Squid Game Season 2

Like okay.

Loved season 1 so I was really excited to hear a season 2 was releasing! And well, I'm less excited for a season 3. The plot started good, I loved the first episode. I thought it was really interesting to see how Gi-hun was after the first seasons events, and I really loved Gong-yoo's character. Like he's so much more unhinged this season, it was awesome. I won't lie, the boat plotline bored me a little. Like i'd sigh a bit every time we switched over to that. I get that it was important to the overall storyline, but it just felt as though there was nothing actually happening, until the very end. I was happy that there were different games than last season, and the characters were great! I really thought the acting was far better this season! It just all felt really incomplete by the end. I mean obviously it's setting up for a third season, but nothing really came full circle at all. It was all just kind of heated chaos by the end. Pointless violence, deaths that dragged on a bit in the end. Gi-hun was killing me with how trusting he was as well. I thought maybe after player 001 from last season, he'd be a bit less gullible. Overall it wasn't a bad watch, I'll still watch season 3 when it comes out. Acting and budget wise, it's a great step up from last season. Jo yuri and Im siwan so! Can't really complain xx

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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Squid Game Season 2 '' is the long awaited sequel to the highly popular Netflix survival drama.

The series this time was a hot mess, with the story not being cohesive and being divided into three parts: A) the one where the main hero was trying to find a way in, B) the one where the hero is in and it serves as a reminder of what the first season offered and C) the big heist-like revolution. That final part was when things got interesting, but, alas, it ended too suddenly, hence, it made the whole season feel like a blunt prequel to the action second season that is yet to come, especially since part one and two were boring and had nothing new to offer.

Finally, the performances were all enjoyable by everyone in the stellar cast.

So, overall, five out of ten.

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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

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a decent serie

this is not bad but also not great, what doesnt help is that most people have high expectation because of season 1 so ngl season 1 captivated me since the first ep, while for this one it took me time but it is not unwatchable
if i have to pick best and worse eps it will be like this
not good eps : ep 1-2-7
the rest are good eps
the reason for ep 1 and 2 because the scenes were dragging too much with no games at all , the reason for the final ep (ep 7) is the main character, he is really not good at making plans for sure, acting herotic and get lucky to survive all time okay lol
the rest of eps: i enjoyed watching the games , there is one game that i liked the most, when they have to team up as its indicated to survive, i loved the new characters : Min Su is a cutie i better see him in season 3, they kinda did the cop (Jun Ho) dirty because that man is so fine the role in this season didnt give him justice lol, Thanos character is fun i know some people say he is overacting but he is supposed to be like that i mean look at the pills he takes it make sense to me lol, i also liked Myeong Gi and Hyeon Ju characters
compared to season 1 this is a bit less gory and we dont lose a lot of main characters
now, looking forward to season 3 ^^

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Well it has some flaws but definitely a good watch i liked it a lot.

i really liked the season 2 some lags like how they found the GPS tracker in Gi Hun but they did nothing about drugs thanos had in his cross and could have used better Kang ha neul and Yim si wan but they did an amazing job expecting the same performance in the next season.

Gong Yoo wow brillant wanted to see him after the end at the season 1 i mean nothing to say he was brillant amazing the rock paper scissors scene was making me so stressed.

Wi Ha Joon alias Hwang Jun Ho was amazing loved his performance in this season well i would even say he was better than in season 2,also loved Jun Suk Ho who played Choi U Seok he was so funny

Lee Byung Hun was phenomenal how the hell like i never thought he would be the number 001 i mean no one guessed i think but was such a nice twist loved how he came into the game wow and it was funny looking at him killing his minions x).

Park Hee Soon what a surprise to see him i particularly love him after seeing him in My name he is amazing loved him as the officier even thought his role irritated me.

Hwang Dong Hyuk the mastermind behind Squid Game 1 and the superb sequel Squid Game 2 binge watched it easily expecting same for Season 3.

definitely the cliffhanger hurts and make us want to see what happens right now but its ok just 1year i am sure the next season would air the 26/12/25 which would be practical

but really the mid credit scene with the 2 dolls i dont know why it hyped me so much
overall for me 8/10

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Let's just call it what it is: Squid Game Season 2 Part 1

If I could sum up my initial thoughts of Squid Game season two, it would be this: characters I didn’t really care for, but the actors in those roles put on good performances. A storyline that highlights the dangers of tribalism along with rehashing themes from the first. Lastly, pacing that was always gonna make a lot of people feel dissatisfied because of how Netflix structures their seasons.

Like the first season, season two has some pretty solid social commentary on inequality, the wealth gap and how desperation for money creates monsters. However, unlike season one, I personally didn’t care or sympathize for the characters and their desperate attempts to pay off debts this time around.

In season two, we, as an audience, are thrust into a world where many of the main characters are already at the stage of being monsters. This is different from season 1 where we witness a handful of “well-meaning” folks slowly lose their morals as the game progresses. Starting out with more irremediably horrible people than good yet desperate people doesn’t necessarily make for good entertainment. Especially considering, the characters as a whole, are forgettable.

But the actors though? Great performances as to be expected. But sadly again, good performances don't equal memorable characters in this case.

Storyline wise, it hits all the familiar beats of season one but without soul. I mean, the social and economical commentary is clear, but each episode lacks the proper intensity and dread that comes with seeing people you’re rooting for get violently get yeeted out of existence. Many parts felt hollow because significant time was spent on annoying characters than others with potentially interesting storylines.

As for pacing, I feel like this season is a good case study on how money and overall external pressure can influence creative decisions/direction.

I think you could make a strong argument that S2 wasn’t necessary and I wouldn’t disagree. I mean, factually speaking, S2 was never gonna be a thing, at least not this soon, but typical corporate practices aka the Netflix and all streaming platform model made it a reality. Also, S2 was gonna be longer instead of separated between S2 and S3, but again, streaming platforms being streaming platforms.

The writer, Hwang Dong-hyuk was more than willing to accept the boat loads of cash to make a follow up and all I can say to that is “get your money, sir!” Seriously. This man lost nine teeth during the stressful process of creating S1. And to add insult to injury, he didn’t even get paid a lot at the time. Writers being overworked, underpaid and underappreciated is nothing new in the business, so I’m glad he was finally able to get the proper compensation for his hard work, albeit, years later for a second season that wasn’t planned for.

BUT I still feel like the writer was creatively taxed and limited in his vision this time by having to stick to a short season when he intended on having one longish length follow up and conclusion all in one. With that said, it was hard for me to rate this as it was intentionally incomplete.

Anyway, I’m not saying it was a bad follow up, but I’m not saying it was good either. To me, it was okay. Just, okay. The potential was there for it to be good. Obviously not to the level of the first, but it definitely could have kept my attention longer by changing things up and making things more interesting.

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