Squid Game season 2 changes the stakes of the competition by having Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) infiltrate the games to tear them from the inside. That means the second season is filled with twists and turns that shock the audience until the end.
In the second season, Gi-hun allows himself to be captured by the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) and put back into the competition. It’s all part of his complex plan to tear the games down from the inside. Of course, things don’t go as expected, and by the time the credits roll on the final episode, Gi-hun might have lost more than his life. That’s because, when the dust settles, the Front Man comes out on top.
What were In-ho’s, aka the Front Man’s, goals?
The first season of Squid Game explains that the Front Man running the competition is In-ho, the brother of former detective Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun). In 2015, In-ho played the games and became the champion, taking a lot of money home. However, instead of buying himself a quiet life, he joined the organization as the successor of Il-nam (O Yeong-su), the creator of the competition. In-ho believes wholeheartedly in the game’s philosophy, which claims humans are perverted by nature, and given the opportunity, they will put other people at risk for their personal gains.
After Il-nam’s passing at the end of the first season, In-ho is now at the top of the food chain. That’s why Gi-hun tried to track down the Front Man — to convince him to stop the games once and for all. Instead, Gi-hun ends up in the competition again, fighting for his life in a gauntlet of deadly traps. Surprisingly, In-ho also disguises himself as a player to join the games.
Under the guise of Player 001, In-ho befriends Gi-hun. Together, the two champions survive the first three games of the competition. All the while, In-ho tries to tempt Gi-hun to abandon his ideals and recognize that human beings are trash and it’s better to look out for yourself. Even though he’s unaware of the mind games he’s playing with In-ho, Gi-hun still sticks to his ideals, putting himself in harm’s way to help people survive the games. Sadly, by the end of Squid Game season 2, Gi-hun breaks.
Did In-ho win the mental battle against Gi-hun?
After three matches, players are perfectly divided between those who want to keep the competition going and those willing to vote to end the games. Either group gets what they want only if at least one person from the other side changes their mind. It doesn’t take long for a few bodies to drop, showing that killing your adversaries is allowed in the competition.
With tensions rising, the greedy players plan to attack and murder the others in the middle of the night. After facing so much death in the game, Gi-hun convinces other players to hide beneath their beds, wait for the soldiers to break the fight, and then steal the guards’ weapons. In short, Gi-hun is willing to let many people on his side of the voting die just to get a shot at defeating the guards and reaching the command center. The way he sees it, these deaths are a small price to pay for the termination of the games.
In-ho is one of the people Gi-hun enlists for his revolution, and the Front Man plays his part in the battle. He helps Gi-hun kill dozens of guards until he can fake his death, retake his place as the head of the competition, and subdue Gi-hun. By then, In-ho knows he has won, as Gi-hun abandoned his ideas of solidarity and allowed other people to be murdered just to get what he wanted. If even Gi-hun accepts that the ends justify the means, In-ho can be ethically assured that the games are fair and just, so he doesn’t need to risk himself by remaining a player.
What happens after the revolution?
Once In-ho’s betrayal squelches Gi-hun’s revolution, the Front Man shoots Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) in the head, forcing Gi-hun to witness the death of his longtime friend. The other players who joined Gi-hun are also slaughtered by the soldiers, including Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook), a single father who joins the games hoping to pay for his daughter’s cancer treatment.
The only revolutionaries who survive are Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) and Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul). Dae-ho returns to the dormitories to find more ammo, but he freezes and can no longer move. It’s implied that his background in the marine might be false, and he was never ready to take on arms. Since Dae-ho never takes ammo back to the battlefield, Hyun-ju checks what happened to him. She is still in the dormitories when a battalion of soldiers arrives so she can pretend she wasn’t part of the revolution.
Since the Front Man keeps Gi-hun alive, it’s fair to assume the games will continue after the revolution in the series’ third season. To underline that, we get a quick mid-credits scene in which we see the courtyard where competitors play “Red Light, Green Light.” There are two giant dolls in the courtyard instead of just one, but we don’t know what the second does.
Is Captain Park a traitor?
Outside the games, Jun-ho leads a group of mercenaries in the search for the island where the games are played. Squid Game season 2 reveals that Jun-ho survived being shot in the shoulder by his brother and falling from a cliff. Jun-ho is found half-dead by a fisherman, Captain Park (Oh Dal-su). Since then, Jun-ho has spent every weekend aboard Captain Park’s boat, searching for the mysterious island.
At first, it looks like Captain Park has developed a genuine friendship with Jun-ho, which is why he helps the police officer in his quest. However, in the final episode of Squid Game season 2, the captain is tampering with the mercenaries’ drone, a critical tool in their search for the competition’s island. Captain Park is caught by one of the mercenary soldiers, and when questioned about his suspicious actions, he kills the man. Then, Captain Park throws the man’s body into the ocean. The storm raging when the murder happens is enough to cover his tracks.
It’s clear now that Captain Park is working with the Front Man to some extent. Maybe he was always part of the games’ crew, even when he rescued Jun-ho. Or perhaps the Front Man enlisted Captain Park after learning his brother had survived the fall. Either way, season 3 of Squid Game will explore the cat-and-mouse game between the fisherman and Jun-ho.