Season 2 of 'Squid Game' is the story of Ki-hoon (Lee Jung-jae), who vows revenge and returns to participate in the game, and the fierce confrontation between Frontman (Lee Byung-hun) who greets him, and the real game that begins again.
Poster for Season 2 of the Netflix series 'Squid Game'. [Photo = Netflix] This is the second story of 'Squid Game'
, which has taken the world by storm with its novel idea of a game of childhood memories becoming a game of death, the unique rules of the death game where the price of one's life becomes the prize, and the story that thoroughly exposes the nature of humans that competitively distorts within the extreme capitalist order.
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who made history by becoming the first Asian to win the Best Director award at the 74th Primetime Emmy® Awards, is back to direct, write, and produce. Along with Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-joon, and Gong Yoo from Season 1, the series stars Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee Seo-hwan, Chae Kook-hee, Lee David, Noh Jae-won, Jo Yu-ri, Choi Seung-
hyun (TOP), and Won Ji-an. Season 2 begins with Ki-hoon, the winner of the "Squid Game," looking for the game's host. With the huge prize money of 45.6 billion won, he mobilizes people to find the most certain route to the frontman: the man at the subway station (played by Gong Yoo). Upon encountering the frontman he had been searching for, he decides to participate once again with his own intention to stop the game of death.
Actor Lee Jung-jae is starring in Season 2 of Netflix's "Squid Game." [Photo = Netflix]
If the game in season 1 was so intensely entertaining that the song "Mugunghwa Flower Has Blossomed" resonated all over the world, season 2 focuses more on the "OX" vote to decide whether to continue the game rather than the game itself. This is because voting is held every time a game ends and the prize money is accumulated. Some people choose O to earn more prize money, while others choose X to go out to survive, creating a tense conflict.
The new rule of choosing O or X to decide whether to continue the game with the prize money and life at stake touches on human selfishness and desire for money, and the psychological warfare to gather people to the same side leads to extreme confrontation, creating curiosity about the next development.
On the other hand, the weight of the game is considerably reduced, so those who expected a variety of games may be somewhat disappointed. It takes a long time to get into the game, so it may feel boring. Nevertheless, in the group game where all five people must succeed to avoid a crisis, the atmosphere of cooperation and support provides a different kind of fun. Also, in the next game, 'Round and Round', a fierce survival game unfolds as a situation arises where I have to push others away in order to survive. The conflicts of each character surrounding the 333rd famous person (played by Im Si-wan) who is in debt due to a coin scam are also worth watching.
Lee Byung-hun's increased role is significant, and it is fun to see Gong Yoo's new face. Im Si-wan does well as expected. Park Sung-hoon also perfectly digests a difficult character, making us feel good about surpassing Jeon Jae-joon of 'The Glory'. Jo Yu-ri, Won Ji-an, and Kim Si-eun are also new faces who did their part well.
Actor Im Si-wan is acting passionately in Netflix's 'Squid Game' Season 2. [Photo = Netflix]
The problem is T.O.P (Choi Seung-hyun). It was originally expected that T.O.P's amount of screen time would be similar to or less than that of other characters. However, in 'Squid Game 2', the rapper Thanos, who was the runner-up in a hip-hop survival show, appears in many scenes as a problematic figure who takes drugs and causes trouble in the game room. Thanos, who has much more screen time than Kang Ha-neul and Lee Jin-wook, gets into an endless war of nerves with a famous person after being scammed by a coin scam. In the process, he acts outrageously beyond absurdity, which leaves a big impact. Of course, in a negative sense. Since his acting skills are not up to par, the character itself is ridiculous. Furthermore, because of T.O.P. who took on this role, the discomfort increases throughout his appearance.
T.O.P enlisted as a police officer in February 2017, and was later found guilty of smoking marijuana at home in 2016, and was tried while serving in the military. As a result, he was found guilty (10 months in prison, 2 years of probation) at the sentencing hearing in July 2017. After hinting at retirement, he made a comeback by appearing in Season 2 of 'Squid Game'.
As the controversy over the casting of TOP grew, director Hwang Dong-hyuk said at a press conference in August, "When we decided to cast him, quite some time had passed and he had already been sentenced and his probation period was over," and "I thought, 'If that much time had passed, wouldn't it be time to start doing something like this again? ' and that's why I cast him." He continued, "However, many more people expressed their concerns than I thought. So I thought, 'Maybe what I was thinking was a bit wrong,' and 'It was a bit short-sighted. '"
Former Big Bang member T.O.P (Choi Seung-hyun) is playing the role of Thanos in season 2 of Netflix's 'Squid Game.' [Photo = Netflix]
However, he emphasized that he had done a lot of verification and that T.O.P showed strong determination, and said, "It takes a lot of courage for him to play this role. That's why I personally thought that this actor was the most suitable and made the decision. It was controversial, but I had already gone through a lot with the actor myself to the point where I couldn't go back on it or anything." He also added, "If you watch the drama, you'll understand that this decision wasn't easy, and that it wasn't easy for Choi Seung-hyun himself to do this drama." However,
after watching Season 2 of 'Squid Game', you're left with questions about why T.O.P had to be cast and what kind of courage he had. It's clear that the production team verified him, but in the end, his lack of acting skills made his character fall flat and ruined the immersion in the drama. So why do viewers need to know and understand that it wasn't easy for T.O.P to do this drama? I want to ask Director Hwang Dong-hyeok again whether he thought viewers would just say, "I see," and immediately accept it if he said, "We verified it," and "We deemed it suitable," without considering the viewers who would watch the play at all, or whether he thought that since the "Squid Game" series is aimed at the entire world anyway, he could ignore the discomfort of domestic viewers.
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