With theSquid Gameflagship having completed its three-season run, we can look back upon the two rounds of the competition and discern some patterns.Things are obviously different in the games which coverSquid Gameseasons 2 and 3,just by virtue of Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a previous winner, being there.
But bySquid Gameseason 3’s ending,it’s clear that the organizers of the games have some specific strategiesto push the players to the brink and turn them against each other. However, the apparent callbacks amongSquid Game’s most tragic deathsand best characters also show the patterns that emerge when it comes to humans' worst nature, as well as their best.
11Red Light, Green Light
Same First Game To Show How Things Have Changed
Red Light, Green Light is presumably always the first game to cull the sheer number of players,and the reaction of panic and chaos is also probably always the same. In the first season, it serves as a horrifying, well-crafted moment of television where the true nature of the games is revealed.
The contrast to how the game plays out inSquid Gameseason 2 is fascinating and sets the stage for a new story. All things considered, Gi-hun did an admirable job of organizing everyone, preventing a significant number of deaths, and inspiring some camaraderie.
10Il-nam/In-ho
The Plant
We didn’t know it until theend ofSquid Gameseason 1, while we knew the whole time in season 2, buteach year of the games that Gi-hun participates in is one where an organizer of the games poses as a player.In both instances, that person is playing their own game.
In another instance of howSquid Gamecomments upon the powerful exploiting the powerless, Il-nam (O Yeong-su) plays in the games because even watching them isn’t enough at the end of his life, and he seemingly always had a system in place with the guards so he could get out whenever he wanted.
Meanwhile,knowing that the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) is part of the games the whole time adds another layer to the battlebeing waged between him and Gi-hun. The twist works better for season 1 when we are shocked by much of what is happening, while the dramatic irony is better for season 2 when we are already familiar with the story’s tone.
9Deok-su/Jeong-dae
The Bully
There is also always the one person who seems to thrive on intimidation and absolute confidence that they are going to win.Deok-su (Heo Sung-tae) in season 1 is the more archetypical version of this character,a gangster on the outside with physical strength on his side who assembles a “team” of others like him, taking out weaker players mercilessly.
Jeong-dae (Song Young-chang) has more of a crooked businessman characterization, having somehow amassed 10 billion won in debt, using cold logic to convince others to vote to continue, and also being happy to let others die. Thanos (T.O.P) also somewhat fulfills this narrative role in season 2 but ultimately poses a smaller threat than Jeong-dae.
8Tug-A-War/Mingle
Large Teams Game Where Someone HAS To Die
Technically, everyone could survive the first two games in both tournaments if they remained calm and accomplished a specific task. However,both Tug-a-War in season 1 and Mingle in season 2 stipulate that someone must die for others to live.
The competition is gradually bringing out the worst in the players, to generate more entertainment for the VIPs.
Both games also have players forming larger teams (briefly during each round of Mingle). Neither are the most twisted games, and it’s easier for people to ignore that they are physically responsible for someone’s death, but the competition is gradually bringing out the worst in the players, to generate more entertainment for the VIPs.
7Marbles/Hide-And-Seek
The Game That Turns Individuals Against Each Other
Which is why the chosen third games are strategically the ones that come before Marbles and Hide-and-Seek, both of which demand that players fight each other for their lives one-on-one. The seekers have to kill someone, and the hiders potentially have to kill to defend themselves, or still “kill” their competitors just by escaping.
Winning atMarbles means immediately condemning someone the player likely teamed up with because they are a friend to death.Both of these games are designed to be more intimate, and some players react to it with anguish, while others find twisted satisfaction.
By nature, these games result in some of the most devastating deaths in the show. Friends essentially give up their own lives to save the other person at Marbles or betray them horribly. ButHide-and-Seek is the most brutal when it involves killing people with a true weapon,rather than just winning a children’s game.
6Married Couple/Geum-ja & Yong-sik
The Family Affair
Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim) and Yong-sik’s (Yang Dong-geun) fates inSquid Gameseason 3 actually directly parallel a pair of unnamed characters in season 1,demonstrating exactly how the games break down real love in family relationships. In season 1, there is a married couple in the games who make it to Marbles and team up together.
Geum-ja kills her own son to protect Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), while the husband wins at Marbles against his wife. Both surviving characters take their own lives in the dorms the night after this game. While the games purport that they are providing players with an opportunity, some aren’t able to live with what they’ve been through.
5Stepping Stones/Jump Rope
Squid Game’s Visual Callback
The bridge that the players must cross for Jump Rope in season 3 is an obvious visual callback to the Stepping Stones bridge in season 1. At this point, many of the players have been forced to kill, so the high-rise setting ends up with some people cruelly being pushed over the edge.
Both settings are also dramatically revealed to the VIPs, who in both cases have arrived at this point. Stepping Stones and Jump Rope each facilitate the heightening drama as the games get closer to the end, with extra design flair just to impress the wealthy patrons.
4Mi-nyeo/Seon-nyeo
The (False) Prophet
In both of Gi-hun’s games, there is a player who invokes religion to protect them, or at least reassure them that everything will happen as it is meant to. However,Squid Gameseems more interested in engaging with the thematic implications of this when it comes to the shaman Seon-nyeo (Chae Gook-hee) in seasons 2 and 3 than Player 244 (Kim Si-hyun) in season 1.
YetSeon-nyeo still has a more similar characterization to Mi-nyeo (Kim Joo-ryoung),who survives up until Stepping Stones in season 1. Both women parade a lot of confidence that they can accomplish whatever they set out to do, even if they are faking it part of the time.
They also both have a bit of genuine insight mixed in with their apparent cluelessness. While Seon-nyeo cannot navigate her way through the maze, she does seem to predict Gi-hun’s fate.Mi-nyeo goes to her death with bravado, seeming to have accepted the truth of her fateand getting some revenge along the way.
3Sang-woo/Myung-gi
The Morally Gray, Gradually Corrupted Player
Both Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) and Myung-gi (Im Si-wan) are players who constantly walk the line between being morally sympathetic and being one of the most ruthless contestants there. There are points in their respective games where you sort of think they could be a hero, allying with and protecting other heroic-leaning players.
Both of these characters might be flawed but not evil people in the real world, but they react to the games exactly how the spectators want.
Neither seems like they enjoy killing others, but have convinced themselves that this is what is necessary in a dog-eat-dog world.Sang-woo gets something of a redemption while Myung-gi doesn’t, as the former allows Gi-hun to winwhile the latter is a threat to Gi-hun and the baby until the end.
The only redeeming quality Myung-gi has is his apparent desire to protect Jun-hee, but once she is gone, he stops pretending that he really wants to give up his life for the baby. Both of these characters might be flawed but not evil people in the real world, but they react to the games exactly how the spectators want, becoming more depraved with each round.
2The Squid Game
The Games End With A Heightened Version Of The Series' Namesake
The overall tournament is never actually called “the Squid Game,” but the Squid Game does come back around in both games, arguably only for the doylist reason of the show’s namesake needing to continue to be on display.We actually don’t necessarily know that some version of Squid Game is the final round every year,just the two years Gi-hun is there.
It brings everything full circle both times, consideringSquid Game’s opening scene. Like every children’s game repurposed for this show, this game is somewhat infantilizing but is blown way out of proportion when lives are at stake.
