Squid Game Season 3 Review – Does the finale bring back Season 1's charm?
Episode Guide
Episode 1 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 2 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 3 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 4 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 5 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 6 -| Review Score – 3/5
After Squid Game pushed the K-drama genre to new heights of fame, it was renewed for two more seasons to wrap up the story. Following a lacklustre Season 2 which acted more like a transition between the first and the final season, Squid Game Season 3 aired in June 2025. And it gave us all the greatest hits from twisted mind games and betrayals to even scarier death games and a showdown of epic proportions.
The K-drama begins with Seong Gi-hun, a desperate debtor who promises to turn his life around when he gets the chance to win over 45 billion won in a series of children's games. However, what he doesn't know is that he and over 450 other players will have to compete in life-threatening games.
Squid Game Season 3 picks up right after the previous season, with the remaining players of the second game getting disheartened by their failed rebellion. As they are forced to continue playing the games, there is further discord among the players. Jun-hee seems to have given up while Gi-hun turns his anger towards Dae-ho.
Geum-ja appeals to the players' humanity while the Frontman continues to taunt Gi-hun. The games get deadlier and the players struggle to survive. And in the outside world, Jun-ho and Choi Woo-seok continue to search for the Squid Game's island, unaware that there is a traitor in the midst.
The series is as star-studded as it can get, and brings back Season 2 faces like Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon, Lee Byung-hun, Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Park Sung-hoon, Lee Jin-wook, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim and Jo Yu-ri among others. It is helmed by director Hwang Dong-hyuk who also worked on the previous two seasons, so the final season is definitely in safe hands.
Squid Game Season 3 brings back some of the charm of the first season. Each episode gets better than the last as the writer concocts riskier death games, absurd logic of the greedy players and the desperation of the dwindling rebels. It also has time to rehash Season 1's themes, such as faith in humanity vs man's selfish nature, and the financial and mental divide between the rich and poor, by making the VIPs more active participants.
Apart from these recurring themes, there are several callbacks to the first season as well such as the inhuman VIPs enjoying the games, In-ho trying to convince Gi-hun of Chairman Oh's beliefs and even a deja vu of the iconic marble game involving shocking betrayals and deaths that prove that plot armour was never a thing in this show.
Every episode is packed to the brim with thrilling plot twists, heartwrenching moments, and the bright and cheerful aesthetics of the Squid Game building, now stained with blood and hopelessness. The credit also goes to every single member of the cast as they pull out all the stops for the finale.
Special shoutout to Kang Ha-neul, who may be known for his goofy roles, but portrays the complex Dae-ho so well that we cannot hate the character even if we want to. Kang Ae-sim's Geum-ja facing the biggest betrayal during one of the games will bring everyone to tears. But it is Yim Si-wan who steals the show in the end with Myung-gi's quiet scheming.
To match Squid Game Season 3's wickedness, the action gets gorier, the props get creepier and there is an overall sense of suffocation even when a game is set on towers. The eerie, discordant string music continues and the drama even expands on the VIPs' world with miniatures of the games and extravagant outfits.
But by the time we reach the end, we realise that there is no big bang that the show should have wrapped up with. We'll try our best to stay spoiler-free but since Squid Game is literally about death games, can you really be mad at us for mentioning that people die? Anyway, we don't have a problem with anyone dying; we know what we signed up for. The problem is the pace at which everyone is killed off in Season 3. By the end, since not many important characters survive, the show is left to pick off the extras. And so their deaths don't have any impact.
It doesn't help that the novelty is gone as well. The reason why Season 1's ending packed an emotional punch is that viewers are left to believe that there will be multiple winners in the final game. When Sae-byeok and Sang-woo are killed, we are in for a shock, surprised at how Season 1 could top the emotional charge of the marble game. So, when Season 3's final game uses the same formula, it is not a surprise anymore.
Seasons 2 and 3 also fail to be as satisfactory as Season 1 because they have extremely high ambitions which are never met. By being greedy like the billionaires of Squid Game, Netflix ruins the perfect legacy of what could have been a one-hit wonder.
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