SQUID GAME 2: The Next Round [REVIEW]

Do you remember when, for a good month or two, the internet was taken over by scenes from a certain colorful Korean series? At the end of 2021, Squid Game was a genuine phenomenon that captured the imagination of viewers worldwide. It was so impactful that the vivid scenes from the show not only became widely shared memes but even inspired a real-life reality show. (And if you know about the deadly stakes in the series’ game, you understand how twisted that concept is.) The final episode clearly hinted at a sequel, but fans had to wait three long years for the premiere of the second season of Netflix’s hit. Finally, though, the deadly game is back.

The second season, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, picks up three years after the conclusion of the first. Following his victory in the titular games, the main character, Seong Gi-hun, chooses to stay in Seoul to track down the organizers and seek revenge for what he endured. As revealed in the first episode, Gi-hun spends the next thousand days using his enormous winnings to work with a team of detectives to trace the games and bring the organizers to justice. These efforts yield little success until a breakthrough occurs, and the mysterious man in the suit makes a reappearance. From there, it’s a straightforward path for Seong Gi-hun toward revenge—or disaster, as instead of achieving the justice he seeks and ending the game, he finds himself back on the island and in the game once again.

In other words, Seong Gi-hun is given a chance to defend his title from three years earlier. He resolves to use his experience to save the other players and end the game. However, things aren’t as simple as he hopes. In addition to the iconic first game, Red Light, Green Light, the challenges have been modified. The allure of a growing jackpot with every round and the death of each contestant is so powerful that many participants ignore the veteran’s warnings and insist on continuing at all costs. Gi-hun’s situation is further complicated by Player 001—not the game’s dying mastermind this time, but its ruthless and charismatic leader.

This sets up a new variation of what we saw in Season 1: a one-sided duel between Seong Gi-hun and the Leader, who manipulates the dynamics among the participants from within. The narrative goal is also different. It’s no longer about the protagonist’s survival but about the success of his crusade to end the deadly enterprise. Yet, the strength of Squid Game remains its inventive and suspenseful sequences of games, interspersed with tension-building moments between rounds, where conflicts brew among opposing factions of players. It’s a shame that it takes two full episodes to reach this point. The crime-centric, neo-noir-inspired intro drags on and ultimately adds little to the action, which only truly begins in the third of seven episodes. Once we’re back on the island with the main character, the series gains momentum and color.

The main character of Squid Game is intriguingly developed. After the events of the first season, Gi-hun is somber and nearly obsessively dedicated to stopping the games. His former personality has almost completely evaporated, replaced by a walking embodiment of trauma. Upon returning to the games, his mission takes on a quixotic idealism, and the writers skillfully manipulate the audience into sympathizing with the ominous Leader opposing the protagonist. In this regard, Squid Game 2 successfully adds a new psychological dimension to its story. This is particularly compelling when tied to the repeated—but refreshed—theme of varied reactions to danger and societal attitudes toward the “death games,” now presented with new characters and without rehashing old plot points.

The social and psychological commentary of Squid Game remains sharp, offering an exaggerated critique of capitalist mechanisms that make participants believe in greater rewards in the next round, against their instincts for survival. The creators once again design a cast of vivid characters whose stories engage viewers not only in the games themselves but also in their personal histories—tales of individuals driven into the game by debt, where their chances of dying far outweigh their odds of winning. This remains the show’s strongest point, and as in the first season, it’s unfortunate that it eventually gives way to generic action sequences.

Unfortunately, Squid Game 2 also has its flaws. Beyond the pacing issues and the tiresome blending of intriguing plotlines with filler that may—or may not—be relevant in later episodes or seasons (e.g., the dull subplots involving the team searching for Seong Gi-hun), the portrayal of certain characters is uneven. This inconsistency sometimes makes it seem as though the creators forget about characters, only to hastily return to them in later acts. This doesn’t feel like deliberate character rotation but rather a lack of planning. While the narrative lulls are redeemed by action scenes (the games and dormitory clashes), there are relatively few of these moments, leaving the series reliant more on cliffhangers than strong narrative milestones.

The third and final season of Squid Game is already announced for next year, and this has also left its mark on the second season, which concludes without resolving the main plot, instead setting the stage for the culmination in the next installment. On one hand, Squid Game 2 could have used a few more episodes to properly develop its story and reach a more satisfying conclusion. On the other hand, some plotlines—especially the first two episodes and the intrigue leading to the season’s finale—feel so lazy and cobbled together that they seem like typical filler, designed to stretch the runtime to the desired length. As a result, while we do get an intriguing continuation of the first season, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the primary motivation for Squid Game 2 was money—just like in the titular game.