Squid Game Season 3

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.

Read More

Better than expected ...

After the incredible season one, it was always difficult for the continuing seasons to get high marks. I do think that season three proves itself worthy for a high score. In my opinion it was definitely better than season 2. The kids games used as sadistic weapons with the players were a good choice this time around, from Hide & Seek to Jump Rope. I think the most bizarre twist was the addition of a baby added during the game. That proved to be a bit twisted and problematic, especially for the surviving players.
I think the VIP group left a lot to be desired. I didn't care too much for them this time around. I thought the VIP's from season one were a much better fit for the series. That was definitely a negative for season three.
Reading some of the reviews, I see people were really a bit harsh, particularly toward the ending. I'm not sure what a better ending would have been. I was a bit disappointed in the way the two protagonists, #333 & #456 met their ending, but I thought Si Wan and Jung Jae did a great job with their characters. You knew it couldn't end happy ever after, so it was not so shocking that everyone dies. I was just hoping for the best for the two of them, which unfortunately didn't happen. The usual antagonists met their fate with some wicked death scenes, which of course they deserved. You were counting the minutes for #100 & #203 to get "eliminated".
Jun Ho seemed to be the one character with the happy ending, and why not ... after all, Ha Joon has been dragging his character through hell and back for three season, trying to get back to the island. That was the one bright spot at the conclusion. He even brought out the best in his brother, with his decision for the baby and the baby's winnings. Good for him!!!
I guess the final scene with In Ho (Brung Hun) leaves the window open a crack for a season four in the United States???
I guess we'll wait and see.

Read More

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.

Read More

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

Read More

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.

Read More

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

Read More

Squid Game Season 3 : 6/27/2025

I know this season had a lot of backlashes, but I think it was the perfect ending to the series. It was real and devasting showing that even though we want the good guys to win they don't always win. It was also realistic in the way people betrayed each other and shows how greedy humans can really be. It also showed how people will do anything to survive. Despite this it also showed that there are still good people in this world and people will sometimes surprise us. Lastly it shows that the world is also always going to corrupt and even though people try it will still remain.

Read More

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.

Read More

OK.

Season 3 is coming to an end, with consistently polished visuals and new gameplay that's as captivating as it is addictive. The tension is there, but you can still feel that some momentum has been lost along the way. I admit that, despite the hype, this season left me quite confused.

The deaths follow one another in a dramatic, sometimes even excessive, manner. The baby, tossed around like a puppet, remains surprisingly stoic (too wise for what he's going through, poor thing...). Some characters we hoped would shine quickly disappear, victims of fates that aren't always fair.

I appreciated the behind-the-scenes look at these rich old Westerners who are as detestable as they are caricatures. Cliché, yes, but it works. This season is undeniably dark—not just in its aesthetic, but also in its responses. We're given bits and pieces to piece together, but the end result isn't quite what we'd hoped for.

I'm happy to be wrapping up this trilogy, but I'm still a little disappointed. Ultimately, I preferred season 2, which was richer in emotion and punctuated with welcome humor. Here, between grief and anger, the palette remains rather limited.

A must-see, yes—but not necessarily a must-see—for this third season.

Read More

It Gets Worse

My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

Full disclosure: I am not a fan of Squid Game. I didn’t like the 1st season (I had given it a 4/10). This drama has felt, from the beginning, like a poorly executed version of deadly game plots (such as Hunger Games and 3%).

Acting/Cast: The cast is decent. A lot of big actors. However, this season, there’s not many characters left. Unfortunately, we end up stuck with a bunch of expendables and VIPs. Really? They think this will carry the drama to the finish line? The VIPs are the worst. Who, in the process of filming, watched these scenes back and said “Yeah, this is good”? I’m assuming it’s the director/screenwriter. I haven’t seen anything else he’s worked on and now I would never want to. 4/10

Writing: The writing is so bad, they tried to use the VIPs and the owner of the games to gaslight us into thinking it makes sense. Anytime something stupid, boring, and/or unrealistic was happening, one of those characters starts explaining why it’s not bad writing. Like when the insufferable voting system pops up again, they cut to a character saying something like “this is the most interesting part of the games.” What are you smoking?? This is literally the dumbest, most boring, dragged out waste of time in this whole series. I think they finally realized that and started cutting the voting short. It literally doesn’t matter and has no effect on anything, especially this season. Another example, is when the owner of the games would explain the psychology of the characters’ decision-making, in an attempt to convince the viewers that it makes sense. No, it still doesn’t make sense. None of this makes sense. At this point, everyone should either be completely out of their minds, begging for their life, or committing suicide. I mean, they are literally being tortured for days on end in a hopeless situation. They also use the idiotic VIP characters to give us a play-by-play on what’s happening in the games. It’s like having that annoying person that won’t shut the hell up sitting next to you in the theater. They break intense scenes with these stupid ones, completely ruining all of the buildup and tension. The dialogue writing for the VIPs is so terrible, along with the acting, that I felt like I was watching cut scenes from a video game, and not a good one. If AI really is writing scripts these days, I’d think that this is a good example of what that would look like. If I were to write this drama, I’d have the VIPs as silent observers that we see quick glimpses of here and there. Maybe they cheer sometimes, maybe they just give condescending golf claps, maybe they become involved in the direction of the games. I mean, anything but what the writers actually had them do. We don’t need them to have dialogue for us to know that they are psychotic; just them being there already proves that they are. The cop character, by the way, remains completely useless and dumb. He never does anything cool, so don’t hold your breath. Also, all of the players die in very predictable ways. I didn’t feel anything for any of them. Actually, the one character that we’re ultimately supposed to feel something for is a freaking CGI baby. 1/10

Direction/SFX/Music: The CGI baby is the worst. I can’t feel emotion for that thing. The CGI dog was terrible as well. Can we please either get a bigger budget for trained animals or real looking effects or just write this stuff out of the story all together. The bad CGI just ruins it. 1/10

Entertainment Value: Definitely the least entertaining of the seasons by far. I still got through it pretty quick, though, in hope that something cool would happen at the end. Like maybe seeing the VIPs get murdered or thrown into the games themselves. That would be fun. Or the cop character saving some people in the games. Nothing cool happens though. This drama is a tragedy. I’m not a fan of tragedies. 2.5/10

Overall, I gave this season a 2/10. It lost whatever charm it originally had and basically became a slasher. It’s not about using skill to win games anymore, but about murdering people in hand-to-hand combat. So boring, so uncreative. Everything is predictable and nothing cool happens. I would be surprised if it was proven that AI wasn’t used to write this trash.

Read More

AWFUL.

Wasted the set-up of season 2, copied "The platform"s ending but in worse.
Literally, the ending did not make sense. It didnt have to be a "the baby or gi-hun" and in order to get story to that in that last game, all the deaths were super forced. Characters didnt make sense anymore. It was stupid.
If they wanted to sacrifice Gi-Hun, they couldve done so by making a final game something where no matter how things turned out, only 1 person would survive from the beginning or just kill him off at a less expected time. Because once again, this was more than predictable.
Not to forget: the baby came out of nowhere. It shouldnt have been written into the story. And if they did, then at least make it obvious you had planned to since the beginning of season 2. With such a popular and big series you would at least expect them to plan 2 seasons properly and use some foreshadowing.
Also, the attempt at making gi-hun into a morally grey character was more than terrific, also how fast he switched up to being the good guy again. It felt rushed, as if they didnt have time for moral dilemmas and character depth.
But hey, at least they had symbolism with the entire baby ending right? Yeah no, if its not executed well, you cannot even appreciate that or the thought behind it -- it just all felt cramped and forced. Thats the best summary I can give for this season.

Also, what even was the sense behind the policeman side story? If they left all of that out and only did small clips, they probably even wouldve managed to write a more fleshed out story. But then again, maybe that was on purpose a filler to get the extra 2 seasons and more money.

In summary: i wish i hadnt watched this. In my mind the series ends after season 1 and Gi-hun did something from the outside world in collaboration with the police and his money to save other people going through the squid games. Wouldve been a great narrative: a new main character and squad for the squid game perspective and something actually useful happening from the outside world perspective through gi-hun (instead of policeman storyline. They couldve even worked together).

That being said: Netflix, if you need somebody to rewrite season 2 & 3, contact me.

Read More

90% of yall are missing the message, ESPECIALLY here in MDL

everyone is complaining because it was anunderwhelming season but it was a continuation of s2. Hyun ju died "early" bcs in the games it was not a matter of the strongest, the smartest, or the most deserving of the prize gets to win. Death did not pick who should die at what order, death chose all. So the complaints of "its unfair that the good players died early" just proves the unfair nature of the games and society. The show was not supposed to end with the villains dead and hero won. There was no villain, a common misconception of the VIPS and the frontman being villains is absolutely wrong. When we were watching the show, we were all picking and choosing favorites who we wanted to survive, we wanted the "annoying characters like 100, and 044" to die...the front man was NOT a villain. Everyone was each others villain, grief, pride, greed, and hope those were also villains. I would say hope was most deceiving of all because it kept people going in this hideous games hoping that they will win. The more the games progressed, the "worse" the characters became, with more greed and hunger, how were yall expecting a character development??...456's death was definitely sad but he and no euls character showed humanity, they both had choices that would bring them fortunes and wealth if they chose to see the decaying humanity, instead they both chose to believe in the fragile humanity. The show ended perfectly, the show was potraying a message. A message of what humanity is, therefore gihun's "Humans are..." short speech. Yall were expecting a grandiose cartoon black and white ending.

Read More