Squid Game/YMMV


These things about Squid Game are subjective - not everyone will agree with all of them.

  • Alternate Character Interpretation:
    • Gi-hun himself invites this. It's implied that he wasn't always as reckless or addicted to gambling before Ga-yeong was born, and it was a manifestation of his PTSD on seeing a coworker die in front of him during a strike. And when his PTSD gets worse after winning the games, only to arrive home too late to save his mother, he completely shuts down for a year and plans to spend Christmas Eve drinking outside, something that nearly kills him if not for Il-nam's invitation. On the other hand, Jung-bae has some anecdotes about Gi-hun being a goofball long before the strike happened, so maybe he was always a gambling addict.
    • The Front Man has a lot of this, and season two muddies it further:
      • Season one:
        • The fact that he shoots his own brother when a shocked Jun-ho refuses to join him or surrender his phone in the climax of "Front Man". Even In-ho seems unsure why he did this as he removes the bullet in his shoulder, one that Jun-ho used to shoot him.
        • The nature of his relationship with the Host. Since it's revealed that Il-nam mentored him after In-ho won his games, if that's why In-ho faked his death. In-ho is also the one that closes Il-nam's eyes after he dies and pays his respects.
      • Season two:
        • It's revealed that the Front Man had a fisherman on his payroll who rescued Jun-ho, and proceeds to serve as the Mole for the game makers. So did he arrange for Jun-ho's rescue ahead of time, or was it done after the scene where he recounts Jun-ho looking at him in disbelief saying, "Brother, why?"
        • Related to this, Jun-ho and his mother believe that In-ho blames them for his wife's death. They wonder maybe if he hadn't given Jun-ho his kidney, then In-ho would have had the money for his wife's necessary transplant or been able to sell that kidney. It's unclear how true that is, or if In-ho pushed them away because he couldn't bear for them to see what he had become.
        • His reasons for letting Gi-hun finally enter the games again after refusing in the season one finale, and joining undercover as Player 001 Young-il. Of note is that somehow the games recruited Gi-hun's friend Jung-bae, whom Gi-hun hasn't seen in years. Was he taking his time to form the perfect game to break Gi-hun's belief that people don't deserve the games, or did he get irritated after Gi-hun successfully outgambitted the Salesman?
        • Related to this, the fact that despite having prime opportunities to get Gi-hun killed such as during Mingle and the riot, he seems hellbent on keeping Gi-hun alive. Why? Is it a Cruel Mercy since Gi-hun has become a Death Seeker? An Honor Before Reason stance that Gi-hun survived his games and shouldn't die in them again? Perhaps an understanding since In-ho was also a winner of the games.
      • Season three, his actions during the Series Finale:
        • In-ho evacuating with the VIPs after Jun-ho and the Coast Guard storm the island makes sense; not-so-much is taking Jun-hee's baby with him, essentially kidnapping her rather than leaving her for the Coast Guard and their paramedics to stabilize since he knew it was over. It's hard to tell how much of this is acting as The Atoner given he warned Jun-hee that she needed to see a doctor if she got out of the Games ASAP but didn't blink an eye when she sacrificed herself instead during jumprope, a selfish attempt at a Replacement Goldfish as he lost his wife and unborn child only to realize it'd be better for the baby if she weren't raised by a fugitive, a Pet the Dog since the people who were protecting the baby on the island and would have become her guardians are all dead? Maybe a combination of all three. And why Jun-ho, who we know would do anything to track down his brother and demand answers as well as justice? Does he suspect that Jun-ho will track down the lead and did so anyway as a form of atonement, or that Jun-ho would change his priorities in favor of making sure the child is first okay after her traumatic first six months of life and raising her or getting her to a foster family as a cop?
        • Giving Ga-yeong her father's jumpsuit and debit card with whatever remains of his winnings personally but not telling her how Gi-hun died. He makes sure to tell her this in Korean though they're both fluent in English. Though in previous games the deceased families' would receive 100 million won each if the surviving players voted to go home, this decision seems against protocol. He could have easily mailed it or talked to her mother and stepfather as a group to break the news gently, so that his ex would also have the time to grieve the man she once married. Was it because he sees a lot of the baby and his own unborn child in Ga-yeong? Or seeing some Gi-hun in her, given she inherited his prideful streak and hurt, showing he did care about the other man to a minor extent? He also directly gives her evidence of the Games' existence, as the box has their telltale logo. Is Ga-yeong in even more danger now that she knows her father died and the Game makers have known for years where she lives? Or does In-ho want to give her the safest amount of closure that he can knowing Gi-hun ghosted Ga-yeong to protect her and made the gesture to ensure no Game maker in America will dare touch her, her brother or parents?
    • How much does Myung-gi care for Jun-hee and his unborn child in season two? He ghosted her after they lost everything in a cryptocurrency scam that he recommended on YouTube, and they had agreed she should abort the baby because neither were ready to be parents. Jun-hee makes it clear that she's done with him after his stupidity with cryptocurrency put them both deeply in debt, and she chooses to keep the baby. She's also not impressed when he said that they could team up after voting to end the games after Mingle and after paying debts they could start investing again; as she points out, Myung-gi wants the money and not her and their child and he would keep taking dumb financial risks no matter how high the stakes. Despite this, Myung-gi is horrified on finding out she kept the baby and is in the Games; at the end of "O X", he tells Thanos to lay off Jun-hee since she was not involved in the cryptocurrency scam. In fact, he starts the bathroom riot while warning Thanos to stay away from his ex. Did the Mingle game and Jun-hee's The Reason You Suck Speech bring him back to his senses about his reckless behavior? Likewise, did Jun-hee breaking up with him and later performing a Heroic Suicide so Gi-hun wouldn't come back for her cause him to slide back down out of grief?
    • In season two, the game makers profiling and recruiting Thanos, a rapper well-known that he gets groupies before Round One, and Myung-gi, a YouTube influencer who caused a lot of followers to go into debt. It was mentioned before in season one that only the dregs of society were chosen, the ones who wouldn't be missed. Are the game makers running out of people willing to engage in the Games thanks to Gi-hun's crusade, forcing them to be less discreet? Is it them rubbing it in Gi-hun's face that they will get away with the Games even in the age of social media? Or is it a sign that they are getting sloppy?
    • How much should we pity or hate Thanos in season two? He's a jerk and killer who buys into his own celebrity as a rapper, complete with using his "friends" to continue the games despite Gi-hun telling everyone outright that it is a no-win situation and they need to quit. On the other hand, he's genuinely horrified when Kang Mi-na is shot in front of him before taking the drugs, and he reveals to Min-su that he has nothing to lose because he was about to jump off a bridge when the Salesman approached him. It hints that beneath his playful exterior he's battling a lot of depression, not helped by the loss of his fortune and music deal.
  • Anvilicious: While the obvious anvil is that capitalism is bad, that an unregulated system that allows the rich to prey on the poor will lead to tragedy, it is a necessary lesson. Part of the reason that Gi-hun descended into a gambling addictions is that he lost his job as a car laborer due to downsizing, and when he joined a strike to save his job, riot police assaulted the employees with tear gas and killed his coworker friend in front of him. Gi-hun still has PTSD from this, as shown when he stands watch after the third game.
  • Crazy Awesome: The old man is the first to resume moving during Red Light, Green Light, smiling as he freezes. He inadvertently saves the surviving scared players by encouraging them to move towards the finish line before the timer runs out, including Sang-woo. Later, he admits to Gi-hun that nearly dying made him felt alive. Even with the reveal that he was the Host and the creator of the games, Il-nam is quite honest that his life was in danger during each round.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Players murdering each other is a Moral Event Horizon moment, which is why tug-of-war and the marbles game are a huge Gut Punch when players are forced to do this. In season two, Thanos pushing the three people in front of him in "Red Light, Green Light" is horrible. But him saying "Ding" (Unfreeze!) in Korean or "Tag" in English right after Gi-hun shouted at everyone to freeze makes the scene hilarious.
  • Cry for the Devil: The Front Man is a monster, and Jun-ho becomes committed to helping Gi-hun taking him down without mentioning his connection to In-ho because he knows they need to defeat his brother. And joining the games as Player 001 to break Gi-hun is evil. There is a moment where In-ho as Young-il uses his truthful backstory to explain why he voted to stay: he tells Gi-hun that his wife has liver disease and needs a transplant, and she is pregnant. He took bribes as a cop to save her life, only to get caught, fired and blacklisted. To top it all off, the money wasn't enough for the healthcare bills. Though the doctor recommended getting an abortion to save her life, she and In-ho wanted to keep the baby. Even though Gi-hun is mad at him for voting to stay, his face shows complete empathy as he was in a similar spot in season one. The way he bitterly talks about being attacked for potentially voting against a mob sounds like it happened during his game, which would explain his cynicism about people. We find out that despite In-ho winning the 2015, his wife died anyway, as Jun-ho tends to her grave regularly. Like Gi-hun, In-ho joined to save a loved one, only to win and arrive home too late. He sank into a depression so bad that his mother sends Jun-ho to check on him regularly. With this in mind, it's not hard to imagine that his trauma and Il-nam's guidance pushed him down the path as the Front Man, rejecting a normal life with his caring mom and younger brother.
  • Paranoia Fuel:
    • If a man in a business suit approaches you in a train station and offers to play a game, run! The thought of someone knowing your financial history and using it to recruit you for a job is downright terrifying.
    • A family member is known for being unreliable and a drifter, later going missing for a few days. Alternatively, he or she told you about a new job opportunity. They come back with a shaken expression, unable to talk about what happened. Yeah, you may be looking at them funny for a while.
    • The Series Finale reveal that despite Gi-hun deciding not to travel to the US to protect Ga-yeong from the Game Makers, it turns out they knew where she was the whole time! They don't know what she looks like until In-ho asks for Seong Ga-yeong, but that's not really a comfort. In-ho personally delivers Gi-hun's jumpsuit and debit card to her, tells her her father died, and leaves. There's also a Recruiter doing rounds a few blocks away. What if they had held her hostage or threatened to put her family in the Games to make Gi-hun back off? Or have plans for her in case she ever tries to investigate? She does have a box with their logo after all...
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Viewers complained that season 3 had this problem:
    • Season 2 teased at Jun-ho finding the island, saving a few players, confronting In-ho and demanding answers for becoming the Front Man. Most of season 2 and 3 involve Jun-ho's quest getting stymied by Captain Park as The Mole. He only finds the island due to Kang No-eul rescuing and smuggling Gyeong-seok off the island, and by the time he arrives, the Games end. Jun-ho does try to confront In-ho but won't fire on him on seeing his brother is holding a baby. As a result, In-ho leaves without saying anything.
    • Hyun-ju not making it to the jump rope game or even the finals. More than one viewer on Tumblr has expressed frustration that the trained sergeant Action Girl got taken out by a cheap shot courtesy of Myung-gi rather than either surviving against the odds or having a Dying Moment of Awesome.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: You want to know how dedicated the television crew was to bring this idea to life? Nearly all the sets and iconic pieces like the Red Light, Green Light, doll were real. They wanted to merge the idea of Willy Wonka and the Hunger Games, while showing that each game and compound area is designed with purpose. There was minimal CGI for important moments, albeit with shorter drops for stunts and wires attached to actors that had to be filmed falling. You can see snippets of the behind the scenes here.
  • The Woobie: Given the circumstances of the games, most of the players count as this. There are some exceptions like Deok-su, but a few highlights really tug at the heart:
    • Gi-hun starts out as a Jerkass Woobie. He's a gambling addict that steals from his elderly mother to bet on horses, while aware that he's a failure and a loser given his inability to provide his daughter a decent meal on her birthday. There is a reason that his mother is disappointed in him, and that his ex-wife forbids him near her new family. He also thinks he can convince the courts if he gets a good enough job that he can parent Ga-yeong, which is how the games recruit him. The Jerkass part goes away the longer he plays in the game, befriending the old man, Ali, and Sae-byeok. One moment of his Character Development is when he admits to Sae-byeok at night after the fifth game that he doesn't want custody of Ga-yeong anymore, knowing she's in better hands with his wife and her new husband. He wants is a second chance to be a good father to her and a dutiful son to his mother, to make up for his past misdeeds.
    • Sang-woo is also a Jerkass Woobie. At first, we feel bad for him when the Square Guard reveals his losses on the stock market, as well as his embezzlements; even Gi-hun thinks that was a bit beyond the pale to reveal these secrets if shocked that his childhood friend is in the same spot as he is. Sang-woo also still cares about his mother, as he checks on her discreetly while lying that he's on a business trip over the phone. He admits to Gi-hun that he would file for bankruptcy, but he used his mother's restaurant as collateral and if he is arrested, she'll be tossed onto the streets. During the first game, he warns Gi-hun to get moving and looks anguished when it seems that Gi-hun won't beat the timer or will fall in time to get killed. Yet Sang-woo is coldly pragmatic at certain parts in the games, while Gi-hun still sees him as the genius boy that played Squid Game with him as a kid to the extent of painful obliviousness. Betraying Ali and pushing the glassmaker were pretty bad, but the moment that cements Sang-woo as a Jerkass is when he slits Sae-byeok's throat when she's minutes from dying and Gi-hun is banging on the barrack doors, calling for a doctor.
    • Sae-byeok is a thief and a pickpocket, who votes to continue the games because she isn't attached to anyone there, and as far as she knows, everyone who plays by the rules has a chance of surviving. She and her little brother are North Korean refugees, with their father and grandmother died and her mother MIA; her little brother is in an orphanage so that he gets decent meals and a place to sleep, while Sae-byeok drifts on the streets and slices wallets for their cash. The reason why she stole from Gi-hun and Deok-su was to pay her broker enough to smuggle her mother out of North Korea, only to find out the smugglers ran off with the money. Logically, she knows she won't see her mother again given odds are likely that she got deported to North Korea, and has been sent to a labor camp. Emotionally, she tells her brother that they will reunite as a family, and she's going to buy a house where they can start a new life. The frustrating thing is that she could have made it to the final game, if not for really bad luck; a glass shard gets her in the abdomen, and it's too deep for her to remove safely. Realizing that she's going to die and the Guards won't help her, Sae-byeok hides her wound and extracts a promise from Gi-hun to take care of her little brother, in her last moments of consciousness, before begging to go home.
    • Ali is a straight-up Woobie. By far he is the nicest and most innocent of the players; given his lack of familiarity with Korean games, his rounds with the Salesman must not have been fun. He joined because he has a wife and a baby, and his employer has refused to pay him the wages that he needs to support a family. When he realizes the games are a deathmatch and does not even have a version of Red Light, Green Light as a point of reference, Ali's reaction when seeing a stranger fall is to grab him, and hold him still without moving a muscle. Later, he says that Gi-hun owes him nothing, he's glad the "sir" is alive. It's implied that he rejoins not for the money, but to stay off the grid after maiming his boss by accident and stealing his wages, ordering his wife to go to Pakistan with the baby but leave him behind. He gets rewarded for his kindness and loyalty with a bullet in the head, and one of his friends betrays him.
    • Player 62's actor claims that the guy isn't nice, according to interviews. Regardless, a math teacher ended up recruited for the games, and a really smart guy to boot. He seems decent enough, genuinely warning Gi-hun to partner up for the fourth game because they have an odd number of players and the guards have been pretty trigger-happy. His death is both sad and awesome, when he calculates the odds of making it all the way to the end of the stepping stones bridge, realizes it's hopeless and laughs before charging forward.
    • Player 69 is a devoted husband to his wife 70, who was also recruited. It's never explained how they both ended up in the same place, only they were desperate enough to return. He does what he can to keep her alive, refusing to get on a team for game three unless she joins him. They survive that...then the marbles game happens. Whatever game they did choose, 69 survived. He's broken and begs for a group vote, saying he would rather go home than win with the guilt of killing his wife. When Sang-woo lambasts him for returning with her, 69 hangs himself that night, unable to continue
Back to Squid Game
This article is issued from All The Tropes. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.