Written by Michael Thervil
Picking up where the first season of the Squid Game left off, we find that the only person to actually survive and win the game with all of its earnings is out to destroy the very game that gave him his fortune. Instead of taking a plane to the United States as agreed upon in at the end of season one; Seong Gi-hun, also known as “Player 456” played by Lee Jung-jae seeks to expose the “Masked Officer” and whoever else who’s had a hand in orchestrating this deadly game of survival and terror against the most financially vulnerable citizens of South Korea. In a fit of vengeance and self-righteousness, Seong Gi-hun seeks to put a para-military team together which fails to track him while he demands to re-enter the Squid Game in order to bring justice to all the people the orchestrators of the Squid Game have either killed, exploited, and/or negatively impacted.
Like always we will not be giving away any plot points here, but what you should know is that there is even more drama and terror in the second season of the Squid Game, with even more socio-psychological dynamics in the second season as well. Beyond the infamous “Red Light – Green Light” scene, which was made famous in the first season, our favorite scene of horror was the no doubt the “Carousel” scene that is to be considered one of the bloodiest scenes in the Squid Game series to date. Another thing that we liked about the Squid Game 2 was that Lee Byung-hun (who played “Storm Shadow” in G.I. JOE films) played the “Front Man” in this season as well. His performance was excellent throughout every scene he was in.
Our favorite character was “Player 453” (the old lady) played by Yang Mal-bok. This is because she delivered a powerful performance which reminded us of the type of elderly person everyone would love to be around. There was a certain level of authenticity Yang Mal-bok brought to the screen through the portrayal of her character. We also enjoyed the social dynamics that this season of the Squid Game brought to the screen as well. From the articulation of cognitive biases, the psychological manipulation, to the influence of American rap/hip-hop, to the reflection of the socio-economic problems people face on a day-to-day basis, shedding light on gambling addiction and greed, tackling gender and transsexualism, the second season of the Squid Game addressed it all and more.
The Squid Game season 2 is a South Korean psychological action drama that can be watched on Netflix, and it consists of 7 episodes that can be viewed in English overdub, subtitles or in Korean. This is a series you don’t want to miss.
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