On December 26th, 2024, Netflix’s hit original series Squid Game released its long-awaited second season. The first season came out about three years ago, on September 17th, 2021. Shortly after, the show gained traction and earned millions of fans worldwide. Videos and posts about the series on all sorts of social media platforms also contributed to the fame and success of Squid Game, ensuring that it would be renewed for another season.

The story begins with a gambler divorced dad named Seung Gi-hun at his lowest point. He is being chased and threatened by loan sharks and has a deteriorating relationship with his daughter. Feeling down on his luck while waiting in the subway, a mysterious man sits beside him and offers Gi-hun an opportunity to win a large sum of money through a competition.

After agreeing, he gets into a truck full of other people sleeping, he sits down and a gas fills the truck putting him to sleep.

Shortly after, he wakes up in a bright room with 455 other competitors, and the competition begins.

What seemingly began as simple children’s games shortly became much more deadly. Throughout the rest of the series, more and more characters are introduced and fight hard to survive, but in the end, there is only one winner: Gi-hun.

He then leaves the arena and is sent home with the large prize, emotionally drained and traumatized from everything he had endured. As the show is just wrapping up, he is about to board a plane but sees the recruiter nearby.

Determined never to let the horrid games go on again, Gi-hun walks away from the plane, leaving the audience on a cliffhanger as the first season then comes to an end.

The second season kicks off with Gi-hun still in the airport on the phone with who is known to be “The Front Man,” who reveals himself as the competition’s ringmaster. This phone call leads Gi-hun to stay in Korea to find this “Front Man” and end the games altogether.

We meet the salesman again and further explore his character, in a particular scene where Gi-hun and the salesman are sitting at a table playing a game of Russian roulette.

The salesman uses a special skill to make one side of his face smile feeling confident that he will survive while the other side of his face looks stricken with fear genuinely concerned that he will lose.

This technique is perfect for this character showing how unhinged the recruiter is and how you never know what he is truly thinking or capable of.
It was interesting exploring his character more because in the first season, he was only briefly shown and many mysteries were surrounding him. His character is complex and interesting to watch.

Gi-hun ends up meeting the frontman again, but it seems the frontman is three steps ahead of him, successfully backing Gi-hun into a corner, and with no other options Gi-hun takes it upon himself to join the games again.

We are shortly introduced to many new characters, such as Thanos, played by the familiar K-pop star Choi Seung-hyun, and Hyun-Ju, played by popular actor Park Sung-hoon.

Hyun-Ju was a very lovable character due to the representation of the transgender community she brought to the table. South Korea is not known for its acceptance of queer individuals in general, let alone transgender individuals, therefore making this stand out from most other media in Korea.

Senior Darby Eyer, a proud member of the trans community, states, “I absolutely think that Player 120 gave us the best trans representation I’ve seen ever. It’s definitely not a Hollywood cash grab–I don’t see any of that here. You don’t see anyone banking off of Hyun-ju’s identity, especially with how stigmatized trans people’s identities are in Korea.

“I feel as though she’s an authentic representation of what we go through, without that being her entire identity. I mean, she was a whole soldier! That’s a huge part of who she is! She uses that to absolutely kick ass in the show, along with her unwavering leadership skills and bravery.

“She is so much more than her transness, and I think that’s what we’ve been needing in media for the longest time. Not to mention, her actor did a fantastic job, even for a cis man. I feel as though he was very respectful in the way he portrayed Hyun-ju.

“I also really like the included scenes of Hyun-ju being ostracized at the beginning of the games by her peers. Nobody respects her purely because her identity is different. That’s probably the biggest part trans people can relate to from the show–so it’s uplifting to see her finally find the people who accept her for her.

“The show did an amazing job of showing what acceptance looks like, too! With how players 149, 007, and 095 accept her and get to know her through their shared victory in the games. It’s a beautiful representation all around, and it’s probably my favorite part of Squid Game season 2!”

Being a cis male playing a transgender woman sometimes does tend to raise an eyebrow, but since there are not many openly trans actors in South Korea, this was the necessary thing to do. The creator stated that this was the only reason, and he chose the best actor to deliver the character in the most respectful way possible.

Not only that, but her actor Park Sung-hoon has been widely known as someone who plays hateable characters in his parts. Hence, this change in his career brought even more attention to the series and not only showed viewers a different side of this actor but also benefited Park Sung-hoon, finally being able to break free from this negative stereotype.

Colton Webster, a Squid Game fan, states, “I think they did a really good job and that they made the characters very likable. Sometimes I feel like it’s hard to add in new characters and not overdo it, but they did well.”

After catching a short glimpse of these characters, Gi-hun wants to warn the players about what they are getting into. He tells them that the games are dangerous, and they need to get out as soon as possible, but people ridicule him and think he’s making all this fuss only to eliminate the competition and make it easier for him to win the prize money.

Once the first game begins, we see the infamous Red Light, Green Light robot. As the robot calls “Red Light, Green Light”, Gi-hun tries his best to keep everyone safe. Eventually, however, someone moves and is shot, sending a panic amongst many players.

We get to see a continuation of Gi-hun’s big heart and compassion for others. As any other winner would most likely just take the money and stay away from the games, he wanted to save people’s lives, risking his own in the process.

As the game goes on, we learn more about each character. Thanos and his friend, Nam-Gyu, seem to be enjoying the game, while Player 125 Min-su is terrified beyond compare. This is when viewers start forming their own opinions on each character.

We are also introduced to one of the guard’s perspectives, Kang No-eul, a North Korean defector who left her newborn daughter in the country. Before the game, she worked as a mascot at an amusement park, forming a special connection with a little girl suffering from bone cancer.

While at the park she watches the girl’s father struggling to care for his sick daughter, and when she joins the games as a guard she finds the father as a contestant. Having a character like Player 246 shows how desperate a person can get when they need money.

This is just one example of how the show offers ways viewers can connect to it in many ways.

We enjoyed these two characters, as it was interesting to see the guards’ perspective in this season and realize that they are truly human, too.

Though the soldier did give a new perspective, one might argue that there wasn’t enough screen time for her, but it is most likely we will get to learn more about her in the next season.

Student Dezii Peltz says, “I think the season was well-built. The first couple of episodes were a bit slow but other than that the pacing was great. The only thing I think they could’ve done differently was utilize the soldier 011 in the games more.”

Hopefully, in the next season coming out later this year, they’ll explore her character more, giving her a more important role in the story.

Other than that, the new games added to this season were arguably better than the games in the first season, which were outstanding, obviously evoking lots of emotion and being complex, but the games in season 2 were very creative and interesting to watch.

NAU student Ava Anderson says, “I liked the new games of season 2, and I thought the Front Man joining the games was good, but I was disappointed that there was hardly any progression. We are not given useful history, nothing was solved, and it all felt mostly like a repeat.”

This is a very common misconception about the second season. Many say that it was redundant, or uncreative, but what they fail to realize is that this season sets us up for what we should see in the third season. The events in this season and the story overall play an important role in ensuring that once the show comes to a close in July, everything will come together and make the perfect show.

Verrado Viper Jonathan Morgan says, “The added games were, personally, better than the ones from the first season, especially ‘Mingle’.”

A side plot also emerges: a young pregnant girl, Kim Jun-hee, and the man who got her pregnant, Lee Myung-gi, are both in the games. Drama begins to unfold as Jun-hee wants nothing to do with Myung-gi, who is determined to win her back and continuously interferes with Jun-hee in the games.

As the series progresses, we see many games played, such as “Six Legs” and “Mingle”, in which we see the deaths of some of our characters.

One notable moment was when one of our favorite new characters, Kim Young-mi, was playing “Mingle” (a game in which a number is called and that amount of players must gather into said number, each group running into their separate rooms before the time runs out).

Young-mi is in a group with Hyun-ju and Jun-hee, but Myung-gi quickly slips into the room and closes the door before Young-mi can step inside.

Hyun-ju and Young-mi had formed a close relationship, so seeing Young-mi get shot while Hyun-ju was safely inside the small room was an emotional scene for both Hyun-ju and the viewers.

While the audience feels compassion for Jun-hee and her pregnancy, a lot of hate emerges with Myung-gi, especially because of how he basically killed Young-mi. Others feel that Myung-gi and Jun-hee are a good pair and should stick together.

Finally, after all of these deadly children’s games, in the last episode, many competitors decide they’ve had enough and are going to revolt.

They manage to steal weapons, and we soon learn that Hyun-ju used to be in the army because of how much she knows about the guns they took. She teaches everyone how to use them, and many characters including Gi-hun go off to fight the guards and kill the Front Man.

It goes completely without saying that Hyun-ju carried the rebellion and saved many lives. Her and Gi-hun’s teamwork was a great help in surviving.

While she was shooting the cameras and fighting off the guards, Gi-hun and others were trying to find the Front Man. They hoped that together they could stop the games altogether.

Finally, the season comes to a close with a cliffhanger: Gi-hun, held down by guards, watches the Front Man as he kills his best friend Jung-bae right in front of him. We are left with so many questions, wondering if Gi-hun will survive now that he is in the hands of the Front Man and if the others will make it since we are learning just how powerful the guards are.

Overall, the second season of Squid Game was truly amazing, with the story being powerful and emotional, new characters introduced, and games that no one was expecting.

It’s safe to say that we were all at the edge of our seats throughout the entire series and that the third season is sure to end Squid Game in the best way possible.