Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon, Lee Byung-hun, Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Jo Yu-ri, Kang Ae-shim, Lee Seo-hwan

Crew: 
Showrunner: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Written & Directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk

No: of Episodes: 07
Streaming on Netflix
Available from 26th December 2024 
Genre: Survival Thriller, Horror

Squid Game Season 1 became a global phenomenon with the shocking twists and gory games that few billionaires created to have some fun against the lives of not so lucky humans. You feel that they are playing God and side with the characters who are trying to end it. At the same time, you see the psychological side behind the narrative and how the creators are mirroring human greed with incredible character writing. So, the biggest blockbuster series is back with Season 2 on Netflix. Let's discuss about the season 2 in detail. 

Plot: 

Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) continues his search for the Games creator and he wants to get his revenge from the creators. After 3 years of his investigation, he again ends up being a part of the games with new people. He finds support in Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) and both of them try to create an uprising and stop the games, avenge the creator for playing with their lives. But Player 001, the creator has upper hand on them initially. Will they be able to overpower him? Will the other players under the "real purpose" and help the main characters? Watch the series to know more. 

Analysis: 

With a total of 456 players, the games became even more bloodier this time around. But the shock value that engaged us along with the incredible writing in the first season, is not at the same level. The games are similar but the character writing is not as strong as the first one. Maybe makers could have added new games rather than just twisting the rules. While the psychological twists and study are even more deep, the engaging value decreases drastically mid-season. 

People who regularly watch Korean dramas can understand the beats and predict outcome more quickly than the first time viewers. While that could be a plus point, it actually works against this series and this season, as the first time viewers would be feeling the narrative being overstuffed forcibly. The games created a huge fan frenzy due to the characters involved as well inside the dorms. We could connect with majority of them and hence, the psychological battle along with main character helped us travel through. 

But here we feel like the investigation is going nowhere. The new characters are drawn out too much and even the investigation feels to be going nowhere for long time. The makers seem to have been overwhelmed by the global success as the issues being handled and writing looked more to please the global level fan base than the persisting angle of greed vs justice. 

Had they spent time on establishing connection with unknown characters from the word go and then bring in the twists with the introduction of the old characters might have helped the season 2 to flourish better. It had its moments has the climax approaches but still the writing did not feel as powerful as the first one. The performances, technical standards and production values are again good but this is an underwhelming follow-up for a great season 1. 

In Conclusion: 

Squid Game Season 1 shocked many but season 2 underwhelms. 

Rating: 2.5/5