‘The game will not end unless the world changes…’
I was initially sceptical of a second season of Squid Game. The first season was such a perfect, self-contained story that it seemed as if there was nothing more to say. Well, as ever, I was wrong. While it is predictable in places, our hapless protagonist Seong Gi-hun inevitably ends up back in the game, there are enough twists and turns along the way to ensure that Squid Game 2 never feels like a bland retread of the source material…
While the first couple of episodes are mostly table setting, once Gi-hun returns to the Squid Game arena the show explodes into life once more. Without giving too much away there are both new games and some returning favourites but as with the first season, it is the show’s ability to create many distinctive characters who are all well-rounded and nuanced. This is a rare skill, but a vital one here, as showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk deftly presents us with compelling contestants and has us rooting for certain players like we’re watching our favourite sports team. The new cast of characters slot seamlessly alongside old faces with transgender, former special forces soldier Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) and villainous influencer and rapper Thanos (Choi Seung-hyun) particularly impressive. The striking set design and dystopian costuming are still just as effective and the games themselves are even more devilish this time around.
That being said, everything that takes place outside of the arena is less interesting. While there is obviously a need to slow down every once in a while, the subplot involving a group of detectives trying to find the location of the games too often feels like something that won’t pay off until the third and final season drops in June. Indeed, the finale of this second season, despite being suitably bombastic, is a cliffhanger rather than an ending. At its best, however, this is a show that I was fully invested in. The final showdown episode is both exhausting and incredibly satisfying – top-notch television.
Squid Game 2 was perhaps never going to surpass the original but then it didn’t have to. What it did have to do was push the story forward without becoming repetitive or asinine. Mission accomplished.
