In comparison to the previous seasons of the world-renowned K-Drama, season three has felt like a complete airball. So much potential was there, but it has seemingly missed the mark with the masses.
Perhaps it was the concept of season two and three acting as one story but being split six months apart that caused the hype to dwindle, or maybe it was due to the cliche, and terribly confusing, outcome of the show’s finale.
Season three opens really strongly
However, season three opens really strongly, picking up exactly where season two left us craving more. As the show sets up for the next game, we’re disturbingly reminded of the overarching idea of Squid Game: human lives are worthless in the battle between morality and capitalism. We witness the players who died while helping Gihun to overthrow the games being sickly strung from the ceilings - degraded even in the afterlife. Greed is an incessant killer, and you either risk dying trying to rise above it or dying settling with the truth.
The first game of the season, Keys and Knives, teaches us that a sick twistedness resides deep in us all. Myunggi, who promised to protect Junhee, the mother of his baby, succumbs to the idea of more money and fails to prove himself as a responsible father-figure as he runs rampant - the blue jerseys hued to a shade of purple. Blinded by blood, Myunggi finds the life of heroine Hyunju pale and cold in his hands, just moments after she helped Junhee bring new life into this cruel world. A terribly disappointing ending for a character who gave so much to, not just this series, but to real life as well. A transgender character who frequently risked her life for others and didn’t fall into the games through the means of her own bad habits, but because society’s prejudices left her with no other option.
The pinpoint moment where Hwang Donghyuk’s poor portrayal of women begins to spiral
Geumja then finds herself faced with the knife of her own son, Yongsik, the sole reason she initially joined the games. In a horrific turn of events, she twists her own blade into him, stabbing her child to protect another mother, another woman. It’s traumatic, it’s disturbing, it’s somewhat beautiful. The game ends, and we can only sit silently as we watch Geumja caress and hold her son in his final moments of life. Not only is this an underwhelming ending for the emotional turmoil the mother and son experienced together, but it is the pinpoint moment where Hwang Donghyuk’s poor portrayal of women begins to spiral.
If not a mother, then what is a woman? As Geumja can not bear her grievance, she takes her own life in the night.
Upon the realisation that she won’t be able to complete the next game, Junhee follows a similar demise to Geumja, stepping off the edge of the tower to her own death, leaving her corpse nestled in a bed of painted flowers and her newborn baby in the arms of Gihun.
It’s so deeply unfulfilling… deeply unsatisfying… having so many players reach the final game yet they are all… men (aside from Junhee’s baby).
In this final game we see a glimpse of hope as Myunggi briefly partners with Gihun to make it to the final platform but ultimately allows greed to overcome him. This entire game feels dull and unnecessarily prolonged considering the predictable outcome; there’s too many side characters involved, Myunggi will definitely not survive, and Squid Game is never going to kill a baby onscreen.
Another missed potential was all of the subplots. Detective Junho’s intense story of finding the island falls short as he fails to say any more than, “why did you do it?” to his frontman brother. Minsu was weirdly kept alive for so long as if he were awaiting a huge character development moment, but inevitably dies in the final game. A healthy Nayeon and her father, Gyeonsuk, are reunited, as well as Saebyeok’s mother and brother, in addition to Neoul and her daughter. These moments are emotional and refreshing after all the trauma from the rest of the season, but I do wish they had been developed a bit more.
However, what I don’t understand is why is Junho left with Junhee’s baby? Why is there an American recruiter, in America, playing Ddakji - a Korean game?
If Netflix threatens to release an American version of Squid Game, I’m afraid I will be steering as clear as possible
If Netflix threatens to release an American version of Squid Game, I’m afraid I will be steering as clear as possible. On the contrary, I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing a prequel, particularly an insight into Inho’s game.