In 2021, the South Korean death game thriller Squid Game made series history and became a worldwide success on Netflix. A little over three years later, we can now once again face the sentence “Red light, green light” and fear for the lives of 456 desperate, indebted players. Was it worth the wait? Squid Game Season 2, whose 7 episodes I have already seen, unfortunately leaves me with mixed feelings. Because Many strengths are accompanied by some frustrating weaknesses.
Squid Game Season 2 has a surprising start
At the beginning of season 2, the plot jumps back in time by three years. Instead of jumping straight into another Squid Gamethe series takes a surprising amount of time and devotes a full two episodes to Gi-hun’s (Jung-Jae Lee) desperate task to search for the mysterious man in the suit who once recruited him for the death game with a game of Ddakji.
With his winnings of 4.56 billion won, Gi-hun can’t just live a carefree life. It is the value of 455 lives that were wiped out because of it. And so he recruits several people to help him find those responsible for the Squid Game and end the games forever. As Mix of drama and paranoia thriller The series offers surprising and fresh approaches.
The opening episode doesn’t do without games, which turns out to be an advantage for the Netflix sequel. In the best Saw style, ordinary living spaces suddenly become playgrounds for bitter and deadly games of chance. This intimacy, for example when two men tied to chairs in a small room have to play rock, paper, scissors for their lives, is far more frightening than when crowds of people die in colorful settings. But as soon as the actual Squid Game begins, an uneasy feeling of déjà vu sets in: haven’t we seen it all before?
Squid Game Season 2: More of the same, with a few interesting twists
After the interesting start, season 2 is split into two storylines. On the one hand, we follow police officer Jun-ho (Wi Ha-Joon) as he searches under time pressure for the island where he himself once witnessed the death games – and his new ally, Gi-hun, is now reclaiming his life as player number 456 risked. A new Squid Games begins and (unfortunately) not much has changed for now.
The fact that red light, green light is played again in the first round seems at first glance like an unimaginative repetition. However, the dramaturgical goal of the game is suddenly redefined: thanks to Gi-hun’s renewed participation and his knowledge of the cruel background no longer about winning, but about ending the game as early as possible.
Director and author Dong-hyuk Hwang retains the concept and basic rules of the Squid Game in Season 2, but spices them up with some interesting tricks. Above all, the biggest rule change: After each round, you can vote on whether the game should be continued or canceled – and the prize money earned up to that point will be divided among all (still living) players. The series now directs its thematic focus to one dramatic escalation of social divisionswhen increasingly critical tensions arise from changing loyalties between groups X and O, dropouts and gamblers.
The greatest narrative strength of the Netflix sequel, however, is the changed role of the mysterious frontman (Byeong-heon Lee). Without giving away the spoiler twist about his character: Both the overall story and Gi-hun’s mission are taken in a completely new direction with an unexpected dynamic that is dramatic Core conflict of trust and betrayal cleverly added.
But all the small changes and some exciting characters among the 455 new participants (including a cute mother-son duo and a trans woman who is becoming an action heroine) do not change the fact that we are basically the same as in season 1 again play through from the beginning. The motivation remains the same for (almost) everyone: Once again we follow heavily indebted people who put their lives at risk out of desperation or greed for money.
A further point of criticism turns out to be a look behind the scenes. The perspective of a “guard” (another North Korean defector!) ultimately reveals little new about the work of the masked overall wearers and eventually comes to nothing. It’s also a shame: Season 2 can hardly elicit any exciting new insights into the mythology of the Squid Game.
Is Squid Game Season 2 worth it?
Anyone who liked the first season of Squid Game and in a sequel you simply expect a new death game with slightly changed rules and new participants, you will have a lot of fun with season 2. However, disappointment can set in if you want to see lots of new deadly children’s games. In principle, there are only two of them to marvel at (a mass game and a pentathlon with several mini-games), which convince with an enormous build-up of tension and shocking bloodshed. However, none of them come close to the emotional torture of the Marble Game from Season 1.
Does Squid Game Season 2 have anything new to say at all? This question arises when the series falls into more familiar routines with each passing episode and, apart from the escalation of a group of people divided between greed and reason, can hardly add anything to the pointed social criticism of the first season.
Fortunately, the season manages to serve up an enjoyable twist just before the home stretch that can actually catapult the story in an unexpected new direction. Thanks to this refreshing change of direction, brutal (but fewer) new games, and interesting character additions, Season 2 of Squid Game largely recreates a strong and extremely bloody series experience, but unfortunately it ends up being frustrating.
Series creator Dong-hyuk Hwang has already anticipated angry fan reactions to the finale – and I can’t contradict him. Because as soon as the story really gets going, the season ends abruptly with a frustrating cliffhanger. If you’re watching the long-awaited Netflix sequel, it’s best to know that only half a story is told here becomes. The series saves a resolution of the Squid Game, the character fates and the numerous subplots for season 3, which is also the series finale. So a conclusion about season 2 is ultimately only a preliminary conclusion.