Squid Game Season-Finale Recap: Don’t Hate the Player
Playtime is over. All season long, Squid Game has been asking us to think critically about the merits of majority rule, and Gi-hun is finally done waiting for the democratic process to work for him. After the third vote ends in a tie, he tries to end the game by staging a violent rebellion that serves as the focus of the second half of this finale. We have no choice but to just watch with a sense of dread as he and his recruits undertake what we know to be a futile task (not least because the guy they’re looking for is right next to them).
Plenty of questions I’ve had throughout the season remain unanswered. Why did In-ho become the Front Man, and what will he and Jun-ho do if they meet again? We don’t have any new insight into the curiously absent VIPs and what it would realistically take to shut their dehumanizing hobby down. A reveal that Captain Park messed with the rescue team’s drone and is willing to kill someone to cover that up only raises more questions. Plus, we now have to wait to find out Gi-hun was kept alive and whether he’ll learn In-ho’s true identity or reunite with any of his allies still in the game. I didn’t want or expect Squid Game to have no loose ends heading into its third and final season, but it would’ve been nice to get just one or two more answers alongside all the carnage that felt pretty inevitable.
“Friend or Foe” picks back up in the bathroom where Myung-gi stabs Thanos until he becomes one of the five people who die in the brawl. The Xs now outnumber the Os, 48 to 47. But that might not be true when they vote again the next day because both Gi-hun and the game staff (correctly) anticipate that fights to the death will break out once the lights go out.
Gi-hun is now fully acting like the military council commander that is coming up with strategies for war. Under this framework, the Xs have a greater civilian population to defend, because they have more women and elderly people who can’t fight. In-ho suggests that the Xs go on the offensive to take the Os by surprise, but General Gi-hun says they should instead redirect their energy at the people running and watching the game. He wants all of X’s best fighters to hide and then play dead, using the element of surprise to snatch weapons from the pink soldiers who will come scan their trackers.
Gi-hun has definitely returned to the game with a new, more cynical mindset. But I think some of his idealism and naiveté from season one still manifests in his confidence that there’s a fairly quick way to dismantle this stand-in game for capitalism. He believes they can shut Squid Game down by capturing Front Man. But wouldn’t an operation this organized have an established chain of succession? It’s hard to imagine all the skilled snipers in the pink soldier army surrendering to a much smaller group just because the Front Man was compromised. As for the VIPs, we learned last season that they have secret escape routes — including that scuba passageway for the organ harvesters — that can be blown up afterward to deter pursuit.
Once the Os attack and kick off the “special game,” flickering lights illuminate scene after scene of gore. Gi-hun and his team stay hidden underneath the beds, doing nothing to help their screaming fellow Xs. It’s particularly horrifying when one woman looks in his direction as she bleeds out right next to him. Elsewhere, a shaking Min-su watches Nam-gyu attacking Se-mi with the help of the fork and the pills he took from Thanos’s corpse. Min-su drops a glass bottle from above, perhaps in an attempt to make up for betraying her in the last game. But Min-su ends up hyperventilating as Nam-gyu stabs her to death anyway.
Gi-hun has acknowledged that innocent people will have to die for his plan to work, framing the casualties as a necessary sacrifice to prevent even more deaths. The first part of his plan goes perfectly. There are no casualties, though In-ho does save Gi-hun’s life by shooting a soldier who was aiming their gun at him. The rebels also unmask a young soldier who didn’t retreat fast enough. Gi-hun tells Player 47 that pointing a gun at the Os is wrong, even though they murdered people. He has no problem holding the young soldier at gunpoint, but that’s mostly because he wants instructions about how to find the Front Man and the control room. As we learned when he called the Recruiter a dog in the premiere, Gi-hun’s less interested in people who just follow orders. He reserves his disdain for their masters.
Only a few Xs answer Gi-hun and Jung-baes’s call for people to join their cause. (Myung-gi and Yong-sik are both stopped by the women in their lives.) All of the rebels could’ve tried to end the game by fighting to protect the X majority vote when the lights went out, but they’re instead risking their lives on their own terms and taking a moral stand against the game’s very existence. So this isn’t only about survival; it’s also about principle. No wonder the music during the recruitment scene sounds like something you’d hear during an inspirational movie montage.
Once the rebels break out of the sleeping area, the masked officer in the control room begins deploying soldiers. It turns out that the colorful stairs actually offer plenty of tactical spaces to duck for cover. Rebel morale initially seems good, with the glaring exception of Dae-ho. While he’s always seemed so loud and proud about his military experience, we know that Dae-ho joined the Marines because his dad wanted him to be more of a man. Even the meaning of his name, “strong tiger,” seems to reflect an external expectation of what type of person he should be. But in practice, it’s very clear that he doesn’t enjoy combat. He’s horrified when a dead teammate’s blood gets on him. And as someone with no firearms experience, even I can tell that he’s wasting bullets by shooting backward over his head without looking.
Meanwhile, Gi-hun’s unmasked hostage is shot by a fellow soldier — shortly after making loaded eye contact with In-ho. But he’s already told Gi-hun that his mask grants access to the management area where the control room is. Gi-hun asks Jung-bae to split off from the rest of the rebels and search with him. Like Jung-bae, I’m curious as to why Gi-hun wouldn’t want In-ho (or just a couple more people in general) for this crucial phase of the mission. Gi-hun’s answer is … friendship. What the hell, sure. But it’s eventually clear that these besties could use some reinforcements. Although In-ho initially says the Xs should hold off on following, he later joins two other teammates in responding to Jung-bae and Gi-hun’s call for backup.
But without a replenished supply of bullets, the rebels are fighting a losing battle. A shell-shocked Dae-ho insists that he, not Hyun-ju, should go back and get ammo from the dead soldiers in the sleeping area. But the violence has taken its toll on Dae-ho. He starts to head back toward the sound of gunshots, but can’t follow through. I don’t think there’s any shame in realizing that he doesn’t want to fight anymore, but it would’ve been nice if he communicated that sooner. Hyun-ju ends up heading to the sleeping area to see what’s going on, but could’ve saved precious time by escorting him back and then leaving with ammo in one trip.
Over in the management area, In-ho finally reveals his true loyalties, shooting his teammates. He pretends to die with them while speaking to Gi-hun on the radio, then switches communication channels and instructs staff to wrap things up.
Our rebels now have to decide if they want to go down fighting. Hyun-ju has retrieved the ammo from an apologetic Dae-ho, but soldiers rush into the room before she leaves. She’s steeling herself from a hiding spot to take on everyone alone, but pauses when a trembling Geum-ja tells her that she can’t die like this. Back at the staircases, Player 324 decides to shoot himself rather than allow a soldier to do it. Player 145 convinces Prince Charming to surrender, but they’re both gunned down anyway. (No, who’s going to take care of Prince Charming’s daughter now?!) Realizing that they’re out of options, Jung-bae and Gi-hun also put their hands over their heads.
In-ho has done a quick change into his Front Man attire, and asks if Gi-hun’s had fun. “Look closely at the consequences of your little hero game,” he says and then shoots Jung-bae. If that line sounds familiar, it’s because In-ho is repeating his warning that Gi-hun would regret trying to play the hero back during the limo ride on Halloween. Essentially, he’s played the long game just to get the chance to say “I told you so” and walk away from a wailing Gi-hun. This is probably such a satisfying ending for him. And hey, I’m glad at least one of us feels that way. I know I’m gonna be restless until Squid Game’s expected return sometime in 2025.
Parting Shots
• A short mid-credits scene appears to confirm that the Os have won the vote to play another game because we see players entering some sort of railroad-crossing set. Young-hee the doll is standing across from her boyfriend, Chul-soo (her other half in the elementary school textbooks that Koreans likely recognize her from).
• So this isn’t Captain Park’s first murder, yeah? He seems way too calm after stabbing the drone pilot and pushing him overboard in the rain. My guess is that his boat is the destination of the scuba-diving soldiers involved in the organ harvesting scheme or that he works for Squid Game in some other capacity. On the other hand, earlier in the season, he seemed to be fishing for info from Woo-seok that someone who was very involved in the game would already know, so maybe he’s just an opportunistic outsider.
• When it comes down to it, Jun-hee and Myung-gi clearly still care about each other. I don’t know that they should get back together, though if they do, that’d be a crazy story to tell their kid one day. Speaking of, I keep wondering if Jun-hee is going to go into labor soon. How would the game handle that?
• Winner of the episode: Hyun-ju. Honestly, Gi-hun would’ve been better off asking her to lead this whole operation. As a former sergeant first class of a special forces unit, she teaches the team how to use their guns and has the foresight (and the aim) to take out security cameras as they go.
• Loser of the episode: Gi-hun, because this is pretty much his worst-case scenario — most of his fellow rebels are dead and the game’s still running. Also, us, because we have to end on a cliffhanger!