Thoughts on season 2

I know this is really long I had a lot to say apparently and most of this was stream of consciousness. If you decide to read at least some of it I really appreciate it but overall I loved this season and I highly recommend watching if you haven’t already but if your new to the show entirely then you really should watch season 1 as well. I don’t know how to feel about this being split between 2 seasons. I need to see s3 first. My first thought was that they are trying to milk to story more by stretching it out but if s3 has a completely different vibe to s2 then I see why splitting it up was better.

Gihun (456/returning character): to defend this man and his arguably stupid plan at the end he wasn’t planning on going back into the games at all. He wasn’t spending 3 years trying to figure out how to take down the games from the inside, his plan was to find the frontman at that club and take him down. So while I agree the plan was a little unrealistic he was also trying to think up something while in there. He doesn’t want to just save everyone in that game he wants to end the games as a whole. So his plan to me was fair for what he desired though very unexpected at least to me. I was not expecting him to fully fight the guards, I also thought there was way more guards involved in these games then there actually was. I admire him so desperately wanting to end these games even if his plans to get there was flawed at best. His main issue was not having a solid plan B in place.

In-Ho (001/frontman): I do see the 457 ship and I appreciate it, however I want to try to find what the actual reasoning behind his character being lowkey close to Gihun as I highly doubt the show would go in that direction. I feel like he’s fascinated by Gihun in a way. A part of me feels like he is curious to see what Gihun is going to do especially after he didn’t kill him after the failed plan. Gihun is like the only winner to our knowledge who is going back to try and end the games even so far as to go into the games themselves. Like what is driving Gihun to this, why can’t he forget and move on, what makes him different from the previous winners? I’m also a little curious to see what happens next because I doubt Gihun is just going to revert back to a normal player and try being to last one standing but I don’t know what other options he has except that and I think that might be what In-Ho wants to happen where Gihun gives in a plays the games correctly instead. Also I know people are mad at Gihun for trusting 001 when last time that was the person in charge but he doesn’t have that extra knowledge we do about In-Ho being the frontman. This is dramatic irony where the audience knows something the characters don’t, Gihun wouldn’t know that it’s a pattern in the first place so him trusting 001 isn’t weird.

Hyun-Ju (120) and Young-Mi (095): I LOVE THEM BOTH! Hyun-Ju is amazing, bad ass, beautiful. I love that they put good trans rep in a Korean show considering the country is still pretty conservative. I remember some people being worried about it as the actor wasn’t trans but I love that it’s actually a really good character and portrayed not as a caricature but actually addressing how hard it was for her to come out and transition. I’m excited to see her more in S3 (aka S2 part 2) but I’m worried she’ll get retaliation for being involved in Gihun’s plan but we’ll see. With Young-Mi I loved her as well and the fact that she just immediately accepted Hyun-Ju and called her unnie! Their relationship was so nice, all the little groups this season were either nice little families or in the Thanos group case just comedy. 

Jun-Hee (222) and Myyng-gi (333): I know I maybe in the minority with this but I’m hoping she doesn’t take 333 back. Yes he’s protecting her now I still don’t trust that he won’t screw her over post games if they both get out. When he was talking to her and spoke about more investing my first thought was “Oh, you didn’t learn your lesson the first time”. Like if I was involved in an investment scam, yes I know it’s crypto and he talking about something different this time but still, I would be very hesitant to get involved in that again. This also could just be because of my personal experiences as I was raised by a single mom so I’m not rooting for them to be back together as I feel she would be fine on her own. Tbh if I were to ship her with anyone I love the idea of her and Dae-ho I saw a few edits and I find them cute. But in the end I’m rooting for her to go off on her own.

Dae-Ho (388): When the fighting started I also thought he lied about being a marine but when he had that reaction in the hall with the ammo I was like “Oh it’s PTSD”. Someone else mentioned how since he was forced into it by his father to be more “manly” he most likely didn’t have a good time in there. He probably did go to the military at least as South Korea does mandatory service so the chances of him actually being in the marines are higher than not. Frankly I also would be terrified in that situation I personally would be scared they’d kill everyone because that small group revolted. 

Yung-Sik (007) and Geum-Ja (149): how much debt is this man in that the combination of both his and his mom’s payout won’t be enough my god. When it comes to mingle I have the same thought on it as with Min-Su where it didn’t feel like he was betraying his mom as he was being dragged away by other people but I’m sure it felt terrible for the mom as she both saw it as her son abandoning her and grappling with the idea that she’ll probably die soon. I love that afterwards he immediately went to her and refused to be separated from her the next round. I love seeing this redemption arc with the Geum-ju and Hyun-Ju where she eventually learned to grow beyond her transphobia and accept Hyun-Ju even referred to her as a woman when going to the bathroom and it’s so nice to see. I love the growth in character instead of keeping her at just the old bigoted lady who refuses to change. 

Thanos (230): tbh TOP (the actor) is the main reason I wanted to watch this season. His character is the difference between a morally good character and a good character plot wise, which Thanos is the later. To me he both represents this comedic relief character but also the type of person who never looks inwards when they make a mistake. Here’s the thing he has every right to blame Myung-gi at least in part because he did scam people into buying the crypto coin however there is a point where he needs to take some form of personal responsibility for his mistakes, that’s how you grow as a person. Thanos feels like the type of person who would make the same mistakes over again because they refuse to take any fault or learn from their mistakes and instead put all the blame on other people. He’s the type of person that if he won he probably would be in debt again in a few years. I personally found him pretty funny and he answered a question which I never asked but enjoyed anyway which is what happens if someone plays these games high as f*** and it results in me laughing a lot. Him constantly forgetting 124’s name was my fav because im lowkey not a fan of Namgyu. Also for those who don’t know T.O.P, when people say he wasn’t given a script they mean it in the he’s goofy and chaotic way not the drugie way. But also I agree that people shouldn’t continue the joke especially because he went through so much crap with the Korean press already for a w33d scandal. 

Min-su (125): MY BOY! I love him, I’ll defend this character till the day I die. People want realistic characters then crap on characters when they act realistically, it’s the same as Dae-Ho. “He abandoned 380 in mingle”, he was being dragged away by 2 druggies I wouldn’t fight back either. “What about when 124 killed her” 1) why do I see Min-Su getting more hate for her death then the guy who actually killed her 2) fight, flight, or freeze response he was just going off of survival instinct and unless it’s your kid or family member that typically is meant to protect you. He is adorable I love him. 

Kyung-Seok (246) and No-eul (guard): I see how No-eul is similar to Sae-bok especially as both are involved in the games to get money to retrieve family members from North Korea but I love seeing this difference with one being a player and one being a guard. I’m assuming either the guards aren’t paid well or all her money is going to finding her child because I was a little surprised to know she’s been doing this for years but still lives in a van. I totally understand her spending all the money to find her kid as that is fully understandable. The plot twist of her being a guard and not a player was so good! With 246 I completely forgot about his player multiple times like if others didn’t point out the he was the one No-eul saw in red light, green light or the guy who saved Hyun-Ju and Young-mi I would have never known. Idk I just completely forgot about his character for a while but lowkey I ship him and Hyun-Ju and I refuse to believe he died as they put so must emphasis on No-Eul recognizing him and caring about his sick daughter. 

Jung-Bae (390): lowkey I didn’t care about this character as much mostly because he just felt like a replacement for Sangwoo at first only Jung-Bae is nicer and a more morally good character. I started liking him mostly because he took in Dae-ho once he learned he’s also a marine and I lowkey love that father son dynamic they had I thought it was nice. But for the most part I’m blanking on his character I feel so bad for Gihun who had to witness his 2 best friends die in front of him

Salesman: That man was in one episode and he was spectacular. I know Gihun had plot armor but I still was so scared of their Russian roulette game and the rock paper scissors game was crazy. Easily the best actor is episode 1 he did amazing as I said.

Jun-ho: it just feels like not much happened with him, I know it’s just setting up for part 2 but I wish they actually made a compete season because I legit forgot about him during this whole thing.

Gangster guy: I forgot his name but I loved him, he was the other comedic relief character and I thought he worked well in that role where he wasn’t so in the way to be annoying but still funny enough to lighten up the scene a bit

Se-Mi (380): Baddie, idk I’m blanking on her character a lot right now. I understand her plan with Thanos and 124 being easy to manipulate I personally wouldn’t put any form of trust in the people taking drugs.

044: I’m a little scared of her, I swear if she’s right about anything or if she actually cursed any of those players it’s on site.

100: he is the type of character where I fully believe if he had the money he would be one of the vips, he just gives me that vibe in a way especially as someone with the most debt idk. That being said I don’t view him as a villian, as a lot of people smarter than me have said this show is a critique of capitalism. It’s the rich finding this perverse joy in the death and misery of those poorer than them and they are the true villains in this show.

Voting system: this I feel like so different from the first season in an interesting way. The first one felt like it’s either now or never if I remember correctly like here’s your chance to leave and then gave people the ability to return after the others voted to leave. This time it really showed how a lot of these players have this gambling mentality where they want one more game to get more money. The problem is with the one thing I learned about gambling is the house always wins. If you stay long enough you’ll lose all your money which is how a lot of these characters got their debt in the first place and continues this idea I got from Thanos of people not learning from their mistakes. Also something I kept thinking about is they (the guards/those involved) keep saying that they care about their willing participation but had them sign that contract under false pretenses. They didn’t consent to death games because they weren’t informed of it till after they signed which isn’t fair on the players part. That’s not willing participation that’s trickery. I also found it interesting after rewatching the beginning of season 1 were if they all vote to leave the prize money goes to the families where now it’s split between the players giving them even more incentive to leave cause they still get money but it’s the gamblers mentality that says “one more game and I get more money”. I was also expecting more to happen with them wearing their votes on their chests, like I was expecting a fight or them segregating themselves far earlier in the season than when it happened.

Audience position: a thought I’ve had about this is how it’s similar to the Hunger Games in the way that both, either intentionally or unintentionally, put you in the position of the people we’re not supposed to like. Like with squid games your watching the games and enjoying watching them to an extent, your rooting for different players and with some rooting for them to lose/die, and I’ve seen some talk about their favorite games. It just gives this idea of how we as the audience is put in the position of the vips who watch and enjoy seeing these characters go through these death games and such. It reminded me of the Hunger Games as book 1 is sort of in a similar spot and some of the fandom really want to read more of the games which feels very capitalesque sometimes. Idk this was just a thought I had recently. 

General thoughts: this was one of the most captivating shows I’ve watched in a long time, it was able to do what most shows can’t which is keep my attention for more than 1 episode. I’m typically not able to brings watch things but I fully watched this in one sitting I loved it but Gihun’s plan sort of lost me around the end not going to lie. I don’t get why this is split between 2 seasons especially after learning the other half is already filmed I feel they could have done a Bridgeton thing where part 2 was released a little after part 1 like a few weeks. It feels like they’re trying to milk this a little more as the story is ending but as long as part 2 is really good then I’ll wait. This also feels more character driven or at least there feels like there is way more named/important character then before. This could be because the games themselves are no longer a mystery so they had to find a way to make it more different from the previous season which I don’t mind I love having a large cast of characters to follow though the issue as I mentioned previously was me fully forgetting about some characters or not caring as much.

#squidgamesseason2 #netflix #kdrama #squidgame2024 #koreandramas