With the release of “Squid Game 2” on Dec. 26, 2024, viewers have the chance to once again plunge into the harrowing world of the deadly children’s games, this time to witness as Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) attempts to dismantle the system behind the Squid Games. Building on the global cultural phenomenon — which had amassed over 265 million views — this sequel delves deeper into the devastating effects of social inequality and capitalism on human morality while exciting viewers through energetic and fast-paced scenes unseen in the first season.
Picking off where the first season left off, “Squid Game 2” begins with Gi-hun battling with the psychological toll of his survival. Determined to hold the game’s creators accountable, he is drawn back into their twisted world of deadly children’s games. Alongside Gi-hun, the second season brings back familiar faces like the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) as well as new characters, including characters from K-pop stars Jo Yu-ri and Choi Seung. Now available to watch on Netflix and other popular streaming platforms, the series continues to illustrate the dehumanizing nature of greed and corruption in modern society but with the addition of new perspectives from within the masked soldiers behind the killings.
While the first season shocked audiences with graphic scenes and the players’ struggle to survive, the second season dives deeper into the systems that enable such a cruel cycle of exploitation to exist. For instance, if faced with the choice between “bread or a lottery ticket,” many of us, would expect people desperate for food to take the bread without a second thought. However, in the first episode, when the recruiter posed the same question to homeless individuals in the park, driven by greed and desperation, the majority opted for the lottery ticket over the bread. This scene in itself is the perfect depiction of the corrupt nature of capitalism which leads impoverished people to become even more enchanted by money than basic survival necessities like food. Furthermore, this idea is demonstrated in the voting scenes where the participants had the opportunity to quit the games based on a majority vote. Due to the players’ greed and desire to obtain the prize money, they are never able to reach a consensus to end the games. Like the homeless people in the initial scene, the players stricken with their greed bat an eye to the hundreds who have died, hanging onto that sliver of hope that they will obtain the prize money while knowing that they will most likely die in the next game.
However, unlike the first season, “Squid Game 2” adds another dimension to the story by revealing the faces behind the previously enigmatic pink soldiers. In particular, viewers are introduced to Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young), a North Korean defector who joined the pink soldiers to have the opportunity to reunite with her daughter. From the eyes of No-eul, we witness how even the Pink Soldiers who seemed to be so cruel were, like the players, forced to abide by the rules of the corrupt creators of the Squid Games and kill others to survive.
Gi-hun’s story serves as a call to society to take action against corruption as success in fully dismantling the corruption present in a capitalistic society remains impossible unless taken upon by everyone in society. However, with only three out of the six games completed and the second season ending on a cliffhanger, the story remains incomplete. Will Gi-hun be able to survive until the very end and take down the Front Man and the system behind the Squid Games? That, and much more, will be revealed in the third season speculated to release on June 27, 2025.
