by Josh Pulaski ‘25

The original season of Squid Game came out at the perfect time when everyone was forced to sit in their beds and watch TV all day. Many expected Squid Games Season 2 to be a lazy cash grab riding off the high of the original season’s popularity that it gained during the Covid pandemic. While it was believed that Season 2 would simply be a rehash of Season 1 having new contestants play a repeat of the old Death Games from before, this is not entirely the case.

Season 2 starts with Gi-Hun, the protagonist from Season 1, shortly after winning the Death Games and earning 47.1 billion won in winnings. The starting episodes follow him trying to hunt down the organization that runs the Death Games using his newly earned wealth. As teased in the trailers, Gi-Hun takes a more direct approach to taking down the games by playing the Death Games again, hoping to lead his private mercenary group to the hidden location of the Death Games.

The season introduces many new characters to the plot; unfortunately, a lot of them feel underdeveloped because they don’t get enough screen time. For example, the show introduces a new character who is one of the guards in the Squid Game, intending to try to humanize the guards as you only ever see them in a mask killing contestants. However, this character is only in five scenes, and she is shown to be killing contestants in all of those scenes. Many new characters outside the actual Death Games suffer this same issue of not having enough development. The show spends almost 10 percent of every episode time repeating these voting scenes where the contestants are given the ability to go home if the majority of players vote for it. It becomes repetitive and a missed opportunity for character development.

Many of Season 2’s issues, like ending on a cliffhanger and many character arcs not being completed, may be attributed to the fact that the season was cut into two different seasons.  While the season did have enjoyable moments such as the opening episodes, it’s unable to surprise, even shock, audiences as the first season did. One of the appeals of Squid Games four years ago was that it seemed boldly different, but Season 2 of the show isn’t able to deliver its own originality.

Grade: B-