Squid Game Season 3

would it kill you to give a little hope to the world

this was... something lol where do i even start? Firstly, the acting is genuinely incredible, almost any role in Squid Game requires intense emotions and everyone did so well, especially Im Si Wan in the last few episodes. But the VIPs RUIN EVERY SCENE THEY'RE IN like it CANNOT be that hard to do it right. The English is straight from a textbook, everyone's soulless, and the characters were fucking weird, like misogyny is not a personality trait and it's not funny.

moving on, everyone has criticized the plot so much i have nothing more to add except GO THROUGH THE DAMN DOOR, like WHY are you standing around for half a minute oohing and ahhing at the exit or with your back turned in the middle of a fucking death game. like duh you're going to get killed! and kill smarter, not harder, like really Myung-gi, did we have to push everyone off? i know it's supposed to be greed or whatever but that was so idiotic it was out of character.

speaking of characters, the whole Minsu "doing drugs to escape your trauma is also bad, don't do drugs kids!" arc was more compelling than like half of the main characters' arcs. Hyun-ju's and the mom and son duo were the best. I have absolutely no idea what Dae-ho's purpose as a character was??? Jun-hee I was ambivalent about at that point because it was obvious she was gone. Myung-gi became cartoon villain levels of evil, like fine you want to be the sole winner but Gi-hun was literally willing to sacrifice himself, why would you turn that down? I thought the implication throughout the season was that he did care about Jun-hee and the baby, to some degree, but no i guess he's fine with killing his own child now?? Gi-hun is a whole thing, like really? I know it's the reality and bad things happen but there were so many ways to avoid getting to that point. Even if the winner was a baby, which is probably not what they were looking for when they started the game, the game was still completed, so to me nothing was really accomplished? I was waiting for Gi-hun's "fuck you" moment but it felt like he was just defeated in the end. I guess he's supposed to show the good of humanity but he also hunted down Daeho and strangled him a few episodes back so...

Junho really did all that (nothing actually) just to scream 5 lines and get a cryptic stare from his brother...Junho if you know what that was supposed to mean please tell me I have 0 clue. At least a few people got some form of happiness but like nothing was resolved? They're still out there in LA (PLEASE don't do squid game LA i'm begging) and it's still happening, so idk what I'm supposed to take away from all this honestly. Overall, I get that the world sucks, trust me I'm well aware, but even if the games still continued, I feel like there should've been a moment where it felt like the good of humanity shone through. I guess Gi-hun's death was supposed to be that but it didn't hit for me. In conclusion, Squid Game is kinda wack lmao, might as well watch for the conclusion but it's not all that satisfying.

also the baby took me out everytime it appeared. and it also would've died within like a day because no one did anything except hold it, which is not how babies work LMAO

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running man did it better

I’m severely disappointed, I won’t just say I can write it better, though I can and yes my work won't be polished so I'll just write my criticism

we knew people are gonna die, even the "good" people we were rooting for, it's not going to be squid games if everyone survives, but sweet home did it better in the sense of who dies when, also, running man easily did the children’s game being “murderous” tho it was not real murder but the thrill of any tag ripping game and the other games where always so much better
and alice in boredeland did the game of "tag" more thrilling too, the twist and the angst was so deep

And the twists in RM? Pure gold
like the last game, RM did a game similar to it, in the pool where people "drawn", and in those games, the weak would sacrifice themselves to take down jongkook, the strongest
or someone would slip and then still hold on to drag someone with them, super dramatic


here, anyone of the "good guys" would've sacrificed themselves for the baby, but they were taken out just so 456 gets the "privilege"
333 going from helping them, to throwing 100 out without a thought, to the "sacrifice" hurt guy killing himself so one less person survives
and then 333 wouldn't let 456 on so he'd be alone with the baby, and would he have killed the baby? when he had 456 to kill, or would he have sacrificed himself for his baby but he wasn't main enough to do that

333 going on a killing spree making him too guilty to survive but too greedy to sacrifice himself for his child, and taking 120 out, and she didn't even look back when she returned to an old lady and the woman who just gave birth?
149 giving up her killer role to her son who she knew wouldn't be able to kill anyone? just for her to stop him from killing the only person he found? 222 was hurt already close to death anyways
if 149 stayed as the hunter, her son would've sacrificed himself if she wasn't able to get a hold of anyone to kill

The cgi baby was sooo weird, Renesme Korean vr xD

residents playbook “delivered” so many babies and they were all real, also 90% of the babiy’s face scenes were not when she was in danger, and they just carried a pillow for the other 10% xD also the “dangerous” scenes weren’t real either xD

Another thing that annoyed me was the how on every death

222 and the 149 shouldn’t have changed from haunter, atleast they should’ve given it to 120
120 did not suddenly lose sight of how they were prey

333 could’ve carried the baby while 456 carried 222

333 did not need to kill 100 and leave no “sacrifice” beside his own baby xD
And honestly he’d have been the one sacrificing himself for the baby but the writer didn’t want anyone to have that “privilege”

so many things were cheeped out, and that's when you feel it, this plot was a one season thought that got starched tooo thinly it was left falling apart



What would’ve happened if 456 decided he’d “kill himself and the baby” so the vips didn't have a winner?
Would they stop and announce double winners like the hunger games?

Honestly tho speaking of the hunger games, ml had more than enough funds to make a huge rebellion and army to attack the game and the vips so the rest would always fear him and so the games would’ve stopped 🤣

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What was the point?

I'll make this short and show what I liked and what I didn't, starting with the good things:

The show did a great job keeping me stressed out. I found myself on the edge of my seat a lot. One detail I particularly liked was when the music would suddenly stop, and the silence added to the tension. Props to the camera and sound directors, they had my emotions on a roller coaster.

The cast did a phenomenal work. They kinda carried the show tbh. You'd think you'd get used to people dying left and right, but because every single person performed their best, it kept me immersed. There were many times they had me speechless. I can't stress enough how crucial their acting was to the show.

Personally, I also enjoyed Kang No Eul's side story. I just liked her character because she was moving fast, and got the job done. It was satisfying to me amidst the frustration.

Finally, I like the depictions of how humans are capable of the most vile things as long as they're thinking to themselves they're "doing the right thing". Never gets old, because really, that's just how people are. And the irony of how some of the characters met their end was a nice touch.

What I disliked:

Gi-Hun. He's too one-dimensional. Man is always making the wrong choices for the wrong reasons. While I do like a flawed character, I couldn't find it in me to root for this guy. He doesn't look at the bigger picture, and casually views people as good or evil according to his own experiences. A lot of the times the show puts him on a moral high ground by making everyone around him obnoxiously terrible.

The detective and the whole boat looking for the island side plot. Sure, it did have its use in some details later, but in the grand scheme of things, I didn't see the point.

This might just be me, but it was predictable. You can see so many plot twists coming because the characters were behaving in a certain way. A lot of the things that occured would never have happened. The actors did their best with what they had, but it was bad writing. It felt inconsistent.

The VIPs. Need I say more?

Bottomline is,

If you're looking for a thrilling experience and want to enjoy the games as they are, I'd recommend this. But if you're looking for a senseful plot and a rewarding ending, you'll be disappointed.

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S1 had a better ending than this.....

When Netflix announced they'd be making s2 and 3 of squid game, I wasn't thrilled. I personally liked the open ending of s1, and wasn't sure how they could come to an ending that felt satisfying. And honestly, it seems like they couldn't.

Season 3 picks up right where s2 left off, after Gihun's failed attempt to raid the control room. Then, we're put right back into the games. Compared to s2, I did feel like the games in this season were a bit more high stakes and I was more invested in some of the characters at this point. Plus, the story with the detective really picked up in a fun way. But still, this season didn't wow me.

*Spoilers for the ending start here*

I understand the whole point of the baby being born into the games, but it felt like such a predictable way for things to go. You already hate the kid's father, so that part didn't even feel emotional. I thought it was so obvious what was going to happen at the end of the last game, and I was exactly right. It felt like such a stupid move too - Gihun's entire goal is to fight back against the system, try and destroy the games from the inside, etc. and NONE OF THAT HAPPENS! Instead he sacrifices himself for the baby which, again, I understand why he would make that choice, but the entire setup of this last game just felt so odd to me. To totally ruin the main character's initial goal by forcing him to sacrifice himself, leading to the games continuing on just not in Korea? I did enjoy Inho's moment of returning Gihun's items to his daughter, but it still just felt like such a waste of an ending. I really wish I just watched s1 and ended it there. And I definitely won't be watching any spin offs if they decide to continue making them....

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A Small Light of Hope in a Deplorable World!

Since they essentially run together, I’m reviewing both Squid Game 2 and 3 here.

Just when you think you’ve seen human beings at their absolute lowest, with a few bright moments from the first season, you haven’t seen anything yet. The writers clearly decided to push the envelope to an even bigger arena (no pun intended). It seems clear that the premise is about just how low can people go?

At the start of the second season, Seong Gi Hun is determined to find out who is behind the games and put a stop to it. He hires dozens of loan sharks to scour the subway lines, looking for the recruiter, whom he believes will lead him to the island. Meanwhile, former Detective Hwang Jun Ho is out on the water desperately trying to find the island as well.

One of the minor issues I had with the start of the second season was how Seong Gi Hun is brought in to participate in the games again. He’s scarcely spent any of the money he’s won because he sees it as blood money. He finally communicates Hwang In Ho and volunteers to be a participant again. Now, Seong Gi Hun believes he can beat the game and warn other participants because he’s already won. But, is Seong Gi Hun really that gullible and stupid to think that the games won’t be changed up? It would have made more sense for him to be kidnapped involuntarily and forced to participate again.

Once again, we get a new cast of unusual characters. The most intriguing was Kang No Eul who surprised me by being a soldier rather than a participant. A North Korean defector, she’s desperately searching for her daughter. Her story doesn’t entirely work, and frankly, it’s a bit of a weak link. In the end, she’s still a cold-blooded killer, and there’s no getting around that. She develops an interesting connection with Park Gyeong Suk (246) because he’s a single father with a sick little girl. Kang No Eul tries to help him escape.

Hwang In Ho still firmly believes that most people are garbage and have no morality nor do they deserve to live. The participants, once again, are people in severe debt, hoping for a chance to get out from under. And so, he uses greed and corruption as tools to set them against each other. It’s not unlike the gladiators of Rome, a truly primitive form of entertainment, if it can even be called that. The VIPs, the wealthy 5 who fund the entire game, are easily the most depraved, who are obviously so bored with their own lives, they’re like drug addicts, and not at all unlike human traffickers. They see humans as cattle, viewing them as disposable and expendable as long as it brings them some pleasure. Without displaying any conscience or sense of morality, they have no problem killing off a newborn child, and some of the players quickly demonstrate that they’re no better in that regard, especially if it will get them even more money.

Seong Gi Hun does his best to warn the other participants about what’s at stake, but when the prospect of winning a fortune is on the line, his good intentions fall on deaf ears for the most part. One twist to the games is that after each round, the participants can vote to stop and take what money has already been won or keep going. This sets off some fascinating back-and-forth debates as the participants argue about what to decide.

Of course, with each round, we see the greed and violence come out, especially from those who care about nothing else but winning more money, even deciding that arbitrarily killing people off outside of the games will also yield them more.

As with the first season, there are a few people who struggle to do the right thing. My personal favorite was Jang Geum Ja (149), an elderly woman who was there to try to help her son, who was also a participant, get out of his massive debt. She does her best to be there for him, but in the end, she’s forced to make a decision I wouldn’t force on anyone: kill her son, or let him kill Kim Jun Hui (222) who has just given birth to a baby. That second episode of the Season 3 may well be the best of the entire series, and it was a tough watch, but not nearly as tough as the following episode which sees a crippled Kim Jun Hui make the ultimate sacrifice in order to keep her newborn safe. That episode knocked me for a loop, and I ended up staring at the screen in disbelief. Kim Jun Hui enters the games already pregnant, clearly not understanding that she’s put herself and her baby at great risk. There is a sweetness and naivety about her that makes you hope and pray that she gets out.

The games are just as cruel and sadistic as they were in the previous installment. They speak to the absolute most base of human conditions: the joy of watching people being killed. How anyone can find joy in such an act is beyond me, but there are plenty of people out there like that. Ever wonder why people slow down for a car accident, hoping to see something?

Season 3 is pretty good, but unfortunately, it has some severe flaws that prevent it from being as good as the two previous seasons.

Kang No Eul gets into a fight with her boss, and after being stabbed, she crawls toward the elevator where she’d dropped her gun. Her boss lets her until he realizes her intentions, and then, of course, it’s too late. I had a really hard time believing that he wouldn’t have just killed her outright, nor would he have been clueless about the gun. He’s not that dumb.

Hwang Jun Ho, despite being rescued by the boat captain, would have been a lot more suspicious of him, and likely would have told his squad to be on the lookout. Being a former cop, I found it a stretch that he wouldn’t feel that something was off, especially after being warned by Mr. Choi.

In the final fight between Seong Gi Hun and Lee Myeong Gi (333), are you really going to tell me that Seong Gi Hun wouldn’t have hit that Start Button, knowing full well what it would mean if he didn’t? He had more than ample opportunity, and it was a huge stretch by the writers to overlook this. This made the entire scene completely predictable. After Lee Myeong Gi is killed, you know there’s only one option left. Frankly, it was a cheap gimmick that took all the element of surprise out of it. By then, the suspense was already gone.

The last few minutes in Los Angeles, especially with a great guest appearance by the lovely, talented Cate Blanchett, seems to indicate another season coming, perhaps by the Americans. For me, I think I’ve seen enough to get the idea. It would almost be overkill, at this point, and I think the point was that something like this will just keep going; there’s no end to it because enough people want it.

Season 1 is still pretty good. Season 2 was almost there, and Season 3, despite some incredible moments, was a bit of a letdown. This isn’t an easy series to watch at all. You can’t help but put yourself in the various situations and wonder, “What would I do?” Seong Gi Hun represents the best of humanity, even if he may be viewed as a bit naïve, especially when he’s tricked by Hwang In Ho, who ironically enough, becomes a participant himself for a time. Hwang In Ho wants to prove to Seong Gi Hun that everyone is capable of tapping into those baser instincts. The ultimate victory, however, belongs with Seong Gi Hun, who proves Hwang In Ho wrong, in the end.

Now that I’ve finished the series, it’s time to take a shower and find something uplifting to watch! I have to side with Seong Gi Hun and have faith that despite what goes on around us, humanity is better than that.

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People are never satisfied anyway

I do believe people would have been disappointed whatever the ending. I do agree S1 should have been the beginning and the end but here we are.
I actually liked S3 because of the characters’ development and the acting performances which were really good for whoever it was.

I actually was blown away by the performances of Yim Si Wan, Park Sung-Hoon and Jo Yu Ri is a very promising actress. S3 brings a lot of nostalgia with its last episode as well. I think the story was also endearing.

That being said, I have a hard time judging the series because of the presence of a very controversial cast… for instance I think Lee Jin Wook is a fantastic actor, not just here. The same goes for Park Sung-Hoon who is extremely talented. So Can we separate the actor and his performance? That is a big question here…

Also it is true you can tell the business drive behind seasons following S1. There are also a lot of small issues but I personally thing this season particularly was endearing and showed a lot of acting range from actors even though some actors are questionable.

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The show should have been ended with S1

Final season for most awaited korean series arrives and it's definitely not what I expected it to be.

To start with, Season 3 is a continuation of deathly games after Gi-hun fails the escape mission. With more at stakes and less participants after every game, I won't deny the games are as interesting as it was at the start of the show. I didn't really hated this season, but the message of human greed was already delivered in the Season 1.

Talking about the positives - the Gi-hun scene felt emotional, although the whole season was flat, a few reunions at the ending that felt satisfactory. The negative aspects of the show were too much - cringe VIPs, a bunch of character deaths that were neither meaningful nor impactful, everything became chaos and there were no layers to the whole plot whatsoever, leaving us with no thrill. The detective characters were a total waste, as they had nothing to do except finding the island; which eventually they did after everything was over.

There are many shows that has impactful climax and this is nowhere close. Season 3, which shouldn't have been made at the first place, becomes a total disaster after the perfect ending of S1. The only thing learnt is to end a show when it's already perfectly done, instead of stretching it out to see it become a disaster.

My Rating : 2.5/5

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Really disappointing, same flaws as the previous season

This season suffer exactly the same flaws that season 2 had with lack of emotional investment in the story and the characters. This season and the previous one is much more action filled and has more focus on that. I also feel like it was not necessary to have 3 seasons they could have easily combined this season into season 2.

Same as the previous season, I lacked emotional investment. The only character that I actually felt invested in got killed off very early, which just made me less interested in watching the rest since I didn't really root for anyone. Also I just started caring less and less about Gi-Hun unfortunately. He didn't feel like that strong of a character anymore and my investment in him just disappeared compared to season 1.

I'm also disappointed that pretty much any character that had some sort of story to them died off early. Like in the last games I could not care anymore who died because most of the characters left were very one-dimensional.

I remember watching season 1 and feeling dread watching specific games knowing that some of the characters that I got invested in would die. The characters also had much more dynamics and connections between them compared to this season. And the characters that actually did have some connection between them in this season were just gotten rid of very quickly.

Just like in the previous seasons I did enjoy the actual games. They are creative and still suspensful to watch. So I can't complain much about the actual games. Although, I would have probably been even more invested in the games if I actually had more of an emotional attachment to the characters. There were some moments that were more suspenseful and emotional, but it was still lacking unfortunately. Like I can't compare it to season 1.

Also the whole plotline with the detective and the boat is just way too dragged out. I found it so uninteresting during the previous season because nothing really happened with it. And now it is still just too slow paced. I'm sad that the detective didn't get to have more of an interesting arc in this season compared to the first one. He literally got no progress in his story or even a conclusion.

I also feel disappointed with how the front-man was handled. The whole thing that he was part of the games in the previous season felt kinda like it was forgotten. Nothing really happened with it. And we also didn't really get any more information or depth about his character. They showed that he was part of the games once, which is not new information! We knew this from season 1! It would have been more interesting if they actually explored him a bit more like how exactly he got his position, has he hosted many games before, how much control does he actually have and so on.

I have to say am I disappointed in the ending. It didn't feel satisfying at all and did not really contribute more to an overall story. The ending was similar to the first season. We had a winner and people made sacrifices to get there. And the whole thing with that the Squid Games actually is a thing in the US now just feels like a bad hook to milk this franchise even more.

Also the VIP:s moments didn't really add anything new as well. Like we knew how they were from season 1 and they are still the same. Also terrible acting and they felt so out of place.

I still have to give credit to the very good production and acting (except for the VIP:s of course), just like the previous seasons had. I was a bit disappointed with the soundtrack in this season. It did not really stand out for me that much and I had higher expectations since I loved the soundtrack in season 1.

Overall, this season was disappointing, but I also expected it to be so I'm not surprised. Still, it was entertaining to watch, but I do kinda wish they just stopped after season 1.

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Bleak.

This season felt like they tried to add all the good things from season 1..some stuck, some not so much.
We're not given a reason as to why he chose to push himself and leave Junhee's baby (after promising her she'll take care of her baby???), when he could've asked to end the game then and there.
And. Why. Would. You. Kill. The. *Main*. Character.
Make it make sense.
This time, his kindness lead to his downfall, had he listened to Frontman, he could've escaped with the baby. (plus, since they were ambushed by the pink guards there was no mention of 001 by ANY of the main characters, must've been a plot gap ig)
Gi-hun's child not wanting to hear about him and having to learn about his death, for lack of a better word, was boring. No build-up. Nothing. Just – "here, he's dead".
Netflix tried to tie all the loose knots into one to go on about their day. Granted, even if it was an opportunity to introduce the viewers to an upcoming Squidgame USA, the execution doesn't do it justice.
Anticlimactic and somewhat predictable as opposed to the first season.
The only good thing was guard 011 escaping.
Many of the casting choices for those 2 seasons was mortally questionable at best and criminal at worst. The captain (Oh Dal-su), players 100 (Im Jeong-dae) and 246 (Park Gyeong-seok) – the latter even more considering he was made up to be a loving father. I'm sick to the stomach.
TL;DR: season 1 >>> season 2+3

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Humans 3

Yes, Season 1 could have been enough, but as we watched Seasons 2 and 3, the theme became increasingly extreme. I didn’t like Season 3 until the final episode, which truly hit me emotionally. There was a twist no one in the show saw coming, and at last, we get a conclusion to the Korean Squid Games.

There are some inconsistencies in certain scene, and oh, those unbearable VIPs, but also a few mostly useless side stories, so at one point I thought the story was going nowhere. Yet, the director managed to put the mosaic together in the end.

The highlight of the show is its moral theme: the worth of life, and the corruption of human nature in the face of desperation, greed, and violence. Season 1 exposed how crushing debt and hopelessness can push ordinary people to lose their morality. Season 2 raised the intensity and explored how trauma and greed further corrupt humanity, as people risk everything for material gain. The final season is the darkest, showing that by the end, there are no good or bad guys—only people pushed to their absolute breaking point.

And that is the final question we are all invited to ask ourselves: Humans are... ?
If you're reading this review before watching the show, try answering that question now—and then again afterward. See how your answer changes.

P.S. By the way, remember: Hodie mihi, cras tibi! — or in my own translation from Latin: what happened to the people in the show today might happen to people in real life tomorrow.

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Much better than S2

A solid closure with way better stakes offered and more critical plot development after picking up from the remainder of S2. The plot is just significantly better over the S2 as they still have some great new tricks up in their sleeves which is pretty surprising, almost like they're trying to save the best for the last. It's still the acting performance powerhouse like before that will leave your mind unsettling, every lead characters were given their big moment to shine before wrapping up, fortunately this final season does not disappoint at all while landing itself a satisfying enough conclusion for the series to end honorably.

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