I think a lot of people were disappointed by the S3 ending because they came in expecting the wrong thing. Viewers who are used to western shows or kdramas might have expected greater closure, justice and perhaps a big emotional payoff, but Squid Game has never played by those rules
Since the beginning, the show has drawn way more from korean cinema traditions like Oldboy, I Saw the Devil, Burning, Parasite, Memories of Murder than your typical kdrama These critically-aclaimmed korean movies i named dont wrap things up nicely either. Their stories are meant to make you uncomfortable and make the viewers reflect. Unfortunetaly, in real life systems dont magically get fixed, and good people dont always win. S3 stayed true to that. After Gihun failed to take down the system in S2 he had no choice but to step back, survive, and deal with what it would cost him to stay human in the process The good side of humanity is what Gihun represents. He doesnt try to outfight the games anymore. He just refuses to become like the ones instigating them. His choice becomes quiet and it is to be kind, to protect others, to not sell out his soul. Ultimately even if he dies, humanity still wins a little, because we realize they are people like him in the world. Meanwhile, 333 thinks hes above it all, playing smarter, colder but in the end the system still eats him alive, cause playing the VIPs game better doesnt save you. It just delays the crash (as we saw in the final episode) The finale doesnt give us a satisfying resolution and i believe it is not supposed to. Its about survival, inequality, power, and what happens when cruelty becomes normalized Still, its not completely hopeless. There are small quiet wins like Gyeongseok (Player 346) reuniting with his daughter or the island getting completely dismantled When the finale revealed that the Squid Games exist all over the world, including in the US, it felt less like a teaser and more like a statement. Some took it as a setup for a future spin-off, but i saw it differently (personally i also dont want a Squid Game USA) I believe the ending wasnt hinting at an expansion, it was underscoring the global nature of exploitation, it was telling us “hey this isnt just a korean problem, its global” If Netflix goes ahead with spin-offs, itll just feel like theyre milking the money cow If Netflix turns it into a franchise, then yes, theyve missed the point entirely. Even the director initially didnt want a S2 or S3 , he made it because Netflix asked, its all about money Netflix pushed for it and here we are Squid Game was never about giving you what you want, it was about showing you what the world really is sometimes, the truth doesnt comfort you, it just stares back Hwang Donghyuk’s entire show is a critique of how far people are willing to go when driven by desperation n greed
If this ending felt empty to you, I encourage you to explore the cinema that inspired it. you might change your view on what Squid Game is really trying to convey, esp the directors own film Silenced
thx to everyone who took the time to read my critique and defense of the finale, whether you agree or not, i appreciate you engaging with it SG sparked a lot of discussion for a reason and that alone says a lot
Since the beginning, the show has drawn way more from korean cinema traditions like Oldboy, I Saw the Devil, Burning, Parasite, Memories of Murder than your typical kdrama These critically-aclaimmed korean movies i named dont wrap things up nicely either. Their stories are meant to make you uncomfortable and make the viewers reflect. Unfortunetaly, in real life systems dont magically get fixed, and good people dont always win.
S3 stayed true to that. After Gihun failed to take down the system in S2 he had no choice but to step back, survive, and deal with what it would cost him to stay human in the process
The good side of humanity is what Gihun represents. He doesnt try to outfight the games anymore. He just refuses to become like the ones instigating them. His choice becomes quiet and it is to be kind, to protect others, to not sell out his soul. Ultimately even if he dies, humanity still wins a little, because we realize they are people like him in the world.
Meanwhile, 333 thinks hes above it all, playing smarter, colder but in the end the system still eats him alive, cause playing the VIPs game better doesnt save you. It just delays the crash (as we saw in the final episode)
The finale doesnt give us a satisfying resolution and i believe it is not supposed to. Its about survival, inequality, power, and what happens when cruelty becomes normalized
Still, its not completely hopeless. There are small quiet wins like Gyeongseok (Player 346) reuniting with his daughter or the island getting completely dismantled
When the finale revealed that the Squid Games exist all over the world, including in the US, it felt less like a teaser and more like a statement. Some took it as a setup for a future spin-off, but i saw it differently (personally i also dont want a Squid Game USA)
I believe the ending wasnt hinting at an expansion, it was underscoring the global nature of exploitation, it was telling us “hey this isnt just a korean problem, its global” If Netflix goes ahead with spin-offs, itll just feel like theyre milking the money cow
If Netflix turns it into a franchise, then yes, theyve missed the point entirely. Even the director initially didnt want a S2 or S3 , he made it because Netflix asked, its all about money Netflix pushed for it and here we are
Squid Game was never about giving you what you want, it was about showing you what the world really is sometimes, the truth doesnt comfort you, it just stares back Hwang Donghyuk’s entire show is a critique of how far people are willing to go when driven by desperation n greed
If this ending felt empty to you, I encourage you to explore the cinema that inspired it. you might change your view on what Squid Game is really trying to convey, esp the directors own film Silenced
thx to everyone who took the time to read my critique and defense of the finale, whether you agree or not, i appreciate you engaging with it
SG sparked a lot of discussion for a reason and that alone says a lot
cheers