Watching the second season of Squid Game, I was a little...I don't know if "disappointed" is the word...surprised that more characters of consequence didn't die. Maybe that makes me a bloodthirsty voyeur, but part of the reason this show is exciting is that everybody, even characters we know and love, are potentially on the chopping block.
The show made up for lost time in "The Starry Night," which focuses almost entirely on the new Hide-And-Go-Seek game. Characters on the blue team must hide, while characters on the red team — all of whom are given knives — seek; if a red kills a blue, they survive to the next round. Multiple major characters die in an hour that's as intense and brutal as any the show has produced. Some character deaths felt overdue, others came too early, and some left me in shambles. The game feels like it's changed.
As usual, the production design on Squid Game is immaculate. The people on the blue team, the ones who are hiding, scurry through an eerie maze with low ceilings; the walls are painted in bright colors like you might see in a child's bedroom, another example of the show twisting childlike imagery in a way that will show up later in your nightmares. Some doors lead deeper into the maze, some open to empty rooms, and a slim few lead out of the arena. At the center of the maze is a deep well with doors opening into thin air; it looks like an M.C. Escher painting come to life, or an even more dangerous Hogwarts. I was shocked no one fell through it to their death; the production team built it just for the love of the game, and to populate our imaginations. We're stuck in this arena alongside the players for the entire episode, and it is a claustrophobic, surreal experience.
Everyone on the blue team is given one of three different kinds of keys, each of which opens a certain kind of door. Late in the episode, we find out that the only way to open one of the exit doors is to have all three kinds of keys on hand, meaning that the blues will have to work together, something they don't know at the outset. Twists like that keep coming the whole time and keep the tension high; there's always another problem to solve.
But mostly it's the characters who carry the episode. Geum-ja, Jun-hee and Hyun-ju, three of the most likable characters still in the game, are all on the blue team. They team up, giving the episode an anchor. You really want all three of them to make it, so of course they don't.
This is the episode where we say goodbye to Hyun-ju, who at least goes out on a high note. As a military veteran, it falls to her to protect the elderly Geum-ja and the pregnant Jun-hee, and she steps up. The moment where she puts up her dukes and squares her stance to face down an oncoming member of the red team is true hero stuff; Hyun-ju is going to take on a desperate knife-wielding wretch with only her fists, and she wins!
I guess the episode didn't want to give her too many victories in a row. Later, she takes out another red but is wounded in the process. But she stumbles on an exit door. Rather than go through and save herself, which she clearly wants to do, she goes back for Geum-ja and Jun-hee, who of course goes into labor during the game. Just as Hyun-ju tells her friends the good news, she is stabbed in the back, and dies.
What's more, she's stabbed by Myung-gi, the father of Jun-hee's baby. He's on the red team, but promised to find and protect her right after he killed someone else, which he needs to do to survive to the next round. I think he has good intentions, but he still allows himself to be led astray by Nam-gyu, the unstable guy who inherited Thanos' drugs. They hatch a plan to kill as many blues as they can, figuring that will thin the herd even more, since every red who doesn't kill anyone gets killed themselves. And that's how Myung-gi ends up stabbing maybe the most pure-hearted person on the show.
Squid Game is great at setting up these kinds of impossible conflicts. What do you prioritize here? Is it better to think practically like Myung-gi, even if it leads to violent and antisocial behavior? Where do you draw the line? (Personally, I'd draw it at working with a guy like Nam-gyu, who takes a liking to seeing the light leave a person's eyes as they die. That's a flag so red you can see it in the dark.) Or do you act more like Hyun-ju and try to hang on to a sense of decency? Huyn-ju dies a hero, but she still dies.
Believe it or not, none of this serves as the emotional climax to the episode. That comes at the very end, when Geum-ja's son Yong-sik — who volunteered to be on the red team so his mother wouldn't have to — comes to his mom with tears in his eyes, admitting that he couldn't kill anyone. Time is almost up, and he's going to die. Geum-ja has been my favorite character since I met her last season, and my heart broke as she encouraged her son to kill her so that he would live: "I've lived long enough."
But Yong-sik can't go through with that. Instead he trains his knife on Yun-jee, who's holding her newborn baby at the exit door. But Geum-ja can't go through with that; she takes out a small blade we saw she had last episode and stabs her own son in the back, not enough to kill him but enough to distract him while the clock ticks down to zero. The game is over and Yonk-sik hans't killed anyone, so he's to be killed. The guards approach. The last thing Yong-sik hears is his mother begging them to spare his life. They fire.
In an episode of brutal moments, this was the worst. I almost think this episode stacked too many moments like this on top of each other. Yong-sik's death landed for me. As for Hyun-ju, I think she deserved better than to have the second most memorable death in the episode.
Seong Gi-hun: Terminator
Believe it or not, there's still more. Seong Gi-hun, the one person we thought we could count on to rise above the frey, gives in completely to his baser instincts. Part of the red team, he barely speaks a word all episode, instead stalking blue team member Dae-ho — whom Gi-hun blames for the coup going sideways at the end of season 2 — through the maze. Gi-hun is a Terminator: cold, implacable and without mercy...almost. When Gi-hun and Dae-ho finally come to face to face, he waffles a little bit as Dae-ho pours out his heart: yes, he screwed up the coup. He was going to bring the magazines but he got scared. He lied about being a soldier to get into their group. He tears up and begs Gi-hun to spare his life.
And then Dae-ho attacks with a broken blade he'd picked up. I don't see that as evidence of his inherent wickedness, but just an example of survival instinct kicking in; everyone has to do what they have to do in here. Normal rules don't apply.
In the end, Gi-hun does end up killing Dae-ho, and with his bare hands; he strangles him to death. Gi-hun passes the test, but what will be left of him after this? Can he get back to being the leader he was before the coup? Or will he believe what Dae-ho told him, that the failure is his fault?
One more important character dies in this episode: Seon-nyeo, the shaman of the sea, who's on the blue team. I really haven't liked this character since she was introduced, so on the one hand I'm fine seeing her go. She's killed by a confused Min-su, who under normal circumstances probably wouldn't be able to kill anyone; taking one of Thanos' pills helps.
On the other hand, this was Seon-nyeo's best episode. We see how completely selfish she is as she leads a group of terrified blues towards the exit with her spiritual powers, aka she makes things up as she goes. She's actually pretty clever at one point, leaving little bloody arrows to lead her back to the exit room and then acting as though the gods are guiding her. And just as I feel like I'm getting to know her better, she's out of the game. She is vile up until her last breathe, mocking the vulnerable Min-su until he snaps. I'm not sure what good she added to this season.
But man, I don't think people will be forgetting this episode anytime soon. It was tense, scary and powerful. I shudder to think what other horrors the show has in store as we press on towards the end.
The Starry Bullet Points
- We saw barely anything of the Front Man in this episode and nothing of Hwang Jun-ho's team at all. The only scene outside the arena came right at the beginning, when No-eul forced a crooked doctor to nurse Gyeong-seok back to life, and then killed the doctor to keep him from talking. Gyeong-seok will now pose as a guard. No-eul is brutal, but she's undermining people who are far worse, so I'm fully on her side.
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..."
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.