After more than half the players were killed during the first game last episode, the rest of the players rebel, but of course are no match for the armed guards - and are kindly informed they can't leave the games ... unless, that is, more than half the players decide to cancel the games. Of course that would mean losing a fortune in prize money. It's put to a fair vote, and the quitter camp win by just one vote. But returning to the "real" world only means being confronted with the same problems as before, maybe even more so: Dementia-plagued Oh Il-nam (Oh Yeong-so) still sees his mind shutting down with really nowhere to go, pickpocket Kang Sae-byeok (Hoyeon), a fugitive from North Korea, is still short on money to get her parents out of the country, small-fry gangster Jang Deok-su (Heo Sung-tae) is betrayed by his own right-hand man and almost killed by the Filipino mafia, and pretend successful businessman Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) learns he's actually wanted by the police for fraud, and naive but good-natured migrant worker Ali (Anupam Tripathi) accidently squashes his boss's (Kim Seo-ha) hand after a salary dispute ...

Now when out, the hero of the piece Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) tries to report the whole story to the police, but his story is just too wild for anybody to believe it - anybody but detective Hwang (Wi Ha-joon) who thinks his brother might have perished in the games. But when he tries to get Gi-hun to work with him, he's turned down as Gi-hun has problems of his own: In his absence, his mother (Kim Young-ok) has been taken to the hospital for untreated diabetes and might lose both legs if she doesn't have surgery - surgery Gi-hun can't afford, and nobody can lend him the money. He's so desperate he even tries to get the money from his ex-wife (Kang Mal-Geum), but to no avail ...

Now fortunately (?) for all the players who might regret their decision to quit, the option to resume the games has been left open if more than half the players decide to return. All of the above decide to do so and are soon shipped back to the island the games take place ...

It's only episode 2 of Squid Game, and already the series manages to surprise again: After last episode has pushed the audience into an absurd, slightly surreal, and very violent world, this episode above all shows there's actually a pretty simple way out - to really ask the question what's so desirable about the "real" world - and use this as a backdoor way to introduce us to the main characters of course, as the first episode was mostly focused on Seong Gi-hun. And even if some of the story feels a little exaggerated, this method works fine, and it in the end feels relatable that these people want to re-join the deadly games. And it leaves the audience wanting more.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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