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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Squid Game' Season 3: Reviews warn of a divisive WTF sprint to the finish line
Let the games... end! Four years after it took the world by storm, Squid Game is throwing in the towel. The South Korean sensation just dropped its third and final season on Netflix, bringing the story of debtor-turned-liberator Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) to a conclusion. "It's a mixture of everything you can imagine. It's more brutal, more violent. It'sdarker, and even funnier," show creator told Gold Derby last month. "If I have to pick one season out of all three [as] my favorite, the best season is going to be Season 3." More from Gold Derby 'F1: The Movie' - Instant Oscar predictions The Emmys have one last chance to make things right with 'The Comeback' But do critics agree with Hwang? Opinions on the final six episodes — particularly the big denouement — are all over the map. Take Rebecca Nicholson writing in The Guardian that the series ends on a "moment so WTF and genuinely surprising that I bet my editor a serious amount of money she wouldn't be able to guess what happens." "Such reckless gambling is the sort of behaviour that would land me in Squid Game in the first place, so it just shows that nobody here has learned any lessons from it whatsoever," she continues. "The final two episodes have a nicely grand and operatic feel to them, and ultimately, Squid Game does its job. But it leaves the impression, too, that it has become a more traditional action-thriller than it once was." But Indiewire's Ben Travers is more on board with where the series goes in its grand finale. "While the general vibes are dour (there's very little room left for humor), Squid Game delivers enough closure to satiate anyone still perched on the edge of their seat, and its brief, fleeting bursts of light frame the darkness with the starkest truths." Time's Judy Berman is similarly ready to award a medal to the show's final sprint, singling out the second episode, "The Starry Night," for particular praise. "This is the kind of episode that will surely thrill fans and inspire recappers to dissect the ethical and emotional dimensions of each unthinkable choice," she teases. "Welcome to the exhilaratingly brutal last chapter of Squid Game, which ensnares viewers with characters and storylines we can't help but care about, then implicates us for treating a sadistic spectacle as entertainment."Over in The Hollywood Reporter, though, Angie Han knocks the series for an "unsatisfying" finish. "It brings me no pleasure to report that the third and thankfully last of Squid Game seasons only confirms that we, like Gi-hun should've left that cursed island behind for good after his first victory," she writes, later adding: "By the time Squid Game finally crawls over the finish line, there's no sense of the triumph you might get from completing a really good story — only of relief that this entire grueling experience is finally over." Look no further than Rotten Tomatoes to get a sense of the polarizing nature of Season 3: The aggregated critical reviews have resulted in a strong score of 88 percent but, the users "Popcornmeter" clocks in with a woeful 39 percent, indicating fans have not responded well. As Vulture's Roxana Hadadi puts it, Squid Game probably should have remained a "one-season wonder," instead of coming back for more. "There's an increasing repetition to how Squid Game plays out, a rehashing of the original idea instead of a deepening of it," she notes. "The payoff is in the metatext, in how Squid Game aimed its contempt outward through the existential dilemma of its own popularity." Best of Gold Derby Cristin Milioti, Amanda Seyfried, Michelle Williams, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actress interviews Paul Giamatti, Stephen Graham, Cooper Koch, and the best of our Emmy Limited Series/Movie Actor interviews Lee Jung-jae, Adam Scott, Noah Wyle, and the best of our Emmy Drama Actor interviews Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Squid Game' Season 3 cast, creator on the meaning behind the baby in final season
When Hwang Dong-hyuk's series Squid Game first premiered on Netflix in 2021, it absolutely took the world by storm as a thrilling and engaging story that people quickly became obsessed with. Four years later we're saying goodbye to the show that made a firm stamp on pop culture internationally, with an incredibly emotional, brutal and brilliant third season. After the Season 2 cliffhanger where our lead, Player 456, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), saw his best friend killed in the rebellion, and he comes face-to-face with The Frontman, things only get more heartbreaking from there. But as devastating as the game gets, it continues, leading to a shocking of the most impactful and interesting story elements in Squid Game Season 3 is the fact that Jo Yuri's character, Jun-hee, Player 222, gives birth to her baby during the Hide-and-Seek game. In the game half the players are trying to find the exit of a maze, with the use of keys of different shapes, while the other half of the group has to kill one of the players on the opposite side. Pregnant Jun-hee teams up with Geum-ja, Player 149 (Kang Ae-sim), and Hyun-ju, Player 120 (Park Sung-hoon), but as Jun-hee starts going into labour, Geum-ja has to deliver the baby. With so much of Squid Game being an evaluation of humanity, having a baby, this new life in the game was a particularly compelling choice. "It was critical to telling the theme and exploring the theme of the story, because Squid Game is a story through the character Gi-hun, we get to ask these questions. Do we still have humanity left in all of us? Do we as a human race have what it takes to turn the path the world is in for the better?" Hwang Dong-hyuk explained to Yahoo Canada, with a translator, about the importance of including a baby in the story. "The more and more we live out our lives I think it's inevitable that we become pessimistic, we become very cynical of everything that's unfolding." "And as you see the character Gi-hun, as a human being he hits absolute rock bottom. But despite all of that, are we going to give up? That's one of the questions I wanted to ask. And when we ask ourselves that question, I got to thinking that it is our duty to try to do something to better the world so that we can leave the future generation a world that is better than how we first found it. And it's important for all of us. It is a mission, a duty and a responsibility for all of us to not give up on our efforts to yearn for a better world, and I was able to do that through the baby." "I had so much trust in the actress, Jo Yuri. Although she's very young, she's very resilient and strong, and she meticulously prepared for all the scenes," Kang said said with a translator in a separate interview about working closely with her costar in Season 3. "And I just had so much trust in her and I felt like she was my own daughter when I was filming Squid Game together with her." But the baby's birth also leads to one of the most devastating moments in the show. In Season 2 we established the relationship between Geum-ja and her son, Yong-sik, Player 007 (Yang Dong-geun), but in season three things take a horrifying turn. Hyun-ju finds the exit to the maze and as she's going back to get Jun-hee and and Geum-ja, she's killed in the game by Myung-gi, Player 333 (Yim Si-wan), who is the father of Jun-hee's baby. "I knew that there were worries and concerns about myself being a cisgender actor playing a transgender character, but because Hyun-ju is such a cool, multi-layered character with such a good heart, I received so much love and support, and Hyun-ju received so much love and support, so I am very grateful about that," Park Sung-hoon said, via a translator. "And I think maybe she died a little too early. I'm so sad to let her go." But then Geum-ja's son finds his mother, Jun-hee and the baby. He tells his mother he needs to kill Jun-hee to save himself from death. That's when Geum-ja stabs her own son, protecting Jun-hee and her newborn child, with the guards ultimately killing him t the end of the game. "There were both scenes in seasons two and three that brought tears to my eyes," Kang Ae-sim via a translator. "I remember watching one of the clips together with the actor who played my son, Yang Dong-geun, for a promotional shoot, and we were watching the scene and we cried together, because it just was so sad and heartbreaking. And I'm a big fan of Yang Dong-geun myself. He is a great artist, musician and actor in Korea, so I was very happy to work together with him, but it broke my heart even more so." Grappling with what happened in the game, and what she did to her son, Hyun-ju dies by suicide. As the story continues, the decision is made that the baby becomes a player in the game. But first, both Jun-he and her baby must participate in the Jump Rope game. Jun-hee has a severly injured foot, so Gi-hun takes her baby and is able to successfully get the newborn to the other side of the platform. But with when Myung-gi tries to help Jun-hee in the game, saying that he wants to keep their baby safe too, she corrects him by saying that little girl has nothing to do with him, and she wants him to stay away from both of them. "I felt so much for [Jun-hee] in that moment," Jo Yuri said, via translator . "And that scene was actually my audition scene for the character. So it was a scene that I kept very close to my heart." "That was very emotionally difficult, and it's just a such a sad scene," Yim Si-wan added. "And while filming, I definitely felt that energy emanating from Jo Yuri as well, and felt that she was doing such a terrific job in portraying the intensity of that moment." "Definitely it is my hope that he will be understood more in terms of where he's emotionally coming from, but I am also concerned that he will be subject to more criticism and more hate." Because she won't be able to participate in the game with her injury, Jun-hee steps off the platform, falling to her death. Leaving her young daughter with Gi-hun to help her survive the rest of the game. While we won't completely spoil the ending of the show, we'll say the final episode starts in a way that may be surprising for fans, with respect to what happens to Gi-hun. But following him on this fascinating story has been incredibly moving, particularly as we see how his faith in humanity has evolved. "I thought very highly of the way Gi-hun thinks or views the world, and also his decisions," Lee Jung-jae said, with a translator. "Gi-hun is not the smartest guy. He's not the most capable guy either, but the way he thinks of others in his life and the other people that he meets, I think very highly of that." "And also from seeing the character Gi-hun as myself, I would ask myself, would I be capable of making such decisions like Gi-hun did? I wish I could have the courage that Gi-hun had to be able to make those decisions. So I loved seeing Gi-hun's decisions and his journey, and I am very grateful, and also happy that I got this opportunity to think about these issues by portraying Gi-hun, and also the opportunity to share those conversations with our Squid Game fans."
Forbes
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Critics Cheer But Fans Sour On Netflix's ‘Squid Game' Season 3
Lee Jung-jae in "Squid Game" Season 3. Netflix's Squid Game Season 3 has critics cheering but most fans feeling the opposite, at least according to Rotten Tomatoes. Squid Game Season 3 began streaming early Friday morning. The release of the third season of the acclaimed psychological conspiracy thriller comes just over six months after the release of Squid Game Season 2 on Dec. 26, 2024. Squid Game Season 1 was released on Sept. 17, 2021. The official summary for Squid Game Season 3 reads, 'The third and final season of Squid Game follows Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) after losing his best friend in the game and being driven to utter despair by The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who was hiding his true identity to infiltrate the game. Gi-hun persists with his goal to put an end to the game, while the Front Man continues onto his next move and the surviving players' choices will lead to graver consequences with each round. 'The world eagerly awaits to see the grand finale written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, who has vowed to bring the epic story to its deserved closure. Can we hope for humanity in the cruelest of realities? Fans all over the world are counting the days until the final answer is revealed.' Squid Game Season 3, which consists of six episodes, also stars Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Wi Ha-jun, Park Gyu-young, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Jo Yuri, Lee David, Roh Jae-won. As of Friday midday, Squid Game Season 3 has earned an 89% 'fresh' rating from RT critics based on 28 reviews. Fans, however, don't share the same sentiment as critics, and give Squid Game Season 3 a 45% 'rotten' rating on RT's Popcornmeter based on 100-plus verified user ratings. By contrast, Squid Game Season 1 earned a 95% 'fresh' rating from RT critics and an 83% 'fresh' Popcornmeter score. Season 2 of Squid Game, meanwhile, earned an 83% 'fresh' rating from RT critics, while audiences gave the season a 63% 'fresh' score on the site's Popcornmeter. RT's Critics Consensus and audience summary for Squid Game Season 3 is still pending. What Are Individual Critics Saying About 'Squid Game' Season 3? Clint Worthington of is among the top critics on Rotten Tomatoes who gives Squid Game Season 3 a 'fresh' review, writing in his review summary, 'It's tough to say what new lessons we've learned from Squid Games 2 and 3 that 1 didn't already hammer home with blunt force. But the ride was altogether unforgettable, even if just through the thud of thematic repetition.' Nick Schager of The Daily Beast also gives Squid Game Season 3 a 'fresh' rating on RT, writing, 'As taut, startling, and unhinged as ever. Moreover, it mercifully avoids falling victim to its preceding episodes' shortcomings on the way to its do-or-die finish.' Also high on the third season of Squid Game is Judy Berman of TIME Magazine, who writes on RT, 'Despite all the indignities to which it's been subjected, the show closes with its most unsparing season yet, an indictment of societies where money trumps humanity that roots out all forms of complicity -- especially our own.' Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter is the only top critic on RT who gives Squid Game Season 3 a 'rotten' rating so far, writing in her review summary, 'It brings me no pleasure to report that the third and thankfully last of Squid Game seasons only confirms that we, like Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), should've left that cursed island behind for good after his first victory.' All six episodes of Squid Game Season 3 are now on Netflix.
Gizmodo
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
The Final Scene of ‘Squid Game' Is a Cop-Out
Squid Game's final season is here at last, revealing the fates of the show's heroes and villains. That includes Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), the shell of a man who returns to the deadly competition as Player 456, intent on bringing it all down from the inside. When we first met Gi-hun back in season one, he was a perpetual ne'er-do-well, sponging off his ailing mother to supply his gambling habit and routinely disappointing his young daughter. While he was off trying to win the 45.6 billion won, his mother died, and his daughter moved to America with Gi-hun's ex-wife and her new husband. Season one ends with Gi-hun very nearly getting on a plane to reunite with his daughter, hoping to repair their fractured relationship—but doing a pivot instead, declaring his intention to get revenge on the people who put him through hell. That's what brings us to season two's re-entry into the world of pink-suited guards, creepily twisted kiddie games, and outrageous cruelty, which carries right into season no time for Gi-hun to reach out to his long-lost family in season three (even if he wanted to) since he's inside the game the whole time. But he does share a poignant moment with Player 222, new mother Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), as she crumbles with guilt, blaming herself for the players who've died while protecting her and her baby girl. Gi-hun reminds her everyone there made their own choices and gravely tells her about his own daughter. He was a terrible dad, he admits, but watching her grow up gave him great joy. He understands that bond between parent and child, including how complicated the circumstances around it can be. As Squid Game nears its conclusion and 456 meets his gruesome, self-sacrificing fate (the episode title, 'Humans Are…' echoes his last words), there's a smidge of redemption in the show's 'six months later' coda, showing viewers how the surviving characters have fared after the games. The last segment takes us to Los Angeles, where the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) pays a visit to Gi-hun's daughter. She's dismissive until the mysterious stranger at her door lets her know that her father has passed away. He hands her a box containing Gi-hun's Squid Game sweatsuit and a bank card presumably loaded with her father's season one winnings. That would be a fine place to end things, but instead we keep following the Front Man as he's driven through downtown Los Angeles. Stopped in traffic, he catches sight of a woman in a suit playing rounds of ddakji—the paper-flipping game that was used to pluck new players from the subway stations in Seoul—with a random guy, crisply slapping his face when he loses just like the Squid Game recruiter did. The woman, by the way, is Cate Fucking Blanchett. She looks over and exchanges a knowing glance with the Front Man. 'Game on… again' is the implied message. Is this Netflix's heavy-handed way of reminding fans that a U.S. version of Squid Game is coming—something we already knew was in the works courtesy of David Fincher? Is it just a little wink confirming that the Squid Game is, indeed, a global phenomenon, setting up shop wherever there are people desperate enough to risk their lives and moral dignity for cold hard cash? America certainly fits the bill there. Or… is it one last moment designed to leave the story open-ended in case creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, who'd originally wanted Squid Game to be a one-and-done release, can once again be tempted to return? Whatever the intention, it's a weird distraction from the intense emotional roller coaster that's come before. Did we really need a big star to pop up in the finale's closing seconds, especially in a show that achieved such incredible success while hailing half a world away from Hollywood? The lasting impression is 'OMG Cate Blanchett??' above everything else, and that just feels a bit like it's ripping the rug out of the six hours of TV that came before. What did you think of that last scene? Let us know in the comments below. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
The Independent
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Squid Game season 3 is out now – here's how to watch it online
The long-awaited third and final season of Squid Game is available to watch online in the UK from today, 27 June. After the cliffhanger ending of season two, the brutal and dystopian survival competition picks up where things left off to bring Gi-hun's story to a close. Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, the South Korean thriller became a worldwide sensation when it first launched in 2021. The most-watched Netflix Original in the streaming platform's history, Squid Game follows a group of desperate, debt-ridden players risking their lives across a series of lethal children's games for a chance to escape poverty. Season three picks up with protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) continuing his quest to expose the shadowy organisation behind the games, putting him on a collision course with the enigmatic Front Man. All six episodes of Squid Game season three are available to watch on Netflix now, with reports that so many viewers tuned in at once that Netflix briefly crashed. Season two of Squid Game broke streaming records when it debuted late last year, drawing an audience of 68 million viewers. As well as watching season three, you can catch up with seasons one and two of Squid Game on Netflix if you need to refresh your memory. When you're ready to dive back in, here's everything you need to know about watching Squid Game in the UK. How to watch Squid Game season 3 in the UK As a Netflix original production, all three seasons of Squid Game are available to stream exclusively on Netflix. If you're already a subscriber, you can start watching the new season right now. If you don't have an account, you'll need to sign up for one of Netflix's subscription plans. There are three tiers to choose from:
