'Squid Game' Season 2 arrives Thursday: Catch up on where we left off

It's been three long years since we last played "Squid Game."

The mega-hit South Korean horror series about a group of desperate people playing deadly children's games for money (and the entertainment of the wealthy) debuted on Netflix in September 2021. It slowly but surely spread across the globe through word of mouth to become the streamer's most-watched series ever. And now it's back for seconds.

The new season of "Squid" arrives Dec. 26 (Merry Christmas, indeed), and while you may be planning to spend your holiday break binge-watching the fresh horrors in the hyper-violent, anti-capitalist thriller, you might not remember, exactly, what happened the first time around. But don't worry, we're here to help.

From the deaths to the triumphs to that terrifying "Red Light, Green Light" doll, here are the big things you need to remember from "Squid" Season 1 before Season 2 arrives.

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The games begin: And how much is 45.6 billion won worth in U.S. dollars?

At the start of "Squid" Season 1, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a father and gambling addict in Seoul, South Korea, is seriously down on his luck. When he's at rock bottom, a well-dressed young man approaches him in a subway station, offering him a chance to play ddakji, a children's game, for money. After Gi-hun wins some cash, the man hands Gi-hun a business card with a phone number, saying it's a chance to play more games.

Gi-hun calls and agrees to play, and is abducted to a remote island with a huge fantasy-like complex decorated in bright colors run by masked men in pink jumpsuits and led by a black-masked "Front Man." Among the 456 players, Gi-Hun discovers one is his childhood friend Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo). Gi-hun also befriends Il-nam (Oh Yeong-soo), an old man dying of a brain tumor. The players start what seems like an innocent game of "Red Light, Green Light," overseen by a giant robot that looks like a little girl. But when she calls "Red Light," anyone who moves a muscle is shot and killed. The real stakes of the games are revealed: If you lose, you die, but if you win you could pocket 45.6 billion won, which comes out to roughly $31 million.

Real life is worse than the games

After the bloodbath in the first game, the players vote by a narrow margin to end the games and leave without any money. Back in the real world, however, the lives of the players are worse than ever. They choose to return to the games, knowing many of them will likely die in their pursuit of the money. Gi-hun is followed back to the games by a Seoul police officer, Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who is looking for his missing brother, In-ho.

The contestants play a series of games ― "dalgona," tug of war, marbles and hopscotch over glass panels ― that leave the vast majority dead. One night, a "special game" deprives the players of food and encourages them to murder one another. In a particularly cruel twist, the players pair off in teams to play marbles but then are pitted against each other, so only one will come out alive. Il-nam and Gi-hun partner up, and the old man lets Gi-hun win.

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Meanwhile, Jun-ho infiltrates the facility and discovers the Front Man is his brother In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), a former winner of the games and now its most zealous convert. In-ho shoots Jun-ho and he falls off a cliff into the sea, and seemingly to his death.

Gi-hun wins, but doesn't feel like a winner

By the last game, only Gi-hun, Sang-woo and their ally Sae-byeok (Hoyeon), a North Korean defector with a little brother to care for, are left alive. Sang-woo kills an ailing Sae-byeok before the last game, forcing a showdown between two childhood pals. Of course, they play Squid Game, a physical schoolyard contest. Gi-hun bests Sang-woo but cannot kill him, nor let him be killed by the game "soldiers." He tries to end the games and forfeit the money, but Sang-woo kills himself, making Gi-hun the automatic winner.

After a cynical congratulations from the Front Man, Gi-hun is unceremoniously dumped on the streets of Seoul, where the traumatized man refuses his winnings and lives in abject poverty for a year. But then he gets another one of those mysterious business cards and shows up to find the supposedly-dead Il-nam in an elegant hospital bed in a skyscraper.

It turns out Il-nam was the "host" of the games, the incomprehensibly wealthy man behind it all from the very start. He tells Gi-hun that he started the games to entertain himself and his rich friends. When Il-nam was diagnosed with cancer, he decided to join the games for a thrill.

This meeting jolts Gi-hun, who goes on to rescue Sae-byeok's younger brother from an orphanage and gives money to Sang-woo's mother. Sporting a striking red hairstyle and a fancy new suit, he heads to the airport to visit his daughter in the U.S. when he sees the handsome recruiter from the games hustling another poor potential contestant in the subway. Gi-hun chases the recruiter off and seizes the business card from the victim. As he's boarding his plane, he calls the number and identifies himself, and is met by the voice of the Front Man urging him to just get on the plane. Instead, Gi-hun turns around and runs back into the airport, and the season ends.

What will Gi-hun do next? Can he stop the games? Can he save anyone? Trailers for Season 2 show Gi-hun back inside the games complex, so suffice to say his trip stateside was probably delayed, at least for a while.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Squid Game' Season 2 is coming; here's a recap of Season 1