Squid Game Season 2 (2024)

a filler season to setup for season 3

would have worked better if none of the past characters were there. an entire new ensemble with new games would have been as exciting as the first season. this season felt like a filler/part one of two. they are probably leading up to the third season but this was boring for the most part. we spent so much time on the past characters, almost two whole episodes and good majority of other episodes on them we barely explored much of the new players. there were interesting new players but u could see the team trying to recreate some past characters. it was fun seeing t.o.p back on the screen.

Read More

A Fun Ride with Missed Opportunities

Was it bad?? No. Was it that good?? Not exactly. Was it underwhelming?? Kind of.

I wont lie, i enjoyed this season of Squid Game but it still felt underwhelming considering the immense hype surrounding it. This was certainly the best sequel Netflix Korea has produced recently especially after the disappointing Sweet Home 2, Gyeongseong Creature 2 and others. However there are quite a few reasons why it left me feeling unsatisfied.

While it didnt reach the heights of Season 1, it was engaging enough to keep me watching till the end.


Here is what i liked and disliked about it:

What I Liked:
1. Front Man’s Direct Involvement in the Game:
I appreciated Lee Byung hun’s larger role in this season. After his brief cameo in S1, it was great to see him step into a main role. Having him directly participate in the games added much needed tension and intrigue.

2. Hyun Joo & Player 149 – The Heart of the Show:
Park Sung hoon and Kang Ae shim absolutely stole the spotlight. Their characters were well written with depth and emotional weight making them easy to root for. They were undeniably the standouts of the season.

3. Gong Yoo’s Extended Cameo in Episode 1:
I loved Gong Yoo’s performance in the first episode. His charismatic yet paychpathic portrayal left a lasting impression. Honestly his psychopathic energy made me wish he would star in a serial killer thriller. I also hoped his character would stick around longer, at least for a few episodes in S3.

4. New Games:
While most of the new games werent as thrilling, the carousel game in Episode 6 stood out. I appreciate the effort to introduce fresh challenges but i felt they lacked the intensity and depth of S1’s games. A bit more focus and creativity could have elevated them further.

5. Favorite Episodes - E1 & E6:
Although some found Episode 1 slow, i personally enjoyed it because of Gong Yoo. His presence carried the episode. Episode 6, featuring the brutal carousel game was another highlight for me.

6. Solid Acting Across the Board:
Even though several characters were underutilized, the entire cast gave strong performances.



What I Disliked:

1. Wasted Potential of Big Actors:
This was one of my biggest frustrations. Talents like Im Si wan, Kang Ha neul and others were severely underused. This seems to be a recurring issue with Netflix’s survival thrillers, bringing in big names for secondary roles without giving them enough material to shine.

While it wasnt as bad as Sweet Home 2, it still felt disappointing. Some annoying side characters received more screen time, while stronger actors were left with little to do. Im holding out hope that S3 will give these characters the attention they deserve.

2. Slow Start:
Despite enjoying Episode 1, i cant ignore how much the story dragged into Episode 2. I felt the content of both episodes could have been condensed into one allowing the games to start sooner in Episode 3.

3. Flat New Characters (Except Hyun Joo & 149):
Most of the new cast members felt one dimensional. It was hard to connect with them, they were just there. Hyun Joo and Player 149 were the only exceptions.

4. Annoying Characters Getting More Screen Time:
Some characters who should have been explored further were sidelined, while others, like Thanos were unnecessarily prominent. Lee Jin wook’s character arc felt incomplete and since he died in S2, there is no room for his development in S3. This imbalance was frustrating.

5. Gi hun & Front Man Felt Bland:
Gi hun occasionally came across as cringey, while the Front Man’s storyline lacked the twists we saw in S1. The big reveal about the old man in the first season packed a punch but there was nothing surprising about the Front Man here.

6. Lack of Game Exploration:
While the carousel game stood out, the others felt rushed and underdeveloped. S1’s games were meticulously crafted and filled with tension but S2 lacked that same level of care, possibly because more main characters survived diminishing the stakes.

7. Missing Intensity & Seriousness:
The emotional weight and tension of S1 were noticeably absent. The sense of dread when characters faced death just wasnt there.


Overall Thoughts:

I did enjoy S2, it was engaging for the most part and i watched it from start to finish with interest. However compared to the S1, it felt underwhelming. Still it far exceeded Sweet Home 2 and other recent disappointments.

Im hoping S3 will bring back the intensity and depth that made the first season what it is today.

Read More

Slightly..disappointing

I've waited for it since the previous season finished.
The storyline somewhat repeats itself (granted that it's the same game), like the relationship MC has with both 001s.
So many characters got added, but didn't get fleshed out enough (i.e. 011). For 095's death scene I felt bad, but not nearly enough as bad as I had felt for Ali's (still hurts my heart to this day The games felt novel and really interesting, I liked the new characters and how their relationships developed. (Absolutely despised TOP's character, he's a menace... TT)
With the outside intervention and frontman, I'm intrigued to see where the next season is going!

Read More

An easy binge watch

I had liked S1 until they introduced the worst foreign actors and voiceovers who played the wealthy sponsors of the game. That ruined the entire season for me by making the show laughable and stupid. S2 eliminated that problem so in a way I did enjoy this more than S1, but it did lack in a lot of ways compared to S1.

LIKES:
1) The peek into the staff of squid game. I liked the introduction of Park Gyu Young's character. We get to see a glimpse of the people behind the mask
2) Gong Yoo's character expansion. Those were some fun scenes
3) The Front Man's involvement - that kept the plot interesting
4) The carousel game - I liked the intensity in that game which brought out people's true traits
5) The feisty mother character player 149 - she adds some heart amongst the greed
6) TOP's weird druggie character - while I don't like the bully, I did find his tripped out moments funny

DISLIKES:
1) The intensity didn't feel as strong as S1 esp with the games except for the carousel game
2) The weird shift in the middle eps where the tone felt almost comical instead of seriously intense. It was odd and disruptive to the momentum
3) Wi Ha Jun's whole arc felt very lackluster. His storyline didn't really add to the story at all.
4) The supporting characters development felt underwhelming and underdeveloped.
5) The casting of more recognizable faces. I actually liked how S1 had only a few main stars and the rest were not that famous. In my mind, it made the characters a little more believable. S2, it took me longer to believe the acting from the recognizable faces

Overall though, this was an easy binge watch that can be done in a day. Just note, that this is only Part 1 and not a complete story. Season 3 will be Part 2 and will hopefully give us all the answers we need.

Read More

STAR STUDDED, YET UNDERUSED

this series cast a lot of big-name actors, yet their characters were very underdeveloped, leading to meaningless deaths (Lee Jin Wook’s character, for instance). i didn’t care about any of the characters, which shows just how disconnected they felt. there were also too many annoying, shallow characters this season.

the story was extremely underwhelming. the beginning was super slow, although it was interesting to see more of Gong Yoo’s character in episode 1. compared to season 1, there seemed to be more dialogue between characters when they were not in game, but somehow it felt boring and lacked anything heartfelt and meaningful. i skipped many scenes from the last two episodes and didn’t miss any important information. by the end of the series, i had even forgotten about the cop still out at sea, trying to locate and get into the island where the game was held.

it was nice to see glimpses of the soldiers’ perspectives. i’m sure they’ll explore more of that in the next season.

Read More

Lightning Never Strikes The Same Place Twice

It's hard to put into words all there is to say about season two of Squid Game. If I had to put it as briefly as possible, it's that season two of Squid Game is just fine. It's not too outrageously bad, but it clearly lacks the magnetism that made season one such a global phenomenon. That is to say - most of what makes season two good is already what made season one good; it doesn't add almost anything. Essentially, you can tell that there was never a plan for a second season of the show to be made, and that it was tacked on afterwards following it's smash success.

There is still a lot to be liked about the second season, although a large part of it (the games themselves, the violence etc..) was already done in season one. If I had to pick unique additions in this season that I think made it more interesting without delving into spoilers it would be 1) the inclusion of a pink solider in the main cast and 2) actually getting to see the the front man as a character. It is always intriguing to get more of a look into the other side of the games and to see who we typically see as minor antagonists as actual characters.

The new set of characters are also quite interesting, although I find that is more for the actors and less the characters themselves. We get to see new people, with new purposes, but a lot of them do not have the draw that the characters in season one did. Maybe it is because there are far more characters that are focused on, but they aren't as interesting for the most part. Likewise, a lot of the extras were way too over the top which broke reality a lot (but we will get to that more later). The acting from the main characters is fantastic, which you would expect of such a star cast. Lee Byung Hun, Park Sung Hoon, Im Si Wan, and Gong Yoo were particular stand outs I felt did an amazing job, especially in playing their characters with nuance and dimension.

That being said, season two has a lot of faults, which I think is largely because it was such a commercial production. Yes, this comes with some benefits like a large budget to hire renowned actors, and fun the technical side of things, but it has no soul. It feels like it was made to make money and to appeal to a large amount of people. There is a *major* tonal shift in this season, to the point that I actually double checked that there was not comedy tag written, which is kinda insane considering this show is about a death game. But a lot of it is played for dramatic and comedic effect. The extras act over the top, TOPs character is 2D and flat (especially in comparison to the 'bad guy player' last season), and the music choices are terrible.

It completely changes the emotion of the show. Things don't feel life or death, the stakes don't feel high. It's hard to care about the characters when the show is portraying things as outright goofy. You could really feel the tension and fear of all the characters in season one, you don't get that here.

Speaking of, I had a major issue with the sound design. Like a large part of the technical elements it is disingenuous . There is the use of what really feels like copyright free music, including canned dramatic stings and boom sound effects you could find on garage band, and a misuse of the music. It feels out of place, and there were many instances where music was used when it shouldn't have been, which really took away form the scenes. Same with some of the sound effects that sounded really out of place (like the applause which was clearly overlaid). It really shows the different between season one and two. In season one the sound design was genius, it made the experience so much more impactful. Here it is generic, like any other Netflix show.

The same can be said of the visuals, which were such a highlight of the first season. The cinematography really lacks this season, and there was only one original scene in this show I felt mimicked the iconic imagery of the first. But again, it's just bland and uninspired. There is also a bit of that in the writing, you don't get the psychological aspect, like slow wear down of morals like you do in season one. (And I won't even go into how this one hardly speaks to what the first one did allegorically or symbolically).

At the end of the day, we never needed a second season, and you can tell the only people who wanted one were executives and not anyone with a creative drive, especially not the writer/director. The things that made season two good are things we already enjoyed in season one, and there is a lot in season two that is downgraded from season one. It feels like a flanderization of itself, where the people who made the show didn't understand what made the first season so good. They thought the audience was there for the action and violence and nothing else, which is of course not true at all.

Overall the season is, as I said, just fine. It's nice to watch just once to get a little more of a look at the other side of the games, but it's not spectacular. It lacks the draw of season one, and practically everything else that made season one good. You are far better off re-watching season one than watching season two, as it's a much better experience. I can't necessarily say I'm disappointed, but you can really tell the commercialization got to the show.

Read More

good plot twists but lame strategy..?

As usual like all other season 2 shows, this season focuses more on the backstories and the crossfire moments between the two parties. They were things the show did well and things that were not so good…

Firstly, there were some really good plot twists. Number 11, number 001 and the initial battle strategy (won’t go into details). The one point that made this s2 different from other shows and their s2, there was some unexpected moments, so it was not all so predictable. I liked the part where they showed the life of the guards as well. They were also just people desperate for money.

If you watch carefully, they dropped so many "hints" or sneak peaks but never covered it in this season...to be honest, having multiple seasons doesnt always mean a good thing. Dragging for so long can get repetitive. Like i felt there were so many filler scenes which they just had to add.

However, the games…were really quite boring. They spent a lot of time on the pre-game and post game situations which showing once is enough but they showed it so many times it got draggy. This time it isn’t has gruesome as last time its very mild actually.

I honestly, did not expect him to reveal his identity that fast which I thought was very lame cause I expected him to have a better plan since he’s been doing this for 2 years…

There wasn’t any memorable character this time it was very lead focused. They spend so long introducing so many new characters but gave then really little screentime in the actual situation.

The plot twists kinda saved the show. The ending was....not good as well. To leave an opening for S3 they of course couldn't just end everything so...

Read More

kinda felt like a mat being laid out for season3 that's to come in 2025

felt like a filler season for S3. kinda skipped through it alot and didnt get attacged to the characters as much as season1. i miss sae byeok, ali and others. anyways, this one really felt like a bridge that'll lead us up to S3 storyline. couldve been way better. alot of things from last season were repeated like the characters had similar nature to the old characters. also, the front man coming down to play himself is so strange, like why did he want to come all the way to play when he couldve just watched?

also, a really big cliffhanger ending as they killed the one single person i liked out of all the new players, Jung bae. i felt like he was the past warmhearted and kind personality of Gi hun before he won the game.

Also, the recruiter played by Gong yoo was a total psycopath and a nutjob. like the bread scene, the russian roulette and the way he killed himself. also this little detail that they included of the recruiter being a scared for a few secs before be actually killed himself, this showed that he was actually human but this game twisted him up to such extent that theres no coming back from it now.

Also, the acting was top notch, the cast was amazing!! Hyun-ju was so badass. Park Sung hoon really popped off in this one!! Only issue is that the season could be longer and a better ending could've been given.

Also, the rebellion was useless and stupid. like the people with guns were only 7-8, and the soldiers are more than the total players. easily about 100-200 soldiers could be there even more I guess. idrk what were they thinking becoming the hero with limited ammo.

Read More

Squid Game S1 was a global phenomenon and an unexpected hit for Netflix. There has been much made of the drama and advertisements for S2. Any drama would have a hard time living up to those expectations. Season 2 wasn’t perfect but was still entertaining given its middle child syndrome.

Instead of joining his child with his new won wealth, Gi Hun becomes obsessed with finding those in power and ending the games. Armed with 45.6 billion won he hires his old loan shark to locate the games’ recruiter. Officer Hwang now works in the traffic division with most of the police force thinking he’s lost his mind when he rambles on about the murderous games. With the help of a fishing boat captain, he searches for the elusive island. Eventually, the two survivors of S1 find each other and devise a plan to bring down the cruelly sadistic creators of the deadly competition. Gi Hun ends up back in the games and as before there are those who want to go home and those who want to see how much money they can win regardless of how many people must die.

The players this year included an influencer in a disastrous crypto business, a drug addicted and psychotic rapper, a mother and son, a pregnant young woman, a trans woman, an old friend, a deranged shaman, and an obvious plant. This time around there were people who had lost billions of won/millions of dollars. There was one mole known to all who watched the first season with plenty of hints for the clueless players to put together. The second secret plant was overly obvious from early on for the audience. As before there were unexpected heroes and cowards. The focus shifted slightly more to the players and their teams as people picked sides of whether to vote to stay or go. There were new games and an old one, all as insidious and barbarous as S1 for those who need their daily dose of gore and carnage.

Gi Hun could be a difficult player to root for. By the time he made a catastrophic choice I suppose he saw everyone as already dead. He certainly wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box. Hwang also didn’t choose his allies too wisely. There were only a handful of characters I hoped would make it through to the end, and that’s if a person has small hands. S1 taught me to not become too emotionally attached to any of them.

The acting ranged from excellent to over the top to barely had a pulse. There were characters who were killed that scarcely made a ripple in the puddles of blood. The production values were once again of a high quality and the writing was nicely paced. I wasn’t bothered by the cliffhanger knowing there was a S3 scheduled. Sometimes it takes a third installment to take down Sauron or Darth Vader.

While S2 didn’t have the element of surprise that S1 had, it was still a solid effort. The characters who valued life, theirs and others showed the quandary of wanting to stay alive and also of having a life to go back to. As the money poured into the giant translucent pig other players’ greed and gold fever broke out over them in a lascivious sweat. Traitors lurked in the open and in the shadows. The games of the “have nots” on full display for the “have everythings” once again showed the disparity between the desperate and the bored. I wasn’t sure SGS1 needed a sequel but I’ll stick around and see how the writers decide to conclude the multi-tentacled story.

31 December 2024

Read More

season 1 shouldve been the end of this series

finished everything bc i skipped a lot... this was mid if not ass, nothing was outstanding nothing was that much interesting and while yes there are new characters and new games, it doesnt compare to season one. also, this is probably gonna get part two which is somehow annoying bc they shouldve released everything in one go. by ep 7, nothing is resolved, no winners and the games arent even finished. even if its a cliffhanger ending, its not even leaving me unsatisfied and anticipating bc nothing was worth anticipating for. if they take time releasing the continuation of this part people would just stop watching and forget about it imo. also, i think this show should've ended with season 1 but thats just meee

Read More