Seong Gi-hun, aka Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae) is back! The second season gets off to a bit of a slow start, but the show remains mostly a thrilling ride. — Photos: Netflix
Just in time for the day after Christmas, when it dawns on you and your rapidly dwindling bank account that you spread a little too much cheer this year, comes the second season of Squid Game. That's Netflix's brutal South Korean series in which those neck-deep in debt take part in a secret competition where they can go home with a huge stack of life-changing cash for winning a round of children's games – or be shot to death for losing.
The first iteration of Squid Game in 2021 was a huge, surprise hit for Netflix, garnering six Emmy Awards and 2.8 billion streams globally, making it the streamer's most successful series or film, according to the New York Times. The taut, nine-episode drama smartly tapped into post-pandemic paranoia with its dystopian vision of a world where life is a deadly game with little chance for survival.
It even spawned an English-language game show, Squid Game: The Challenge, and whipped up thirst for a second season, a rarity in the world of South Korean television. In fact, there will be even a third, and final, season next year.
For Squid Game 2.0 to live up to the heady expectations set by its predecessor is going to be a heavy lift. After all, what the first season had going for it was a sense of surprise, a feeling that each episode offered something new. You weren't sure what show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had in mind or where he was taking you. Now, much of Squid Game feels familiar – yes, that game of red light, green light with its awful giant doll of death is back – and the more disturbingly violent and outlandish seven-episode second season gets off to a bit of a slow start. But the show remains mostly a thrilling ride.
Wi Ha-joon as Hwang Jun-ho.
Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who won the 45.6 billion won (RM140.8mil) prize last season, is so scarred by his experience of seeing all of his competitors die around him that he is now dedicating his life to stopping the game and taking down the wealthy overlords who run it for their own amusement. Separately, police detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun), who infiltrated the game last season to find his missing brother, is also back with a similar goal.
But it's Seong Gi-hun who ends up being wooed back into the game, where he thinks he'll be able to take it down from the inside. After all, he's older, wiser and angrier.
But this time, his fellow contestants are angrier, too, but less with those who control the game but with each other. The contestants are given the option of voting to stop the game, and leaving with their lives, after each challenge. After seeing so many slaughtered, stopping and leaving would seem to be a winning message. But the lure of being rich is a powerful intoxicant, leading those who want to continue, like extremely annoying hip-hop star Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun) and his thuggish buddies, to declare war on the squid-game skeptics. This time around, it's as much Purge as Squid Game.
Thanos is just one of the many new characters since most of those from season one didn't make it out alive. Viewers are introduced to: Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), a crypto star who lost much of his fortune; transgender former soldier Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon); gambling addict Park Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun) and his sweet mom (Kang Ae-shim), among others.
But Hwang Dong-hyuk widens his scope this time by giving viewers a peak behind the masks of those who run the game and enforce its rules, including the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) and No-eul (Park Gyu-young), a former North Korean soldier with severe emotional issues.
The games themselves feel even more cruel and unusual with the particularly bloodthirsty round and round contest making red light, green light look like hide-and-seek.
With two fewer episodes than last time, season two feels a bit rushed. But that doesn't make the sense of dread with the announcement of each game any less chilling.
Overall, season two is a worthy successor to what came before. It also has the added bonus of reminding viewers that, especially when it comes to the likes of Thanos and his bullying ilk, you can hate the player and the game, and still enjoy the show. – By Cary Darling/The Houston Chronicle/Tribune News Service
Summary:
Let the games continue
