‘Squid Game’ Recap Heading Into Season 2

[This story contains spoilers from Squid Game season one.]

Three years after taking Netflix by storm to develop into the streamer’s hottest sequence of all time, Squid Recreation returns Dec. 26 with its extremely awaited sequel season. Set within the aftermath of the primary finale, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk’s thriller seems to plunge deeper into the titular competitors’s violent historical past, with Lee Jung-jae as soon as once more braving the video games as Seong Gi-hun.

Earlier than diving into Squid Recreation 2, you’re most likely questioning if it is advisable recall each single element concerning the unique. That reply is sophisticated. You don’t want to recollect each character and beat, however there are positively recurring figures and plot factors it’s best to refresh your self on earlier than hitting play. In case you don’t have time for the total rewatch, right here’s a pocket-sized primer on what it is advisable know earlier than Squid Recreation 2 (trailer, under).

Filmed and set in South Korea, Squid Recreation adopted Gi-hun, a down-and-out gambler and deadbeat father, regardless of his love for his child. He usually gambles and runs schemes alongside his finest good friend Jung-bae (Lee Search engine optimisation-hwan), set to return in season two. Jung-bae barely registers in season one, nevertheless, as an more and more determined Gi-hun takes an enigmatic salesman (Gong Yoo) up on a suggestion to earn actual cash taking part in within the Squid Recreation, leaving his world behind. (That salesman, by the way in which? Additionally set to return in season two.)

After sleeping by means of a gas-filled limousine trip, Gi-hun wakes up sporting a inexperienced jumpsuit, in an enormous bunk corridor, alongside a small military of equally dressed people. They’re all right here to compete for an insane sum of money, all having signed on earlier than absolutely understanding the foundations of the sport. They determine the foundations out rapidly, with an enormous swath of rivals dying within the opening Crimson Mild Inexperienced Mild recreation, an immediately iconic sequence. A majority of the survivors vote to finish the Recreation and go residence. However inside per week, these exact same survivors resolve to return, preferring their odds in a sequence of loss of life matches to their odds of surviving at residence.

So the video games go on, with all eyes on Gi-hun and an accompaniment of fellow contestants, allies and enemies alike. The eyes belong to a masked determine referred to as the Entrance Man, performed by Lee Byung-hun, whose undercover brother of a cop Jun-ho (Wi Ha-Joon) has infiltrated the sport, hoping to seek out his long-missing sibling. The Entrance Man and Jun-ho have a quick however tense reunion in season one, ending with Jun-ho shot and presumed useless — however very a lot nonetheless alive, if out of the equation.

Each the Entrance Man and Jun-ho will play roles in season two, however different returning gamers? Not a lot, contemplating how season one ended with the deaths of each single considered one of Gi-hun’s allies. As the only survivor of the sport, Gi-hun walks away with more cash than he may ever spend in his lifetime. However the associated fee far outweighs the reward, as a 12 months on from his victory, Gi-hun seeks down the architect of the sport, Oh Il-nam (Oh Yeong-su), a dying outdated man who pretended to be Gi-hun’s ally within the recreation.

With “Participant 001” useless, Gi-hun lacks any actual leads on find out how to cease the sport, so he does what anyone else would do in his sneakers: dye his hair sizzling pink and head out to the US, the place his daughter now lives. However proper earlier than he boards the aircraft, Gi-hun will get a cellphone name from the Entrance Man, and the siren tune of revenge units in. The season ends with Gi-hun turning proper round, vowing vengeance — and that’s precisely the place we’ll start when Squid Recreation 2 drops all episodes on Dec. 26.

“He’s a really modified particular person,” Lee not too long ago teased of his Gi-hun when Squid Recreation returns for a season that has already been nominated for a Golden Globe. “How he perceives the circumstances round him and engages with the world, he’ll nearly seem to be a special particular person. He’s goal-driven greater than anything — and he has an especially sturdy conviction to place an finish to the sport.”

The conflict between Lee’s Participant 456 and the Entrance Man will proceed till the sequence finale with the already confirmed season three, which will probably be launched in 2025.