[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Squid Game - Season 2" Episode 1

Recently, writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk admitted that he hadn't really planned "Squid Game" with future seasons in mind, and had to be lured back to the project with money. Despite "Squid Game" having obvious sequel hooks, the first episode of the new season quickly makes it clear that actually building a continuing story off of the inherently allegorical premise is something that inevitably looks quite goofy. You'd think a huge scale death match rumble would leave some sort of paper trail somewhere.

Advertisement

Hilariously, Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) is only able to get any real help from the loan shark who he needed the prize money to pay off. Said loan shark believes Gi-hun partially because it's hard to imagine where else he got the money but also because a lot of the people who owe him money do tend to disappear at about this time every year. Joon-ho (played by Wi Ha-jun) is, for his part, so embarrassed at how ridiculous the story sounds he barely even tries to get the police to investigate it.

Oh right, Joon-ho. Remember Joon-ho? In the first season, he was the cop investigating the game only to apparently be killed by his brother, dramatically revealed to be Lee Byung-hun, which isn't much of a twist if you don't know who Lee Byung-hun is. Apparently Joon-ho's still alive, and about as important a character as he was in the first season. Though the bulk of the first episode is mostly about Gong Yoo, or the man in the suit who recruited Gi-hun into the game.

The Gong Yoo character encapsulates a lot of the awkwardness of trying to flesh out the "Squid Game" universe. Following him around is kind of like following Rumpelstiltskin around, watching him in engage in bizarre behavior to prove nonsensical moral arguments to noone in particular. It's impossible to take anything he says or does seriously, and the longer he's onscreen, the more improbable it seems that he's so difficult to find, given that he's perfectly happy behaving like a lunatic in public places.

The allegory doesn't hold up if you place it in a semi-realistic context. Worse, despite Gong Yoo's arguments being obviously preposterous, the script doesn't actually seem to disagree with his cynical, insane interpretation of humanity. I'm not really sure what to expect from "Squid Game - Season 2" but it seems somewhat unlikely that Gi-hun will somehow solve poverty, which is about what he'd have to do in order to "win" with this kind of backdrop.

Written by William Schwartz

___________

"Squid Game - Season 2" is directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, written by Hwang Dong-hyuk, and features Lee Jung-jae, Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Jo Yu-ri, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-shim. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2024/12/26, Thu on Netflix.