REVIEW: Squid Game – Season 2 (2024)

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Television Reviews

In a world where House Of The Dragon doesn’t exist, and everything is a remake, a reboot, or a spinoff featuring irrelevant characters, one show has come along to rescue us all from the downtrodden acceptance of complete incompetence in Hollywood. The days of accepting Hallmark levels of production as tent pole flicks have been put on notice. Squid Game has come to play again. And they’ve come to win!

2024 has ended, and 2025 is chock full of even more of the same unoriginal ideas and a severe lack of originality; looking at you, Legally Blonde 3. Will it ever end? And if so, WHEN? It hasn’t been all bad; I’m just a tad dramatic – or, at least, that’s what all my friends say. We did get House of the Dragon Season 2, Cobra Kai Season 6 parts 1 and 2 (lol), Dune: Part Two, and The Offer – which, ironically enough, are all based on someone else’s idea.

The first season of Squid Game was a cultural phenomenon, hands down. Everyone was praising it. You couldn’t be on the internet and not hear about it. Conventions and honeytrap Instagram accounts were filled with Squid Game cosplayers, as well as people dressing up as players and workers for Halloween. It was so popular that Netflix created two of their own Squid Game shows. One is a reality-style version of Squid Game, which I can’t stand, and the other is a behind-the-scenes look at it. They weren’t the first to cash in on the hype, though. Mr. Beast beat them to the punch; I mean, he used the show as another opportunity to spread philanthropy, by way of playing Squid Game-styled games. The success of the first season of Squid Game was a juggernaut, and everyone wanted their own green tracksuit or pink uniform so they, too, could play.

The first thing you should know about Squid Game Season 2 is that these seven episodes are only the first half of this season. Sure, Netflix considers these seven episodes an entire season, but it’s just not. When the next set of episodes is released, Netflix will call it Season 3, but it’s really Season 2 part 2. Squid Game Season 2 might only be the first half that also ends on a cliffhanger, but oh my – I feel like we’re all in for a very, very nice treat at the end of this.

Player 456, Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, is back and ballin’ outta control. It’s been two years since Player 456 won the games. He’s now the owner of the PINK Motel, where nobody except him, most of the 456 billion he won, and his newly acquired artillery stay. His new hopes and dreams are to abolish the Squid Game organization, and his first plan of action is to find the guy who recruited him. Eventually, he does, but he still ends up back in the games. This time, though, he’s here to stop them for good. With his experience winning a previous Squid Game, he plans to either talk the other players into quitting or eventually take matters into their own hands to destroy the Squid Game organization.

Squid Game Season 2 starts a little slow, and it’s totally fine. The first season of Game of Thrones was also a little slow, and look how that played out in the following seasons. The games and all the socializing that comes when 456 people are in the same room don’t start as quickly in this season, and that’s a good thing. In Season 1, we experienced the pure awesomeness and vulgar display of power that is Squid Game by the end of the first episode, “Red Light, Green Light.” It’s not until episode 3 that the next Squid Game starts, and we get our first look at the newest batch of players. This season is setting up for something big, and I’m so here for it. Did I really just say that?

Outside the games and running a small elite military group is Hwang Jun-ho, played by Wi Ha-joon. Hwang Jun-ho and Seong Gi-hun (player 456) have teamed up this season to destroy the Squid Game organization, and player 456 is funding the entire operation with his winnings. Hwang Jun-ho is a detective who infiltrated the games as a worker in Season 1. While undercover, he learned that his brother wasn’t actually missing but was once a previous winner of the games, who is also now The Frontman, played by Lee Byung-hun. Hwang and crew are on the water searching the islands and are ready for action. Unfortunately, we won’t see his arc play out until Season 3 (Season 2 part 2).

Within Season 2 (part 1), we get a lot, but not the enjoyment of completion like in Season 1. Once the games get going, things get exciting. The pieces are being set, and we are getting a taste. Squid Game really knows how to build tension, anticipation, suspense, excitement, and finally… pay off. I haven’t been so sucked into a show and felt so much excitement while also experiencing intense moments of pure “FUCK YEAH!!!”-ness since watching Game of Thrones for the first time. For serious. Squid Game Season 2 brings it almost as much as Season 1, and it’s only halfway there.

Equality is an important theme throughout both seasons of Squid Game, and the cast and crew practice what they preach. The quality of acting, production design, storytelling, cinematography, editing, worldbuilding, and music are all equally impressive and equally in balance with each other. Everyone is firing on all cylinders with this production. Squid Game Season 2 is just as good as Season 1, but it’s definitely not going to get the same zeitgeist-changing reaction Season 1 did yet. I think once Season 3 (Season 2 part 2) is released, we will get the equivalent reaction. The same explosiveness of Squid Game Season 1 will most likely come with the culmination of Season 3, which I also heard will be the series finale.

Squid Game Season 2, like Season 1, isn’t just action and suspense. There are also softer, more emotional scenes throughout. The balance through all of Squid Game is near perfect – that balance being you either win or die: extreme order or extreme chaos. It might be luck, it might be skill, but winning is the only way to survive.  Squid Game Season 2 is able to weave in and out of winning and dying with the intensity of a rocket launcher and the emotional sensitivity of your high school guidance counselor.

I heard that after Season 3, Squid Game will be done. I really hope not. They could easily make this a five-season series. Season 3 could be about Player 456 taking down the Squid Game organization but eventually failing. Player 456 could have a change of heart and realize that nobody cares. The emotional transformation of accepting that everyone is trash and that having a heart of gold is pointless would be such a beautiful arc for Player 456. Season 4 could be his Darth Vader arc, where he experiences the other side of Squid Game: taking out the trash. Then, in Season 5, his daughter becomes a player, and he has to grapple with what he has become and the responsibility of his choices as a father.

I don’t think I can really express how much I enjoy this show or how well I think it’s been produced. I literally hear the music from Squid Game throughout the day at random times. It’s awesome. I can’t wait for Season 3 now. I’m so excited, especially after seeing the list of upcoming movies in 2025. It’s loaded with sequels like Den of Thieves 2, Captain African American: Brave New World, Jurassic World Rebirth, Freakier Friday, and Now You See Me 3. (Trust me when I say that I’m keeping this a short list because there’s a lot more.) I see this list, and all I can say is, why? So much energy and production for a bunch of crap.

Squid Game Season 2 is definitely a winner, and Squid Game Season 3 will be like a bright light at the end of a tunnel.

Shoutout to the 199!

Let us know what you thought of Squid Game Season 2 in the comments!

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