Squid Game 2

Story: After Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is the only one who survived the deadly games on a secret island and pockets millions of dollars in prize money, he decides not to get on a plane to leave his past behind. Instead, he is eager to find the people behind the deadly games and wants to put a stop to them, especially to the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). In order to do this, he uses his winnings to pay off his debts and then hires the loan shark. He and his gang are supposed to search for the recruiter (Gong Yoo), who is looking for willing players at train stations. It takes two years, but then they find what they are looking for. However, there are complications ...
Policeman Hwang Joon-ho (Wi Ha-jun), who was shot by his brother, the Front Man, on the island and fell into the sea, has survived, and now he is looking for the secret island for two years. When he is about to give up, he runs into Gi-hun, whom he still knows from back then. Gi-hun suggests that the policeman visits the island with some hired gangsters after he has himself re-enrolled in the games. Before that, he will have a tracking device implanted, so that it should be easy for Hwang and the gangsters to find him. So, Gi-hun finds himself in the role of a player again, but this time, his goal is not to win the prize money, but to eliminate the people behind it and save as many players as possible.

Review: Strictly speaking, this review is just as unnecessary as another candy brand that offers Dubai chocolate as a flavor. After the first season of "Squid Game" the second one was obviously also able to achieve international success. Therefore, there are more than enough articles that deal with the series on a mainstream level. Nevertheless, there are a few reasons why I want to add my two cents as well. And that also has to do with the fact that the general consensus about the second season seems to be that it turned out quite well, but didn't manage to match the originality of the first season. On the one hand, this is quite obvious, because inevitably there is no surprise effect anymore. On the other hand, that's also the reason for this review: Because actually, "Squid Game" wasn't that original in the first place. Perhaps that may have been different for most international viewers, but considering all the hype, the series left me quite disappointed after it ended. If you know a thing or two about manga/anime or Japanese movies (see "Kaiji - The Ultimate Gambler" for example) there will not really have been that much new stuff here for you. While the second season may have lost its "freshness-factor" for most viewers, for me the series never really had this factor, which means that I might be able to review this second season from a more neutral (?) perspective.

In a nutshell, I have to say that the second season continues to work pretty much on the same (high) level. Most people will probably agree that nowadays it can almost be considered a miracle if a sequel manages to continue to perform on an equally high level. However, there are actually a few points that need to be complained about. But not about the fact that it actually takes some time until we are finally back in the brightly colored rooms of the games, as some impatient viewers may have criticized. Because in retrospect, the rock-paper-scissors game in combination with Russian roulette that is happening when we are not yet back on the island, is one of the most exciting games and gets the adrenaline flowing. A negative aspect, though, is Hwang, who is looking for the island with the gangsters. The story constantly switches to him, but it is just treading water, and so the pacing of the events is unnecessarily slowed down. You get the impression that this subplot is supposed to have a big influence on upcoming events, but that's not the case, at least not in this season.

And yes, exactly, there will be a final season in 2025. The only problem is that season 1 could more or less stand on its own, while the second season ends on a cliffhanger. This also means that a lot of characters did not yet get a resolution for their narrative arc. So, on the one hand, it is actually unfair to deliver a verdict now. On the other hand, numerous characters have already bitten the dust, so all in all, it can be said that the story of the second season seems a bit overloaded. Fewer characters certainly wouldn't have made the series worse, especially since it's still unclear what one of the shooters and the organ trafficking in the background is all about - a subplot that somehow only seems to be thrown in for a short time - or what the deal is with the shaman, and you even forget that Gi-hun is actually the hero of the story. He fades into the background for such a long time that you only realize towards the end what the story was actually about. But what works once again in the second season is to shed light on people's greed and selfishness. A nice addition this time is the fact that after each game the participants can vote on whether everyone continues or whether they want to share the current prize money.

It is also very nice that Lee Byung-hun ("Concrete Utopia") has a bigger role this time, and with his charisma he leaves the viewer with quite a bit of guesswork. In general, the series is full of fascinating characters. There is the rapper Thanos, played by Choi Seung-hyun, aka T.O.P from the boy group Big Bang (who has fallen into disgrace in Korea simply because of marijuana consumption), with whom you just have to begin a love-hate-relationship, especially since he is a well-done caricature of Korean rap including English sentences being sprinkled in randomly. But the trans woman Hyeon-joo is also convincing and turns out to be an action hero, especially since the transition is not yet complete and she used to be a man in the Special Forces. While in most countries nobody cares two hoots about something like that anymore, and there are more than enough reports about the topic (which you could even call overcorrection), the whole thing, just like homosexuality, is still a taboo in South Korea. That's why it's a shame that the director didn't do more with this interesting character, and it makes you feel like she was simply written into the series because of the well-known Netflix woke-ideology list that had to be checked off. But there are also other characters which show connections with modern society, for example the player who has ripped off people by promoting a cryptocurrency.

In addition to the well-done characters, all of whom are embodied by motivated actors, we also get to see some familiar games again. Or at least the most famous one. Evoking a feeling of "nostalgia" or at least familiarity is a good move, but hopefully you also get something new too - and that's what director and screenwriter Hwang Dong-hyuk delivers. There is really nothing to complain about in this respect. The finale then degenerates into a big shootout and ends exactly when you think there should be one or two more episodes. So, it will be interesting to see what else the director has to tell in a whole new season. It would be nice if he delved a little deeper into the psyche of the characters and their greed. After all, it is one of the series' strengths that it focuses on characters with weak personalities or at least with social disadvantages. So, this time you once again have to scratch your head when you watch Gi-hun making decisions, but you shouldn't forget that he is a (former) gambler at his core, and he doesn't always know how to assess the risk for himself or others. In some respects, the second season is therefore even better than the first, but the various storylines destroy the necessary focus and compactness. Fans of the first season won't do anything wrong here, though, and will want to watch the third season too.

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