Squid Game 2 is almost a rehash of the earlier season, discovers Deepa Gahlot.
When Korean series Squid Game came out in 2021, it went on to become the most watched show on Netflix. Soon enough, there was merchandise on sale, spin-offs and simulations that invariably follow such success.
The show was popular probably because it was a reflection of the world we live in, where the poor and vulnerable are considered disposable trash.
The creator of the brutal games in the show makes death a spectator sport for the amusement of the rich. Quite like war coverage on television.
Writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk was right in surmising that greed can turn people into animals, and so desensitised have we become to images of massacres on screen, that people dying in large numbers is not even scary. It is entertaining.
Social media flaunting of wealth and privilege seems to declare that a life without money is not worth living.
The first season laid out the setting of a group of desperate participants being taken to an island to play deadly versions of traditional Korean children’s games, orchestrated by thrill-seeking sadists.
If they win, they get unimaginable wealth. If they lose, they die.
Reminiscent of William Golding’s survivalist classic Lord Of The Flies, Japanese film Battle Royale and Hollywood’s Hunger Games, the show boasts of terrific production values that raises it miles above what it could have become: a jumped up Bigg Boss.
In the first season, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), after losing his job and racking up gambling debts, is approached by a mysterious stranger, promising him a bounty that will solve all his problems. All he has to do is play some games that require no particular skills.
Gi-hun is rendered unconscious and taken to a mysterious location with sterile walls and bunk beds, right out of a sci-fi nightmare.
The 455 other wretched men and women, hoping to rid themselves of debt, are guarded by masked and armed guards in magenta costumes resembling PPE kits that are still a visual memory of the COVID era.
They are told the rules: If they are not able to keep up, they are eliminated.
In the first game itself, the participants discover that elimination means death.
The rules state that players can vote to leave any time they want but a majority of them vote to stay on despite the risks.
The masked man in black, the Front Man, who runs the show, correctly understands that greed is the biggest motivator. For money, people will kill or die.
Gi-hun miraculously wins the games and returns with a huge sum. But instead of enjoying his fortune, in Season 2, that takes place two years later, he gets obsessed with hunting down the people who organise the games and stop them for good.
Realising that he has been dehumanised by the games, he uses his money to trace the Recruiter, who lured people to participate.
In a scene early in the show, the Recruiter offers a bunch of homeless a choice between bread and a lottery ticket.
Most choose the ticket and lose. Rather than let them eat the food they rejected, he stomps all over it.
Police officer Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) recovers from the attempted murder by his older brother, In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), the search for whom had taken him to the island, in Season 1, where he witnessed the diabolical games.
He joins hand with Gi-Hun to destroy the masterminds of the game.
It takes two episodes for Gi-hun and Jun-ho to plan their attack, which immediately goes wrong.
Having volunteered to participate in the games again, Gi-hun is trapped on the island, with the rescue team misdirected by the sinister Front Man and his evil crew.
Season 2 is almost a rehash of the earlier season with the same games and the same display of greed by participants who vote to stay on.
This time, they don’t get detailed back stories but over seven episodes, the various connections between characters are established.
But the characters are not that sympathetic this time round.
The addition is Gi-hun’s knowledge of the games, enabling him to save as many lives as he can, and the undercover presence of an antagonist.
After a point, before the blood-spilling eliminations even take place, the participants reduce themselves to savagery to get a larger share of the promised billions.
It is a microcosm of society outside, with the majority bullying a weaker minority and democracy being subverted by self-interest.
Season 2 ends with a cliffhanger, as a character says, ‘The game will not end unless the world changes.’
The world is not suddenly going to turn Utopian but Season 2 is just a cynical manipulation of the show’s fan base (pink jumpsuits as a fashion statement!), rather than a genuine fleshing out of the plot.
It was the stylish production design (candy coloured sets), superior soundtrack and performances that made Squid Games such a sensation.
But if Season 3 just offers more of the same artistically choreographed carnage, there is disappointment in store already.
Still, Lee Jung-jae, the first Asian star to win an Emmy for his performance, drives Squid Games 2 as its moral core, representing the small but strong group of people who stand up for what is right.
Squid Game 2 streams on Netflix.
Squid Game 2 Review Rediff Rating:
