How Squid Sport Season 2’s Large Cliffhanger Units Up Season 3

Proceed fastidiously; spoilers for the tip of “Squid Sport” season 2 lie forward.

The second season of writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s acclaimed — and unbelievably in style — Netflix collection “Squid Sport” is formally right here, and the third season, in line with Hwang, will premiere someday in 2025. Primarily based on the season finale, “Pal or Foe,” what can viewers anticipate … and what about that huge cliffhanger?

Let’s again up for a second. Initially of season 2, the winner of the video games seen on display screen in season 1, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), stays in South Korea regardless of the sport’s Entrance Man, Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), urging him to decamp to America and go away his time within the sport behind. He would not — and because the collection jumps two years forward, we be taught that Gi-hun has spent that complete time making an attempt to suss out the Entrance Man and cease the video games as soon as and for all (on account of all of the homicide concerned). After his plan involving a GPS tracker inside a false tooth goes awry, Gi-hun is simply caught within the video games, however has one benefit: he is finished this earlier than.

Identical to in season 1, there’s loads of petty squabbling amongst the 456 contestants over the large quantity of prize cash, however amidst that, Gi-hun is ready to corral a small and constant group of fellow gamers to revolt towards the guards and, within the course of, the Entrance Man himself. Because the gamers break up into two factions — those that wish to hold enjoying and people who need the sport to finish — Gi-hun and some others assume they’ve overtaken a handful of guards, just for your entire mission to finish in utter catastrophe. So the place does Gi-hun find yourself, and the way does this arrange the present’s third season?

On the finish of season 2 of “Squid Sport” — which is comprised of seven episodes — pandemonium breaks out within the participant quarters between the “X” faction (who wish to go away the sport and which incorporates Gi-hun) and the “O” faction, who wish to keep and end … and right here, “pandemonium” signifies that all of them begin preventing to the demise. (That is partly out of sheer rage and partly as a result of each participant is aware of that as you whittle down the variety of contestants, the prize pot grows.) Gi-hun and his small military all disguise below the bunks and mainly let different gamers duke it out, all of the whereas ready for guards to come back in and break up the large battle. When the guards arrive, Gi-hun and his associates subdue a number of guards and steal their weapons, opening fireplace on the pink suit-clad masked oppressors.

There’s one huge downside with this plan, unbeknownst to Gi-hun. One in every of his “allies,” who’s masquerading as Participant 001, is really In-ho, also called the Entrance Man. (Followers of “Squid Sport” will recall that the present mainly did this very same factor in Season 1, in order that’s … neat.) All through the battle, In-ho acts like he is on Gi-hun’s facet, however when he components methods with Gi-hun, In-ho fakes his personal demise, dons his masks once more, and kills Gi-hun’s closest pal Jung-bae (Lee Web optimization-hwan) proper in entrance of Gi-hun. The present then cuts to black (apart from a post-credits scene), so it is comparatively secure to imagine that season 3 will decide up proper the place season 2 left off.

It is cheap sufficient to imagine that, as season 3 of “Squid Sport” will get going, Gi-hun will be taught that the Entrance Man is definitely the man who’s been his ally within the sport itself up till this level. That would mimic the twist in season 1 fairly instantly (though the present already repeated stated twist verbatim, so something goes, apparently), nevertheless it definitely seems like season 2 was constructing as much as this large reveal. Alternatively, perhaps the Entrance Man finds a special solution to punish Gi-hun and retains him at nighttime about his id — apart from Jung-bae, Gi-hun’s different associates within the sport are nonetheless alive (so far as we all know) — so the Entrance Man might keep masked, not reveal that he is really Hwang In-ho, and easily decide off the remainder of Gi-hun’s allies. (This might be actually merciless for audiences, however that is “Squid Sport,” in order that would not precisely be unprecedented.)

There’s additionally the matter of In-ho’s brother as Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), a detective who’s trying to find In-ho and the particular location of the video games. He isn’t precisely getting wherever, however hopefully, his lackluster storyline will put him again within the motion in season 3. At this level, one factor feels considerably sure: Gi-hun will not be casually becoming a member of the video games as a brand new participant for a third time, and the collection positively feels prefer it’ll shift its battle to a showdown between Gi-hun and the Entrance Man.

“Squid Sport” season 2 is streaming on Netflix now.