Squid Game Season 3

This is why I don't like kdramas with multiple seasons

As you can clearly see from my review, I didn't like the season.
Let's start with what I liked first
1) Acting - People have put their souls into acting. The entire cast has done an amazing job. The lead actor, I would say didn't shine as much as he did in the first season but overall, he has still acted quite well.

2) Direction - I know a lot of people even had problems with the direction of this but I beg to differ. I found the direction quite alright and easy on the eyes.

My biggest is issue was with SCREENWRITING. How did they take a great drama and manage to make it boring?? I had troubles even with pacing. This is a spoiler free review so I wouldn't describe the scenes that I felt were completely unnecessary but there were unfortunately many scenes like that.
The law enforcement office's character being reduced to dust though, takes the cake for some of the worst character arcs I have seen in kdramas.

Disappointing to say the least. I will just pretend that it ended after season 1

Read More

Definitely watchable.

The cast is really strong, and the story is completely unconventional. Thank you, Korea, for making this drama for us! This wasn't just a series for me, The beginning of my new dreams, getting to know new cultures, and instilling in me the desire to learn a new language, the other seasons are just as good, definitely watch them and recommend them to others, especially if you haven't watched them yet😝 I recommend you check out the cast; they're not just actors, they also have singers and idols. Don't forget to support Jo Yuri, number 222; she's truly very talented.Don't forget to listen to their songs♥️.

~Glassy

Read More

A Disappointing Ending to a Great Show

I was really excited for this to drop, only to be left feeling empty as the credits played. All this season has to offer us story-wise is the same things told to us in the first season, just leagues worse.

The ‘confrontation’ between Gi-hun and In-ho was so disappointing. It was hyped up as this grand thing and lasted five minutes in a quick, rushed manner. And I don’t get having In-ho as one of the main characters in season 2 just for him to go right back to being a side character glazing the VIPs in season 3. I liked the message it tried to bring forward, but the execution of it was poor.

Jun-ho was so useless he may as well have just stayed dead. 13 episodes and all he manages to do is call the coast guard and scream “Why?,” once again at In-ho. Woo-seok managed to be more useful than him.

The final game was filled with dumb decisions that made absolutely no sense. What was the point in bringing Min-su to the final game just for him to die immediately? Myung-gi decided to charge at the other men when they had already made a compromise that would’ve guaranteed that he make it to the final round and live. Genuinely what was the point in fighting when someone had already been pushed off. Yim Si-wan was incredible though. The button was so obviously just a means to get Gi-hun to sacrifice himself for the baby.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the baby. First of all, how the hell did it survive??? It was born prematurely in a bloody death arena, also birthed by a malnourished woman, but happened to come out just fine. The logic with it made absolutely zero sense. I actually enjoyed the message of it, but when it comes to realism, it really lost me.

A lot of people have commented on Gi-hun’s confusing morals, and I get it to an extent, but I also liked it. After the rebellion, he had no reason to live, but used Dae-ho as a scapegoat so he wouldn’t blame himself. He ends up killing him and regrets it immediately. Once Jun-hee’s baby is placed in his hands, he finds a new reason to keep going. He’s given a knife and is told to kill the finalists to ensure he and the baby’s survival. He can’t bring himself to do it because Sae-byeok appears and reminds him he isn’t that kind of person. That and In-ho’s flashback were my favorite scenes of the season. I get the confusion from people, because he had no idea what the next game was and was just playing with fire, but his tears felt raw and real and you could feel that he didn’t want to resort to what In-ho was. It wasn’t as bad to me as others, but it was still a bit confusing. Also, how did he not find it in him to kill In-ho, the one he had been hunting down for YEARS. That was the part I was lost on.

Lee Jung-jae’s acting was good, but at times I couldn’t help but feel that his character was almost on the sidelines? It felt like he had a few lines just every once a while instead of being a main. I get that the point was that he was almost catatonic and didn’t have anyone, but they really could’ve given him at least a bit more to work with. I feel bad knowing he lost 20 pounds for the role just to barely do anything. Jump rope was his standout moment because you could actually see the terror there. All he really said in Hide and Seek was: “It’s your fault.” Speaking of, I really wish they did more with Dae-ho then just resorting him to something to propel Gi-hun’s arc. It was clear he had some sort of trauma, but was just made out to be a coward with no real story. Kang Ha-neul acted him out amazingly though with how little he was given.

Once Hyun-ju died in Hide and Seek, I realized that was where we were going with this. She deserved to be a finalist instead of Min-su. Geum-ja was also a standout, Kang Ae-shim did her thing with this role. Her speech to Gi-hun was really sad and so was her death.

No-eul’s storyline was good and I think it was a nice addition, she was a standout here. I found no interest in Gyeong-seok, the father of the sick girl.

The scene with Gi-hun’s daughter was heartbreaking, In-ho’s horrible. Also the final scene with Cate Blanchett was kind of off-putting, but I didn’t hate it.

In conclusion, Squid Game really should’ve stayed one season. You can tell this is just Netflix milking a popular series for profit, which is pretty ironic considering the message of the series. Despite this, I’m still glad this brought back my love for Squid Game and gave us new characters and more great scenes. #justiceforseonggihun

Favorite Episode: The Starry Night (S3E2)
Standout Performances: Lee Jung-jae, Kang Ha-neul, Park Sung-hoon, Kang Ae-shim, Park Gyu-young, Yim Si-wan

Read More

In defense of a controversial last season

I am already seeing a lot of people saying that this finale was a let down and I understand where they're coming from. That being said, I think only 2 parts here were poorly handled and I feel compelled to defend the decisions made in wrapping up this story.

The 2 parts I didn't like:

1. The VIPs (as usual): I wasn't aware of this until I got deep into kdrama land but essentially all English-speaking actors are extremely cringe (I'm from the US). Not just Squid Game; ALL of them, including great shows like Mr. Sunshine and Dali & the Cocky Prince (both of these shows have leads who are also leads in Squid Game lol). I didn't understand at first why the hell all of these actors are so awful but it makes sense. There are simply not that many actors to choose from. Finding native English speakers working in Korea to act in these roles might not be THAT hard but the fact of the matter is that most actors aren't GREAT actors. Excellent actors are overrepresented in our mainstream media for obvious reasons. Add to that that many of the English speakers living in Korea aren't native English speakers...you're going to have accents and intonation that can distract from the role.

That being said, especially by season 3 of the world's most popular show, they absolutely had the budget to fly out some good actors from the English-speaking world. I think the actors overall were better than those in the first season but it felt kind of unjustifiable to have any cringey acting by this season.

2. The American spin-off being set up: I think the beauty of this show, from an American perspective, is that I can get so immersed into a completely different country, language, and culture. I don't need any of this being Americanized. This show has been an introduction for many Westerners into the incredible array of content being generated by the Korean entertainment industry and I wish we could just continue to make space for that without centering ourselves as usual lol.

Onto my defense:

First, for any show that is this plot-driven, sticking the landing is always an EXTREMELY difficult task. There will always be naysayers regardless of how the show wraps because we are all here for the plot and the plot simply has to end. While intensely satisfying endings aren't impossible, we really just need to adjust our expectations (think Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, etc). The more intense and complex the story, the more opportunities for plot holes as it concludes. Endings may feel too forced but that can verge on inevitable if the writers want to create any kind of climax. Some people want happy and satisfying endings (I certainly do for romance shows) but with a show like this, how happy is too happy? This is a dark show and ending things in too positive a light can begin to feel like pandering.

This show has done a fantastic job of showing us the complexities of many social issues as well as our unsettling capacity for everyday cruelty. At the end of the day, the whole point of the show is that the patterns of cruelty and exploitation continue to outlive us by design. So often the only survivors or "winners" are the ones who keep the exploitation machine greased and maintained; staying true to ones principles can be a death sentence. This show has shown us how we go about defining the limits of our morality through the lens of richly complex and diverse characters.

i absolutely loved watching the frontman the most. i have to give it to both the writers/directors as well as lee byung-hun for creating a character as multidimensional as him. i just want more back story about him and that would make a great prequel, however i know the actor is getting older and playing his younger self will only get more challenging if it's to remain realistic.

some people hated the whole baby plot. i can see why but personally i thought it was beautiful and well handled overall. to think that the winner was a defenseless baby, despite such smart and talented contestants, speaks to the complexity of our humanity. even watching the dad fight to the end had me feeling conflicted and confused about him. was he good or bad? what were his overarching motivations? how much of it was money versus protecting his kid? i still don't fully know. yim si wan did a fantastic job as usual.

we got to see some very accomplished and talented actors in one show (lee byung hun, kang ha neul, yim si wan, park gyu young, among others). very complicated themes were fleshed out in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat and asking myself "what would i do in this situation?"

this was a hard landing to stick and i hope that more people will feel how i feel!

Read More

I had low expectation and this S3 still felt like a let down...

Did the world need a sequel of Squid Game ? Since the ending of S1, I have been adamant that it was unecessary and I definitely maintain my opinion after watching the conclusion of this series with the disappointing Season 3. In terms of writing, the script definitely a less strong point of view than S1, I feel that a lot of the "life lessons" from the original show were lost. The surprise effect was not there and even if there were a lot of impactful scenes, I felt that most of the characters made irrational decisions more for "the gag" of it all than driven by proper scenario build up.

In terms of characters storylines, if the police officer was the most useless one, it was the "hero" journey that disappointed me the most. I did not feel the character growth and I was pretty underwhelmed by Lee Jung Jae's acting in this season 3. It felt very one note. To be fair, it is probably more due to the poor writing, preventing the actor to demonstrate any range of acting because the lack of room for growth with his character... Next to him, the other main cast did a solid job, especially Yim Si Wan, whose character's storyline was definitely the most interesting of this season and whose acting deeply impressed me.

The main positive of this season resides in its strong production value and overall visual. The layering of the child games and the bloody murders are as striking as ever with deaths litteraly wrapped in black boxes with pretty pink bows. I was amazed at all the details in the decors and the way some of the games were featured.

Despite all its flaws in writing, I would still recommend this to people that have watched season 2. If you have just seen Season 1, better stop there as it can live perfectly well as a standalone...However, if you have watched season 2, it is kinda a must to watch season 3 as those two are immediately connected and probably splitted in two for commercial reasons rather than anything else.

Read More

My Thoughts on the third and finale season

First of all, why does it have to come out at 3 am in the US and certain people stay up just to watch it (a.k.a. me) and get to the second ep and start balling without any sleep. Second of all why did all of the best characters die like, Player 456, Player 222, Player 120, etc. But I loved that they came up with the idea of the baby winning, but everyone could have just stopped the game before game #5. Or just stopped the game during the first season it makes no sense to keep going for 2 more seasons just to kill of main characters. Then making an American spin-off, I just know it’s going to be bad only because nothing can come close to the original South Korean Squid Game series.

Read More

Starting off i see why people were disappointed about this season. Personally i really enjoyed to watch it and i liked it a lot but there were also many things to criticize about.

Some of the character deaths felt pretty rushed, for example i was very disappointed how early they killed Hyun-ju and many other characters. They kept the least interesting characters till the end but killed many of the fan favorites at the beginning! Speaking of killing there's no way someone could kill their own son for someone they have known for only few days??

I have very mixed opinions about the ending. I was sure that it wouldn't have happy ending (thankfully) but still Gi-huns death lowkey shocked me. I did NOT care for the winner but atleast it wasn't predictable i guess😭? And like Gi-hun was already depressed and probably wouldn't have stayed alive after the games.

Despite all the criticism i really liked to watch the season! The games were good (not as good as s2 games tho😞) and Yim Siwan is one of my favorite actors so I'm happy how much screentime he got🥹🙏🏻.

Read More

First two seasons were better

I had high expectations for this season but meanwhile watching it , it felt completely different.
- the games great but it was kinda boring sometimes, the first and second seasons’s games captivated more my attention.
- most of characters didn’t deserve to die but I was ready for it..( i guess we all knew)
- i definitely didn’t like vips scenes .! the scenes was annoying and in my opinion their presence wasn’t necessary.
- I hate when they decided to put the baby also in the game, like what did I see? the audacity….i preferred the baby not being in this.
- I hate so much player 333 in this season .. he didn’t even try to save jun hui.. + his behavior..and he also tried to kill his baby what kind of father is this? definitely horrible.. I thought he could be a better person in this season but he was kinda selfish.
- the ending was kinda good but at the same time not.. I didn’t like the fact that there wasn’t a scene between the two brothers , like, the police officer was searching for the island since a lot and after he did it , all we get was a scene of 2 min of him saying to his brother “why did you do that?”… I was expecting more.
- i felt sorry when player 456 was dead :/🥲
-I also wanted to see if 011 found her daughter or not since she went in China, I was curious about that but nothing. also I thought she would’ve said to player 246 that he saved him ( I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN I SAW HE WAS ALIVEEEEE.. this was basically one of the few things I liked 😭🫠)
- I’m glad the police officer now has the 222’s baby , I’m pretty sure he’ll be good with her .. she’s going to grow well.

Actually the story wasn’t good as the first two seasons but I didn’t like that we didn’t get a proper ending for some things since this series is keep going since 2021.

Read More

A shocking but realistic ending

The ending was unexpected and heart wrenching but people are losing the whole meaning of what the drama was about.
Its about the system of the world— corruption, capitalism, greed, and of course about human nature.
Its chilling how Gihuns(456)’s last words were “We are not horses. We are humans”, which ties up back to the beginning of how he was horse-betting, much like how the VIPS were betting on players. Humans lives are not to be treated carelessly but in today’s world we know the unequivocal balance between the rich and poor, which is shown throughout the show.
Gihun was not able to end the games so in change he made an unexpected decision that lead to the VIPS realize their own cruelty and experience emotion behind their big ego.
Even if Gihun ended the Korean games the question comes of whether or not he would be capable of ending all of them now that were are aware that the American Squid Game. Even if one system falls it does not mean that they all will fall, they will continue to thrive even at the expense of the other’s demise or in other words “every man for themselves”.
Really ties into capitalism and power…
Overall this series made me cry so much over these characters that I came to love but the ending was realistic, which is rare but it truly makes you disect the entirety of what the message is really about. Eyeopening really and this is not even everything I can point out for example Myung-gi(333)’s whole character is a whole other discussion in itself.

Read More

better than season 2 but ..

when you see the rating, comments, reviews its obvious that many people are angry, this series indeed has it own flaws thats for sure but i find it better than season 2 , there is entertainment , games and didnt feel like a filler season
its just my opinion but comparing this season to season 2 : season 2 felt like just a preparation for season 3 , what could have been better is if they combined both seasons in one season instead
now talking about season 3: * major spoilers*
what i didnt like: questionable behaviors, like im ok with a bit of super hero behaviors but saving a baby (that is not even related to you, nor you had spent huge time with him) over your own son? it felt so forced super herotic act, like why a lot of characters are either so all about sacrifices or fully evil, characters dont need to be fully good or fully bad and that there is no in btw,
and how easy it is to give birth in that place?
this season ended with nothing getting solved, Seong Gi Hu talked about revenge in season 2 but this whole season there is no fire no flame no revenge he was just trying to save the baby and then he decided to s**cide , could have been better if at least some criminals got caught for investigation, or made it in a way that he was able to live and to take care of his daughter and the new born baby and getting therapy with all that money, at least the ending would be satisfating, he said he is a bad father but he could try to make up for it , Hwang Jun Ho was looking for his brother but went back home like nothing happened, they killed most important characters so early in early eps too, also the vips are just... not it,
and they are hinting at an USA version?
what i liked: the games were okay and interesting, i liked some characters and stayed until the end to see what happen to every character, the first part of the show (early eps) are interesting and good, the other eps could have been better, flaws in the plot are obvious but its watchable

Read More

Too long!!

Honestly i thought six eps for this was too much that too of an hour.. i literally watched it in 1.5x speed.. it was going too sloww and this szn was not what i expected it to be.. left me disappointed and crying at the same time.. the acting was top notch and the production was the best but what was the point of finding the island and having nothing out of it and yea i agree the VIP had a lot of screen time.. instead could have given that time to In ho's (front man) background story... making the baby as a participant was the worse idea so at the end if the baby dies who's gonna keep the care of the baby 'Jun ho'? and why should he.. if there was no one to take care of the baby why the f would you make it a participant and the sui*ide of the grandma and Hyun ju was brutal.. why the f would you kill hyun ju .. wish the story could have turned better.. if if not the worse atleat the baby should have survived with 456 or front man should have took care of the baby or any better alternative could have worked.. like idk why would you guys make it turn a good promising cast do a story like this... disappointed but loved the acting!!

Read More