When “Squid Game” was released on Netflix in 2021, it took the world by storm. Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, the acclaimed Korean survival drama spurred plenty of social media chatter, viral challenges and even Halloween costumes on its way to becoming the streamer’s most-watched show ever.
On Thursday, the Emmy-winning series returns for round two. Season 2 will once again follow Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) as he makes his way back to the deadly contest after surviving and winning the big cash prize the last time he played. But this time, his goal isn’t to climb out of debt: Gi-hun wants to take out the mastermind and end the games forever.
The first time around, the series was hailed as a brutal critique of economic exploitation and capitalist society thanks to its depiction of the contestants’ backstories, as well as its focus on how the economically downtrodden are treated by others regardless of the reason for their circumstances. The deadly games are only possible because the future is bleak for so many.
To prepare for “Squid Game” Season 2 after a three-year hiatus, here is a quick refresher on the key players and events from Season 1.
The mysterious Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), center, oversees the deadly contest in “Squid Game.”
(No Ju-han / Netflix)
What is ‘Squid Game’?
“Squid Game” is a Korean-language series about a secret game that involves a group of debt-ridden contestants assembled to compete in a series of deadly children’s games for the chance to win a large cash prize. Contestants who lose or break the rules are killed until only one winner remains.
Why is it called ‘Squid Game’?
The series takes its name from a children’s game played on a sort of court that resembles a squid. The game involves kids being split into two teams, with one team trying to stop the other from getting from one side of the squid to the other. In Season 1, the two final contestants competed in a one-on-one version of squid game to determine the winner.
Who are the contestants?
Season 1 featured 456 contestants, all of whom wear numbered tracksuits. In addition to Seong Gi-hun (contestant 456), who was introduced as a divorced gambler and deadbeat dad, the other competitors included Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo), Gi-hun’s childhood friend. Over the course of the games, Gi-hun also befriended Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon), a young North Korean defector trying to raise her younger brother, and Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su), an elderly man with a brain tumor who was secretly the creator of the games.
Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) returns to the deadly games in “Squid Game” Season 2.
(No Ju-han / Netflix)
What children’s games do they play?
In addition to the final round of squid game, Season 1 saw the contestants take on five other deadly games. The first was red light, green light, in which people were killed for failing to stay still.
The next was a round in which contestants were tasked with punching out specific shapes from a dalgona cookie — a honeycomb toffee-like sweet made from caramelized sugar and baking soda — using a needle within a limited time and without breaking it.
The third round saw contestants join together in a group to compete against another in a game of tug-of-war. The losing team fell to their death.
The next involved contestants going one-on-one in a marble game of their choice. The players who lost their marbles (or did not complete the game) were killed.
And the second-to-last game involved contestants having to travel across bridges made of glass without breaking weaker panels and falling to their death.
Did anybody else survive?
Gi-hun was the only contestant to survive, but he did briefly meet with Oh Il-nam in the outside world before the latter died from his illness.
The man (Gong Yoo) who recruits contestants for the games.
(No Ju-han / Netflix)
Who are the other players?
Besides the contestants, “Squid Game” also offered a glimpse of those involved behind the scenes. The games are entertainment for wealthy, mysterious and masked VIPs who wager on which contestant will win. There is also the mysterious overseer of the games known as Front Man, who is revealed to be Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), a past winner of the games and the brother of police officer Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon). In Season 1, Jun-ho infiltrates the games undercover in order to investigate what happened to his brother. The brothers are briefly reunited before Jun-ho is shot and presumed dead.
What did Gi-hun do after winning the game?
Gi-hun used his winnings to take care of his loved ones and those of his friends who died in the games. He picked up Sae-byeok’s younger brother from an orphanage and left him in the care of Sang-woo’s mother along with a suitcase full of cash. While on his way to meet his daughter in the U.S., he saw a man getting recruited to play the game in the same way he was and decides to go back for revenge against the organizers.