This review may contain spoilers
Butchered Characters, Pointless Side Plots, Flat Ending with Extras for Finalists
I’ll preface this by saying, I understand the point they were trying to make with proving that money and greed always win, but they could’ve done so in many different ways.
First off, they ruined Daeho (388) so much. The English translation makes him seem so much worse than he is. They mistranslated him “lying about the military”. He actually said he was some kind of a civil servant (basically a replacement to fulfill his military duty), because he was deemed too unstable to be in the marines. Even if he did lie, was that really the worst thing someone did in those games? He was scared, as was everyone else. It was his way of trying to protect himself. Either way, his storyline is rushed. We needed some background on how we got to the point of him lying.
Speaking of Daeho, it makes no sense that Gihun went on a literal manhunt for him and killed him in cold blood, yet he had so much hesitation in killing 100 and the other “O” team members, in which he ended up not being able to do it. Yes, he was mad at Daeho, but he was also close with him. He didn’t like 100 from the start.
Now Hyungi’s (120) death made no sense either. You’re telling me someone in the special forces with that much field training would have let their guard down so much as to stand in a doorway with their back turned for that long in the middle of a bloodbath?? She absolutely would not have.
Also, killing off almost all the MC’s in one episode just to have the last half of the season be 75% extras was stupid. Again, we could’ve gotten our point across about money and greed while still having more of the MC’s present. If anything, it would’ve hit harder if they were the ones having to betray each other, like in season 1.
The side plot with 246 and guard 11 was drawn out way too much. Like great, she saved him cause she knew his daughter, but we didn’t need as much background as we got to be able to see that point. So much scene time was used for their side plot and it was unnecessary.
And, as much as I love Wi Ha Joon, detective Jun-Ho‘s side plot was the most useless. He went on a blind search the entire 2nd and 3rd season, just to find the island after everyone was already dead, ask Inho “why?” and get left on heard, abort mission, then become a billionaire adoptive dad. Like what??
Then here we have 333, they created so much space for him to step up and stop being a pos baby daddy, just to have him not give a frick really about Junhee dying. THEN, he proceeds to even try to sacrifice his own baby to win??? Like, we knew he was a terrible boyfriend and soon to be father, but he wasn’t a psychopath. Season 2 Myunggi would NOT have gone that far. Whether he was really going to kill the baby or not, it was crazy he even threatened it. And let’s be real, with how selfish he was being in the 3rd season, if it was him and the baby left, he would’ve chosen himself.
They made so many characters basically into completely different people, which we have to remember, season 2 to season 3 was really only an overnight difference, so they all wouldn’t have changed that much.
I will say though, I did enjoy Namgyu’s drug induced personality and him mocking Thanos the entire time. I also enjoyed the unexpected team up with 333 during hide and seek (until 333 killed 120 for no reason). I also enjoyed Minsu’s drug induced hallucinations, and I’m glad he made it to the finals.
I also enjoyed the dynamic of 149 and 007 this season. It was heart breaking that she had to kill her own son, but she couldn’t let him turn into something he’s not by using a mother and her newborn. Her suicide was also very sad. But, it was one of the only plots that made sense to the origins of the characters.
Anyways, to sum it up, they butchered so many of the characters by changing their core values up over night, wasted screen time on useless side plots, and wasted the potential of a more impactful ending by using main characters instead of a bunch of “O” team extras.
Oh, and also, the last scene with the “American” squid games. Please, don’t.
First off, they ruined Daeho (388) so much. The English translation makes him seem so much worse than he is. They mistranslated him “lying about the military”. He actually said he was some kind of a civil servant (basically a replacement to fulfill his military duty), because he was deemed too unstable to be in the marines. Even if he did lie, was that really the worst thing someone did in those games? He was scared, as was everyone else. It was his way of trying to protect himself. Either way, his storyline is rushed. We needed some background on how we got to the point of him lying.
Speaking of Daeho, it makes no sense that Gihun went on a literal manhunt for him and killed him in cold blood, yet he had so much hesitation in killing 100 and the other “O” team members, in which he ended up not being able to do it. Yes, he was mad at Daeho, but he was also close with him. He didn’t like 100 from the start.
Now Hyungi’s (120) death made no sense either. You’re telling me someone in the special forces with that much field training would have let their guard down so much as to stand in a doorway with their back turned for that long in the middle of a bloodbath?? She absolutely would not have.
Also, killing off almost all the MC’s in one episode just to have the last half of the season be 75% extras was stupid. Again, we could’ve gotten our point across about money and greed while still having more of the MC’s present. If anything, it would’ve hit harder if they were the ones having to betray each other, like in season 1.
The side plot with 246 and guard 11 was drawn out way too much. Like great, she saved him cause she knew his daughter, but we didn’t need as much background as we got to be able to see that point. So much scene time was used for their side plot and it was unnecessary.
And, as much as I love Wi Ha Joon, detective Jun-Ho‘s side plot was the most useless. He went on a blind search the entire 2nd and 3rd season, just to find the island after everyone was already dead, ask Inho “why?” and get left on heard, abort mission, then become a billionaire adoptive dad. Like what??
Then here we have 333, they created so much space for him to step up and stop being a pos baby daddy, just to have him not give a frick really about Junhee dying. THEN, he proceeds to even try to sacrifice his own baby to win??? Like, we knew he was a terrible boyfriend and soon to be father, but he wasn’t a psychopath. Season 2 Myunggi would NOT have gone that far. Whether he was really going to kill the baby or not, it was crazy he even threatened it. And let’s be real, with how selfish he was being in the 3rd season, if it was him and the baby left, he would’ve chosen himself.
They made so many characters basically into completely different people, which we have to remember, season 2 to season 3 was really only an overnight difference, so they all wouldn’t have changed that much.
I will say though, I did enjoy Namgyu’s drug induced personality and him mocking Thanos the entire time. I also enjoyed the unexpected team up with 333 during hide and seek (until 333 killed 120 for no reason). I also enjoyed Minsu’s drug induced hallucinations, and I’m glad he made it to the finals.
I also enjoyed the dynamic of 149 and 007 this season. It was heart breaking that she had to kill her own son, but she couldn’t let him turn into something he’s not by using a mother and her newborn. Her suicide was also very sad. But, it was one of the only plots that made sense to the origins of the characters.
Anyways, to sum it up, they butchered so many of the characters by changing their core values up over night, wasted screen time on useless side plots, and wasted the potential of a more impactful ending by using main characters instead of a bunch of “O” team extras.
Oh, and also, the last scene with the “American” squid games. Please, don’t.
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