The third season of Squid Game starts exactly where the second second left off. Gi-hun's attempt to take down the Squid Games from within has failed, and several of his allies are dead. Not Gi-hun, though. The Front Man keeps him alive for reasons unknown, and he's very upset about it. Gi-hun begs for the guards to kill him so he can join his fellow revolutionaries, but since when did a guard in the Squid Games give someone what they want?
Gi-hun stews in guilt and anger for most of the episode, finally finding a target for his ire in Dae-ho, who chickened out during the rebellion and didn't bring new magazines to the front lines. I don't think it's entirely fair to target Dae-ho like this; the situation was intense and he be could forgiven for getting shell-shocked, despite how tall he talked about his military experience. Under ordinary circumstances, I think Gi-hun would cut him some slack. But these are the Squid Games, designed to bring out the worst in everyone. Here they bring out the worst in Gi-hun, who seems bound and determined to kill Dae-ho during the next game. He's found a reason to go on, but it's a destructive, violent reason that plays right into the Front Man's hands. If Gi-hun is playing the games, he's not trying to stop them.
We don't actually see the players play the next game in this episode, which I was thankful for; the build-up was more than stressful enough and I was glad I got more time to prepare. The cast is dwindling and we know that some of the our favorite characters aren't long for this world. "Keys and Knives" does a good job reacquainting us with the characters so we'll be sad when their time comes. I'm not ready to lose Hyun-ju, the brave transgender soldier who was a rock during the rebellion. I don't want to say goodbye Geum-ja, the kindly old woman who entered the games to earn money to pay for her son's debts. I don't want to lose her son Yong-sik either, or the pregnant Jun-hee or her estranged boyfriend Myung-gi, who steps up this episode and vows to protect Jun-hee and her child.
But I'm going to have to say goodbye to one or all of them, and that knowledge had me squirming in my seat as the episode approached the start of the next game: Hide-And-Go-Seek. The players are divided into two teams: red and blue. The blue team have to go and hide in a bespoke arena with low ceilings and stars painted on the sky. They're each given a key that can open a door within the arena, but once they open that door, it stays open. If they reach the exit, they get out with their lives. The red team are each given a knife that's razor sharp to the touch but candy-colored like a child's toy; it's definitely the image I'll remember from this episode. I hate and love and the way Squid Game takes childlike aesthetics and warps and twists them into something ugly and vile. If a member of the red team gets through the whole game without finding and killing someone, they are killed.
So we have a game that pits the players against each other. Squid Game has proven that it's willing to kill characters, so the stakes are unbearably high as the players confer before things get rolling. They're allowed to switch rolls if they find someone willing. Geum-ja and Yong-sik switch roles, as do Jun-hee and Myung-gi; the guys are on the red team and the girls on the blue. The plan is that the guys will kill someone and then find the girls and make for the exits. But will things go according to plan? I doubt it.
I think Squid Game is at its best when it's either pontificating on the cruelty of economic equality or in the thick of the games sharpening the tension to a needle point. There isn't much of the former in this episode, but plenty of the latter. Now I just have to steel myself to watch the next one. Let's the games begin, for better or worse.
Keys and Knives and Bullet Points
- There's another vote to see if the remaining players want to leave or stay. With so many of the "Leave" people killed in the rebellion, the "Stay" group easily gets their way, especially now since they can intimidate people who might otherwise want to leave into staying with their superior numbers.
- The Front Man mentions that the VIPs are on their way. The VIPS are the super-rich people who bankroll the games. They're the fuel that keep these games going, so it's important we see how they fit in. Season 2 didn't feel complete without them.
- Former detective Hwang Jun-ho is still looking for the island where the Squid Games are being held. He doesn't know that the boat captain is an agent of the Front Man working against him, although he's at least starting to get a clue.
- I'm nervous for a lot of characters going into Hide-And-Go-Seek, but there are a couple people I wouldn't mind seeing killed. Player Number 100, the cold-hearted businessman, has got to go. And I've had about all I can take of Seon-nyeo the shaman.
- As scared as I am for the players, they might soon have some outside help, and I don't just mean Hwang Jun-ho. No-eul, the female guard introduced last season, has always been conflicted about the games. In this episode she hatches a plan to save Gyeong-seok, the theme park worker she knows from the outside, after he's wounded in the failed rebellion. She works with the guards who are harvesting organs just long enough to save Gyeong-seok's life and then kill the guards, which feels like she's crossing a line. Maybe the rebellion inspired her, which means it did some good after all. I imagine she'll be key to the rest of the season.
Episode Grade: A-
Other Squid Game reviews:
- Season 3, Episode 1: "Keys and Knives"
- Season 3, Episode 2: "The Starry Night"
- Season 3, Episode 3: "It's Not Your Fault"
- Season 3, Episode 4: "222"
- Season 3, Episode 5: " ▢△◯"
- Season 3, Episode 6: "Humans Are..."
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