Netflix’s sensational dystopian survival thriller Squid Game challenged the conventions of K-dramas while openly criticizing the crushing weight of capitalism that strangles South Korea. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk cleverly approached classism through creative lens, and upon such overwhelmingly positive cultural response, unsurprisingly earned a second season.
While it’s a bit ironic that Netflix would easily cash out to profit over continuing a now-series that blatantly brutalizes greed, perhaps the ongoing commentary of how lethal apathic the lust for cash can be is hypocritically necessary. Fiction is keen on reflecting reality, and Hwang is wise enough to know that despite Squid Game season 2 majorly focusing on issues concerning South Korea, that his storytelling remains to be universally relevant.
**Spoiler warning for Squid Game Season 2**
Squid Game season 2 kicks itself off at a moderate-yet somewhat-slow pace, following Seong Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) as he attempts to distance himself from the horrors of the Squid Game. While Gi-hun is first to great viewers, Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Hajoon)’s fate is revealed, and his post-Squid Game life is explored. Much like the initial season, Squid Game Season 2 is keen on balancing its focus across its key players, and aims to evenly distribute its weight across a multitude of plotlines. There’s an effort to drive the core plot forward while still locking the foundation of Squid Game Season 1 tightly beneath it. Squid Game Season 1 directly bleeds into Season 2, and the insistence that there’s no major deviation between the two seasons is incredibly relieving. The heart of Squid Game Season 2 still beats around the central pillar of money-hungriness, though the intensity of a want for wealth doesn’t pack the same amount of desperation as one would expect. Instead, Squid Game Season 2 spends time visiting the consequences of the first season.
The socioeconomic commentary that contributed to what make Squid Game so fascinating upon its initial arrival is slow to arrive in Season 2, but its emergence midst episode one looks to one of the series’ strongest elements. When The Salesman (Gong Yoo) offers a homeless man the choice between a bread roll and a lotto ticket, the first value-driven conflict is introduced. After the scratch-off ticket doesn’t reveal any major winnings and The Salesman asks for his coin back, Squid Game Season 2’s simple-yet-effective depiction of apathy for the impoverished begins to unfold. As this pattern continues throughout the second season, Squid Game Season 2 leans back on its commentary of classism. These moments that provoke conversation around the show’s major points of contention are Squid Game Season 2’s strongest, and hopefully, fleetingly, their impact will influence its audience.
At one point, Gi-hun digs into The Saleman, telling him that “I don’t think someone like you could ever understand what I need to say” when insisting that he comes face-to-face with those behind the Squid Game operation. Perhaps he’s right, and once more Squid Game highlights the infinite disconnect between social classes, and the perception of them based on personal experience. Squid Game Season 2 also avoids the trope of assumption and hones in on pure villainy. There’s no sympathy asked for the the rich and powerful. Not once does Squid Game coax out an ounce of understanding for The Salesman, The Front Man, nor any of its other antagonists, even in their most vulnerable moments. Reflecting on today’s heightened in apprehension and mistrust directed at the exceptionally wealthy, there’s a justifiable anger re-ignited in Squid Game Season 2 that feels relevant now more than ever. All fiction is reflected by reality, and Squid Game Season 2’s timing is impeccable.
Squid Game Season 2’s introspection and doses of wisdom stretch beyond the limits of a screen. It’s noted that “killing one person won’t put an end to any of this.” While Squid Game has locked down shock value through the depiction of death and violence, Season 2 knows well that there’s a greater message to embrace over using brutality as a metaphor. A greater amount of time is spent understanding individual characters and their personal struggles, and Squid Game spends time away from its blood-drenched contest to create a relationship with its players. While doing so, Season 2 sinks into deeper, darker, more unsettling themes that blacken an already-despondent series. The discomfort that lingers throughout the extent of Squid Game Season 2 grants its pessimism purpose, yet at the same time, there’s greater style over execution. Squid Game Season 2 spends time promoting its violence and theatrical edginess, but it disappointingly can’t match the same thrills and intrigue that Season 1 delivered.
Squid Game Season 2 sets itself back with a frustratingly slow start as the first two episodes nearly drag — with each sitting at an around an hour of run time, Squid Game‘s creative team struggles to fully use the generous amount of time given to them by Netflix. The Squid Game itself almost fully arrives in the third episode, and the excitement of finally reaching them is drawn out as the rules are rehashed from the first season. As each Squid Game player given a time for the series to introduce them, Squid Game Season 2 breaks ground by featuring a male-to-female transgender character. Park Sung-hoon plays Hyun-ju, and by doing so, should hopefully invite further trans inclusion in other K-dramas. It’s greatly admirable that Hwang Dong-hyuk takes the time to dedicate an authentic backstory to an LGBTQIA+ character, and by featuring Hyun-ju, he makes history. It’s unfortunate that the rest of Squid Game Season 2 won’t be as memorable or historic.
It’s unclear how innovative or necessary Squid Game Season 2 is as it finds security in retreading over the originality of Season 1 with slightly less bite. However, Season 2 keeps the story afloat by resourcefully building upon what it’s been given, and kindles the series’ highly-anticipated criticism of the elite with mean-spirited energy. If anything, Squid Game Season 2’s uneven seven-episode stretch closes itself out with a cliffhanger that might just be worth the watch. It’s simply too bad the season couldn’t offer much more than that.
