Squid Game Season 2 Finale Recap: Whose Tragic Death Teed Up Next Year’s Final Season? — Plus, Grade It!
The following contains spoilers from all seven episodes of Squid Game Season 2, now streaming on Netflix.
Player 456 — and all of Squid Game Season 2, for that matter — went out guns a-blazing, in a white-knuckle finale that had you on the edge of your seat, only to leave you (and Gi-hun) hanging until the third and final season rolls around sometime in 2025.
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Coming out of the brutal men’s bathroom brawl, which left Thanos and four others dead, Team X did a quick recount to determine which side (truly) lost more votes. But ahead of any re-vote, a long, dangerous night lay ahead, given the escalated tensions and each side’s inclination to (ahem) thin the opposition’s ranks.
Gi-hun and Player 001 debated about whether to proactively attack the other side during the night, rather than just be sitting ducks. Gi-hun argued that “once we capture the man in the black mask” — meaning, the very guy he is unwittingly talking to! — “we will be able to win.”
In short, Gi-hun’s idea is this: Let Team O attack during the night, while he, Player 001 and Jung-Bae (390) hide beneath the bunks. “A small sacrifice for the greater good” and all that. Then, once the armed guards are sent into the dorm to calm things down — after all, they need some players to survive/continue on — Gi-hun & Co., playing “dead,” will get the jump on the guards, seize their weapons, and lead a storming of the control room… wherever it is!
The plan is successful to a surprising degree, leaving Team X well-armed. After Hyun-ju (Player 120), once a sergeant in the ROK Special Forces, leads everyone in a quick tutorial on using the automatic weapons, they begin winding their way through the day-glo staircases, with a hostage guard leading the way. They survive one early ambush from guards arriving at a higher balcony. Then, just as the hostage realizes that the Front Man is posing as Player 001, he is shot before he can remark on it, during a second firefight. Gi-hun and Jung-bae split off to “seek out management,” leaving Player 001 and the others behind to fend off the latest ambush.
Hyun-ju and the others soon run low on ammo, so jittery Dae-ho is deployed to run back to the dorm and fish clips from the dead guards’ jumpsuit pockets. Alas, soon as he does so… he freezes up, and winds up cowering in a corner of the dorm with the stash of ammo.
Meanwhile, off-island somewhere in the ocean… Captain Park, who has been helping Jun-ho and his increasingly small army search for Gi-hun, is caught tinkering with (sabotaging) the drone that nearly found the compound earlier that day. Met with suspicion by the drone’s pilot, the captain kills the man during a loud, nighttime storm, and lobs him overboard — and then lies about his activities when others step out onto the deck.
Back in the game compound hallways… Player 001 kills the two teammates he was skulking around with, then radios Gi-hun to lie, “I’m sorry. They got us.“ The Front Man then changes radio channels and orders his minions to “start wrapping things up.”
After not hearing back from Dae-ho, and with few bullets left, Hyun-ju makes a break for the dorm and retrieves the clips, but a new crop of armed guards arrive to detain her and all others. Meanwhile in the day-glo halls, other Team X members surrender… but are shot dead regardless.
Gi-hun and Jung-bae, having fallen just shy of storming the control room, also surrender — to the masked Front Man, who comes marching down the stairs flanked by guards. To Player 456, the Front Man asks, “Did you enjoy little hero game?” He then demonstrates for Gi-hun the “consequences” of his bold actions, by killing Jung-bae right in front of him. Gi-hun breaks down, sobbing… his saga to be continued/concluded in Season 3.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S A SMIDGEN MORE! Because in a mid-credits scene, we get a glimpse of Season 3 — namely, three players (096, 100 and 353) walking beneath “Red Light, Green Light” doll dubbed Young Hee, plus a peek at her equally creeeeeepy “boyfriend,” Cheo-lsu.
What might those visuals mean for Season 3? As Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told our sister site Variety, “the hidden clip after the ending credits roll after the last episode of Season 2 [offers] a slight hint as to where Season 3 might take you.”
Want scoop on Squid Game Season 3, or for any other TV show ? Shoot an email to [email protected], and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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