Why Squid Game 2 is better than the first

Based on viewership records, Netflix’s Squid game 2 is a resounding success. Hwang Dong-hyuk’s dystopian killing game returned with a vengeance, breaking the record for the largest viewership in a show’s premier week, a record previously held by Wednesday, which saw 50.1 million people tune in during its debut week.

Squid Game 2 beat that record within three days, amassing over 68 million views. With season three already confirmed for 2025, the hype may just be at an all time high.

But, reviews are more conflicted this time around. Some questioned the necessity for a second season, while others found it didn’t replicate the same shock and intensity its predecessor inflicted and expressed.

An unsurprising sentiment, for it’s the same concept at its core. A show about a game designed to draw out the worst in humanity. To prey on contestant’s despondent situations. And to show in striking detail the lengths one will go to survive in our capitalistic world. All while reminding the viewer that these players made their own bed, and with each vote, continue to choose to risk their lives.

However, despite being a partial re-tread of ground already stained, Squid Game is better than ever.

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Playing the hero (SPOILERS AHEAD!!)

Apart from the now iconic red-light green-light overseen by a robotic, motion sensing, fear inspiring, doll, all the children’s games in Hwang’s latest offering are new. From a leg tied marathon of anxiety, to a merry go round of faith evisceration, Squid Game 2 offers blood in abundance. But, it doesn’t reach the same bated breath highs of the original.

Nor could it ever. Squid Game was lightning in a bottle that washed up on the desolate shores of a Pandemic ridden land. Each and every person who stumbled upon it was grateful for the current it sent through them. Nine episodes of excitement to fight against the monotony.

But, life has returned to a semblance of normalcy. And that shouldn’t be held against the second season. Even if the killing game itself failed to amaze, that was more than made up for by a few incredible performances.

Lee Jung-jae is better than ever as Seong Gi-hun, largely due to the fact that he exerts his volition more than ever. He is no longer merely participating in the games, he strives to end them, and with force if he has to. What once was a man drifting helplessly in torrential waters, unable to take control of his destiny and to stop the deaths of those around him, has finally taken hold of his future. Or so it seems.

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In comes Lee Byung-hun’s new alter-ego, Hwang In-ho. After apprising the world of his enigmatic and cold cruelty as The Front Man, Byung-hun returns as a participant himself in the latest season. He risks his life to help contestant 456 and his friends in each game, including the lights out slaughter and the MP5 bullet-storm rebellion at the end. All in an effort to prove a point to Gi-hun.

That people will continue to stoop to the lowest of lows no matter how hard he tries to play the hero. Even when contestant 001 votes to end the contest, the deciding factor in the games being suspended for a day, he does so to morally corner Gi-hun. To prove that the self-proclaimed hero will have to reach into the same depths as the others, and pull out an equally bleak resolution if he wishes to end the games. A point illustrated by the sacrifice of life Gi-hun makes to create an opening in which to fight back against the masked men in.

In-ho’s feigned friendship and the viewers awareness of his true motives result in a suspense fraught relationship with the protagonist that keeps people on the edge of their seat in an entirely different way from the first season.

It is these performances, along with a gripping exploration of the strength of a mother-son bond, the collapse of a marine’s bravery, and the drug fuelled antics of a downtrodden rapper, that allow Squid Game to feel fresh all over again.

Now, the final season is on the horizon. And with that cliff-hanger ending, Gi-hun will certainly stop at nothing to get his revenge. But, will he get lost in his desire for vengeance, losing his desire to save life in his search for death?

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