The Squid Game. What is season 2 about?

“The Squid Game” Season 2 (which everyone wants to watch online) is a continuation of the South Korean Netflix series, which topped the popularity ratings in many countries and became a hit for the new season in the fall of 2021.

In the first season, the main character, Song Ki-hoon, who is struggling with money, was asked to participate in secret survival games. 456 participants compete for the big prize at stake, including Song Ki-hoon’s childhood friend, failed financier Cho Sang-woo, bandit Jang Deok-soo, terminally ill old man Oh Il-nam, North Korean defector Kang Se-byeok, and an immigrant from Pakistan Abdul Ali, among others. Participants play six children’s games: Red Light, Green Light, Sugar Honeycomb, Tug of War, Marble, Glass Stepping Stones and Squid Games. But in the first round, more than 200 people die.

Song Ki-hoon and Jo Sang-woo managed to reach the finals and play the final match. The victory remained with Gi-hoon. Sang Woo, who cannot forgive himself for what he did during the game, commits suicide. Gi-hoon, who received the winnings, gives half of it to his friend’s mother. He also finds out who the creator of the game is and realizes that the deadly game continues and decides to stop it. With this, the first season ends.

Shortly after the release of the show, there was talk of a possible sequel. What the focus of the new episodes will be is unknown. We can assume that we will see Gi-hoon’s attempts to end the existence of the game.

On November 9, 2021, the creator of the project, Hwang Dong Hyuk, announced the renewal of The Squid Gamefor a second season . “There were so many requests and so many positive reviews where people said they want to see a second season… I feel like I almost have no choice! But yes, there will indeed be a new season. “I already have it in my head and now I’m planning everything,” the showrunner said. Netflix has not officially confirmed this information. Representatives for the service noted that the final decision has not yet been made.

Hwang Dong Hyuk plans to reveal more about the Games host in the new episodes. “He [Hwang In Ho] was a past winner and became the MC. It’s like the Darth Vader situation. Some end up becoming Jedi and some end up becoming Darth Vader, right? ” the showrunner said, comparing the character to the famous villain. The actor who played him, Lee Byung Hun, is also likely to return for the second season.

Hwang Dong Hyuk also promised that Gi-hoon will return in new episodes and “do something for the world.” “I’m not really in a position to officially discuss the second season. In the first season that we saw, Gi-hoon is the character whose humanity comes out in a very passive way. But I think what he learned from the games, his experience, all of this will be used in a more active way,” the writer hinted at the further development of the character.

Lead actor Lee Jung Jae described his character as follows: “In the last few episodes, my character Gi-hoon has become much more serious, so I think he will become an even more decisive character. But if he becomes too decisive, people will be completely bored to watch. So I hope he doesn’t kill that funny, cheerful guy in himself.

In an interview with KBS, Hwang Dong Hyuk said that he is in talks with Netflix about continuing the show, and that not only a second season, but also a possible third season is being discussed.

In January 2022, Netflix officially confirmed that the show will continue.

The second season saw the return of Lee Jong-jae (Song Ki Hoon), Lee Byung-hun (Hwang In Ho, the host), Gong Yoo (the recruiter), and Wi Ha-joon (Hwang Chun Ho, the young officer). They are joined by Im Shi-wan (“Strangers from Hell”), Kang Ha-neul (“The Heirs”), Park Sung-hoon (“Triumph”), and Yang Dong-geun (“Bride of the River God”).

In the summer of 2023, 8 new actors joined the cast: Park Kyu-young (“Sweet Home”), Cho Yu-ri (“Copycat”), Kang Ae-shim (“Bad and Crazy,” “Heaven”), Lee David (“Hotel Del Luna,” “Law School”), Lee Jin-wook (“Sweet Home,” “The Voice”), Choi Seung-hyun (“Iris,” “Secret Message”), Roh Jae-won (“Missing Yoon,” “The Same Thing”) and Won Ji-an (“Make a Wish,” “So Heart Beats”).

The synopsis for The Squid Game season 2: “Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their cruel sport.” Using his newfound fortune to fund his search, he realizes that the path to destroying the organization is more dangerous than he thought: to end the game, he has to go through it again.”

Two years have passed since the victory of the main character Song Ki Hoon in the cruel games. He could not forget what happened, so he now lives in the motel he bought, sees nightmares of people killed on the island, tries to find the manager of the games and put an end to it. He also buys weapons illegally, as if preparing for war, while the people he hires follow a recruiter in the subway who gives passers-by the chance to choose a red or blue envelope.

The colors of the envelopes are a clear reference to The Matrix. If we continue to draw a parallel, which is directly explained by one of the heroes of the series, Song Ki-hoon is the chosen one, Neo, the manager of the games, is Agent Smith, who hates both people and his superiors. And the rich people for whom the games are organized are intelligent machines that have seized power and subjugated people.

As was clear from the trailer for the second season, Song Ki-hoon returns to the games and is again numbered 456. The creators of the series did not change what worked in the first season: the memorable uniform and decorations remained the most viral game, images of which surfaced on TikTok three years ago: “If you drive more quietly, you will go further.” In the sequel, there is even a North Korean girl who manages to escape to the neighboring country.

There is also a persistent social problem of terrible class inequality. This is a major problem for South Korea, which is clearly visible in the national cinema (think for example of Bong Joon Ho’s film ‘Parasite’, which won an Oscar in 2019).

Aramide Tinubu, a journalist for Variety, on the other hand, finds the sequel to Squid Game more bloodthirsty and exciting.

In addition, the second season addresses the issue of expensive health care and criticizes the police. Showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk said about this: “I think the problem with the police is not just a Korean problem. I see in the world news that the police can take action very late: there are many casualties or the situation gets out of hand if they do not act quickly enough.”

At the same time, the makers of the second season do not dwell on social problems and, for example, raise the philosophical dilemma of free will. The manager explains to the main character that people participate in the games voluntarily. Moreover, according to him, the biggest problem is not in the games, but in the structure of the world. If the world does not change, games will continue to exist. But Song Ki Hoon disagrees and tries to save the members.

New games, like the previous ones, keep you in suspense. The biggest problem and at the same time the advantage of the second season is that the makers of the series did not come up with anything new. They took the ingredients of the success and made a sequel, which of course is no longer as impressive. At the same time, it cannot be said that no work was done: new controversial characters appeared in the series, which are interesting to watch, and many of the themes we discussed above appear for the first time or are given more depth.

The second season was initially doomed to criticism after the resounding success of the first, the script of which was worked on for years. Do something radically different and fans of the series will be disappointed. Repeat what brought success, and everyone will consider the new series a hack.

The point is that The Squid Game did not need a sequel. The first season looks like a perfect final product. But the producers were lured by money and they voted to continue the game. Money has defeated common sense again. Capitalism has killed Squid Game.

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