Good, but was never gonna be great.
Overall, I really enjoyed this season! I didn't expect it to be at the same level as the first season. Anytime an unplanned second season is unannounced, it's never as good as the first, especially with Netflix exploiting popular shows for all the money they can get by splitting up a season into two. However, despite the new format, they made some great choices to keep viewers engaged.Story:
Honestly, I thought about giving the story a perfect 10, but the only thing that stopped me was the holes surrounding the investigation and the lack of character development. Towards the middle of the season, it felt like the writers had completely forgotten about the outside investigation. I would get really into what was happening on the inside and then suddenly it would cut to outside investigators for a few seconds as a reminder that they're at a dead-end. Hopefully, we'll see more from the new twist we got at the very end of Season 3. With character development, I wished we knew a bit more about the backgrounds of some characters beyond why they're in debt. Like last season, I felt like we knew the stories behind most of the characters and we got to see them grow and understand themselves. However, I could claim that they're are just too many characters for the writers to focus on. The screentime was so limited for some, but others who died had a majority. However, I feel like I can't say much because this season is essentially filler for the actual story. They're not gonna give us everything in this season. I hope Season 3 can wrap this up well.
Acting/Cast:
As I mentioned above, I think they're are now way too many characters; the writers don't know what to do with all of them. However, this cast is made up of some amazing actresses/actors who are known for being AMAZING. I was really surprised with some of the choices some actors took with their roles! I do want to shout out Park Gyu Young. With such little screen time, her range is so unbelievable. She is just so convincing. Si Wan as well. He is so incredible as well! I also can't wait to see what Yuri does with her character. I felt her character didn't have much to her besides the fact that she's been caring for her baby alone, but I'm hoping in Season 3 that we get to see more from YuRi. Overall, the acting was fantastic!
Music:
I'm not someone who really cares about the OST in any show, but I wasn't particularly impressed by the music in this drama. In both seasons, I do like the use of classical music and jazz and what it symbolizes with the themes of the drama, but I didn't particularly enjoy the remixes. It felt a bit random.
Rewatch Value:
Would I rewatch this? The answer is yes and no. I've rewatched Squid Games Season 1 a plethora of times and sometimes will go back to games I enjoyed watching. However, there were very few moments in this season I would go back and rewatch. I would rewatch this in a sense if I needed to rewatch it to prepare for Season 3, but I feel I can't give a straight answer until Season 3 comes out!
Overall, I really enjoyed this season! I didn't expect it to be at the same level as the first season. Anytime an unplanned second season is unannounced, it's never as good as the first, especially with Netflix exploiting popular shows for all the money they can get by splitting up a season into two. I think it's a good season, but it will never be as great as the first season. If you watch with the mindset that it's going to be as great as the first season, then I think you'll be disappointed. However, I do recommend everyone give this season an open mind.
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Season 1.5
Given the premise is already known, there isn't much the author could do aside from introducing and setting up new characters, as well as give a new character journey for the main character.In terms of setting, it's the same; and the plot more rushed; the author favoring direct exposition than spending the time for it to become clear as the story progressing. I guess the choice there was to avoid making it boringly long, or changing the genre of the show.
Thematically it's a much stronger more coherent critique compared to the first season. While people think it's a critique of capitalism, it's actually more a critique of liberal democracy, from a liberal who won't sacrifice it for something post liberal. It's more a lament for the Korean soul in certain respects but is also hopeful.
It's anti-conservative, anti-religious, anti the shift within Korean youth culture influenced by American Urban culture and the embracing of the Halyu wave within the West, fueled in part by Korean expression of "urban music" (Urban in the American context). A liberal dissatisfied with liberalism. Highly individualistic, but as with the first season, unable to bring things to a proper resolution.
Given there was going to be little shift in terms of setting. More has been poured into the plot, and characters. We are given more time with other Characters; I imagine since, their reasons would be more compelling than that of our main character. Many mysteries from the first season being resolved makes this feel more like an add on. Ideas from the 1st season being made clearer. The ideological conflict being given a bigger stage.
So, this season is more of a character study far more than the first one. Giving it a feel of clarifying ideas from the first, and its individualistic conception of human motivation, and coping strategies. It's a competent an anti-morality tale, which will struggle to meet the expectations of the fanbase that loved it for the gore; but has opened new doors, promising more about those who make the game work, not just those desperate enough to participate.
I give it a 7.5 or an 8 as a piece of entertainment. Those familiar with death games (more common in anime and manga) will not find anything really new. "Liar Game", "Tomodachi Game", "Btoom". It's more of the same. What fans of death games can appreciate is how the author weaves common struggles into his narrative, and how he updates it with his characters.
Most people will like this, except for horror fans. (Specifically, those who hunger after gore). A good watch for those who liked the first season. This is more for the Character-narrative fans, and "theorycels" who enjoy figuring out the author's critique.
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se forçar mais…
A sorte deles é esse elenco pesado cheio de talentos. Isso porque a única coisa de inovadora nessa temporada é a conexão entre os jogadores que sustenta o roteiro fraco e a busca por um segundo sucesso. Os jogos não foram tão marcantes, os núcleos não foram muito bem separados e não se orientam bem na composição da série, a música não teve tanta presença e tive a sensação de assistir a primeira temporada de novo, só com uma qualidade menor. Deixou o personagem principal tomar as escolhas menos racionais possíveis - porque em que planeta você esquece da sua filha e volta pra acabar com um lugar onde só tem gente louca querendo sumir com os pobres? Além de que a crítica da primeira temporada é abandonada aqui, e você tem que se agarrar à humanidade das interações entre personagens que são difíceis de desapegar.Ainda sim, é uma boa continuação, tendo em vista a sua função de intruduzir uma terceira temporada que, deve - ou deveria, não acredito que essa saga tenha uma conclusão satisfatória para os fãs - fazer justiça ao esforço descontrolado do protagonista de salvar essa gente alienada.
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It's not that Bad as everyone is saying.
Hello ^^, I have read a few reviews above and everywhere you can only see that how much everyone hated this season. And genuinely I believe that set it all aside, I won't list those flaws again here~Here are the things I want to mention about this Season — — — —
1) Gong Yoo, like a hot meal, he SERVED. He gave such a good performance in those 20 minutes. He ATE, his screentime. The Psychopathic character he showed was awesome, the Russian Roulette game, and crushing the bread was over the top.
2) I wanted to see behind the games, or the staff quarters of those guards and I got to see them this Season, so it was not that bad for me. The Guards are actually (hot people) can't agree more.
3) The Casting was Hot and Charming, Viewers want looks + acting and they won there, but I didn't feel the connection or bond with the players like season 1, or should I say there was not much backstory this season.
4) The Frontman, he was giving total Yaoi vibes, It looked like he was obsessed with Gi Hun and kept glancing at him. He played his own games and got frustrated at some point, and his own guards like "huh this person is supposed to be our boss".
5) The Carousel 🎠 game, that single game felt like season 1, where there was actual fear in players and showed their true nature. The music was addictive.
6) It was not that bad, It was like filler. But it's good for binge watch. Even I'm not exaggerating that "Omo it's so good, everyone should watch it or something". It's fine for a one time watch. I didn't waste my 7 hours, I liked it for the reasons I mentioned above.
Hope you'll see a few positive points about it too. Anyways I'm onto finding another series to watch. This Review ends here~
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A new vision of the game
"Squid Game 2" continues the story where it left off in season 1.Gi Hun is trying to end the game, looking for the Recruiter (Gong Yoo's character), to use him as a way to speak to the Leader and force him to stop everything once and for all. This plan doesn't work and Gi Hun has to go into the game again, there he tries to help the people and make them want to give up.
I understand Gi Hun's purpose, the game ruined his life, made him see all those people died, even his friend Sang Woo and all of that just for money, but we need to remember that Gi Hun the first time voted to end the game and then entered again, he was never forced to play. This is one of the main points of the game, it does everything to complicated things, but it always gives the chance to stop. This time, it had even a difference, a vote in the end of every game, but people's greed was too big.
The Recruiter's death was the best scene of the season for me. Gong Yoo only appeared in a few scenes, but it was amazing.
The drama, instead of focusing in the rounds of games, focused more on the relationships that was made between the characters, the three distinct groups. The main one has Gi Hun, Jeong Bae, In Ho, Jun Hee and Dae Ho. The second one has Yong Sik, his mother Geum Ja, Hyun Ju, Yeong Mi and later in the game, Gyeong Seok. The last group is the crazy ones, all following Thanos. Speaking of him, it amazes me that people didn't know T.O.P, he's the one of the most famous rappers in South Korea. His character here, Thanos, is really fucking crazy, hating him and laughing at him, was one of my favorite things to do. HAHAHA'
No Eul's character was a surprise, I never thought we would be able to see the side of the guards in the story.
It ends with an open ending, since the show was renewed for a third season, it makes sense to end it like this, because Gi Hun's plan didn't work and everyone will probably have to continued to play until the end. Basically all the main characters are still alive and we know that sacrifices will be made. The story was more light probably already thinking about the next season, to put all the action and death scenes later.
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Enjoyed the fun ride so muchhhh
While some may find the second season slightly less captivating than the first, I believe it's an equally impressive achievement. The masterful reveal of the antagonist's true identity and their constant shifting allegiances throughout the game create a thrilling and unpredictable narrative.The lack of poignant moments compared to the first season is noticeable, but the series still effectively delivers on its premise and leaves viewers craving more. The second season deserves a perfect 10/10 score for its innovative writing, engaging gameplay, and ability to keep me hooked until the very end.
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STAYING TUNED FOR THE NEXT AND FINALE SEASON OF THE SERIES IN 2025
SEASON 2 AT THE LEVEL OF MY EXPECTATIONS !Watched the whole thing in a day and honestly I was afraid to be disappointed by everything after the long wait (due to the fame the series has gained, I thought the writers aiming for too big would mess things up) but this season satisfied my expectations and will have me waiting for the new one.
Now let’s get to the core of my review :
The casting, the decor, the OSTs, the scenography everything was epic (btw can someone tell me the name of the song used in Season 2 Episode 3 around 27 minutes from the end of the episode ?)
About the new characters, I really loved the writing and the plot twists as well as the new games. Now only problem would be the protagonist as he keeps getting dumber and acting carelessly. Because tell me why the dude isn’t thinking strategically once he gets the chance to get in the game? Why is he straight up revealing that he was in the game before ? Cuz bro that’s what changed everything and even made the master of the game (the one with the black mask, In-ho ?) infiltrate it and managing from the inside. That’s also what made the annoying old (the player with 10B debts) stand up during the first vote and influenced everyone into vote for to stay in the game as he thought gi-hun (player 456) would be helpful being a former winner of this.
Now I REALLY hope Jun-hee, the pregnant girl will NEVER get back with this pos that is MG coin because he doesn’t deserve her and still doesn’t seem trustworthy. A manipulator that scammed and ruined people’s lives including his and hers, got her pregnant and told her to abort without asking what she wanted to do, then left her doesn’t deserve to be the father of their child. Now, as I saw her starting to trust him again in the last episodes, I hope in Season 3 she won’t get back to him !
Also I gotta say objectively MANY rew roles were hella cliche and some plot twists predictable. The Master (funny how he took the number 001, the same as the other chef, the old man, the traitor) and his fishy acting, how he would switch up the upcoming games etc… Like bro be a bit more unpredictable and creative.
Thanos the rapper really gave me second embarrassment during the whole season, blatantly and uncomfortably hitting up on girls, acting like everyone was one of his minions and switching up to english randomly and only to say useless lines. T.O.P’s acting was fire though cuz I felt strong emotions everytime his character would appear on screen. It’s just the character the problem, the rapper and how he acts is just too cliche. (Jo Yuri and Im Siwan also did a great job in their acting !)
Then another cliche character, Min-sun, the typical coward till the end and I’m not even saying I wouldn’t have done the same. His character is just not as interesting as I thought he could’ve been.
Then honorable mentions of good characters go to : Jung-bae, Dae-Ho (I wanna know more of his background because he seems to have some ptsd but they’ll never make me hate you 😞), Hyeon-ju (the effort of depicting a transgender person and the prejudices over them was although being a bit lacking in execution already a good step forward especially for a mainstream series like Squid game), the old mom and her son, Jun-Hee, the girl with the vertical labret percing.
Player 246 and young-mi’s deaths had me in tears just like I cried so much for Ali, Sae Byeok and 001’s deaths in season 1 (before learning 001 was a traitor)
Now the gangsters esp the boss and his associate and best friend. RIP the boss and I hope his best friend will make it out alive and that they’ll understand that the captain of their boat is fishy (pun intended) tho he always had that bad aura tbh.
011 I love you. Thanks for messing up the organ trafficking business. Hope she’ll find her child and be able to help the little girl that has blood cancer !
On a side note I wanted to add something I really “appreciated” : The way the series was filmed and directed really made me feel like during season 1 as I was induced to feel like one of those VIPs that watch the games like an actual source of enjoyment. I surely worded it wrong but I meant seeing it I had that feeling that I was actually acting like one of those VIPs, yearning for this or that character, hating on this and that person etc…
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SUPERIOR EM TUDO!
Uma das melhores sequências que já assisti.Bom, esse segunda temporada foi uma incógnita, pois o diretor disse que não planejada uma segunda, mesmo tendo feito VÁRIOS FORE SHADOWINGS, deixando a creer que talvez ele fosse mentiroso, ou um deus na escrita. Bom.. Como posso dizer, ele fez a segunda temporada tão fenomenal que eu só quero a terceira logo, enquanto eu achava a primeira uma boa serie, nessa, subiu o nível de uma forma que eu dou nota 10 para esse serie, estou louco para o final, só assistam essa delicia.
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Very Entertaining and GREAT acting from full cast
As someone who has actually not watched Squid game s1... I really enjoyed season 2. It was fun!Sung Hoon aka Hyeon Ju was the AMAZING. Best acting and powerful character!!!
Thanos was overall my favorite. I hope T.O.P gets more acting projects. ❤️
You can slowly see Gi Hun lose his sanity in the season, leading him to ultimately leave his humanity in the final episode. He wanted to 'win' against the front man and beat the game more than just saving lives. In Ho's realization seeing it... felt like he won. He broke Gi Hun that instant.
I really loved In Ho... the best villain ever! He's so sweet, handsome and charming as 001... his bond with every player close to him was endearing, even if it was fake. His smile is melting my heart. His friendship with Gi Hun was the best. Only we was viewers know he is OBSESSED with Gi Hun at this point... his eyes study Gi Huns every movement. The whole psychological aspect was great.
Grandmother and son were great. I liked seeing grama's bond with the women. I also realised her flaw - she lies to herself about her sons faults... it is sad.
I actually want 222 to die in S3... let it not be cliché.
Min Su is gonna lose his goddamn mind and go beserk in S3... he will one of the most deadly. You can tell from the signs.
I want dad to survive. It would be nice if dad and guard have a love storyline in S3 or dad and Hyeon Ju love story... I see the potential very clearly... hopefully the writers see it too.
Si Wan aka 333 and Dae Ho 388 got no business looking so fine. Semi was also very very fine. I really loved them.
Bro... WHY WAS THAT GUARD SO HANDSOME?! and why did he have to die?! He's tooo freaking hot like whyyyyy 🥲
I liked this season overall and looking forward to next season! :)
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“The game will not end unless the world changes.”
I really liked how overtly this season was about class solidarity and collective action. I didn’t like how incomplete it felt. I wanted more Gong Yoo. I would’ve rather had s2 and s3 released together, maybe as weekly releasesMy predictions after finishing episode 4 were: - Boat captain is a traitor - Soldier 011 runs away with 222’s baby - 456 and 001 homoerotic fight to the death - 120 final girl The first one was obvious but I guess I’ll wait and see for the others
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Bad ending
Apa ini? 7 episode dengan cerita gantung di berbagai sudut pandang🤣. Masa gong yoo tiba2 bunuh diri, gi hun di tangkap front man, jun ho masih belum nemuin keberadaan pulau game, si kapten kapal mihak siapa belum ada kejelasan, hyun ju yg awalnya berapi-api jadi bisu, junhee belum melahirkan, myunggi belum ada tanggung jawabnya sbg calon ayah, game belum selesai, belum ada pemenangnya, kejahatan belum juga terungkap, nyesel nonton session 2 bikin pingsan berdiri krn syok dan gak tahu kapan bakal muncul session 3 nya.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Slow start, too fast of an ending
I don't think I agree with most of the people here, this wasn't bad at all, nor was it just a filler season for the conclusion in Season 3 (it was kinda tho). It was clear from the start, though, that the story was complete in the first season, although it was exciting to see a new development for this story. One could say the new games are even better than the first season ones, in my opinion they really were, but that weren't many of them (only two new rounds), so it was upsetting. New characters aren't as iconic as the first season ones, but you still get pretty attached to (some) of them... Acting was a bit cringey (won't give spoilers), though we did get some nice memes. Lastly, for me, what happened in the last episode compensated everything! Lots of plot twist, lots of action, lots of edge-of-your-seat thriller, but lots of things left completely unanswered. Yet-to-come Season 3 seems more like "Season 2 Part 2" than anything. They literally just forgot to film the rest of the series hahahaWonderful to have this as my last watch of 2024, so I'm really looking forward to Season 3!!! Hope it comes earlier than we expect
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