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Squid Game 2 review: Lee Jung Jae, Lee Byung Hun are the saving grace in a mash of hasty endings and predictable twists
Squid Game has returned with a brand-new season featuring Lee Jung Jae, Lee Byung Hun, Wi Ha Joon, and new cast members Park Sung Hoon, Park Gyu Young, Lee Jin Wook, Kang Ha Neul, Im Si Wan, Jo Yuri, and more. Here’s our review:
Squid Game Season 2 finally premiered three years after the original release. However, the anticipation only began after news of the new season was confirmed. Before that, most viewers were satisfied with how the first season ended. It was perfect as a standalone story, with an apt conclusion featuring Lee Jung Jae—the main protagonist, Player 456—winning the 45.6 billion KRW after a neck-and-neck battle.
However, Squid Game has now fallen into one of Hollywood's worst habits: stretching stories to increase profits. The satirical survival series—a sharp critique of Korea’s class system—failed to meet some expectations with its new season.
Squid Game Season 2 Full Review
- Name: Squid Game Season 2
- Premiere date: December 26, 2024
- Cast: Lee Jung Jae, Lee Byung Hun, Wi Ha Joon, Gong Yoo, Park Sung Hoon, Kang Ha Neul, Im Siwan, T.O.P, Jo Yuri
- Director: Hwang Dong Hyuk
- Writer: Hwang Dong Hyuk
- Number of episodes: 7
- Genre: Survival, Thriller, Action
- Where to watch: Netflix
Squid Game Season 2 plot
Season 2 begins three years after Seong Gi Hun won a staggering 45.6 billion KRW as Player 456 in the Squid Game. However, in all these years, he has barely touched the ‘blood money’ that carries the haunting memories of other players’ painful deaths. Consumed by guilt, Gi Hun has spent his time seeking redemption, which, over time, transforms into a thirst for vengeance. Determined to destroy the game once and for all, he has spent the last three years crafting the perfect plan.
Gi Hun teams up with one of the loan sharks he owed money to and employs many others willing to do anything for the right price. His ultimate goal is to find the salesman (played by Gong Yoo) who lures people into the game.
One fateful day, after three long years, his men finally track down the salesman playing Ddakji with another unsuspecting victim at the subway. Gi Hun chases him, and the encounter ends in a bloody confrontation, with the salesman ultimately taking his own life. The next chapter begins when Jun Ho (Wi Ha Joon), thought to be dead after being shot by the Frontman, makes an unexpected return after a miraculous recovery.
Season 1 already revealed that the Frontman, In Ho (Lee Byung Hun), is none other than Jun Ho’s older brother. All this time, Jun Ho has been searching for a way back to the island, where In Ho is still orchestrating the deadly games.
When Jun Ho and Seong Gi Hun finally reunite, they devise a foolproof scheme to infiltrate the island. However, as expected, things go awry, and Gi Hun ends up returning to the game as Player 456, this time determined to destroy it from the inside. Meanwhile, Jun Ho and his team search for the island, unaware that one of their own is leaking their whereabouts to the game’s creators.
Back in the game, Gi Hun tries to convince the other players to leave, only to fail again and again, just as he did in the first season. Things take an unexpected turn when In Ho (the Frontman) disguises himself as Player 001, joining Gi Hun on a wild ride filled with blood and betrayal.
Squid Game Season 2's wins
The creators of the series tried their best to follow the nuanced and satirical storytelling—a bold commentary on social and class discrimination in South Korea. The survival series received much praise for its unfiltered portrayal of gore and bloodbaths in Season 1, which has definitely increased in the new episodes.
The action sequences are mind-blowing, with skilled camerawork that won’t let you blink. Inclusivity is something the Squid Game creators have been passionate about since the very first episode in 2021. In this new season, Hyun Joo (Park Sung Hoon), a trans woman trying to fund her surgery, replaced Abdul Ali (Anupam Tripathi).
Squid Game 2 performance review
I have quite a few issues with the new season of Squid Game, but what truly stands out for me is the acting. Every actor delivers their role flawlessly, regardless of whether their part is major or minor.
Lee Jung Jae’s performance is particularly outstanding. In the first season, he was Seong Gi Hun from Ssangmun-dong, a financially desperate, divorced dad trying to find a way to keep his daughter with him and admit his sick mom to the hospital. Three years have passed since then. His mom has died, and we can only assume his daughter is already in the US with her mom and stepdad.
Seong Gi Hun has undergone a significant transformation—the loss of his friends in the game, the overwhelming guilt, the pain, and the desire for revenge have all taken a toll on him. He has traded his once carefree and humorous nature for these intense emotions. Lee Jung Jae brilliantly embodies this evolved character, paying attention to every subtle detail. The shift from Seong Gi Hun to Player 456 is a feat that only a talented actor like him can achieve.
Season 2’s newest attraction is Lee Byung Hun. In Season 1, he didn’t have much to do with his face, as it was covered by a unique black mask. But in Season 2, he is no longer the Frontman but rather a player in the game. His presence in these new episodes reminds us of Oh Il Nam. He has only one intention: to stop Gi Hun from playing the hero, and he does it in his own way.
Lee Byung Hun is just brilliant. He never overexpresses but still portrays everything he needs to through detailed microexpressions. His character is complicated, and his presence is confusing. Is he a friend or a foe? Viewers will change their minds about him multiple times throughout the course of Season 2, and Lee Byung Hun deserves a standing ovation for that.
Park Sung Hoon surprised me the most. He has delivered a new level of performance that shall be remembered for a long time. Former BIGBANG member T.O.P is equally brilliant as a self-absorbed, junkie rapper, Thanos.
Kang Na Eul, Lee Jin Wook, Park Gyu Young, Jo Yuri, Im Siwan, and others didn’t really have much to do but rather just played along with the subplots and Lee Jung Jae’s plans.
Squid Game Season 2's losses
The first three episodes of this new season are just plain unnecessary. I must say, the creators really struggled to merge all the subplots before the real game began once again. In particular, Jun Ho and Seong Gi Hun’s reunion felt too inorganic. The salesman's ending just didn’t sit well with me.
The new season starts to get interesting after Gi Hun returns to the game. But soon, it feels like repetitive storytelling with rehashed templates from Season 1—a dear friend’s heart-wrenching death, another North Korean defector with family back home, a thug and his minions, Player 456 trying to convince others to leave the game and failing, not to mention the same pattern of bloodbaths.
One of the most unsatisfying parts is In Ho entering the game as a player. He is definitely Gi Hun’s archnemesis, yet the creators unnecessarily try to confuse the viewers, even though his betrayal is very predictable from the beginning.
There are also some major plot holes—how did Seong Gi Hun fail to recognize In Ho as the Frontman? The signs were there from the start, especially considering he had already been betrayed once by Oh Il Nam. It’s hard to believe that someone so determined to fight the heads behind the game could be so careless and oblivious about his surroundings.
The ending felt inorganically abrupt as if it was too desperately trying to hook viewers for Season 3.
Squid Game Season 2 final verdict
Except for some standout performances by the brilliant cast, Squid Game Season 2 has nothing new to offer. In fact, the episodes feel like an unnecessary stretch, clearly setting up another season. Season 3 has some major cleanup to do. It has to be much better than this; otherwise, Squid Game risks becoming one of those multi-season Hollywood series that keeps renewing just for the sake of viewership.
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