Squid Game Season 2

general review

Overall, I really liked it. It's very entertaining. I really loved it until the ending ruined everything. That ending simply wasn't good, and I know they did it for the third season, but leaving such an inconclusive ending after waiting three years isn't what we deserved. That aside, it was good, not to mention the acting, which I thought was very good. Excellent actors(the actor of player 100 no) and plot. Another thing to mention is that I would have liked to see more of the recruiter and Jun-ho, more of the latter considering that he is of utmost importance to the plot and I feel that they could have taken advantage of him a little more.

Read More

Great cast but it's missing the wow factor as season 1 had.

Finally, we got another season. I was so looking forward to it. I loved Gong Yoo as the recruiter; he portrayed the role perfectly. I liked all the new characters, especially TOP, as he weirdly brightened the atmosphere of the drama. My favorite characters were Sung Hoon and Kang Ha Neul.

The drama did not have the same wow factor as the first season. Maybe because I knew what to expect. It was nice to see them add new games and that Player 001 joined the game. Also, I did not really like Player 456's obsession with the man in the black mask, as it became a little annoying.

Overall, it's a good watch, and it will be interesting to see how they end it.

Read More

Thrilling but not flawless

Squid Game Season 2 delivers another round of twisted, high-stakes challenges with jaw-dropping production design and inventive games that keep you hooked. Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun shine once again, anchoring the chaos with commanding performances. The moral dilemmas remain compelling, and the show still has plenty to say about greed, desperation, and the cost of survival.

However, the pacing stumbles in the first few episodes, and some side plots feel more like filler than substance. A few new characters lack the depth that made Season 1’s ensemble so unforgettable, and the emotional punches land softer this time around.

Even so, the tension, style, and sheer spectacle make it a gripping watch. Season 2 might not match the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of its predecessor, but it’s still a bold, thrilling continuation that fans will devour—red jumpsuits, ominous music, and all.

Read More

Unfinished Sequel - Unfulfilled Potential

Was this almost unnecessary?
Absolutely
Did I still watch because continuity and Wi Ha Joon?
Absolutely

The set up was right there after season 1 for sure, but there was also no real need to have another season, let alone two. But I still watched it because despite my progress with not torturing myself by watching things I don't want to in the name of continuity, I thought this would be good. I liked the first season, why not this one

The seven episodes started out incredibly serious in episodes 1-2, started getting this comedic undertone in episodes 3-5, and by the time it got to 6-7, it was a joke. The tone was serious, but the plot was a joke.

The initial set up of wanting to take down the game from within the game is a pretty bad one by the way, Gi Hun was the winner last time and knows the game inside and out. For someone who knows how it works, he sure made a lot of decisions based on the humane nature of the participants. And for someone who knows that the people controlling the games can see literally everything and manipulate it as they wish.. he really didn't think anything through.

That's the problem with this season, the core concept just feels all wrong and what it relies on instead is the bread and butter of season 1 - getting you emotionally invested in the characters. The new cast is awesome, so many wonderful and endearing characters (amongst the usual jerks because I guess there always needs to be characters as the opposition within the contestants, because meta I guess) and they are one of the few reasons I'm looking forward to season 3.

The returning characters as well, written pretty well. Gi Hun is battered and scarred from the last games and it shows, his only intent the entire time is to make sure the games end and to protect as many people as he can. This kind of backfires (see: section that talks about the bad writing), and we're left on a cliffhanger.
Jun Ho is used very sparingly despite being a lead and that choice is very paradoxical because the way they've written the series makes sure that his character can't do much. He could've if they'd changed the plot accordingly at certain points, which I hope they do in the sequel.
In Ho aka The Front Man had the best development this season, at least for me. Not in terms of character or anything, in terms of playing a role in the plot and I'm definitely curious how they'll take that forward.

There isn't really much to say until season 3 is out because I hope the plot can recover from the kind of dive it took in the last couple of episodes. I don't know how they're going to do it, but I hope for our sakes and theirs that they actually find a way to end the game because even with Wi Ha Joon, this doesn't need a fourth season.

Read More

This season was better than the first season

Maybe it's an unpopular opinion but I liked this season more than the first season.

In this season I liked the characters more and I also felt a lot more connected to them than in the first season. The games were also better and for me this season was more exciting to watch.

I really loved cho hyeon jus character and thought that she was such a badass.
I also liked seong gi huns character more in this season than in the first season.

What I also liked is the fact that some of the players finally fought back the masked people and that they nearly got to the control center.

One thing that pissed me off was that seong gi hun didn't figure out that the front man was player 001 and that they didn't figure out that the captain of the ship is also a traitor.

All in all, I was really satisfied with this season because for me it was an interesting, exciting and good watch.

Read More

A bit disappointing but still enjoyable to watch

This season still manages to keep you curious and intrigued, but not as much as the first season. This season was completely fine, it wasn't bad, but it also wasn't that great.

A bit too much exposition in the beginning that were a bit too obvious. I get that they need to tell what happened between this season and the previous one, but the dialogues were a bit unnatural. I did really like the first episode tho. It was fun to see them chase the man with a suit and also build his character a bit more. The rock, paper, scissor game was very tense to watch.

Still, I think they could have shorten the first two episodes a bit. The introduction was a bit too long and took away time for characters to be developed inside the game.

I think the story with the cop and his crew was very lacking. Also the plottwist with the boat captain not being on their side is something I figured out in the first episode. Just a veeery obvious twist. So obvious that I can't even call it a twist. Also, why would they trust this random fisherman so much?? Like they have a whole crew and also so much money to spend on this search. Why not just hire a captain and have better boats? This whole side story made me annoyed and frustrated.

I also found it a bit annoying that the main character did not think about that there could be a mole in the game (like in the first season). I feel like that is something he would consider.

Something that I missed in this season with the games was the clever solutions to them. The last season the games were very suspenseful, but it was also fun to se how they would solve them and what clever ideas people had.

There were some interesting new characters this season, but unfortunately they did not have that much depth and emotional impact compared to the first season. I found myself not caring super much about them, except for maybe a few of them. One of my favorite new characters was Cho Hyeon Ju (No .120), but I also kinda wanted to know more about her. Still I found her character interesting.

Speaking of Cho Hyeon Ju, I think the show did a pretty good job at portraying a transgender character. (There have been a lot of opinions and debate about having a cis male actor for this role, which is another topic, but only focusing on the actual written character I thought the show did a pretty good job.) I have never seen a transgender character in a Korean media before so it was very nice to see that kind of representation especially for me that is a transperson myself. I liked that she actually got to be a character and also not just a stereotype for the show to ridicule. Maybe my bar for representation is really low, but I was happy to just see a transgender character exist in a show. One of the scenes that I liked the most was when Hyeon Ju was talking about how other transgender women in Thailand was so beautiful and then Kim Young-mi said that she already thinks that Hyeon Ju is beautiful :,)

This season overall lacked the pure dread and emotional impact of character death that the first season managed to capture. The first season had high stakes and made you fear which characters would survive. I did not have that feeling watching this season. I thought it was kinda obvious who would survive.

Overall I think the first season worked better because it had a lot more mystery to it. It made the viewer curious and wanted to know more. It also had a good balance in showing the survivors in the game, but also showing the cop discover behind the scenes stuff about how the games are being managed. This season doesn't have exactly the same balance. Sure we got to follow one of the soldiers, but it actually doesn't contribute that much. Like we already knew from the previous season about the corruption within the management of the games and how a secret organ harvest is happening. I would have liked to see more new stuff and discover more about the actual games and the facility.

I did like when they finally actually fought back. Like finally something new and interesting is happening! It made me curious about how things would progress, but that progression also kinda happend too late. This season mostly felt like a build-up towards the next season.

The production is very good, just like the first season. The soundtrack and actors are also great.

Overall, the first season was definitely better but I still enjoyed watching this and will be watching the next season as well.

Read More

It was a very entertaining season

I personally enjoyed season 2 mainly because it felt different, but I also felt the same feelings I felt when I watched it back in 2021. I will say this season had me sort of on the edge of my seat like there were so many twists that I wouldn’t have expected that when I watched it I was amazed. I will also say I know some of these actors have a bad past or are currently getting hated on, but when I watched it I only focused on the characters and some of them did eat. I will warn you that there may be spoilers so be aware.
I will say this plot was very unexpected because so many twists and turns happened throughout a seven episode show. I will say if I was 456 I would definitely have so much trauma because he dealt with the first season where 455 people died, but now he has some people alive, but we aren’t so sure who’s alive and who isn’t. I swear the biggest plot twist in my opinion is when Hwang In ho (the front man) started to play the games also and I kind of expected it because 001 was the old man in season 1 and he created the games which I assume that whoever is in charge of the games will always get the number 001. I really liked the dynamic of Gi Han, Dae Ho, In Ho, and Jeong Bae because they seemed like they will always put each other first especially during the mingle game where it was based on numbers, but I will say that I never trusted that the front man was going to stay loyal because the look in his eyes whenever Gi Hun brought up ending squid games he looked upset. I am literally so impressed by Jo Yuri like she was one of my favorites in this season because she was so good at acting and I literally want to see her have her baby because she’d be a good mom. I was also impressed by Si Wan because I didn’t expect him to be that evil by killing two people, but I am at least glad he’s trying to change and want to be a father now. I loved the mother son duo with number 007 and Geum Ja because they were so precious and I’m glad they are still together. I will say I loved the trans person which is Hyeon Ju because he was such a good actor and he’s such a good shooter because his aim was on point. Anyways I was obsessed with him. I will say my favorite character was Thanos and hear me out it’s because he was a baddie because I don’t care that he was taking drugs during the games he was very entertaining because he’d be so hyped whenever people would be dying and just be dancing during the whole mingle game. I will also say I loved Min Su because he’s so adorable. Also I get that the ending is cut so badly because they have to introduce season 3, but I don’t care because this season was so good. Overall, I definitely enjoyed this season and can’t wait to see season 3, but all I have to say is justice for Thanos.

Read More