Warning: Minor spoilers forSquid Game.
Squid Gamefinally returned for its second season at the end of December 2024, and the wildly popular Netflix series once again showcased the lengths people will go to for money. Taking place a few years after Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) managed to walk away with the big cash prize, the newest season kicks it up a notch and doesn’t disappoint. However, this time, the narrative goes beyond the scope of the games themselves. While viewers are certainly privy to the show’s deadly challenges, this season chooses to focus more onGi-hun’s efforts to dismantle the entire operationand take down the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) once and for all. That being said, there’s still plenty of blood and gore littered throughout Season 2.
However, the latest season drops one of the most disturbing aspects of the first season, and that’s not a bad thing. This time around, viewers don’t see VIP members observing the games and betting on who will survive and who will die. There’s noHunger Games-style audience to further the notion of inhumanity. While those members are certainly mentioned a few times, viewers don’t witness their actions because it’s not needed in Season 2. Given how the show’s narrative shifts away from merely surviving the games and toward stopping those at the top, the spectator aspect of the series is irrelevant for this season’s story.
Squid Game
Season 2 of ‘Squid Game’ Speaks to a Different Issue Than Season 1
The blood and gore of Season 1 was certainly a shocking aspect ofSquid Game’sfirst season, andthe addition of VIP members betting on the players only made it worse. Watching the lengths people are willing to go to in order to win money was abominable, which was kind of the point, and the spectator aspect only furthered the show’s purposeful display of inhumanity. While some might view that as egregious, itwas meant to be repulsivewithout simply glorifying those actions.By highlighting just how awful people can be to one another and showcasing how easy it is for some to make excuses for devaluing people’s lives, the show’s first season actually condemns those actions.
The second season uses that condemnation as a launching pad to finally turn the tables on those at the top, or at least try to.By attempting to dismantle the entire system, Season 2 speaks to a different issue than its predecessor. Viewers already know the VIP members exist; they don’t need to continue watching them bet on human lives. Rather, the audience is able to witness the efforts toward their demise and the downfall of the games themselves. In a series that aims tohighlight the depths of inhumanity, its first season showcases how terrible people can truly be, whileits second season showcases what people might do in response. Removing one of the most horrendous aspects of Season 1 allows the audience to focus on Season 2’s efforts.
8 Ways Gi-hun Could Have Saved Everyone in ‘Squid Game’ Season 2
If Gi-hun had taken more time to strategize, he could have stopped the games during game one, or even episode one.
‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Explores the Logistics Behind the Scenes
And Showcases a Different Kind of Gruesome Aspect
Not only doesSquid Game’ssecond season tell a different storythan the first, but it also offers viewers a different perspective on the games. This time, the audience explores the logistics behind the scenes by following some of the people who wear the mysterious masks. In many ways,they replace the atrocious behavior of the VIP members with the gruesome actions of those who literally pull the trigger during the games. To make matters worse, those people are essentially just like everyone else. They’re not particularly terrible; they simply do terrible things under the right circumstances.
Fundamentally,the games bring out the worst of everyone involved. The nature of the games isdesigned to make people do terrible thingsno matter how they might regularly act in their personal lives. For example, before viewers find out that Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young) is one of the guards, they witness how deeply she cares for some people and how hard she’s working to extract her son from North Korea after defecting herself. During her day job, she witnesses Park Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook) striving to care for his daughter dying of cancer. She appears to be empathetic to his situation, but after seeing him as a player in the games and shooting him when he loses one of the challenges, she seemingly doesn’t skip a beat.
‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Explores How Capitalism Corrupts Democracy
The second season adds the democratic process to its scathing satire.
Season 2 doesn’t need to include the spectators because there’salready enough to be horrified about. A real peak behind the curtain and Gi-hun’s efforts to destroy it all are solid enough reasons to warrant excluding the VIP members introduced in Season 1. There are already enough atrocities to be shocked about, but this season’s main focus is meant to be about destroying the games, not winning them.All episodes ofSquid Gameare currently streaming on Netflix.
