The second season of Squid Game is, as expected, a huge hit for Netflix; in fact, it's officially become the third most watched season in the history of the streaming service, behind the first season of Wednesday and the first season of...well, Squid Game. People are absolutely hooked on this story of cash-strapped people who put their lives on the line for a chance to win a huge cash prize, playing life-or-death games mounted by billionaires who watch from the sidelines. Why has it struck such a chord? Ask an economist.
Anyway, the second season hasn't been quite as warmly received as the first, but it's still a thrill to watch. There have been some controversies to go along with all the success, like the introduction of a transgender character named Cho Hyun-ju, who was fired from her job in the military after coming out and who needs money to complete her transition. The show came under fire for casting Park Sung-hoon, a cisgender man, in the role, but Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk defended himself by saying that, in a homophobic and transphobic society like South Korea, there simply weren't any openly trans actors to cast, much as he would have liked to.
Park Sung-hoon has also stirred up some controversy himself. In December, he posted an image to his social media accounts taken from a pornographic parody of Squid Game, which did not please Hwang Dong-hyuk. “It was so unpleasant to see. I was aware there were AV parodies like that overseas since season one. Since it’s overseas and not domestic, we can’t stop it, and it’s frustrating,” Hwang said, per KoreaBoo. “It ruins the meaning of the work itself. I haven’t talked to Park Sung-hoon yet, but I, too, am also curious as to why he posted something like that.”
For his part, Park Sung-hoon did offer an explanation to The Korea Economic Daily. “I found a problematic photo in my [direct messages] as I was rushing to go out around lunchtime to go to my schedule,” he said, again per KoreaBoo. “While exchanging the show’s reactions with the organizer, I think I accidentally posted it to my story while sending it.”
"I, of course, did not watch the video. I also do not have another account, so it wasn’t a mistake to try to upload it to a different account. I felt a lot of regret and blamed myself for the inconvenience my mistake had caused. I will carry on with my acting career with a heavy heart, being mindful of my words and actions so something like this will not happen again."
Does that explanation make a ton of sense? That's up to you to decide. There has been fallout from the incident, though. According to TV Line, Park Sung-hoon has had to step back from his role in a forthcoming Korean drama called The Tyrant's Chef, which apparently is about a modern-day chef who travels back in time and finds herself cooking for a king who is a horrible tyrant as well as a passionate gourmet. If nothing else, this story has made me interested in this show.
Park Sung-hoon will appear in the third and final season of Squid Game, which was filmed back to back with the second season and which will drop on Netflix sometime later this year, possibly pretty soon.
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