Squid Game Season 2 Review
Season two of the critically acclaimed Netflix original Squid Game was released on December 26th, 2024, and was met with both outstanding and somewhat disappointing reviews from fans who waited years for this new season.
*Spoiler alert*
Before we discuss the season, let’s recap season one and go over what Squid Game is about.
The main protagonist of this show is a Korean man named Seong Gi-Hun. Gi-Hun lives with his elderly mother, unable to afford his own home due to losing his job, and unable to pay back the debts from his crippling gambling addiction. One day while taking the subway, Gi-Hun is approached by a man wearing a suit who offers him a chance to play a game of Ddakji, a traditional Korean game. The man gives Gi-Hun a card with a phone number on it, and Gi-Hun eventually calls the number. He’s given further instructions to join the Games, a competition where 456 people are put to the test, playing children’s games to win a 40 billion dollar prize. However, the cost of losing the games is their life.
Fast forward to season two, three years into the future. Gi-Hun returns to the Games after winning the competition in season one, except this time, he is on a mission.
Ever since Gi-Hun left the games, he has used his prize money on teams of detectives to figure out who is hosting the Games and where it is being run. Unfortunately, he has had no luck and decides to try and stop the competition from the inside by joining the games once more.
In season two, we are introduced to a whole bunch of new characters with similar personalities to those featured in season one. For example, fan-favorite Choi Su-Bong, AKA Thanos, shares similar traits with season one’s Jang Deok-su, both forming violent cliques within the games. While some have fallen in love with the new characters and what they had to bring to the show, some also say that the characters do not have as much depth as those in season one and were simply recycled from the original characters. Some also stated that season two had more “unnecessary” story-building within the first few episodes.
As for professional reviews on season two, Rotten Tomatoes has given it 83% on its Tomato meter and 63% on its popcorn meter, the latter of which is its regular audience review.
As for me, I loved the new season. The way Gi-Hun has developed and matured in season 2 is captivating. Despite how little we see of the Games in this season compared to season one, the way the competition has grown and changed since we last saw it has viewers excited for something new to come with every episode. The whole concept of dividing the players with X’s and O’s is clever, adding a whole new part to the characters’ personalities and calling for a lot more plot twists, especially at the very end of the season.
Season two of Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix.