Still Entertaining, 'Squid Game' Lacks Surprise of First Season

by Tyler Glover

Photo: Netflix

​I have never been one to binge-watch shows. Life is just so hectic, and it takes something special, thrilling and gripping to keep me coming back for more and more as soon as possible. The only shows I can honestly say I binge-watched within a couple of days are “Bridgerton,” “The Woman Across the Street from the Girl in the Window” and “Squid Game.” When I found out the second season of “Squid Game” would be released on December 26th, I was full of anticipation. The first season of the South Korean survival thriller series was some of the best television I have ever experienced. It had a lot to live up to ... but did it? 
 
The first season of “Squid Game” had many things going for it. Seong Gi-hun (SAG Award winner Lee Jung-jae) entered into a series of games with 456 contestants for a chance to win billions of dollars. Contestants are sequestered onto a mostly deserted island to participate in these games. However, things are not as they seem. This led to the first season having the element of surprise. When the players go to play “Red Light, Green Light,” they have no idea that losing this game will result in death. I remember being in complete disbelief at what I was watching. As the games continued, viewers saw that there was no remorse. You lose, and you die. You cannot appeal to the good graces of the guards. Also, the show set up so many relationships with all of the characters and left you with such a sense of uneasiness. You do not know if these characters you are growing to care about will even be alive in the next couple of minutes. That sense of uneasiness made for truly compelling television. Finally, at the end of the season, we learn the bad guy's identity. It turns out he was hiding in plain sight. As season one ends, we are left on a cliffhanger as to what Seong Gi-hun will decide to do. Will he move on with his life or dedicate his life to bringing these horrible people down? 

Unfortunately, everything going for this series in season one is also part of the problem for season two. The element of surprise is almost completely gone. We all know the stakes as Seong Gi-hun re-enters the game as a way to try to bring the people behind this cruel operation down. When the first game played is the same as in the first season, you begin to wonder if there will be any surprises in the season. Ultimately, the contestants do have different games to participate in. While most of the cast died in the first season, we are introduced to new characters. My favorites are the Mom and Son duo, Geum-Ja (Kang Ae-sim) and Yong-ski (Yang Dong-Geun). The dynamic of having family members made this season a little more interesting.

Finally, The Front Man, the main “manager” of the operation (Lee Byung-hun), somehow ends up playing the game alongside Gi-hun. As their friendship grows, it is compelling to see why the Front Man is doing what he is doing. What are his intentions? Does he see this whole enterprise as evil as Gi-hun does? However, with viewers knowing his true identity, it does not contain the same excitement as the surprise unveiling of the villain in the first season.   

The show still thrills and entertains fans of the show – just definitely not on the same level as the first season. There were several things I admired about the second season. It had more time to open up this whole world. We see how there is black-market organ trafficking with the dead bodies, we see behind the scenes of a soldier’s life, and we see people recognizing other people within the game. This all helped us understand the crazy world that the “Squid Game” takes us to. While I admire this, everything does not fit together as seamlessly as in the first season. However, with the second season ending in the middle of the games, there is definitely time for the third season to bring everything together like the first season.  
 
Season two still delivered an entertaining and compelling season but pales dramatically compared to the stellar first season.