Well Ju-han/NetflixThe brutal Korean satire grew to become a worldwide phenomenon when it first aired in 2021. Its return isn’t any much less wild – and it appears prone to be a giant hit this time round, too.
In September 2021, an uncommon Korean TV sequence that was an allegory for the evils of late capitalism grew to become the shock international hit of the yr. Squid sport it attracted viewers – just like the contestants within the sport on the heart of the present – with candy-colored units, masked guards operating round in pink jumpsuits, and contestants prettily wearing matching inexperienced jumpsuits, as they performed conventional Korean childhood video games collectively. Then the slaughter started.
The success of the macabre Korean-language horror sequence was such a bona fide tv phenomenon that it stays the most-watched Netflix present of all time, with presently greater than 265 million views. It’s additionally arguably the streamer’s bloodiest and most violent present, that includes a whole lot of grotesque point-blank murders.
However, all this violence is critical, argues creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk, as Squid Game is his brutal satire of the wealth hole and sophistication disparity in South Korea. As he and Netflix have found, the themes behind dystopian horror are common and the grotesque story has been a convincing success world wide. A subsequent season (and a 3rd) had been promptly commissioned and now, three years later, the second sequence will ship shivers down your backbone this vacation season, with its not-so-festive launch the day after Christmas Day.
The first sequence facilities on Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a playing addict who joins 455 different destitute individuals who comply with play a sequence of video games in hopes of profitable some cash. But they discover themselves trapped on an island taking part in video games like marbles – in entrance of an viewers made up of a mysterious masked cabal – with a lethal twist: in the event that they fail to win, they’re murdered by the guards.
This could be a really slasher story; if it weren’t for the ethical conundrum it posed to gamers. The prize pool rises by 100 million Korean gained ($70,000/£55,000) each time somebody is killed, which means gamers might win as much as 45.6 billion gained ($31 million/£25 million) in the event that they had been the final ones standing; a horny proposition for the assembled determined group, who’re additionally free to desert the video games – however provided that the bulk chooses to take action.
The finale of the primary sequence noticed Gi-hun “profitable” – if there’s any triumph in escaping loss of life however watching greater than 400 individuals slaughtered round you – and vowing to seek out out who was actually behind the video games. (Some spoilers later)
The first time we see him within the new season, it is a chilly, exhausting opening that instantly remembers the excessive ranges of gorecore of the primary sequence. He is bare in a public toilet and is bloodily extracting the monitoring chips which were implanted in his flesh. When a boy enters the room, Gi-hun says nonchalantly, “I’m sorry… might you give me 5 minutes?” The giggle elicited by this good comedian timing from Jung-jae cuts the strain in a welcoming method – this second sequence is undoubtedly funnier than the earlier one – and units up the remainder of the episode which for probably the most half depends on the humor of Gi-hun who recruits the mafia crew of his former mortgage sharks.
But the viewers is lulled right into a false sense of safety with this comical gang of henchmen employed by Gi-hun to patrol Seoul’s subway stations. They’re looking for the recruiter, the person within the swimsuit who performs the paper bag dakji sport and recruit gamers for Squid Game, and once they do, the bloodshed begins once more. You won’t ever be capable of play Rock, Paper, Scissors in the identical mild once more.
Subsequent episodes discover Gi-hun introduced again to a model new spherical of Squid Game. This time, nevertheless, he’s there to unmask the video games’ chief, the mysterious Front Man (Lee Byung-hun, in chilling kind), who viewers will acknowledge from the primary sequence – a privilege not afforded to Gi-hun, who shouldn’t be in a position to make the connection when he seems undercover elsewhere.
With the entire previous contestants killed off, director Hwang has the luxurious of getting a principally clean slate for the second sequence’ characters, and has targeted on some compelling tales from this new motley crew. There is a mom and her gambling-addicted son, each shocked to find that the opposite is in there; weak younger ladies, ex-Marines, a crypto influencer and a menacing pill-pushing rapper (in a cute Easter egg for Korean music followers, performed with gusto by rapper Choi Seung-hyun, otherwise known as TOP) who misplaced all his cash after buying the cryptocurrency beneficial by the aforementioned influencer.
This time, nevertheless, there’s additionally the origin story of a determined girl, No-eul (the quietly intense Park Gyu-young) who fled North Korea however was compelled to go away her youngster behind: the revelation that she is among the guards provides an additional layer of intelligent intrigue to this brooding story.
What’s attention-grabbing on this sequence is that Gi-hun, coming again into the sport to warn the contestants of their impending loss of life, is handled like Cassandra: both they do not imagine what he says, or they do not need to. In the age of faux information, contestants can persuade themselves that every part that’s of their finest curiosity is true: that Gi-hun is a “loopy man” or that he’s a plant.
This division of opinion solely intensifies when the contestants are compelled to vote whether or not to proceed the sport and are divided into groups “X” (who vote to go away the sport) and “O” (who need to proceed taking part in), and in microcosm nicely noticed of our personal fragmented society – on-line, in politics and within the tradition wars – this spills over into hate-filled violence. A four-minute sequence of a horrific brawl with strobe lights is probably the wildest scene you will see on TV all yr (together with different organ harvesting pictures that should be watched together with your palms over your eyes); but it surely highlights how individuals are manipulated by these in energy to activate one another, somewhat than struggle the basis of evil collectively.
In the press notes for the brand new sequence, director Hwang stated, “Through the gamers of the sport, I needed to ask, is not this what our society appears like now? Aren’t these individuals precisely who we’re? Things that had been weird.” and unrealistic ten years in the past have sadly turn out to be very life like now.” Squid Game has no options for the awful and sadistic fictional world it presents, nor for the true world it displays; only a reminder that the home all the time wins on the expense of the gamers.
There’s little question that the second Squid Game sequence will seemingly be as nice as the primary. The video games are equally surreal and perverse, the murders equally prolific, the shootings ample. It can also be confirmed that that is the function of a lifetime for Lee Jung-jae, whose expressive face conveys the horrors of what he’s witnessing; the one voice of motive in a loopy world. He gained a Outstanding Male Actor Emmy for Drama in 2022; certainly others will arrive for the present on the subsequent ceremony.
While it is a bit lengthy – at seven episodes, it is two episodes shorter than the final sequence, however some repetitive voting and shootout scenes can drag – and the reveal of a traitorous character appeared apparent from the beginning, it is a very welcome return to this hellish world. The sequence ends abruptly; with a cliffhanger and a flash to a mid-credits scene that units issues up for a 3rd sequence, due in 2025. It’s a twisty and irritating finish for viewers, however hey, is not that the secret?
Squid Game sequence 2 will likely be launched on Netflix on December twenty sixth.
