Squid Game Recap: Majority Rules
Well, this episode feels timely, doesn’t it? You might’ve seen that earlier this month, South Korea was briefly placed under martial law by its democratically elected president. That wasn’t a popular decision, as evidenced by citizens who rapidly organized to protest and lawmakers who hopped a fence to unanimously vote to reject the order. Some people have championed the quick reversal as a democratic success story; others feel that the fact that the situation even happened already tarnishes the country’s image as a strong democracy. And, of course, discourse about the current state of democracy certainly isn’t unique to Korea. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told The Hollywood Reporter last year that he was thinking about “the direction the entire world is taking,” specifically acknowledging that season two would drop close to the U.S. presidential election — in his words, “the ultimate O-X event.”
This season, Squid Game introduces a “special new advantage” that sets up democracy as a major theme. After each game, players will have the chance to vote — and if a majority wants to leave, they can all leave with the money they’ve won so far. (Last time, ending the game meant going home empty-handed, creating a bigger incentive to stay … and, in Sang-woo’s case, to kill both Sae-byeok and himself.) The rule raises questions about whether the majority really always deserves decision-making power. What if they’re not fully educated about the consequences of what they’re voting for? Or what if they are, but they want to vote for things that will harm the minority? We’re only one game in, so the show’s potentially got up to five more rounds to keep exploring these questions.
Let’s meet some of the people who will be casting their votes. Obviously, Gi-hun is once again waking up to classical music as Player 456. But at the top of the episode, we’re also introduced to a bunch of new names and numbers:
333: Myung-gi. An ex-YouTuber who convinced a bunch of people to go all in on a crypto coin that crashed. He’s now wanted for fraud and other crimes.
230: Su-bong. A hothead better known as the retired rapper Thanos. With his purple hair, colorful painted nails, and lyrical references to half of humanity, he’s a walking homage to his villainous Marvel namesake.
120: Nam-gyu. Thanos’s sidekick, thanks to their shared hatred for Myung-gi. (They’re former subscribers who want literal payback; they blame him for the money they lost.)
196: Mi-na. A diva who isn’t easily swayed by Thanos’s fame or his cocky, multilingual attempts at flirting with her.
100: Jeong-dae. Apparently has the highest debt at 10 billion won (under $7 million), but proudly, if defensively, points out that not just anyone can get a loan that big.
390: Jung-bae. An affable divorcé who’s been wondering why his old friend Gi-hun disappeared. He’s a little taken aback by how urgently Gi-hun tells him to stay close.
120: Hyun-ju. A trans woman who has not yet had gender-affirming surgery. Before the game even starts, we learn that not everyone here is accepting of trans people.
7 and 149: Yong-sik and his elderly mom, Geum-ja. They’re both here to pay off his debt, but she chews him out for coming.
44: Seon-nyeo. An unsettling shaman who tells Gi-hun that he’s been brought here because of the “vengeful” souls hovering over him.
Hopefully, it’ll only get easier to keep track of these characters as we learn more about them!
After waking up, the players start complaining to the masked pink soldiers. But they quickly sober up when reminded of how much debt they’re in, especially once they hear that there is 45.6 billion won up for grabs. Consent forms are signed before the murderous catch is revealed. While most people seem pretty lighthearted when it’s time to take photos — Thanos tries to take a group shot with fans before posing alone with both middle fingers up — Gi-hun literally looks like this haunted soldier meme. At this point, he’s still waiting for backup to arrive.
Turns out that Plan B is to infiltrate the island. Captain Park, who apparently has endless free time, is steering his boat for Jun-ho and the rest of the search-and-rescue crew. Unfortunately, Gi-hun’s tooth signal leads to a random fisherman’s bait. Woo-seok suspects that someone leaked information, which could be true, though I feel like the Squid Game people would think to check Gi-hun for a tracking device regardless. They chip their own players, and it makes sense to do an extra-thorough search of someone they know had a team of people trying to follow him.
Like last season, the first game is Red Light, Green Light. Before Young-hee, the motion-detecting doll, turns around, Gi-hun finally looks underneath his fake tooth and realizes that he’s on his own. In case the dramatic Dolly zoom isn’t enough to show us how Gi-hun feels, he thinks to himself, “I’m fucked.”
No one believes Gi-hun when he first starts yelling that they’ll be shot if they move. But after a bee lands on Mi-na (196) and kicks off a chain of deaths, more people start listening. Jung-bae (390) is no longer embarrassed to know him, that’s for sure. Gi-hun advises everyone to get behind people who are bigger than them. The strategy works pretty well; a nauseous-looking Player 222 can lean on someone else without being shot. On the other hand, Thanos — under the apparent influence of one of the colorful pills in his cross necklace — pushes the people in front of him to their deaths, then skips and heel-clicks to the finish line. (Yes, this “Fly Me to the Moon” remix is very dance-able, but come on, dude.)
Meanwhile, No-eul is among the snipers shooting anyone who moves. She seems supremely unaffected by what she’s doing … until she recognizes Player 246 as the dad she knows is trying to save his sick, strawberry-hat-wearing daughter. That doesn’t stop her from doing her job, though. Gi-hun and Hyun-ju (120) risk their lives to go back and help Player 444, who was shot in the leg; No-eul still shoots him after he crosses the line.
Ultimately, 365 players make it out alive. A piggy bank gives the survivors a visual reminder of the prize money they’ve just earned, and a pink soldier reveals that every eliminated player adds 100 million won. The accumulated total will be split equally whenever the game ends.
The first O-X vote to decide whether to keep going is held publicly, in reverse player order. In hopes of getting people to join him on the X side, Gi-hun reveals that he’s done this before. But the Os either don’t trust him or think it’s actually an advantage to have a past winner. Why’s he trying to scare them by saying people will die? If he can survive, why can’t they? This reasoning is flawed. If the idea is that he’ll help everyone survive, then the prize money will never increase. However, a democracy doesn’t require people to be aware of the full impact of policies they’re voting for, and Gi-hun is prevented at gunpoint from any further campaigning to try to help people understand.
With one vote left, it’s an even tie. Player 1 casts the final vote to keep the game going and is revealed to be … Front Man, unmasked as In-ho. We saw him observing the first round, but it looks like he’s snuck down to follow in Il-nam’s footsteps as a participant. If Jun-ho had been more honest, then Gi-hun would have recognized the potential danger. Instead, we’re left to wonder what Front Man might do undetected.
Parting Shots
• Last season, people noticed that the drawings on the walls in the sleeping area foreshadowed each of the games, so I took a look in case that holds true again. I see stick figures swinging between triangles in what might be a variation on monkey bars. It also looks like there’s some sort of pattern with squares and plus signs, but it’s hard to see with the beds in the way. Maybe y’all will have better luck?
• Hwang Dong-hyuk did expect the discourse over Hyun-ju, a trans woman, being played by a cis male actor. The show creator said in an interview that while he wanted to authentically cast the role, it was “near impossible” to find an openly trans actor in Korea, where LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination. Same-sex marriage is not legal in the country, for example.
• There’s weight to the fact that Choi Seung-hyun is playing Thanos, the retired rapper who vapes in his ddakji video, brings pills into the game, and delivers dialogue that alludes to getting high. For those who aren’t familiar, Seung-hyun first rose to fame as T.O.P., a rapper in the popular Korean group Bigbang. But he faced heavy domestic criticism due to a drug scandal in 2017 when he pleaded guilty to smoking marijuana and received a 10-month suspended jail sentence. So this casting is kinda like if Ariana Grande decided to play a singer who licks a bunch of pastries as someone with a donut debacle in her past. It’s brave! I’m personally happy to see Seung-hyun again, although not everyone feels the same way. There’s actually been enough backlash that Hwang Dong-hyuk felt the need to defend his casting.
• Winner of the episode: T.O.P. stans, because they get to see him act and hear him rap again. Long time no see, long time no see.
• Loser of the episode: that guy who just wanted to fish, but ended up being held at gunpoint. Also, Player 444, for getting shot twice. The number four is associated with death in several Asian cultures, so maybe that was always meant to be his fate. Bummer!