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The Verge
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Squid Game's uneven season 3 leaves the door wide open
The third and final season of the industry-defining Squid Game confidently delivers each new round of the deathly games with spectacularly brutal aplomb — but its attempts at worldbuilding are disappointingly tired and uneven. Some of Squid Game's most interesting dynamics from the first two seasons — the politics among the masked guards, the organ-harvesting operation, the relationship between Front Man/In-ho (played by Lee Byung-hun) and brother Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun), the crew of burly men led by Jun-ho trying to uncover and infiltrate the island hosting the games — screech to frustratingly lackluster conclusions, without enlarging the world beyond what we have already seen so far. A new season of any show should always aim to ask new questions. For Squid Game, there are plenty to choose from. What is the selection process like for guards, and how do they get promoted up the hierarchy into the 'triangle' sergeants or, eventually, the 'square' leaders? What are their inner politics like? What other things happened between brothers In-ho and Jun-ho before In-ho joined the games? If Jun-ho's crew manages to infiltrate the island, will the games be stopped? How will that happen? Who are these English-speaking VIPs, really? Have there been occasions in the past where the games were nearly publicly exposed? However, the third season's worldbuilding efforts remain frustratingly unimaginative for the most part, although the season's final 10 minutes deliver some of its most glorious moments that take place outside the games. They're so intriguing that it makes you wonder why we didn't just start there. The third season picks up several threads from where the previous left off (season 3 functions more as a second part to season 2 than a standalone season). Jun-ho and his crew remain adamant about finding the island, while loyal helper Woo-seok (Jun Suk-ho) claims a stake in one of the show's more exciting scenes when trying to uncover the boat captain's past. There is one plotline between North Korea-born guard No-eul (Park Gyu-young) and another trooper, with the game's top-ranking guard getting pulled into the scuffles. Yet, these endeavors are unevenly fleshed out and don't enlarge the Squid Game universe much. Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk seems to be at his best when directing the action-filled contests, which feature children's games like Jump Rope and Hide and Seek in this season. From the vertigo-inducing, towering game of Jump Rope to long shots down Hide and Seek's labyrinthian corridors of seemingly endless doors and rooms in arresting colors, Hwang is a magician of fear, suspense, and relief. In the throes of the games' battleground, the alchemy of circumstantial trust, forged and broken alliances, and flashes of humanity reminds viewers of all the elements that made Squid Game such a global hit when it first premiered in 2021. The very best part of Squid Game also grows into its biggest curse: it is a show that just works so well with an ensemble cast. Beyond headliner Gi-hun/Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae), other characters — like the cold, calculative crypto bro Myung-gi (Yim Si-wan), strong-willed and heavily pregnant Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), eager but self-doubting Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul), former marine Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), unpredictable but captivating Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won), and mother-son duo Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim) and Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun) — all pull their weight. Part of the third season's unsteady steps can be pardoned on the basis that some of the characters that audiences are most invested in just… die, due to the nature of the show as a survival game. This is amplified particularly in this season, as more than three quarters of the players have already been eliminated. The spectacle and extravaganza of Squid Game thrives on the cacophony of 456 desperate but complex humans decked out in their blocky green tracksuits taking on their lives' biggest chance at redemption in the games arena. It is the brilliant clash of gallows humor, personalities big and small, and a hundred different value systems that has propelled much of the show's momentum. As the players are killed off, the dormitory empties out and the show needs to turn elsewhere to find its verve and momentum. While this presents an opportunity for the story to become more intimate, fleshing the remaining characters out with greater depth, Squid Game suddenly becomes uncharacteristically too timid to tread these waters. The third episode, titled 'It's Not Your Fault,' is the show's most affecting one, and perhaps its strongest. The boisterous arena of games gives way to sincere emotional exchange. As the games claim their victims, some of the surviving characters utter the phrase 'it's my fault' in their despair. They grapple with an overbearing guilt that their personal survival has come at such great cost, and also blame their own missteps and shortcomings that brought them to the games in the first place. Yet, amid all the pain and hurt, the episode makes way for expressions of profound grace and wisdom. While Gi-hun has turned nearly mute, burning with unspeakable rage and guilt after an unsuccessful and expensive rebellion (which we saw in season 2), it is in this episode that he speaks the most, in trying to find connection and catharsis. One sagely character muses to Gi-hun, 'No matter how you look at it, life just is unfair. Bad people do bad things, but they blame others and go on to live in peace. Good people, on the other hand, beat themselves up about the smallest things.' Contextualized in the show's wider critiques of unchecked capitalism and inequality, this episode brings the question of guilt into sharp relief. As much as the game fashions its own heroes and losers, victors and victims, everyone who is a participant here is ultimately a casualty of society in the 'real world' outside the games. Some are born into poverty or into broken families. Others cannot find help for their drug or gambling addiction. Some just never had the best cards to start life with. Who is really at fault? While the third episode flows smoothly in its plot and character development, the same cannot be said for many other parts of the season. Some of the season's plot twists will also prove divisive among audiences — for example, a new player is unceremoniously introduced into the games without being able to give their consent, or even participate in each round of voting. This introduces a remarkably new dynamic among the players, although the player's participation may make for uncomfortable viewing at times. The show changes gears in its final minutes, when it picks up the pace dramatically. It also ends in a way that opens up many new directions for future Squid Game spinoffs, which feel like an inevitability at this point. With such a big prize to be won, it's hard to imagine Netflix staying away from one of its most lucrative series for long. Squid Game season 3 is streaming on Netflix now.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Squid Game 3 Cast Guide: Which Characters Are Alive or Dead?
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers from the 'Squid Game' Season 2 finale. More from Variety 'Squid Game' Season 3 Launch Highlights Netflix Korea's Global K-Content Strategy at APOS 'Squid Game: Unleashed' Becomes First Netflix Game to Launch on Chromebooks, Android Tablets (Gaming News Roundup) 'Squid Game' by the Numbers: 600 Million Views, 19.5 Billion Social Impressions as Third and Final Season Premiere Approaches 'Squid Game' returns for one last round with the launch of its third and final season on June 27. Though it's been only six months since Season 2 premiered with its Dec. 27 drop on Netflix, and proved to be another giant success for the streamer, it's probably a good idea to refresh your memory regarding which major 'Squid Game' players (both those in the actual deadly games and those who are key characters outside the fatal arena) are still alive going into the show's final six episodes. Among the many who have already fallen by the end of Season 2 are Gi-hun/Player 456's (Lee Jung-jae) best friend Jung-bae/Player 390 (Lee Seo-hwan), who was shot and killed by the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) in the final moments of the second-season finale after Gi-hun led an uprising of the players in the current game. Though the act was committed right in front of Gi-hun, who screamed in pain as his friend bled out next to him, Gi-hun remains unaware that the masked Front Man is actually In-ho. Using the fake name Young-il, he had entered the games to toy with Gi-hun's optimistic worldview and thwart his plans to stop the games, and also befriended him throughout Season 2. Along with Jung-bae, absent from the final installment of 'Squid Game' are other notable 'Squid Game' characters who died (both inside and outside the games), including: The Recruiter (Gong Yoo), Mr. Kim (Oh Dal-su), Se-mi/Player 380 (Won Ji-an) and Hye-won/Player 196 (Song Ji-woo). Su-bong, a.k.a. Thanos/Player 230 (Choi Seung-hyun) — who served as Gi-hun's main antagonist in the second season — was killed during a fight one night in the barracks, stabbed to death by Myung-gi/Player 333. See below for a guide to the main characters heading into 'Squid Game' Season winner of the Squid Game that took place three years ago in the original season, Gi-hun has decided to re-enter in an attempt to figure out who is still running it after the death of game creator Oh Il-nam, in order to take them down. Gi-hun has become consumed by his grief and trauma over his experiences in the games, and has spent the past three years using the blood-money prize he earned (45.6 billion in South Korean won) to investigate the games. By the end of Season 2, Gi-hun has built a crew of followers who are also trying to stop the games and managed to lead an uprising against the guards, but lost his best friend and fellow player Jung-bae in the current head of the Squid Game, following the death of game creator Oh Il-nam at the end of Season 1. In-ho has been working for the games since winning them himself years ago, leading the pink masked guards while wearing his own all-black uniform. In Season 2, In-ho decides to follow in Oh Il-nam's footsteps and enter the games as Player 001, in order to teach a lesson to Gi-hun upon his return to the game. Gi-hun, who only ever encountered the Front Man when he was masked, has no idea that In-ho, who goes by the name Young-il during the games, is the man in charge. He befriends Gi-hun and saves him and his friends multiple times during the games, only to fake his own death and then return to his masked role as the Front Man. In the final moments of Season 2, while masked, he kills Jung-bae in front Gi-hun, undermining the uprising.A police officer who infiltrated the Squid Game in Season 1 in hopes of finding his lost brother In-ho, who has been missing since he entered the games. At the end of Season 1, Jun-ho finds his brother, In-ho, but it turns out he is now the Front Man in charge of the game. In-ho shoots Jun-ho off the top of a cliff, seemingly letting him fall to his death. Jun-ho recovers and is working as a traffic cop at the start of Season 2. He then goes on to team up with Gi-hun and Woo-seok to try and get back to the games and stop them.A woman who works in an amusement park after escaping from North Korea to South Korea and having been separated from her infant daughter in the process. She pays investigators to look for her daughter with her small salary, but then takes a job as one of the masked pink guards at the games in exchange for an offer of help to find her child. While working as a guard in the games, she attempts to help some of the players, including Player 246, whom she recognizes as a former co-worker whose young daughter is sick with the start of Season 2, Woo-seok was employed by Gi-hun to look for The Recruiter who brings people into the Squid Game. He worked for Mr. Kim, a former loan shark of Gi-hun's who trusts that something about Gi-hun's story regarding the games must be true because he was able to pay back his enormous debt three years ago. Mr. Kim is Woo-seok's boss and friend, and Woo-seok becomes invested in helping Gi-hun and Jun-ho find the people behind the games when Mr. Kim is killed by The Recruiter.A former cryptocurrency influencer who, after losing a hefty sum of cash and incurring huge losses for himself and his subscribers, becomes a fugitive until his involvement in the game. He discovers he's in the games with his former lover Jun-hee/Player 222, who is pregnant with his child. He oscillates between doing what's best when wanting to protect Jun-hee and the baby and wanting to win the large sum of money at the end of the games. He killed Thanos by stabbing him in the neck with a fork during a fight that broke out one night in the barracks.A strong-willed woman who participates in the game due to bad investments made on the advice of theinfluencer Myung-gi. It is soon revealed that Jun-hee has entered the deadly competition while pregnant with his baby. She makes friends with Gi-hun and his team during the games.A young player in the games who is quickly drawn to Gi-hun's group and bonds with Jung-bae over their shared military backgrounds. He is in part responsible for Jung-bae's death at the end of Season 2, as he runs back to get more ammo during the uprising in the finale, but freezes and does not return to help.A transgender woman who enters the games in hopes of making enough money to complete her transition process. She becomes friends with Gi-hun and his team. The character is played by cisgender male actor Park Sung-hoon. 'I was quite amazed at the opportunity — I felt like as an actor it was going to be quite the challenge,' Park told Variety. 'I did have concerns about portraying a trans woman because I am a cisgender man, so I really wanted to approach it as cautiously and thoughtfully as possible.'Like many other players in the Squid Game, Nam-gyu joins the games because he is deeply in debt after following cryptocurrency advice from Myung-gi/Player 333. Nam-gyu quickly befriended Thanos in the games, but turned on him by the end of Season 2.A compulsive gambler neck-deep in debt who finds his own mother, Player 149, is a participant in the game. He and his mother become part of Gi-hun's team.A headstrong woman with a strong drive to provide for her family. She joins the game with the intentionof paying off her son, Yong-sik's, debts — only to find that he's joined the game as well, as Player 007. She and her son become part of Gi-hun's intelligent player who tried to align himself with the late Thanos and his cohort and befriends Se-mi in the games. During a night attack in the barracks, Min-su watches Se-mi be killed without stepping in to save her.A man who works as a caricaturist at an amusement park (the same one No-eul worked at) who enters the games to pay for his young daughter's cancer treatments. No-eul spots him competing in the games when she is serving as one of the pink guards. He is part of Gi-hun's uprising at the end of Season 2.A shaman whose seemingly incoherent ramblings rub many of the other players the wrong way. She has been associated with Gi-hun's team during some games, and their enemies during older man who joined the games to try to get himself out of debt, he consistently votes to continue with the games when the players are given the option to end the games throughout Season 2. He and his group are rivals to Gi-hun's peaceful team in the games. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Squid Game' Star Lee Byung-hun Teases That a Player Will Learn the Front Man's Identity in Season 3
At least one of the players in 'Squid Game' is going to learn the identity of the Front Man in Season 3. That's not TheWrap spilling; that's straight from the mouth of series star Lee Byung-hun, who stopped by 'The Tonight Show' on Tuesday night to tease what's ahead in the last season of the Netflix juggernaut. For the uninitiated, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) is the masked man who orchestrates the Squid Game, a series of deadly children's games. If a player wins these challenges, they walk away with 456 billion won, but they have to survive against 455 other players to take home that reward. Seasons 2 and 3 of 'Squid Game' follows last season's winner Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who re-enters the game in the hopes of bringing it down from the inside. Lee's Front Man also covertly entered the game in Season 2 as In-ho, a man saddled with his wife's medical bills who befriends the unwitting Gi-hun. In the middle of his interview with Lee, Jimmy Fallon pulled out two buttons that looked identical to the ones used in the show. In 'Squid Game,' those buttons are used so players can vote on whether or not they want to go to the next deadly challenge. But on 'The Tonight Show,' Fallon used them to get Season 3 answers from Lee. 'Do more players learn your identity in Season 3?' Fallon asked Lee. After debating for a second, Lee pressed the O button, meaning yes. The rest of the game was more ambiguous. Given the twisting nature of this show, Lee's answers could truly mean anything. When asked if the Front Man will play any games in Season 3, Lee pressed both the X and O buttons. He pressed both again when asked, 'Is someone else in charge of the Squid Game besides the Front Man?' 'We know there will be new games, but do any old games return?' Fallon then asked. As Lee paused, Fallon joked, 'If you hit both again, I swear.' Lee then proceeded to hit both buttons with one hand, which felt like a Front Man power move. But Lee did have a definite answer for Fallon's last question. 'Could we see a Front Man spinoff one day?' the NBC host asked. For that one, Lee pressed O. Watch the full interview below. The post 'Squid Game' Star Lee Byung-hun Teases That a Player Will Learn the Front Man's Identity in Season 3 | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
