An Ode To Hopelessness: Squid Game 2 Recap

I haven't watched a lot of television for the past year or so. I tend to go through periods where I'm only consuming one type of media, and in a nice surprise lately it's mostly been books - getting an e-reader, along with having a commute for the first time in four years, ended up getting me reading again in a way I haven't in a long time. Overall, this is probably a good thing, since I'm told that reading is "good for me". Still, I try not to be elitist about different media diets: great art exists across all mediums, and I don't think one should spend too much time worrying about what they consume as long as it's not killing their attention span or ability to think critically (yes, I'm a boomer and I think TikTok is bad for you). And my tendency to hyperfocus on one medium at a time means I often miss important or valuable works of art in the moment.I haven't watched a lot of television for the past year or so. I tend to go through periods where I'm only consuming one type of media, and in a nice surprise lately it's mostly been books - getting an e-reader, along with having a commute for the first time in four years, ended up getting me reading again in a way I haven't in a long time. Overall, this is probably a good thing, since I'm told that reading is "good for me". Still, I try not to be elitist about different media diets: great art exists across all mediums, and I don't think one should spend too much time worrying about what they consume as long as it's not killing their attention span or ability to think critically (yes, I'm a boomer and I think TikTok is bad for you). And my tendency to hyperfocus on one medium at a time means I often miss important or valuable works of art in the moment.

So it was a pleasant surprise when I ended up bingeing season 2 of Squid Game. It doesn't seem to be having as much of a cultural moment as the first one, although since we were all in quarantine at the time that's not a huge surprise. But it deserves it! To my eyes it remains as cutting a portrayal of the present moment as you'll find in any medium. Though I guess we'll have to wait for season 3 to find out how it wraps up, this season continues where the first left off in being unpredictable, stylish, and above all, uncompromising in its vision of the way the levers of power control us all.

Conveniently, I finished the show last night and I'm out of other ideas for things to write, so I thought I'd give recapping a try. Not sure how often I'll do this, but it's a good writing exercise, and I certainly tend to need recaps of shows or book series as they come out, so maybe this'll be helpful to someone. Apologies if I get any names mixed up, it's a bit hard to keep track.

Warning: spoilers for season 2 of Squid Game ahead.

Recap

Season 2 picks up three years after the first left off. Last season's hero, Song Gi-Hun, has spent three years trying to track down the Ddakji-playing man from the first season to exact his revenge on the organizers of the games. Meanwhile, Hwang Jun-Ho, the intrepid police officer who was shot after discovering that his brother In-Ho was the Front Man running the games, wakes up from his coma, transfers to traffic control, and spends his days on a fishing boat for the site of the games.

The two, naturally, find each other after Gi-Hun tracks down the Ddakji-playing man (Train To Busan's Gong Hoo, who's clearly having the time of his life). Gi-Hun wins a game of Russian Roulette against Ddakji man, getting himself an invite to a party where he can speak to the Front Man. He and Jun-Ho, along with comic relief gangster Choi Woo-Seok and a gang of unnamed mercenaries, come up with a plan catch the Front Man, embedding a tracker in Gi-Hun's mouth. It may shock you to learn that it doesn't go well: after getting in the Front Man's car, Gi-Hun's mercenaries are quickly eliminated by Squid Game soldiers, and he goes to plan B: asking to enter the games again, which the Front Man accepts.

This is probably the portion of season 2 that was the most predictable: of course they had to put him back in the games. But how could it be any other way? For a show so much about the ways the truly wealthy keep the rest of us on the ladder of competition, there was never a way Gi-Hun, made a millionaire by winning the last games, could compete against the literal avatar of wealth's indifference.

The early episodes also introduce us to Kang No-Eul, a North Korean defector who's desperately trying to locate her daughter back in the North, and Kim Jun-Hee, a pregnant woman desperate for cash. No-Eul has been working as a mascot at a theme park, and decides to head to the games after failing in her latest attempt at getting her daughter from a refugee broker, and finding out that a coworker's daughter desperately needs money for cancer. In a nice twist, after everyone gets into the shipping containers bound for the games, it's revealed that No-Eul has been brought on as a soldier, not a player, and that the coworker whose daughter she's (maybe?) trying to save is a participant in the games.

So, by episode three, Gi-Hun is back in the games. It's quickly revealed that his oral GPS tracker has been removed, leaving him stranded without his planned backup. For the rest of the season, Woo-Seok and Jun-Ho, along with their team of mercenaries have very little to do, so I'll get their arc out of the way now: they don't find the island! And it turns out the fishing boat captain who's been ferrying Jun-Ho is a double agent - it's telegraphed pretty early on, but cemented in the last episode when he murders one of the mercenaries after being caught tampering with a drone they've been using to surveil the islands.

Plotline characters we're introduced to once we reach the games:

• Thanos, a dipshit rapper who lost all his money on crypto. He snuck a bunch of pills in with him and acts as a fun, perpetually-high side villain.
• Lee Myung-Gi, aka MG Coin, a former crypto youtuber and the father of the baby Jun-Hee is carrying, who's responsible for the pump-and-dump scheme that bankrupted Thanos, Jun-Hee, and Thanos's sidekick whose name I forget. He's a nice little nod to the crypto economy: he ended up in massive debt after his rugpull, just another one of the small fish eating each other in the unregulated security space.
• Cho Hyun-Ju, a trans woman and former army sergeant. One of the more sympathetic characters of the season.
• Park Yong-Sik and Yang Geum-Ja: a mother and son pair, each trying to pay off the son's debts.
• Kang Dae-Ho, an (alleged) former marine who joins forces with Gi-Hun and Jung-Bae

Games 1 & 2

The games start again, with a repeat of "Red Light, Green Light". Gi-Hun discovers his friend Park Jung-bae from the first season has lost everything and entered the game. He does his best to get as many people through the first game as possible, and a surprising amount do survive as he gets them all to get into single file lines based on size, so the motion-detecting cameras are able to see less happening. As the game ends, Hyun-Ju and Gi-Hun attempt to save someone shot in the leg, and succeed in getting him across the finish line, only to watch him be shot in the head as the game ends. That's the dang Squid Game for ya, folks!

A new wrinkle is introduced in these games: the players can vote after every round on whether or not to leave. The vote is split until the very last player, 001, votes to continue the games: he turns around and is revealed to be In-Ho, the Front Man, undercover as a participant.

We have some debates over whether to end the game or not: various avatars of greed, most notably Thanos, are on "Team O", while Gi-Hun desperately tries to convince everyone dying isn't worth it.

The second game is a new one! It's a six-legged race with various children's games that need to be accomplished within a time limit, goes without much surprise except In-Ho teaming up with our main characters, joined by Jun-Hee. This time around, during the vote, In-Ho votes to leave, and starts buddying up with Gi-Hun and Jung-Bae, while Dae-Ho, who's really vocal about the marine stuff (but is surprisingly feminine!) rounds out the fivesome as the comic relief. The O's win the vote again. We have some more sniping back and forth between X and O, and a few loaded conversations between Gi-Hun and In-Ho, who uses his real backstory: that he came to the games after losing everything because his pregnant wife had potentially lethal complications and he took a loan and/or bribe to help pay it.

Side plots:

• Thanos and his lackey enlist a mild-mannered dork and a hot girl to team up with them, intermittently threating and beating up MG Coin, who's desperately trying to convince Jun-Hee that he's not a total POS and mostly failing. Hot girl Se-Mi tells dork Min-Su that he's trustworthy and shouldn't let Thanos bully him.
• Yong-Sik, who voted to leave after the first round, votes to stay this time, revealing to his mother that he was in more debt than she knew. Geum-Ja is really the angel character here, trying to keep her son alive and acting like everyone's Grandma.
• Hyun-Ju also votes to stay, still needing money to pay for her surgery and leave South Korea for good.
• Yong-Sik, Geum-Ja, and Hyun-Ju team up with Young-Mi, a sweet and very scared girl, and an evil shaman lady who insists that everything happening is fate. She does a nice job of chewing scenery and acting insane. Good for her. This squad has some cute moments talking about getting dinner together when they get out. Sure hope nothing horrific happens to them in the Squid Games!
• No-Eul disobeys orders from the game's manager, who's running the organ harvesting ring from the first season, and starts delivering killshots to people who are intentionally being left alive for the ring to profit off of. She gets threatened into submission. Occasionally her glance lingers on the dad from her old workplace, but I guess that specific plotline will be resolved next season. That's about it for No-Eul - I think doing a soldier POV was an interesting choice, but it's not really clear where they're going with it. There are ethical conflicts among the bad guys too, I guess? Didn't do a whole lot for me.

Game 3

Another new game! Everyone has to get on a merry-go-round until a number is announced, then rush into a room with exactly that number of people. Main plotline: In-Ho finally goes mask off in front of Jung-Bae when he snaps a man's neck so there are only two of them in the room.

Side plots:

• Min-Su betrays Se-Mi to go with Thanos and his henchman, who promptly kick him out of their group when the number goes down to 2.
• Yong-Sik is dragged away from Geum-Ja at one point and kinda gives up on fighting to get back to her, but also is being held by two guys so hard to blame him? She's grabbed by Gi-Hun and In-Ho and forgives him immediately, even though In-Ho tries to prod her into being more angry. This lady is too much of a saint.
• Young-Mi falls when trying to get to a room with Jun-Hee and Hyun-Ju, and MG Coin rushes in to take her place and closes the door. Hyun-Ju starts to regret her choices, although in this case crypto boy has a point.

Final Movements

Surprise! Only three games this season. After a few people switch their votes from X to O (most notably Hyun-Ju, Min-Su, and Yong-Sik) the vote to continue results in a tie, and the conflict between X and O ratchets up further. MG Coin, who has switched over to the X side, is part of a brawl in the bathroom where he stabs Thanos to death with a fork. Goodbye, Thanos. You were goofy as hell. The teams realize they're incentivized to kill each other to win the vote, but Gi-Hun convinces a small group to hide under the beds rather than strike first, which In-Ho is pushing for. We have a nice little debate about sacrificing for the greater good, another little mind game In-Ho is playing.

At lights out, the O's come in and massacre the X's, but then the soldiers come in to quell the battle, and Gi-Hun and his team (Hyun-Ju, Dae-Ho, Jung-Bae, the still-unnamed hot dad, and some nameless characters) seize weapons, take a hostage, and storm the battlements. After a prolonged shootout, Jung-Bae and Gi-Hun get to the hallway of the manager's office as the others hold off the soldiers. Dae-Ho, who is suspiciously bad at handling weapons for an alleged marine, is sent back for more ammo but has a panic attack and hides in the corner. Hyun-Ju, who's a total badass during the whole shootout, goes to find him while a few fighters remain, and is convinced to put her weapon down when reinforcements arrive in the dormitory. In-Ho and two others try to go around and do a pincer attack to get Jung-Bae and Gi-Hun into the office, but In-Ho shoots the other two and pretends to die over the radio, before putting his mask on and heading towards our two remaining heroes. The remaining soldiers (of whom hot dad is the only named character) surrender - all are killed except hot dad. In-Ho, mask back on, shoots Jung-Bae in the head in front of Gi-Hun.

Side plots:

• Nerdy guy watches Thanos's henchman murder hot girl while cowering, ending their plotline for the season.
• Geum-Ja and Yong-Sik stay back during the battle, as do MG Coin and Jun-Hee.
• Villains remaining: an old rich guy in a huge amount of debt, whose plotline didn't really merit specific mention but kept egging on continuing. Thanos's henchman, who maybe will deserve a name in the next recap. In-Ho, obviously.

Ruthless! Obviously this ends on a cliffhanger, and we'll have to wait for Squid Game 3 (coming this year) for a resolution. The core of this season is In-Ho and Gi-Hun: two winners of the games, one who joined them and one trying to stop them. Obviously we're building up to In-Ho trying to convince Gi-Hun to lose all faith in humanity, maybe to take his place as the Front Man. And maybe that's how this ends (although I hope it's a bit more interesting than that). But, at least so far, in this ongoing tragedy, Gi-Hun remains the most clear-eyed about everything, despite everything he's tried failing over and over again. He recognizes the ways the games are designed to make us hurt each other, and refuses to take that as a judgment on the character of the people involved. Even the little rhetorical trap In-Ho gets him into when he sacrifices the bulk of the X's so he can stage his rebellion isn't as effective as In-Ho seems to think. Gi-Hun's right that they're all going to die anyway if the games continue, and trying to cut out the evil at the root seems like the right impulse to me. Put people in a hopeless situation, and they do hopeless things. Some of them are evil, some of them are good, most of them could be either based on the hand they're dealt. The problem here isn't the people playing the game, it's the people who make it. And even if Gi-Hun keeps losing, even if there is no hope, the villain here seems clear to me.