More than three years after it took the world by storm, Hwang Dong-hyuk’s “Squid Game” returns to Netflix this holiday season.
A lot can happen in three years — for the characters, but also for those of us outside who have had so much time to forget. For many of you, hearing “Squid Game” probably elicits emotion — excitement, dread, etc. — but the details of what made you feel that way are a little hazy.
So in case you haven’t made the time to re-binge all eight episodes of Season 1 (or even if you have!), here’s a refresher on what happened in “Squid Game” Season 1 and what might be critical to Season 2. Sadly, most of the characters from Season 1 are dead, but the Games themselves are very much alive…
Players Can Terminate the Games
After the horror of Red Light, Green Light, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and the other surviving players took a vote on whether or not to stay in the game, with the decisive vote going to Player 1 (more on him later). Everyone left the island and returned to their lives, but were given an opportunity shortly after to return to the games. Some stayed home and never went back, while hundreds of players chose to risk their lives rather than keep living as they were.
The Season 2 trailer depicts this ritual’s return, as well as a group of players chanting “One more game!” because there are always those in favor.
The Man on the Inside
During his hiatus from the games, Gi-hun files a police report about everything he saw, and it sparks the intrigue of a police officer whose brother has gone missing. Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) sneaks into the island fortress as a guard, where he witnesses the games from a different vantage point and gathers evidence to report to his boss. But the search reveals something even more shocking: his brother In-ho (Lee Byung-hun) is none other than Front Man, the highest-ranking authority within the game — and a former winner. The brothers face off in the finale, with Jun-ho taking a bullet and falling off a cliff… but the Season 2 trailer confirms Jun-ho is alive, and his quest to expose the games doesn’t seem to be finished.
Gi-hun Hasn’t Killed Anyone
Once the rules and nature of the Game revealed themselves, plenty of players were content to dispense with societal decorum and start fully murdering each other to level the playing field. On one night, the dorm becomes the site of a massacre, with players violently assaulting each other while the guards deliberately flashed the lights on and off. At the glass bridge, Mi-nyeo (Kim Joo-ryung) grabs onto Deok-su (Heo Sung-tae) to get back at him for abandoning her in a previous game. Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo), murders Sae-byeok (Hoyeon) when she’s already grievously injured, and he’s ready to do the same to Gi-hun in the final round — but turns the knife on himself at the last minute, sparing Gi-hun the agony of killing his old friend.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Gi-hun doesn’t feel like he has blood on his hands. The Season 1 finale depicts him a year after the Games, still shaken by what he saw and his life worse than ever despite the financial windfall. But the fact that Gi-hun hasn’t killed distinguishes him from many who feel comfortable doing so within the Games, as well as the guards and Front Man who regularly put an end to desperate people’s lives. Will Gi-hun continue his streak in the show’s final seasons, or will the Games drive him to do something he could never have imagined?
Those Who Didn’t Die
In his time undercover as a guard, Jun-ho discovered a black market organ harvesting ring among several of the guards, and one player who worked as a surgeon. Players who don’t die immediately when killed in the games were brought to a crude operation theater where Player 111 (Yoo Sung-joo) removed their organs in exchange for hints about the next game. More than anything, this reveals that the masked men aren’t paid enough to give up the side hustles, even if it risks them losing their jobs and lives. When the Front Man finds out about it, everyone involved is killed, their bodies put on display to teach the remaining guards and players a lesson.
Gi-hun’s Day 1
Before he enters the game, Gi-hun is seen trying to make ends meet in his daily life, including daytime gambling with best friend Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan). The two of them seem to go back a long way, and Jung-bae doesn’t judge his friend harshly for his circumstances, even if he can’t offer much help. In Season 2, Jung-bae is back — and he’s in the game. On one hand, he provides Gi-hun with an anchor to his old life and the outside world, but his old friend’s presence means that once again, Gi-hun has something to lose.
Death Looms Outside the Games
Gi-hun was only in the Games for about a week, but this absence has devastating cost. When he returns “victorious” in Season 1, he finds his mother dead on the floor of their apartment — one of the chief reasons he risked his life in the games, gone while he stayed inside. The deaths of Sae-byeok and Sang-woo haunt their families, and though Gi-hun does what he can to improve their lives as well, chances are that he’s the rare player to do so, and that most eliminated players’ families never get any closure.
Death even comes for the minds behind the games, as it does to Oh Il-nam (Oh Yeong-su) after he reveals his true identity, and that he entered the games to feel alive. No amount of money could save him, just as it won’t release Gi-hun from what he experienced during those days.
The Recruiter is Still at Large
Just a reminder that there is more Gong Yoo in your future. Merry Christmas!
“Squid Game 2” premieres December 26 on Netflix.