in season 3.
The "squid girl" is a North Korean defector (like Sae Byuk in season 1) who entered the games to be able to afford to get her young daughter out of North Korea.... the actress is apparently quite famous in south korea hence they have a lot of focus on her for the korean audience. She's just as in debt as any of the other participants and she also serves as a backstage look at the guards/staff of the games. The marine that you mentioned I would imagine when he heard gunshots it triggered PTSD of whatever he had been through in battle/war or whatever and just shut down completely. The front man entering the games I think was mostly to mess with Gi Hun who had asked to re-enter the games. I would imagine to gain his trust and then have him killed off towards the end or something - mind games can be killer lol. The mother and son pairing are probably going to be "dealt" with in season 3 as I think he's hoping it will be a gut punch that they got so far into the games and then die nearer to the end (I think they're continuing with the rest of the games in season 3). Technically, the guards, or squids as you call them are pretty much in exactly the same situation as the players - all in debt and it shows how desperation can make people do horrific things - which I would imagine would even more so explain why so much attention was paid to 011. There is nothing to say that some of the guards may or may not have been in the games previously too. The voting after each game emphasised (to me at least) how desperation can make people make decisions the viewer wouldn't want to make. It also indicates that gambling and greed may well have played a part in a lot of their decisions to stay or leave. I would imagine season 3 will continue on with the rest of the games... the boy doll as far as I have heard online is a childrens' character along with the female doll and the ending I believe is a hint at a game for season 3. If the games weren't continuing I would imagine the front man would have shot Gi Hun as well as his friend at the end of season 2 if they were just going to stop the games there. My guess is that Gi Hun will be forced to continue playing - and in the mind of the front man, witnessing his best friend being shot would have broken his spirit and felt more torturous to continue playing until the end of the games or his death (whichever came first lol)
Best response ever 😌👌 aside from one point (that maybe some of the guards played the game, meaning won and are millionaires) which sounds unlikely, I fully agree with everything else you said!!!
I'm pretty sure it was implied that the ex-marine was just suffering from PTSD, he wasn't bullshitting. The way he got terrified that Hyunju was gonna hurt him when he was up against the wall, despite her only approaching to grab the stuff - you could only assume he's been through a similar situation where he has been severely hurt mentally. His reaction wasn't of a normal person being scared, it was very clearly a reaction from someone who has suffered through trauma. The buildup to his anxiety can also prove that - he knew how to shoot well until he got triggered, and then he started fumbling and dissociating.
Oh it makes sense but at the same time, when they were planning the attack and explaining how to use a gun, he looked really confused and didn't grab it "correctly" at all. So maybe he's a fake ex army guy and didn't do the typical military service ? It could also make sense because in Korea, there is a pride in doing your military service
@marthanana2612 maybe, but the guns they used were a specific kind that he probably was not used to or had handled before. Hyunju knew how to handle it because she had been in the special forces. - I still believe he's an exmarine simply because his reaction so closely resembled a PTSD trigger attack. PTSD can also make you suppress a lot of things, which could include but is not limited to, forgetting how to handle certain weapons. When Hyunju came for the ammo, he was curling up against the wall and pleading for her to not hurt him, despite her being calm and lowering herself to appear less intimidating. I think it would be a weird spin if that wasn't him reacting to a situation that resembled a traumatic event in his life.
@@marthanana2612PTSD causes amnesia to block out the main roots of your trauma, i believe his memory of knowinf how to use a gun was supressed from it
I guess I'm the target audience because while I do see some of the flaws you point out... i still LOVED every episode of season 2! I was on the edge of my seat every episode just like season 1!
Agreed! And I know this season will be much stronger after 3 comes out, as well since the director said they were initially written as one long season that was split in two.
I predict that the dad with the little girl in the hospital sustained a non-fatal wound at the hands of 011, and she’s going to help him escape in the end.
I think the same, the guard that shot the dad had a triangle mask just like guard 011, and for a split second just before shooting, the guard changes the aim, from the heart to the right shoulder
Even though S1 is as perfect as it gets, I really felt that it needed at least a 2nd season. It just doesn't feel right to leave the story there. I don't need a cookie cutter tie everything up at the end story, but to me the real interesting stuff happens after Gi-Hun wins, S1 is the perfect set up for that. So far, I really loved S2. I think it is a very logical continuation, Gi-Hun is consumed by revenge and wants to do something about the games. He decides to use his money to fund an operation to track down the game and bring it to an end with brute force. In the end, this fails miserably. Retrospectively, it is easy to see the futility in Gi-Hun's plan. For one, everything about the games was thought out and controlled, the people who run it clearly have unlimited funds. Of course they have some plan to make sure the winners of the game don't succeed with a revenge plot. It could even be part of the game. Before his death, Il-Nam asked Gi-Hun multiple times if he still believed in the good nature of people. The entire series is a battle of Gi-Hun's unwavering believe in the good nature of people and the game's cynical outlook that people are nothing more than worthless animals for the most part. I think that in the end of S2, Gi-Hun contradicted these values. He was willing to step away at the final game when he won against Sangwoo, forfeiting all the money, as those were the rules during that Squid Game. He only won because Sangwoo ctraltdlt himself. Yet, in S2, he was more than willing to kill, and let others be killed, to further his goals. Take for instance his Russian Roulette with the recruiter. He could have used that gun to incapacitate him, take him to the cops, whatever, but instead he looked him in the eyes when he turned the gun on himself. Of course, we can all understand the emotion, considering what the recruiter put him through. But, it goes directly against his own ideals that humans are good by nature, he did it out of blood lust, which clouded his thinking, he could've used the recruiter far better alive. And the best example of it is when he lets many people on his own team get brutally killed during the night in order to stage a rebellion. He calls it a small sacrifice that is worth it. That goes against everything he stood for in S1, he hated Sangwoo for doing exactly that. Another point to consider is this, even if Gi-Hun was successful in his revolution, what then? Even if it was the end of the games, all those people would still be miserable, hunted down by the state/maffia/etc. So is that even a worthwhile cause? What if Gi-Hun had used his money to help the root causes that make people so desperate that they are willing to play the games? Like set up charities for refugees from North-Korea, children with diseases, pregnant people with money problems, etc. Wouldn't you save a lot more people like that? So then, was Gi-Hun's plot for revenge a 'good' cause? Maybe it wasn't, maybe there is a more sinister side to Gi-Hun, instilled, or uncovered, by the trauma he experienced. Maybe this was more so a quest to feel something again, like Il-Nam said, to have 'fun'. And not to play the games, but to play 'the game against the game', the 'hero-game' as the Frontman called it.
Exactly, for me the fact that the front man was this time in the games and trying to read what is he thinking at each given time, even more when interacting with ‘player 456’ as he calls him, was THE BEST part of season 2
I think the biggest problem with Korean shows is their side characters. There is always the stereotypical archetypes: the mean girl, the bully, the middle aged unreasonable woman, the old senior citizen, etc. I think if they fleshed out some of those side characters and give them depth, any show can feel different than what’s already out there. But this is a good sequel. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I personally disagree with your opinion on multiple characters. First of all, I believe it was done because by now, we know how the games really work and how our main character and the masked man wouldnt die to them. So, we had more characters to care about. Secondly, I believe in my soul that the writers are setting up multiple survivors in s3.
i didn’t mind that our favs didn’t die in s2 because s2 expanded the universe that squid game exists in and it naturally slowed down the pacing of the games. our main characters all survived until around the 4th game, keep in mind at this point they’ve only completed 3.
Just finished watching Squid game season two and I'm both satisfied and frustrated. Satisfied by what I was given but frustrated because it ended on a cliffhanger and I want more.
I’m pretty sure the front man was there to keep the best friend alive (he killed that guy in the mingle game even though he knew HE couldn’t lose so he purely did it to keep the friend alive )so he could kill him later to break gi-hun
I think yall are just too attached to the characters in season one, if anything I preferred the characters in season 2 I think a larger cast makes sense in a show that takes place in a death game with so many players, imo I think the lesser characters would have been a waste. I also don’t understand how ppl can’t understand that ofc some characters have the same archetype! We’re supposed to see how different ppl with similar personalities react to the pressure of the games, the writers of squid games could easily write new archetypes so the fact that they didn’t means it’s intentional. I think people are being too harsh on this season due to the random success of the first season.
YES!!!@!! in my opinion the amounr of characters and compelling dynamics kept me way more intrigued with rhis cast rather than the close-knit ones that we focused on more in the first season, donr get me wrong i LOVEVE them a lot but season 2's new route of characters were more realistic considering the amounr of people + entertaining and its interesting how characters of similar tropes act differently than what was seen before
Ex Marine kid is clearly having a PTSD episode In depth backstory for each character wasn’t quite as necessary for this season as we’ve already experienced what kinds of scenarios lead to someone entering the games in season 1 and rehashing that would be a bit of a waste of the runtime I can barely remember the main character’s name I just call them by their numbers, genius move on the part of the creator in my opinion, as many of my friends and family also struggle with the names not in common in the west Backstory for the squid girl and the dad is clearly just setting up for season 3. She’s there to find her daughter (who was stranded in North Korea) as I’m sure the people that run the games are some of the most well connected people in the world.
001 is playing some egotistical, gambling type game similar to the recruiter. We don’t know where he stands at all and at multiple points it really felt like he was almost trying to make Gi-Hun understand some of the logic behind why the games exist and what they provide to the world. It’s probably the most entertaining games he’s had in years.
I think the reason a lot of the side characters are still alive in season 2 is the fact that in season 1 alot viewers grew attached to most of side characters. Fans were begging them to bring those characters back to season 2 which wouldnt make sense. Maybe for now the director is just extending their life line to keep fans happy and in season 3 i bet they are going to be killed off. I dono.
I think the main difference is in season 1, it was about trying to survive the game cause we know after everyone coming back to continue the game, that the games were definitely not stopping. Season 2 was about trying to stop the games from continuing in order to save every life. There is deffinitely a different feeling between the plot of season 1 and 2
My marine man has PTSD clearly girl don’t insult him that way😭this season i felt wasn’t the same HOWEVER it showed so much growth. it showed many issues in the world. yes there’s less backstory to characters i wish we did get that but this show is going to end in a way i’m sure makes season 2 all the worth of being that ‘unfinished’ feeling-because it IS unfinished!
For 40:00, I think that while the front man was safe, his teammates weren't. There was only one other team in the room, so if his team failed they could all be shot while he would be left alive and go back behind his mask. And then the rest of the players would just assume that they had failed.
I feel like the biggest issue imo was that they focused a lot more on the other characters than the main character. Like my guy barely got any screentime and the side characters did.
I thought it was better than season 1, or at least better than expected. It would have been too easy and much more repetitive if they had just did “select people, play games, lather, rinse, repeat. The tension, pacing, and acting, to me, was great. On another note, the creator/writer/director intended for it to be one full season, and Netflix made the decision to split the season into 2and 3.
I agree with a lot of your criticisms tbh. The voting being so close each time and them always completing the games with 1 second remaining got tedious too. I think the Front Man was just trying to get Gi-hun to understand his perspective of the games - you can't save everyone.
39:25 I did think this while watching but I quickly realized that they'd just kill everyone else in his team and let him be safe, same as the tug of war game in the first squid games, the old man wasn't attached to the rope but everyone else was.
I had close to no problems with this season. The discover and mystery aspect is the biggest part, and a second part is never going to be quite the same. This is as good as it possibly could have been I think
I agree with the comments, you definitely missed the point of this season. From your own admission, there was a shift AWAY from the games this season, which was all done by design. This season focused on the opposing views of Seong Gi-hun and the Front Man (as the main plot). While the Front Man was there to ensure the games continued without any issues, he was also there to challenge Seong Gi-hun, in a battle of ideologies. He wants to assert that his worldview, and way of acting, are superior and just. That's why he smiles when Gi-hun decides to sacrifice his own people for the greater good (during the special game), bending his morals. The Front Man believes that the games are a way to rid trash from this world, so it's all for the greater good. On the other hand, Seong Gi-hun believes in the love and compassion of humanity. This is shown time and time again, even in Season 1. He helps those in need, worries about the safety of others and desperately tries to save everyone. From a utilitarian perspective, which I feel the Front Man subscribes to, Gi-hun's way of acting is illogical. Why help people who are a stain to society, when it would be better to wipe away those blemishes, and reward those who act accordingly? It would benefit the majority of people if you just get rid of the leeches and addicts (in the Front Man's eyes). I assume that he's possibly also threatened by Gi-hun's view, because as a fellow winner of the games, he went to the dark side, while Gi-hun DID NOT. Maybe this terrifies him, and he'd like to prove that him being evil WASN'T his fault, but a matter of circumstance. That Gi-hun really is the same. There's a lot more explored in this season, that I find so interesting, but I wanted to explain the main angle for this season (in my opinion).
I understood why it took years for a 2nd season. It was well crafted, well thought of and well written. A worthy sequel, still felt fresh, but they need to stop doing cliff hangers.
While i agree on the bully and crazy woman being the exact same (thanos is a little better imo), I cant agree with the rest just because of how different they are even if you can sorta vaguely put them into boxes but thats also an easy thing to do when you're attempting to do so. Obviously if they go overboard and just make the exact same character personalities like the bully and crazy woman, its an issue but the rest seem like a nitpick to me. Just my respectful opinion tho!
I love your review of Season 2. The creator and director said the following: “Today, unfortunately, in Korean society, the gender minority is a group that is not as accepted widely within society, which is why I created the character Hyun-ju as a male to female transgender woman.” “In the beginning, we were doing our research, and I was thinking of doing an authentic casting of a trans actor.” Hwang soon found, however, that there were “close to no actors that are openly trans” in South Korea. This was his explanation of the casting in an interview he had with TV Guide.
I think if they would have had at least one more game I would have been more happy but I still enjoyed this season for what it was! I also agree that there was a lot of people to keep track of this time around and it would’ve been nice to focus more on a few! Love your videos as always ❤
I agree with you 10000% percent. I thought the girl who was friends with the trans woman (who was my highlight too, btw.. she is such a great character) would hit hard but I was like: Oh no not her.. =( ... ah well.. *shrug* ...while in season 1... Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok DESTROYED me. I was sobbing like a baby. I think they kinda tried to recreate that but it didn't happen. I also liked the games most and don't care too much about the rebellion but how they made me care about the characters was the best thing in s1. They stuck with you. This season I think would have been better if e1 and 2 would have been 1 episode, more focus on the character backstories well balanced with games and THEN end the season with a cliffhanger that 001 steps in with the final vote because that was the best twist imo but way too early. Then have s3 start with 001 bonding with the group, two more games, start the rebellion but maybe also let the games continue for those who want to while maybe the rebellion group gets kicked out or forced to watch or sth evil idk, I just hope it's better paced and not boring or predictable. (plus: I don't care at all about the pink sniper girl)
I agree 🙈 at first I was like is it the pregnant girl? No .. oh well I don't know her 😂 Ali's death was devastating. The transwoman was amazing. I fell in love with her and him at the same time. She was soft and sweet, yet at the same time such a bad bish! Season 3 has to be amazing!
@@robertamihokova6366 yeees same! I thought it was the pregnant girl and felt awful but then it wasnt her and I was relieved and I couldnt remember who that other girl was D:
@@Bunny11344just curious what about them was unlikable? I personally thought Junhee (the pregnant girl) in the games added a great aspect as she has more to loose if she doesn’t make it out alive. The boyfriend sucks but also knowing that she’s keeping the baby, what is he willing to sacrifice to make sure Junhee and the baby get out? You may not like it but It’s a great human element.
@@ashleyking1146 it doesn’t bring more sympathy for me just cause she is. Her character itself was rude. She’d be more likeable if she was more polite towards the older lady who’s been helping her. Don’t get me started with her baby daddy I wish it was him that went instead of thanos
first of all, i respect different opinions. but tbh, i love s2 more than s1. the reason is simple. if i am given the chance to watch the whole season again between s1 and s2, i would choose s2, because s2 is more entertaining. i had to skip several diaglogues and sequences in s1 because i was bored but in s2, i never skipped any scene.
I would put season 1 over season 2 purely for the shock value of not knowing what to expect and quickly finding out how gruesome things could get. But I do think Season 2 was good, though some storylines felt abandoned at times and some sequences lasted longer than I'd liked.
It was good. Anyone with a brain cell know there was never ment to be sezon 2. It was forced by s1 success, based on that s2 is bether then it has right to be. Good fun.
I honestly dont think squid game was meant to be one season and that's it given how episodes 8 and 9 wrapped of season 1 mainly cause why would they wrap up the cop's story with him just dying lol.
Real and theres still so much mystery to be explored in the games system itself, like how could other humans (the guards) justify their murders against people who are revealed to be JUST like them??? Season 2 answers this with Guard 011.
Personally I thought the voting had nothing to do with having an actual choice, but just the illusion of having a choice. So that the game makers can keep saying to themselves; see, we don't force them to be here, they want to be here. But what choice does one have when one can choose to live in cruel circumstances that will only lead to misery and death or the games? I see it as a criticism of how in society we like to think that people in poverty end up there because of poor choices they make (if only they wouldn't buy so many coffees at Starbucks or they just need to work harder etc.) and not due to how the system that we live in works. But by making it look people have a choice, no one has to look ar or fight the system and so the system can be kept in place.
idk for how phenomenal and unique the first season was i think this one lives up to the expectations. it’s different, it actually expands on the story, there are lots of political metaphors still, and the use of filmography and music was amazing imo
To be honest, all interesting characters in season 1 were surviving till the marbles-game and then till glass bridge. After the glass bridge (last game), surprise, surprise only the main characters survived.
I do agree that there was too many characters to keep track, plus I would've liked more background on some of the character. I like your honest opinion.
My theory for those who are disappointed in season 2 is the burden of expectations. By now the stories haven’t came out of no where like the first time. I thought it did a good job balancing the same “feelings” and spirit but the thoughts invoked in the story line have taken us further from season 1. I thought that’s a big win.
Front man also wanted to help Ki-hoon win the 2nd and 3rd games as well. There's gotta be a reason why he ended up shooting only his friend at the end with him just watching.
I feel that this whole thing is to build 456 into the front man character. Their tragic past is similar and I feel that more will be shown on the front man past the showing that he at one point did the same as 456. Trying to beat the system after winning, only to realise there's no beating the system. If you can't beat them, join them. Season 1: lose your best friend playing and winning the game Season 2: try to go against the game creators and losing your best friend again
For all its eventual writing disasters, LOST taught writers how to get people invested in their ensemble characters in its first 2 seasons. SG S1 did this masterfully with the first 2 episodes, especially showing their lives after deciding to leave the game. SG2 seems to have thrown this entirely away save from a tiny glimpse into the theme park characters. See also: WestWorld Season 1 vs … all the other ones.
Considering the show was supposed to only have one season I do think that it was a great sequel. I can only imagine writing something intended for one season and people loving it so much that you have to write another season. So I think they did a great job.
Season 1 was a complete story from start up until Gi Hun decided not to board the plane. In essence, his final meeting with Oh Il-nam and the bet he won against him then was the closure that allowed him to move on. It was then he took steps to rectify his mistakes and try to honor the favors asked of him from those he bonded with. It was over then.
Side note for number 100, his number appears in the mid-credit scene, but it's almost certainly not the same guy or the guy from movie 1, so I think the next season will go into the history of past Squid Games as that scene looks like a flashback, because the numbers on those people don't correspond with anyone we've seen so far
I heard that this was already a three season contract with this show. That being said, it makes more sense to continue this show considering how you see the revolution aspects of this show. I liked seeing it as more grounded and seeing that no matter what Gi hun does to save people, people will make sure he and everyone with him always loses. And I am sorry. The villain this season was compelling. Was astounded about how much In-ho did to stay on Gi hun’s side. The amount of times I doubted myself while still waiting in anticipation for him to reveal his true colors. I liked him more than the first season’s villain.
I agree that there was the perfect moment to kill off the mom and have the son be responsible. To me it just says that most of these deaths are coming in season 3, but structurally it feels strange to follow so many characters and have so few die by this point. I did love this season though. It would do them well to just advertise it as part 1.
im pretry sure he died in the final season where he says soemrhinf like "wait dont shoot i have a daughter thats sick---" before gettinf killed ruthlessly in tje rebellion
The scenes with the opposite side planning an late night ambush couldve easily been survived, just agree to vote to continue to play but on the voting day just vote to leave 🤷🏻♂️
The beginning with the recruiter was some incredible TV and I will never forever that rock paper scissors game he forced those two men to play. That was incredible
As for the purpose of front man being in the game.... I think he has a huge interest in Gi-Hun and see that they have a lot in common. And especially after Gi-Hun was willing to sacrifice all those people who wanted to get out just so he could reach the control room and get his vengeance, it shows how selfish he really is. I also think that maybe the front man wants Gi-Hun to he the next front man.
This video was gas 🔥🔥. I felt fuckin’ crazy listening to my friends hype this up whereas it left me longing for season 1. My thoughts and feelings are basically the same as yours. The reused plot points, reused (and wayyy less developed) characters, the lack of stakes, lack of tension, lack of psychological warfare, lack of interesting commentary on capitalism and human nature, season two had almost none of the sauce that made season one phenomenal. Overall I think the word I would use to sum up this season would be “toothless.” The games didn’t feel like they had stakes because like you said, we ~know certain characters aren’t going to be killed (at least this early). The characters also had no conflict with each other. Like, every time an issue came up, the characters would resolve it almost immediately. Granny’s transphobia, her and her sons ideological issues, Gi hun and Frontman’s opposing temperaments, everything fizzled out. Like, do the characters even know each other? None of the characters’ relationships with each other feel fleshed out. So because they’re not connected to each other, *we’re* not connected to them, and the whole thing feels sorta pointless. Like, why tf are you telling us “we got really close in here. We’re like best friends??” Mfer show us!! Show them hanging out, making inside jokes, something, damn!
honestly i loved season 2, more than i loved season 1 if im honest. i really liked how they fleshed out the psychological, cultural, and economic aspects of korean society and issues with debt.
I feel like this season should have just opened with the players already ready to play the first game and throughout the season we get flashbacks to how the protagonist ended up back in the game. The first 2 episodes feel like they were dragging out the story. I like the idea of the protagonist confronting the business man who got him into this is a great idea but it feels like a filler that didn't need to be there.
The pink guard, number 011, is being set up as the person who will help the main character dismantle the Games from the inside. She's not humanely ending them so much as she's preventing the gamemaster from making further profits, the only reason I can think of so far is the sick child, she's basically pulling a Luigi but dismantling the company from the inside out little by little. She also clearly has protection from someone on the inside so is closely tied to the person running the games, maybe the daughter of the game master or grand daughter of the villain from the first season? Idk, but she's confident that she's safe to mess up their organ scheme, but stopped when the lower dudes attacked her and had another lackey cover it up to hide it from the higher ups - they knew they'd be in trouble if someone found out about them attacking another 'squid', especially her as she's protected, and she is wasnt scared of the new game master dude, she's confident she's safe, but the dudes that went for her in her room caught her off guard and made her swap tactics, they are more dangerous to her than the higher ups. That makes me think the 'squids' make extra money from the organs, like a bonus, the higher ups don't really care about them doing it but don't get involved, or possibly even run the organ scheme under the old game master's nose, which is why they worked together to organise attacking her, they were protecting their bag that she was messing with.
Overall I liked the season, especially liked how they changed the structure of the overall game. My biggest problem that it's making the same mistake that a lot of take down the system stories make where the show is abandoning its originial concept and turning into another rebells vs rich stories.
S1 was absolute peak. The only thing that really frustrated me in S2 was the repeated voting to end the game. We all knew how it would go everytime.. 🙆🏻♀️ I thought it was good though. Also, Front Man is sexy and that made my primative brain like it more. I'll hold my ultimate judgement after seeing S3. So while season 1 was phenomenal, season 2 was good. Still looking forward to season 3.
It is obvious from Season one that if there will be a season 2, the cop character will return. It's just obvious because otherwise, the whole cop storyline in Season 1 would have been pointless. As for Season 2, I think critics would have been more lenient if they did either of the following: (1) Call it Season 2 Part 1, because with all the storylines not being resolves in the end, it feels incredibly abrupt and not satisfying to call this a complete season when it is not complete in any way. OR (2), they should have made it a bigger deal to have the main character plan to overthrow the guards in the first few episodes. If the idea was introduced then and every episode after continued the storyline, the shoot out and the eventual failure of the revolt in the final episode would have been conclusive and satisfying and the unresolved storylines would not have been so frustrating.
Nailed it. Hot take, front man daughters alive (hostage situation), main guys daughter will eventually be held hostage and he’ll have to takeover. Their kids end up in the games and Netflix makes $$ til eternity. If they play it right…..
They didn't kill they characters because they need them for season 3. The way it looks it's going to pick up where we left off with the final 3 games. So all of your points about the mother and son, and the pregnant girl and the crypto guy will play out then.
Realistic people knew S2 wasn't going to top S1 because S2 wasn't supposed to happen Even though we expected a cash grab with S2 , they actually put in effort in storytelling & symbolism
How did you not get the VERY OBVIOUS reson why Front Man is playing despite not being there in red light green light was to make sure The main guy doesnt ruin the games and make sure what his plans and moves in the games
I felt the repetitiveness worked in its favor. History always repeats itself. No matter how much you believe human nature can be different and that they won’t fall for the same tricks as season 1, they still do. It is human nature. No matter how many o’s changed to x’s, it didn’t stop people from wanting to kill each other to keep the games going. Greed is still the same. So again, it needed to be repetitive to show its overall theme.
i hated season 1 and thought season 2 was amazing 4:48 tag yourself i’m just like your dad. i fell asleep on the first episodes and woke up and asked my boyfriend for a recap and felt like i didn’t miss anything at all. really boring in my opinion 10:19
i will say the first season had me on the edge of my seat and crying constantly, but i watched this one with a straight face pretty much (aside from death scenes bc i always wince and look away)z
I feel like in th =e context of squid games, it is not as much "there will always be gready people wanting money" as it was "there will always be people criminalized by their poverty because of a system that prevents any viable or legal option if you don't already have the right cards in hands" (And I feel that very much being French, and it looks like in Korea there are even less laws that help people into not falling into crippling debts, and sometimes even less legal options to start on the same foot at the majority. You have to start as a criminal if you want a chance or you'll be criminilized anyway because precarity will lead you there little by little, inexorably. And also the choice thing was so badly done in this season because it makes you think the games aren't worth it when, in reality of poverty, even if you get the change to get out, where do you go? What do you do? Life itself isn't soth it anyway so at least why not trying the games. in the first seasno there was not this division between people wanting to continue = comically bad and people wanting out = comically innocent and naive, unwilling to kill but at the same time want money from people getting killed. It was more putting the majority in a world that is often ignored, and that seems to be a theme in Korea with things like Parasite where it forces you to wonder who is the real parasite in this society, how easy it is to be "nice people" when you just have everything so easily, and being seen as bad when you either have no choice or two bad choices and WILL be prosecuted for the lesser bad you end up chosing. This season ruins the meaning od Squid Game to me, it just snihilates the whole message to turn it into revenge porn a la Américaine. The very fact someone can watch squid game and go away from it with "YOU are responsible for your financial situation, YOU can JUST choose to pay you debts and make money in an ethical way..." it is clear how it failed to portray how in a certain part or the population, that is NOT a reality, and that is not atteignable by any other way than lottery or magical billionaire dead estranged uncle. There are still a fair amount of people who spend more money going to work than what they get working. It is a reality people don't want to see, but Squid game, even though it was just mediocre television, had this virtue of forcing people to watch and realize what's under their eyes, living parallel lives to theirs but being in very separate worlds that will never mix and have don't live by the same rules. (And how oftentimes the rules are arbitrary the poorer you are. The people who say money isn't that important are people who never had to sleep outside for more than a week during winter on an empty stomach sick as hell. And the people who sream so hard of becoming rich and can't even thinkn of any other wish to make, really dream about the safety it brings with it because living in constant danger, having to display treasures of gratitude and joie de vivre while being absolutely despised by everybody for having made the bad choice to be homeless, sexually assaulted and had to quit school at age 13 and never found a way to legally come back from that because administration is so absurd and only precarious people have to really care about it anyway.... tfi, I'm stopping there, but I think myy point is understood.) Choice is a luxury, and ending Squid games with a "You need to make better choices" message would be a tragedy only hardcore individualistic capitalist americans can enjoy. The majority of population needs laws to inject equality between classes, and to protect the most vulnerable ones from arbitrary violence (and growing up in poverty while being told everyday you are shit for chosing to be poor instead chosing to be rich is violence). It should not be "every individual for oneself" or this vigilante culture that we seem to be obsessed with with those super cops without counter power who destroy the world on a daily basis in mediocre movies What would be powerful as an ending would not be to "realize" how horrendous the games are. I mean they are clearly evil... But to realize they are a direct a product of a sociaty that create desperate beings called monsters. How we are not responsible for our choices but we are responsible for the state of everything in this world. Collectively.
honestly, my main problem is its feel unfinished for a season. It feels life thanos wins with less of a impact. next season better have monkey bars and musical chairs as the next game
I kept thinking that even if they manage to vote their way out being the squid games then who ever voted to stay would be massacre and the people leaving would have to live with that
In defense of Red Light Green Light.
I think making it the first game was perfect.
1. It gave a false sense of confidence for player 456 that he can help to save lives due to knowing what to expect.
2. It's a nod to the change that we experienced in season 1 where the fun was replaced by fear. It's the only game where you do not see the guards with guns. You still assume it's just a kid's game. That you'll even notice the guards only carry guns after the first game once the players know the actual danger and risk.
It allowed player 456 to get to a "this is not happening again" space where he saved people's lives and got loved and hated. Loved for saving people. Loved for his knowledge and experience. Then hated for not letting enough people die for more money. Hated for not enjoying the money. Hated for not knowing what's next.
It's a perfect setup. Any other game would be an immediate show of life or death and the fear would kick in immediately.
It might also be a traditional game to start with. Seems like something the Organizers would do.
To be fair, out of all the cash-grabs that have ever cash-grabbed, this was one of the better ones. I actually really enjoyed this season.
every entertainment is cash grab 😂 of course for money not for the viewers nice blue eyes😅 i think this term is just silly and saying something just for the money,of course they make .
movies new musics etc to get more. 😅
@@Sorozatfuggoseg That's true, but in all seriousness, this was initially supposed to be a "limited series". A lot of Korean shows only have 1 season (of like 20+ episodes). So when Netflix saw how popular this became they asked the writer for more. That I think would fall into being considered a cash grab because the original plan shifted once they noticed more money could be made.
Me to
@@Sorozatfuggoseg Just because you think a term is silly does not take away the actual meaning of the word. What a strange take you have.
@@Sorozatfuggoseg *Makes music because i like making it and enjoy the product*
Stupid people: "CASH GRAB!"
Pretty certain the exmarine wasn’t lying and bro just has PTSD. He was definitely in a flashback when he got back to the room to get ammo
or maybe he defected 🤔
They just made him a pussy to make the big tough trans character more important.
Yeah he was clearly more sensitive and his father made him join
@@SENATORPAIN1actually i feel like their irony is a lot more interesting to combat that societal viewpoint on minority communities like transgenders. Like the way rhat Dae-ho was consistently boasting about his past in the marines, youd think in the final fight theyd give him that time to shine right?? The twist in expectations from Hyun-Ju being the actual one to take initiative while Dae-Ho has a PTSD meltdown is probabaly not just to make "the trans characyer look better" , i think it challenges how theyre treated by society based on their identities, Especrially in Korean society. its easy to figure out who would be better respected between a trans-woman and a solider, because thats how they outwardly express themselves.
I think the Front Man being in the game is quite obvious. He and Gi Hun were both winners of the Squid Game but they two are polar opposite in their philosophy in life. By joining the game, he was able to observe Gi Hun closely and try to understand his mentally why he wanted to end the game and in the same to prove Gi Hun was wrong about everything.
This is honestly my main problem with the season. 001 being infiltrated is SO obvious, it literally what happened in season 1, and for the life of me, I cannot understand how this guy would not be more skeptical about him. It is so in front of his face.
they showed us his face before he showed up in the game. obvious is an understatement 💀
While an obvious parallel to season 1, I felt he was more compelling because of the reasons you said.
It was compelling seeing that he may have a conscience and did not like seeing people die in front of him. Unlike season 1, he wasn’t smiling the whole time like the first villain. He still lived by his cynical view of the world, but being in the game yourself is different than watching it.
The anticipation came from waiting for him to reveal his true colors and how he “gaslighted” (unsure if it is the wrong word for this situation) gi hun the entire time.
I was just hoping Gi-hun would sense something was up and recognized his world view and cadence as he talked.
@@barelyreal1we were supposed to know that he was the front man from the beginning though right?
Idk I really like season 2. Everyone hates set up seasons until the last season comes out and it pays off. The characters are great and I like that you can tell that the frontman is trying to convince gi-hun to change his way of thinking while gi-hun is convincing the frontman to ditch his nilhism. The games this time around are really entertaining too. I get why people think it’s anticlimactic but I still enjoyed everything leading up to the ending
Agreed
Agreed
You said everything I thought in a nice concise way. Thank you.
I really did love the two teams we focused on and they accepted influence from each other.
exactly. I loved the psychology of the characters and the realism behind their acting and actions. it actually felt like I was there with them. I don't understand why some people dislike it.
@ maybe because season 2 felt more grounded and less of a spectacle than season 1 did. While I get it, I feel that misses the point of the show. We shouldn’t want more death and gore, but I am hearing more comments like that and seeing articles of why people do.
One person I watched on TH-cam said some characters should have died to raise the stakes a bit and improve it from a writing standpoint.
And while she wanted more strategy and psychological stuff, I feel we got it with the season finale. Just them deciding to have the revolution and see how people are affected by it raises the stakes.
Someone dying doesn’t always do that. Seeing how someone reacts to a situation like what we saw with the ex-marine does.
It does annoy me that the protagonist never though to himself I could use my money to help bring people out of poverty so they would less tempeted to join Squid Game.
He could have made that hotel into a homeless shelter that helps people get back on there feet.
The guy devotes so much time to revenge that completely ignores the fact that there other ways to attack Squid Game besides using guns.
I get the concept of having blood money but at the end of the day underground gambling is always going to exist, you can't stop it but you can reduce it.
it is good to remmeber the person he was from the start of season 1,where his addiciton to gambling lead him to the squid games in the first place, and how he never got on that flight to see his daughter at the end, whcih is more proof that even after winning his nature of reaching for somwthing bigger and better will sort of always be there inside him.
Or earned more "X" votes by promising to personally repay the players' debts. Two birds, one stone
Part of the reason I don’t hate GiHun’s CHARACTER (maybe not actually him as a person lol) so much is because it makes sense for him. He’s technically the protagonist, but I’ve never once seen him as this great person. Ultimately, he fights for a side that aligns more with our morals, but he’s ultimately driven by selfishness as well, and on top of that is sort of stupid (how could he not see Sang-Woo was betraying them earlier??) anyways, he’s very nuanced for a protagonist, sooo idk what the original point of this comment was but 👍
@@Ava-qb1wp This. The fact that this was not even considered was absurd to me.
@jholmes553 it's implied Gi-Hun has barely touched his earnings. He's certainly not paying rent to hide out in the hotel and I would be surprised if it cost him even 2 million to pay the guys watching the subway out of the 31 million equivalent US dollars. That's still tens of millions he has to spare that he's made clear he has no interest in spending for himself
the purpose of the frontman being in the game, i think, is because he wanted to experience how it feels like being in the games (again) to see if he could still feel comradeship and sympathy for the people dying there.. that's how i read it. because you can see moments where it feels like he actually contemplates about it or where it looked like he actually showed kindness to his team. i think the tension was more for us viewers to wonder whether he can actually be a good guy in the story or whether he remains evil.
Naah I’m pretty sure it was to monitor Gi Han and make sure his plan to stop the games doesint work out. That’s why he made friends with him right from the start
@@Martiizzer that's definitely part of it too. but i just feel like that's the "too obvious" direction so it would be more interesting if he had a deeper reason than the one we would all automatically think from the start
Ill nam in the first season tells him that its more fun as a competitor than a viewer. Maybe that is why he joined the game plus to manipulate gi hun at the same time
@@MaybeCanNotBeespecially since he went from wanting the games to continue the first time to just pressing x all of the other times.
He also didn’t secretly smirk or smile (at least from what I saw) when people died. Compared to season’s 1 villain, he did not have fun doing this. At least in my opinion.
But part of his motivation was playing head games with gi hun. It feels like Snow with Katniss. I feel inho respects gi hun even though he doesn’t agree with him. They are foils to each other. Makes it compelling.
He wanted to break Gi-hun. He took alot more risks to do so but he ultimately believed that all the players are inherently selfish, hence why after every game there was a vote and every time they failed.
In terms of empathizing with 011 (squid guard lady), I think the point is that even the guards are a part of the same system that fucks over the people in the games. She has the same struggles and issues but is instead on the guards side rather than on the players side. Remember the times where the squid guards were unmasked and everyone is like "you're just a kid omg". And I feel like I can empathize her knowing her story but also feeling like if it wasn't her, it would've been someone else anyway. Is that necessarily right? no but I enjoy that grayness in her character. IF ONLY THEY WOULD EXPLORE IT MORE!! heres hoping for s3
S3 is coming this summer/fall
S3 is most likely coming fall/winter. Def not summer. There’s a lot of competition for returning Netflix shows during the summer. SG is a stand alone show. Yall saying how quickly the show is returning are also neglecting the fact that it’s not gonna be a full season of SG. We are likely getting 3-4 extra episodes.
Season 2 and 3 were shot concurrently
No-eul was a highly skilled North Korean soldier who defied her superior, ultimately defecting to South Korea at the cost of losing her daughter. Seven years ago, she was recruited by the Squid Game officers due to her expertise with firearms. When she discovered the true nature of her role, she focused on maintaining her sanity by ensuring that eliminated players were truly dead, sparing them the horrors of being exploited for underground organ harvesting. The hope of reuniting with her daughter kept her grounded, and her encounter with a sick child and her father reignited her determination to keep that hope alive. Since she had been with the Squid Game organization, she was there when Gi-hun won his turn because when they ran across each other in the stairwell, she remotely recognized him.
I wonder how they pick who gets to be a guard and who gets to play the game. Player 120 also turns out to be a very skilled special forces soldier, but she is not offered to become a guard... She probably wouldn't accept the job though, she is too emotionally intelligent.
I noticed a strong paternal theme in Squid Game. In Season 1, this theme was evident in Gi-hun’s relationship with his daughter and his mother. Even Player 001 mentioned that Gi-hun reminded him of his son, treating Gi-hun as such throughout their interactions.
In Season 2, the focus seems to shift toward motherhood as a central theme. Jun-ho’s mother feels guilt over pushing away her stepson, In-ho, who ultimately becomes the Front Man. Sang-woo’s mother exemplifies unconditional care, fully embracing her role as Cho-eul’s guardian. There’s also the mother-son duo, where the mother is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her son safe. Lastly, Player 222, the young pregnant woman, represents the potential for new life. If she survives, she’ll become a mother, further emphasizing this maternal thread.
I believe Player 222 could either be the sole survivor among the players or saved with others if Jun-ho’s team successfully infiltrates the Squid Game compound. Her pregnancy could play a pivotal role, with her baby symbolizing hope, renewal, and rebirth amidst the darkness of the games.
Then there’s No-eul, Pink Squid 011, who tragically lost her baby after defecting to South Korea. She might play a key role in helping Player 246 escape or could end up adopting his ailing child if he do not make it out alive.
Imo the purpose of the frontman being in the games is first, like you said, to keep the games going and keeping the protagonist on check. But second and more importantly, since he had already played the games before and is a previous winner himself, he wanted to witness by himself the downfall of the protagonist, as someone who was in the same conditions but had a totally different outcome and mindset. I think he is intrigued by the thought process of the protagonist while at the same time waiting for him to make a wrong decision or do something that proves that they are not so different after all. The front man also put on this entire show and got close to the protagonist to make the betrayal more impactfull: "you were fooled by a fellow player not once but twice" and maybe that will make him question or even resent and change the good natured heart and good faith. So yeah in conclusion the role of the infiltration of the front man is imo very important and I think we'll see the aftermath in season 3.
The "squid girl" is a North Korean defector (like Sae Byuk in season 1) who entered the games to be able to afford to get her young daughter out of North Korea.... the actress is apparently quite famous in south korea hence they have a lot of focus on her for the korean audience. She's just as in debt as any of the other participants and she also serves as a backstage look at the guards/staff of the games.
The marine that you mentioned I would imagine when he heard gunshots it triggered PTSD of whatever he had been through in battle/war or whatever and just shut down completely.
The front man entering the games I think was mostly to mess with Gi Hun who had asked to re-enter the games. I would imagine to gain his trust and then have him killed off towards the end or something - mind games can be killer lol.
The mother and son pairing are probably going to be "dealt" with in season 3 as I think he's hoping it will be a gut punch that they got so far into the games and then die nearer to the end (I think they're continuing with the rest of the games in season 3).
Technically, the guards, or squids as you call them are pretty much in exactly the same situation as the players - all in debt and it shows how desperation can make people do horrific things - which I would imagine would even more so explain why so much attention was paid to 011. There is nothing to say that some of the guards may or may not have been in the games previously too.
The voting after each game emphasised (to me at least) how desperation can make people make decisions the viewer wouldn't want to make. It also indicates that gambling and greed may well have played a part in a lot of their decisions to stay or leave.
I would imagine season 3 will continue on with the rest of the games... the boy doll as far as I have heard online is a childrens' character along with the female doll and the ending I believe is a hint at a game for season 3. If the games weren't continuing I would imagine the front man would have shot Gi Hun as well as his friend at the end of season 2 if they were just going to stop the games there. My guess is that Gi Hun will be forced to continue playing - and in the mind of the front man, witnessing his best friend being shot would have broken his spirit and felt more torturous to continue playing until the end of the games or his death (whichever came first lol)
Best response ever 😌👌 aside from one point (that maybe some of the guards played the game, meaning won and are millionaires) which sounds unlikely, I fully agree with everything else you said!!!
@@thespeculativemusician Thanks! On thinking about it, I see what you mean about past winners not wanting to go back to the games again though. :)
I'm pretty sure it was implied that the ex-marine was just suffering from PTSD, he wasn't bullshitting.
The way he got terrified that Hyunju was gonna hurt him when he was up against the wall, despite her only approaching to grab the stuff - you could only assume he's been through a similar situation where he has been severely hurt mentally.
His reaction wasn't of a normal person being scared, it was very clearly a reaction from someone who has suffered through trauma.
The buildup to his anxiety can also prove that - he knew how to shoot well until he got triggered, and then he started fumbling and dissociating.
Oh it makes sense but at the same time, when they were planning the attack and explaining how to use a gun, he looked really confused and didn't grab it "correctly" at all. So maybe he's a fake ex army guy and didn't do the typical military service ? It could also make sense because in Korea, there is a pride in doing your military service
@marthanana2612 maybe, but the guns they used were a specific kind that he probably was not used to or had handled before. Hyunju knew how to handle it because she had been in the special forces. - I still believe he's an exmarine simply because his reaction so closely resembled a PTSD trigger attack.
PTSD can also make you suppress a lot of things, which could include but is not limited to, forgetting how to handle certain weapons.
When Hyunju came for the ammo, he was curling up against the wall and pleading for her to not hurt him, despite her being calm and lowering herself to appear less intimidating.
I think it would be a weird spin if that wasn't him reacting to a situation that resembled a traumatic event in his life.
@@marthanana2612PTSD causes amnesia to block out the main roots of your trauma, i believe his memory of knowinf how to use a gun was supressed from it
I think you completely missed the point of this season and its themes. : (
What was the point? Enlighten us
@@akeclipsee to stop the games?????
With the ex marine guy they were alluding to his ptsd is what I think happened not that he was full of it 17:00
I guess I'm the target audience because while I do see some of the flaws you point out... i still LOVED every episode of season 2! I was on the edge of my seat every episode just like season 1!
Agreed! And I know this season will be much stronger after 3 comes out, as well since the director said they were initially written as one long season that was split in two.
I predict that the dad with the little girl in the hospital sustained a non-fatal wound at the hands of 011, and she’s going to help him escape in the end.
I think the same, the guard that shot the dad had a triangle mask just like guard 011, and for a split second just before shooting, the guard changes the aim, from the heart to the right shoulder
Left* shoulder
Definitely lived up to the hype for me. I just hated the cliff hanger and to be honest there were some big plot holes.
Soo.. it didn't live up to the hype? 😂
@ tbh i didn’t see much hype but I was happy it came out
Finally someone talking about how the characters are similar to season 1! Same archetipes!
Even though S1 is as perfect as it gets, I really felt that it needed at least a 2nd season. It just doesn't feel right to leave the story there. I don't need a cookie cutter tie everything up at the end story, but to me the real interesting stuff happens after Gi-Hun wins, S1 is the perfect set up for that. So far, I really loved S2. I think it is a very logical continuation, Gi-Hun is consumed by revenge and wants to do something about the games. He decides to use his money to fund an operation to track down the game and bring it to an end with brute force. In the end, this fails miserably. Retrospectively, it is easy to see the futility in Gi-Hun's plan. For one, everything about the games was thought out and controlled, the people who run it clearly have unlimited funds. Of course they have some plan to make sure the winners of the game don't succeed with a revenge plot. It could even be part of the game.
Before his death, Il-Nam asked Gi-Hun multiple times if he still believed in the good nature of people. The entire series is a battle of Gi-Hun's unwavering believe in the good nature of people and the game's cynical outlook that people are nothing more than worthless animals for the most part. I think that in the end of S2, Gi-Hun contradicted these values. He was willing to step away at the final game when he won against Sangwoo, forfeiting all the money, as those were the rules during that Squid Game. He only won because Sangwoo ctraltdlt himself. Yet, in S2, he was more than willing to kill, and let others be killed, to further his goals. Take for instance his Russian Roulette with the recruiter. He could have used that gun to incapacitate him, take him to the cops, whatever, but instead he looked him in the eyes when he turned the gun on himself. Of course, we can all understand the emotion, considering what the recruiter put him through. But, it goes directly against his own ideals that humans are good by nature, he did it out of blood lust, which clouded his thinking, he could've used the recruiter far better alive. And the best example of it is when he lets many people on his own team get brutally killed during the night in order to stage a rebellion. He calls it a small sacrifice that is worth it. That goes against everything he stood for in S1, he hated Sangwoo for doing exactly that.
Another point to consider is this, even if Gi-Hun was successful in his revolution, what then? Even if it was the end of the games, all those people would still be miserable, hunted down by the state/maffia/etc. So is that even a worthwhile cause? What if Gi-Hun had used his money to help the root causes that make people so desperate that they are willing to play the games? Like set up charities for refugees from North-Korea, children with diseases, pregnant people with money problems, etc. Wouldn't you save a lot more people like that?
So then, was Gi-Hun's plot for revenge a 'good' cause? Maybe it wasn't, maybe there is a more sinister side to Gi-Hun, instilled, or uncovered, by the trauma he experienced. Maybe this was more so a quest to feel something again, like Il-Nam said, to have 'fun'. And not to play the games, but to play 'the game against the game', the 'hero-game' as the Frontman called it.
48:07 the front man already played and won his game, he knows exactly how it is
Exactly, for me the fact that the front man was this time in the games and trying to read what is he thinking at each given time, even more when interacting with ‘player 456’ as he calls him, was THE BEST part of season 2
Mingle was the best game across both seasons
I think the biggest problem with Korean shows is their side characters. There is always the stereotypical archetypes: the mean girl, the bully, the middle aged unreasonable woman, the old senior citizen, etc. I think if they fleshed out some of those side characters and give them depth, any show can feel different than what’s already out there. But this is a good sequel. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
@@shinniex no diff than anime
I personally disagree with your opinion on multiple characters. First of all, I believe it was done because by now, we know how the games really work and how our main character and the masked man wouldnt die to them. So, we had more characters to care about.
Secondly, I believe in my soul that the writers are setting up multiple survivors in s3.
i didn’t mind that our favs didn’t die in s2 because s2 expanded the universe that squid game exists in and it naturally slowed down the pacing of the games. our main characters all survived until around the 4th game, keep in mind at this point they’ve only completed 3.
Just finished watching Squid game season two and I'm both satisfied and frustrated. Satisfied by what I was given but frustrated because it ended on a cliffhanger and I want more.
I’m pretty sure the front man was there to keep the best friend alive (he killed that guy in the mingle game even though he knew HE couldn’t lose so he purely did it to keep the friend alive )so he could kill him later to break gi-hun
I think yall are just too attached to the characters in season one, if anything I preferred the characters in season 2 I think a larger cast makes sense in a show that takes place in a death game with so many players, imo I think the lesser characters would have been a waste. I also don’t understand how ppl can’t understand that ofc some characters have the same archetype! We’re supposed to see how different ppl with similar personalities react to the pressure of the games, the writers of squid games could easily write new archetypes so the fact that they didn’t means it’s intentional. I think people are being too harsh on this season due to the random success of the first season.
YES!!!@!! in my opinion the amounr of characters and compelling dynamics kept me way more intrigued with rhis cast rather than the close-knit ones that we focused on more in the first season, donr get me wrong i LOVEVE them a lot but season 2's new route of characters were more realistic considering the amounr of people + entertaining and its interesting how characters of similar tropes act differently than what was seen before
Ex Marine kid is clearly having a PTSD episode
In depth backstory for each character wasn’t quite as necessary for this season as we’ve already experienced what kinds of scenarios lead to someone entering the games in season 1 and rehashing that would be a bit of a waste of the runtime
I can barely remember the main character’s name I just call them by their numbers, genius move on the part of the creator in my opinion, as many of my friends and family also struggle with the names not in common in the west
Backstory for the squid girl and the dad is clearly just setting up for season 3. She’s there to find her daughter (who was stranded in North Korea) as I’m sure the people that run the games are some of the most well connected people in the world.
001 is playing some egotistical, gambling type game similar to the recruiter. We don’t know where he stands at all and at multiple points it really felt like he was almost trying to make Gi-Hun understand some of the logic behind why the games exist and what they provide to the world. It’s probably the most entertaining games he’s had in years.
This season lived up to the hype kinda but it felt off because of the fact that it’s an unfinished story
I think the reason a lot of the side characters are still alive in season 2 is the fact that in season 1 alot viewers grew attached to most of side characters. Fans were begging them to bring those characters back to season 2 which wouldnt make sense. Maybe for now the director is just extending their life line to keep fans happy and in season 3 i bet they are going to be killed off. I dono.
I think the main difference is in season 1, it was about trying to survive the game cause we know after everyone coming back to continue the game, that the games were definitely not stopping. Season 2 was about trying to stop the games from continuing in order to save every life. There is deffinitely a different feeling between the plot of season 1 and 2
My marine man has PTSD clearly girl don’t insult him that way😭this season i felt wasn’t the same HOWEVER it showed so much growth. it showed many issues in the world. yes there’s less backstory to characters i wish we did get that but this show is going to end in a way i’m sure makes season 2 all the worth of being that ‘unfinished’ feeling-because it IS unfinished!
For 40:00, I think that while the front man was safe, his teammates weren't. There was only one other team in the room, so if his team failed they could all be shot while he would be left alive and go back behind his mask. And then the rest of the players would just assume that they had failed.
I feel like the biggest issue imo was that they focused a lot more on the other characters than the main character. Like my guy barely got any screentime and the side characters did.
Exactly!
In my opinion season 2 was much better than season 1. (This is my oppinion please dont come after me)
I thought it was better than season 1, or at least better than expected. It would have been too easy and much more repetitive if they had just did “select people, play games, lather, rinse, repeat. The tension, pacing, and acting, to me, was great. On another note, the creator/writer/director intended for it to be one full season, and Netflix made the decision to split the season into 2and 3.
I agree with a lot of your criticisms tbh. The voting being so close each time and them always completing the games with 1 second remaining got tedious too. I think the Front Man was just trying to get Gi-hun to understand his perspective of the games - you can't save everyone.
39:25 I did think this while watching but I quickly realized that they'd just kill everyone else in his team and let him be safe, same as the tug of war game in the first squid games, the old man wasn't attached to the rope but everyone else was.
I had close to no problems with this season. The discover and mystery aspect is the biggest part, and a second part is never going to be quite the same. This is as good as it possibly could have been I think
I agree with the comments, you definitely missed the point of this season. From your own admission, there was a shift AWAY from the games this season, which was all done by design. This season focused on the opposing views of Seong Gi-hun and the Front Man (as the main plot).
While the Front Man was there to ensure the games continued without any issues, he was also there to challenge Seong Gi-hun, in a battle of ideologies. He wants to assert that his worldview, and way of acting, are superior and just. That's why he smiles when Gi-hun decides to sacrifice his own people for the greater good (during the special game), bending his morals. The Front Man believes that the games are a way to rid trash from this world, so it's all for the greater good.
On the other hand, Seong Gi-hun believes in the love and compassion of humanity. This is shown time and time again, even in Season 1. He helps those in need, worries about the safety of others and desperately tries to save everyone.
From a utilitarian perspective, which I feel the Front Man subscribes to, Gi-hun's way of acting is illogical. Why help people who are a stain to society, when it would be better to wipe away those blemishes, and reward those who act accordingly? It would benefit the majority of people if you just get rid of the leeches and addicts (in the Front Man's eyes).
I assume that he's possibly also threatened by Gi-hun's view, because as a fellow winner of the games, he went to the dark side, while Gi-hun DID NOT. Maybe this terrifies him, and he'd like to prove that him being evil WASN'T his fault, but a matter of circumstance. That Gi-hun really is the same.
There's a lot more explored in this season, that I find so interesting, but I wanted to explain the main angle for this season (in my opinion).
I understood why it took years for a 2nd season. It was well crafted, well thought of and well written. A worthy sequel, still felt fresh, but they need to stop doing cliff hangers.
While i agree on the bully and crazy woman being the exact same (thanos is a little better imo), I cant agree with the rest just because of how different they are even if you can sorta vaguely put them into boxes but thats also an easy thing to do when you're attempting to do so. Obviously if they go overboard and just make the exact same character personalities like the bully and crazy woman, its an issue but the rest seem like a nitpick to me. Just my respectful opinion tho!
I really enjoyed season 2 but yes, nothing can compete with season 1
People are foolish enough to compared to season 1. Season 1 is fantastic. Season 2 is a guilty pleasure.
I love your review of Season 2. The creator and director said the following: “Today, unfortunately, in Korean society, the gender minority is a group that is not as accepted widely within society, which is why I created the character Hyun-ju as a male to female transgender woman.” “In the beginning, we were doing our research, and I was thinking of doing an authentic casting of a trans actor.”
Hwang soon found, however, that there were “close to no actors that are openly trans” in South Korea. This was his explanation of the casting in an interview he had with TV Guide.
It took him 10 years to find a studio to make it happen.
He had script for it already done.
Those are different.
I dont care if its a cash grab or not, you watch it to support the creator to be finally paid fairly as he didnt get a kot of money from the season 1
I think if they would have had at least one more game I would have been more happy but I still enjoyed this season for what it was! I also agree that there was a lot of people to keep track of this time around and it would’ve been nice to focus more on a few! Love your videos as always ❤
I agree with you 10000% percent. I thought the girl who was friends with the trans woman (who was my highlight too, btw.. she is such a great character) would hit hard but I was like: Oh no not her.. =( ... ah well.. *shrug* ...while in season 1... Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok DESTROYED me. I was sobbing like a baby. I think they kinda tried to recreate that but it didn't happen. I also liked the games most and don't care too much about the rebellion but how they made me care about the characters was the best thing in s1. They stuck with you. This season I think would have been better if e1 and 2 would have been 1 episode, more focus on the character backstories well balanced with games and THEN end the season with a cliffhanger that 001 steps in with the final vote because that was the best twist imo but way too early. Then have s3 start with 001 bonding with the group, two more games, start the rebellion but maybe also let the games continue for those who want to while maybe the rebellion group gets kicked out or forced to watch or sth evil idk, I just hope it's better paced and not boring or predictable. (plus: I don't care at all about the pink sniper girl)
I agree 🙈 at first I was like is it the pregnant girl? No .. oh well I don't know her 😂
Ali's death was devastating.
The transwoman was amazing. I fell in love with her and him at the same time. She was soft and sweet, yet at the same time such a bad bish!
Season 3 has to be amazing!
I didn’t care for the preg girl or her baby daddy. Their characters were unlikable.
@@robertamihokova6366 yeees same! I thought it was the pregnant girl and felt awful but then it wasnt her and I was relieved and I couldnt remember who that other girl was D:
@@Bunny11344just curious what about them was unlikable? I personally thought Junhee (the pregnant girl) in the games added a great aspect as she has more to loose if she doesn’t make it out alive. The boyfriend sucks but also knowing that she’s keeping the baby, what is he willing to sacrifice to make sure Junhee and the baby get out? You may not like it but It’s a great human element.
@@ashleyking1146 it doesn’t bring more sympathy for me just cause she is. Her character itself was rude. She’d be more likeable if she was more polite towards the older lady who’s been helping her. Don’t get me started with her baby daddy I wish it was him that went instead of thanos
People hate to much banger imo they knew season 3 was the last season so it is cut short it’s a cliff hanger ending what else do you expect
@@bizzyb3423 ya she was annoying so much complaining and talking in circles
@@Bunny11344 agree, literal 49 mins of constant comparing to season 1. Waste of time watching her say the same shit over n over
first of all, i respect different opinions. but tbh, i love s2 more than s1.
the reason is simple. if i am given the chance to watch the whole season again between s1 and s2, i would choose s2, because s2 is more entertaining.
i had to skip several diaglogues and sequences in s1 because i was bored but in s2, i never skipped any scene.
I would put season 1 over season 2 purely for the shock value of not knowing what to expect and quickly finding out how gruesome things could get. But I do think Season 2 was good, though some storylines felt abandoned at times and some sequences lasted longer than I'd liked.
There were still unanswered questions from season 1. The story needed to continue. Season 2 wasn't as good as season 1, but the story isn't over yet.
It was good. Anyone with a brain cell know there was never ment to be sezon 2. It was forced by s1 success, based on that s2 is bether then it has right to be. Good fun.
I honestly dont think squid game was meant to be one season and that's it given how episodes 8 and 9 wrapped of season 1 mainly cause why would they wrap up the cop's story with him just dying lol.
Real and theres still so much mystery to be explored in the games system itself, like how could other humans (the guards) justify their murders against people who are revealed to be JUST like them??? Season 2 answers this with Guard 011.
Personally I thought the voting had nothing to do with having an actual choice, but just the illusion of having a choice. So that the game makers can keep saying to themselves; see, we don't force them to be here, they want to be here. But what choice does one have when one can choose to live in cruel circumstances that will only lead to misery and death or the games?
I see it as a criticism of how in society we like to think that people in poverty end up there because of poor choices they make (if only they wouldn't buy so many coffees at Starbucks or they just need to work harder etc.) and not due to how the system that we live in works. But by making it look people have a choice, no one has to look ar or fight the system and so the system can be kept in place.
idk for how phenomenal and unique the first season was i think this one lives up to the expectations. it’s different, it actually expands on the story, there are lots of political metaphors still, and the use of filmography and music was amazing imo
Do a video on Alice in borderline please
To be honest, all interesting characters in season 1 were surviving till the marbles-game and then till glass bridge. After the glass bridge (last game), surprise, surprise only the main characters survived.
I do agree that there was too many characters to keep track, plus I would've liked more background on some of the character. I like your honest opinion.
My theory for those who are disappointed in season 2 is the burden of expectations. By now the stories haven’t came out of no where like the first time. I thought it did a good job balancing the same “feelings” and spirit but the thoughts invoked in the story line have taken us further from season 1. I thought that’s a big win.
Front man also wanted to help Ki-hoon win the 2nd and 3rd games as well. There's gotta be a reason why he ended up shooting only his friend at the end with him just watching.
I feel that this whole thing is to build 456 into the front man character. Their tragic past is similar and I feel that more will be shown on the front man past the showing that he at one point did the same as 456.
Trying to beat the system after winning, only to realise there's no beating the system. If you can't beat them, join them.
Season 1: lose your best friend playing and winning the game
Season 2: try to go against the game creators and losing your best friend again
For all its eventual writing disasters, LOST taught writers how to get people invested in their ensemble characters in its first 2 seasons.
SG S1 did this masterfully with the first 2 episodes, especially showing their lives after deciding to leave the game.
SG2 seems to have thrown this entirely away save from a tiny glimpse into the theme park characters.
See also: WestWorld Season 1 vs … all the other ones.
Considering the show was supposed to only have one season I do think that it was a great sequel. I can only imagine writing something intended for one season and people loving it so much that you have to write another season. So I think they did a great job.
So savage to want to kill off the old mom but it’s true, that would have been very emotional 😂
Season 1 was a complete story from start up until Gi Hun decided not to board the plane. In essence, his final meeting with Oh Il-nam and the bet he won against him then was the closure that allowed him to move on. It was then he took steps to rectify his mistakes and try to honor the favors asked of him from those he bonded with. It was over then.
Ts season could’ve used an extra 2 episodes ngl
Side note for number 100, his number appears in the mid-credit scene, but it's almost certainly not the same guy or the guy from movie 1, so I think the next season will go into the history of past Squid Games as that scene looks like a flashback, because the numbers on those people don't correspond with anyone we've seen so far
Damn you really speak in 0.25 speed, I thought my playback speed was the issue.
I heard that this was already a three season contract with this show. That being said, it makes more sense to continue this show considering how you see the revolution aspects of this show.
I liked seeing it as more grounded and seeing that no matter what Gi hun does to save people, people will make sure he and everyone with him always loses.
And I am sorry. The villain this season was compelling. Was astounded about how much In-ho did to stay on Gi hun’s side.
The amount of times I doubted myself while still waiting in anticipation for him to reveal his true colors. I liked him more than the first season’s villain.
My guess is the pregnant woman will die and they'll try to harvest the baby. Squid girl will either kill her or kill the harvesters to save the baby
That’s an asinine take. My girl ain’t dying and no baby’s will be harvested. That’s pretty sick even by sg 2 standards.
@ashleyking1146 If there harvesting organs what makes you think they won't take a baby and sell it.
I agree that there was the perfect moment to kill off the mom and have the son be responsible. To me it just says that most of these deaths are coming in season 3, but structurally it feels strange to follow so many characters and have so few die by this point. I did love this season though. It would do them well to just advertise it as part 1.
am i the only one who thinks the little girl with cancer's father is still alive? we did not see his body fall.
im pretry sure he died in the final season where he says soemrhinf like "wait dont shoot i have a daughter thats sick---" before gettinf killed ruthlessly in tje rebellion
@ph1l0s0phyy3 true. But there was so much emphasis on him and 011 at the buildup. I think 011 shot him non lethally. But we will see in S3
The scenes with the opposite side planning an late night ambush couldve easily been survived, just agree to vote to continue to play but on the voting day just vote to leave 🤷🏻♂️
TRUE
The beginning with the recruiter was some incredible TV and I will never forever that rock paper scissors game he forced those two men to play. That was incredible
I do agree that some of the characters could have been combined into one character.
I thought S2 was better
As for the purpose of front man being in the game.... I think he has a huge interest in Gi-Hun and see that they have a lot in common. And especially after Gi-Hun was willing to sacrifice all those people who wanted to get out just so he could reach the control room and get his vengeance, it shows how selfish he really is. I also think that maybe the front man wants Gi-Hun to he the next front man.
This video was gas 🔥🔥. I felt fuckin’ crazy listening to my friends hype this up whereas it left me longing for season 1. My thoughts and feelings are basically the same as yours. The reused plot points, reused (and wayyy less developed) characters, the lack of stakes, lack of tension, lack of psychological warfare, lack of interesting commentary on capitalism and human nature, season two had almost none of the sauce that made season one phenomenal.
Overall I think the word I would use to sum up this season would be “toothless.” The games didn’t feel like they had stakes because like you said, we ~know certain characters aren’t going to be killed (at least this early). The characters also had no conflict with each other. Like, every time an issue came up, the characters would resolve it almost immediately. Granny’s transphobia, her and her sons ideological issues, Gi hun and Frontman’s opposing temperaments, everything fizzled out. Like, do the characters even know each other? None of the characters’ relationships with each other feel fleshed out. So because they’re not connected to each other, *we’re* not connected to them, and the whole thing feels sorta pointless. Like, why tf are you telling us “we got really close in here. We’re like best friends??” Mfer show us!! Show them hanging out, making inside jokes, something, damn!
I loved it!
honestly i loved season 2, more than i loved season 1 if im honest. i really liked how they fleshed out the psychological, cultural, and economic aspects of korean society and issues with debt.
The old lady cannot die yet since she is going to be the one that help the pregnant girl with labor due to her experience.
I feel like this season should have just opened with the players already ready to play the first game and throughout the season we get flashbacks to how the protagonist ended up back in the game.
The first 2 episodes feel like they were dragging out the story. I like the idea of the protagonist confronting the business man who got him into this is a great idea but it feels like a filler that didn't need to be there.
The pink guard, number 011, is being set up as the person who will help the main character dismantle the Games from the inside. She's not humanely ending them so much as she's preventing the gamemaster from making further profits, the only reason I can think of so far is the sick child, she's basically pulling a Luigi but dismantling the company from the inside out little by little. She also clearly has protection from someone on the inside so is closely tied to the person running the games, maybe the daughter of the game master or grand daughter of the villain from the first season? Idk, but she's confident that she's safe to mess up their organ scheme, but stopped when the lower dudes attacked her and had another lackey cover it up to hide it from the higher ups - they knew they'd be in trouble if someone found out about them attacking another 'squid', especially her as she's protected, and she is wasnt scared of the new game master dude, she's confident she's safe, but the dudes that went for her in her room caught her off guard and made her swap tactics, they are more dangerous to her than the higher ups. That makes me think the 'squids' make extra money from the organs, like a bonus, the higher ups don't really care about them doing it but don't get involved, or possibly even run the organ scheme under the old game master's nose, which is why they worked together to organise attacking her, they were protecting their bag that she was messing with.
Overall I liked the season, especially liked how they changed the structure of the overall game.
My biggest problem that it's making the same mistake that a lot of take down the system stories make where the show is abandoning its originial concept and turning into another rebells vs rich stories.
S1 was absolute peak. The only thing that really frustrated me in S2 was the repeated voting to end the game. We all knew how it would go everytime.. 🙆🏻♀️
I thought it was good though. Also, Front Man is sexy and that made my primative brain like it more. I'll hold my ultimate judgement after seeing S3. So while season 1 was phenomenal, season 2 was good. Still looking forward to season 3.
It is obvious from Season one that if there will be a season 2, the cop character will return. It's just obvious because otherwise, the whole cop storyline in Season 1 would have been pointless.
As for Season 2, I think critics would have been more lenient if they did either of the following:
(1) Call it Season 2 Part 1, because with all the storylines not being resolves in the end, it feels incredibly abrupt and not satisfying to call this a complete season when it is not complete in any way.
OR (2), they should have made it a bigger deal to have the main character plan to overthrow the guards in the first few episodes. If the idea was introduced then and every episode after continued the storyline, the shoot out and the eventual failure of the revolt in the final episode would have been conclusive and satisfying and the unresolved storylines would not have been so frustrating.
Nailed it. Hot take, front man daughters alive (hostage situation), main guys daughter will eventually be held hostage and he’ll have to takeover. Their kids end up in the games and Netflix makes $$ til eternity. If they play it right…..
They didn't kill they characters because they need them for season 3. The way it looks it's going to pick up where we left off with the final 3 games. So all of your points about the mother and son, and the pregnant girl and the crypto guy will play out then.
Realistic people knew S2 wasn't going to top S1 because S2 wasn't supposed to happen
Even though we expected a cash grab with S2 , they actually put in effort in storytelling & symbolism
Season 2 was dope, internet had me believing that is was going to be bad
I think squid game 2 was so good! I'm thankful for the continuation of the story❤️
How did you not get the VERY OBVIOUS reson why Front Man is playing despite not being there in red light green light was to make sure The main guy doesnt ruin the games and make sure what his plans and moves in the games
I felt the repetitiveness worked in its favor. History always repeats itself. No matter how much you believe human nature can be different and that they won’t fall for the same tricks as season 1, they still do. It is human nature.
No matter how many o’s changed to x’s, it didn’t stop people from wanting to kill each other to keep the games going. Greed is still the same.
So again, it needed to be repetitive to show its overall theme.
This season was also awesome.
i hated season 1 and thought season 2 was amazing 4:48
tag yourself i’m just like your dad. i fell asleep on the first episodes and woke up and asked my boyfriend for a recap and felt like i didn’t miss anything at all. really boring in my opinion 10:19
i will say the first season had me on the edge of my seat and crying constantly, but i watched this one with a straight face pretty much (aside from death scenes bc i always wince and look away)z
I feel like in th =e context of squid games, it is not as much "there will always be gready people wanting money" as it was "there will always be people criminalized by their poverty because of a system that prevents any viable or legal option if you don't already have the right cards in hands" (And I feel that very much being French, and it looks like in Korea there are even less laws that help people into not falling into crippling debts, and sometimes even less legal options to start on the same foot at the majority. You have to start as a criminal if you want a chance or you'll be criminilized anyway because precarity will lead you there little by little, inexorably.
And also the choice thing was so badly done in this season because it makes you think the games aren't worth it when, in reality of poverty, even if you get the change to get out, where do you go? What do you do? Life itself isn't soth it anyway so at least why not trying the games.
in the first seasno there was not this division between people wanting to continue = comically bad and people wanting out = comically innocent and naive, unwilling to kill but at the same time want money from people getting killed. It was more putting the majority in a world that is often ignored, and that seems to be a theme in Korea with things like Parasite where it forces you to wonder who is the real parasite in this society, how easy it is to be "nice people" when you just have everything so easily, and being seen as bad when you either have no choice or two bad choices and WILL be prosecuted for the lesser bad you end up chosing.
This season ruins the meaning od Squid Game to me, it just snihilates the whole message to turn it into revenge porn a la Américaine.
The very fact someone can watch squid game and go away from it with "YOU are responsible for your financial situation, YOU can JUST choose to pay you debts and make money in an ethical way..." it is clear how it failed to portray how in a certain part or the population, that is NOT a reality, and that is not atteignable by any other way than lottery or magical billionaire dead estranged uncle. There are still a fair amount of people who spend more money going to work than what they get working. It is a reality people don't want to see, but Squid game, even though it was just mediocre television, had this virtue of forcing people to watch and realize what's under their eyes, living parallel lives to theirs but being in very separate worlds that will never mix and have don't live by the same rules. (And how oftentimes the rules are arbitrary the poorer you are. The people who say money isn't that important are people who never had to sleep outside for more than a week during winter on an empty stomach sick as hell. And the people who sream so hard of becoming rich and can't even thinkn of any other wish to make, really dream about the safety it brings with it because living in constant danger, having to display treasures of gratitude and joie de vivre while being absolutely despised by everybody for having made the bad choice to be homeless, sexually assaulted and had to quit school at age 13 and never found a way to legally come back from that because administration is so absurd and only precarious people have to really care about it anyway.... tfi, I'm stopping there, but I think myy point is understood.)
Choice is a luxury, and ending Squid games with a "You need to make better choices" message would be a tragedy only hardcore individualistic capitalist americans can enjoy.
The majority of population needs laws to inject equality between classes, and to protect the most vulnerable ones from arbitrary violence (and growing up in poverty while being told everyday you are shit for chosing to be poor instead chosing to be rich is violence). It should not be "every individual for oneself" or this vigilante culture that we seem to be obsessed with with those super cops without counter power who destroy the world on a daily basis in mediocre movies
What would be powerful as an ending would not be to "realize" how horrendous the games are. I mean they are clearly evil... But to realize they are a direct a product of a sociaty that create desperate beings called monsters. How we are not responsible for our choices but we are responsible for the state of everything in this world. Collectively.
Gaaahdaam such a shitty take. 🙋🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️
honestly, my main problem is its feel unfinished for a season. It feels life thanos wins with less of a impact. next season better have monkey bars and musical chairs as the next game
I kept thinking that even if they manage to vote their way out being the squid games then who ever voted to stay would be massacre and the people leaving would have to live with that
30:34 I honestly thought they were gonna kill the mother off this way, definitely surprised me they didnt