Squid Game
Season 2 Review
I am…mad as hell. This season is not terrible. while definitely a big step down from season 1 I want to make it clear that this season was not bad by any means. That being said
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
Why is the main character so absolutely fucking stupid. Before this season came out I remember the memes people were making like “bro is he stupid why is he going back in the games” and I remember thinking why are people judging this they’re clearly going to explain it in season 2 and make this decision make sense. I then saw that the games don’t even start until episode 3, so I was really confident in my thought process. Uhh yeah so that’s my bad BECAUSE NO HIS DECISION MAKES ZEROOOOO SENSE. His rational behind it is so so stupid. Spoilers for it, this mf joins the the squid games hoping that he can warn everyone that they’ll be blinded by greed until they’re all dead. Issue with that? HE DOESNT EXPLAIN IT UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST GAME. So people rightfully freak out, that gets a bunch of people killed, and now everyone hates him. He tries to rally people but then fucks that up, people yell at him, and he immediately gives up. Was that his whole plan?? Is he stupid?? The fucking creator of the games at one point makes a better point as to why they need to leave. Gi-hun puts himself in a terrible position with ZERO plan and they want me to sympathize with that?? It makes it so hard to watch because seriously what is he doing???
Another issue I had with this season is the whole other group looking for the island that leads literally no where by the end of the season. They’re saving their whole arc for the third season, so this just felt like a whole ass waste of time. Also same problem with season one, they cannot write twist villains to save their life. The old man in season one was one of the most obvious twists ever. Season two learned nothing from that with the boat driver because wow did that shit not suprise me AT ALL.
Also cut out the 10 minute voting season and you could condense this season to like four episodes what made them possibly think I would be interested in watching that
Okay enough complaining onto the good:
Splitting the people into two groups was genius. Not only does it make the drama waaaay more interesting but it also reflects back on the theme of the show really really well. The idea that the top 1% pits the working class against each other so they forget who the real enemy is has never been such a prevalent issue worldwide. It literally came out at the perfect time. And while obviously this show is a reflection of South Korean politics, fuck does it really reflect well on American politics right now too. Genius idea, really well implemented and a good branching off of the conversation around wealth inequality that was started in season one.
So what else did I like? Uhhh the game were fun this season! But they were a little more fun in season 1. Maybe it was because they were saving all the big deaths for the finale and season 3, but damn the main 10(?) characters felt invincible. No one I cared about died in the games so they kinda lost the feeling that they had in season 1.
Uhhh I liked thanos. He was weird. Kinda filled in the cartoonish character void left by season 1 gi-hun.
But yeah that’s really all I have to say. Definitely not as well fleshed out as season 1. The problems season 1 had are just as present here plus it’s got some new issues. I know season three comes out in literally just a few months so we’ll see if that makes the story any better.