In the end, the second season of “Squid Game” manages to be both exciting And disappointing. The new season continues to progress, bringing new twists and unleashing more deadly games. But with seven episodes, as opposed to the first season’s nine, this second season often feels like little more than setting the table for the third and final season. I suppose you could consider this to be The Empire Strikes Back of the Squid Game trilogy, a sequel with no real conclusion, complete with a cliffhanger designed to shock you and leave you wanting more. However, if you’ve binged through all seven episodes of Squid Game’s second season, you might be wondering, “Is this it?” It certainly doesn’t help that Hwang litters the season with convoluted plotlines that go absolutely nowhere. Will the series conclude it in season 3? Probably! But such an approach doesn’t make for very compelling viewing.
As the second season begins, some time has passed since the end of the first season, and Gi-hun remains both haunted and determined. He used his huge jackpot to hire a whole team of people to help him track down the people behind the people still running the Squid Game. Gi-hun could have taken his money and fled, but instead he wants to shut down the organization for good. Joining him on this front is Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), a police officer who has a direct connection to the deadly games: his brother Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), nicknamed “The Front “ wears man is the guy who runs the show, who puts on a mask and dresses like a gothic Doctor Doom while he rules over the games.
It’s the nature of the show that Gi-hun has to be back in the game sooner or later. And in fact, that’s exactly what happens. And this is where the second season starts to run into problems. There’s a real sense of repetition that kicks in almost immediately. Finally, to remind viewers what they liked about the series in the first place, Season 2 of Squid Game reuses elements from Season 1. There’s even a big twist with one of the new players brought straight over from the first season. Heck, even the organ harvesting subplot returns.
At the same time, season two makes a huge mistake by giving us far fewer games. Part of what made Season 1 so memorable was the numerous deadly games players took part in from episode to episode. However, Season 2 only gives us a small number of games, and one of them – Red Light, Green Light – is carried over from Season 1. And while Season 1 gave Jun-ho something to do by having him sneak around in Season 2, he stays on a boat on the mysterious island where the games take place throughout the season, with each episode briefly cutting back to him, as he sails around trying to find Gi-hun. It’s pretty boring stuff, to be honest, and gives the entire season a hodgepodge feel, as if Hwang was torn in two directions, wanting to advance the story while also being tied up in recycling familiar beats.
