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*SPOILER ALERT* Amid the “monumental” global hype surrounding its wildly successful OG season, Squid Game 2 was instantly THE hotly anticipated show of 2024, even before its official announcement. The first season of Hwang Dong Hyuk's survival action thriller K-drama ended on a cliffhanger as Seong Gihun (Lee Jung Jae) vowed to put a conclusive end to the deadly games.
Squid Game 2 takes place two years after Gihun's bloodcurdling triumph as Player 456. Gihun is pursuing the mysterious salesman (Gong Yoo), who recruited him into the games because he's hell-bent on tracking down the Front Man (Lee Byung Hun). On the other hand, Hwang Junho (Wi Ha Joon) survives the gunshot and quits his police job — after finding out that his brother is the Front Man — and becomes a traffic cop instead as he's also trying to figure out when the next games will be held.
Ultimately, Gihun realises that the only way he can take down the bad guys and put a full stop to the games is by entering the dangerous contest once again. This time, too, he's deemed as Player 456, while 455 new cash-strapped contestants get added to the mix in a bid to win the whopping ₩45.6 billion prize money.
However, unbeknownst to Gihun, Player 001 is none other than the Front Man, who enters the game as Hwang Inho and keeps a check on Gihun. The unlikely duo form a team with Gihun's best friends Jungbae aka Player 390 (Lee Seo Hwan) and Daeho aka Player 388 (Kang Ha Neul) as they risk their lives playing old and new Korean children's games. While the others strive hard to win the prize money to rid off their personal debts, Gihun's mind is set on a single agenda: End the games for good. The question that arises is; does Gihun find out Hwang In Ho's true identity before the Front Man kills him?
Squid Game 2 ending explained
In the heart-stopping final few minutes of Squid Game 2, Gihun's uprising against the Front Man reaches its crescendo. Unfortunately, the players' rebellion comes to an untimely end because they run out of ammo. Daeho, who was in charge of procuring more ammo, doesn't return due to a panic attack. They have no choice but to surrender.
On the other hand, Gihun and Jungbae make it to the front of the management control room but are intercepted by the pink soldiers. Inho, who trailed the soldiers from behind betrays the two players that accompanied him and shoots them. Conversing through a walkie-talkie, Inho apologises to Gihun and makes the latter believe that he's dead.
Gihun and Jungbae are captured by the soldiers before the Front Man greets them. “Player 456, did you have fun playing the hero? Look closely at the consequences of your little hero game,” the Front Man laments to Gihun while pointing a gun at him before shooting Jungbae instead. As Gihun screams in anguish, the Front Man leaves the scene surprisingly letting Gihun live to see another day. And thus, Squid Game 2 ends on a massive cliffhanger note…
At the end of Squid Game 2's enthralling first episode, the salesman plays his American Psycho-esque version of ‘Russian Roulette’ with Gihun, but ends up losing and shoots himself. This time around, the game divides the players into Team X, who want to stay in the game, and Team O, who want to leave the game.
Among the key players, Thanos aka Player 230 (T.O.P) is killed by a sharp fork at the hands of Myunggi aka Player 333 (Im Siwan) after the two teams indulge in an ugly brawl inside the bathroom. During lights out, the two teams attack each other in order to reduce their vote count. However, Semi aka Player 380 (Won Ji An) is viciously killed by Namgyu aka Player 124 (Roh Jae Won) while a fearsome Minsu aka Player 125 (Lee David) watches in terror. Perhaps the most emotional death is that of Young Mi, who dies during the ‘mingle’ game, as Myunggi pushes her out of the room to save the others.
Cho Hyunju aka Player 120 (Park Sung Hoon), who tried to retrieve more ammo for the players' rebellion, is stopped in her tracks by Geumja aka Player 149 (Kang Ae Shim). Moreover, Yongsik aka Player 007 (Yang Dong Gyeon), Junhee aka Player 222 (Jo Yuri) and Gyeongseok aka Player 246 (Lee Jin Wook) also survive. Noeul (Park Gyu Young), who was revealed to be one of the soldiers, is also alive.
In a blink-and-miss mid-credits scene of Squid Game 2, the deadly games are expected to have resumed once again with the surviving players in tow. A few of them are seen entering the same room as Younghee, the murderous giant doll. However, Younghee is also accompanied by Cheolsu, her male counterpart, adding yet another dangerous twist to the trademark Korean game.
Moreover, Junho's life is also in danger as it's belatedly revealed that Captain Park (Oh Dal Su) is in cohorts with the evil organisation behind the games. He kills one of Junho's men while Junho and Wooseok (Jeon Seok Ho) struggle to find the location of the games and rescue Gihun. It will be interesting to see how it all culminated in Squid Game 3, which marks the final season of the Netflix series.
Squid Game 2 manages to live up to the overzealous expectations laid upon it by its predecessor as we're welcomed back to its nasty world with the same heightened tensions. OGs Lee Jung Jae and Lee Byung Hun's push-and-pull equation throughout the season is an acting lesson at its finest, while Gong Yoo's first-ever villainous act was the instant scene-stealer.
Among the new players, it's the terrific Park Sung Hoon, who adds intrigue to his complex character, making viewers root for Hyunju to win the game. Kang Ha Neul adds much-needed comic relief to the overtly tense situation while Wi Ha Joon and Im Siwan are criminally underused. Moreover, the Season 2 games played were just as enthralling — with stand-outs being ‘mingle’ and ‘pentathlon’.
While Squid Game 2 packs a “wildly addictive” punch on most fronts, what is lacking is the emotional quotient attached to all the players. Unlike the first season which had us reaching for the tissues when someone tragically died — Ali (Anupam Tripathi), Jiyeong (Lee Yoo Mi) and Saebyeok's (Jung Ho Yeon) deaths still haunt us to this day — the second season's deaths aren't as gut-wrenching as one would imagine, particularly that of Jungbae's and the overwhelming weight it carries on Gihun's guilty mind.
