13 Questions I Personally Need The New Season Of "Squid Game" To Answer
In an announcement that's sure to thrill both fans and the fake blood industry, Netflix confirmed earlier this week that its 2021 smash hit Squid Game is returning for a second season.
Writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote in a statement, "It took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game to life last year. But it took 12 days for Squid Game to become the most popular Netflix series ever." Both Gi-hun and the Front Man are definitely coming back, and Hwang teased the possible return of "the man in the suit with the ddakji."
I, along with the other 7.7 billion people on this planet, devoured the South Korean drama when it premiered in September. Now that I know for sure that we're all making a return visit to this candy-colored dystopia, I went back through the first season and rounded up all the questions I hope get answered in Season 2.
1.Is Gi-hun going to sign up to compete again, or will he try to bring down the games from the outside?
The last time we see Gi-hun, he tells one of the people behind the games that he cannot forgive them for what they've done to him and his fellow players. While the person he's speaking to encourages him to get on his flight, which will take him to Los Angeles and reunite him with his daughter, Gi-hun walks away from the plane and toward some sweet, sweet Season 2 revenge.
He's clearly being monitored, since the person he calls knows he's about to board a plane, so how will Gi-hun attempt to destroy the games that nearly destroyed him? Will they allow him to play again, in the hopes that they can eliminate him as a threat? Or will he have to find some other way of accessing the games, even if that means pretending he's on the Front Man's side?
2.And if he joins the games as a player again, how will he manage his new dye job's upkeep?
A shade of red that vibrant is going to demand some speciality shampoo, at the very least.
3.How did In-ho become the Front Man after winning the games a few years prior to the series' start?
During his undercover investigation, Jun-ho, the police officer who disguises himself as a guard, discovers that his "missing" older brother, In-ho, won the games. Then, he discovers that In-ho is the one behind the Front Man's terrifying mask. But before they can have a brotherly chat about this, In-ho shoots Jun-ho and sends him careening off a cliff.
So, uh, how did In-ho pull off this promotion? It doesn't seem likely that anyone leaves the games with overly fuzzy feelings about the whole ordeal, so was In-ho forced into his new position? Or did he accept it willingly out of a desire for the kind of power so many of the players never get to experience? Maybe he took the gig to screw over the last Front Man, who would've overseen his suffering on his path to victory.
4.Jun-ho isn't dead, right? Right?
OK, this is less of a question than it is a theory. Maybe it's the Television Cliffhanger Industrial Complex talking right now, but he was shot in the shoulder, which as we all know is pop culture code for "just a flesh wound," and he falls out of view into the water below. We never see his body, or a creepy doctor saying, "This guy? Totally dead."
That, combined with the fact that the character has an entire spinoff's worth of unfinished business with his traitorous older brother, leads me to believe that Jun-ho is coming back.
5.And is anyone going to explain how, over the course of multiple days of investigation, his phone didn't die?
In addition to being a searing indictment of exploitation within capitalism, this show is great free advertising for Low Power Mode.
6.Are the guards prisoners themselves, and if so, why?
While he's posing as one, Jun-ho gets a firsthand look at how the worker bees that keep the Squid Game hive a-buzzin' aren't exactly living the dream. Every second of their day is regimented, they're put to death if they show a player their face or interfere in the games, and when they aren't working, they're held in tiny cells monitored by cameras. It doesn't seem like a life anyone would willingly sign up for, so is it just another way to pay off their debt?
7.Are all the guards as young as the one Player 119 unmasks?
He's understandably horrified when he realizes how young the guard is, and he asks the exact question that I hope Season 2 answers about the guards: What did they do to them?
8.Will the games in this round be the same as the ones that Gi-hun and his compatriots played?
In Season 1, the characters played Red Light, Green Light, dalgona, tug-of-war, marbles, glass stepping stones, and squid game. What are the odds that in Season 2, the new players have to solve a Rubik's Cube, or keep a Tamagotchi alive, or successfully bake literally anything in an Easy-Bake Oven?
9.Are we going to learn more about these jerks?
The VIPs are wealthy foreign guests for whom the games function as a sick diversion from their day-to-day routine of Being the Absolute Worst. Is their patronage what keeps the games up and running? And how did they learn about it in the first place? It's kind of a tricky thing to pitch. Unless you're already the Worst, which, as we know, they are.
10.Will we hear more about the games held in other countries?
One of the VIPs compliments the Front Man on the fact that Korea's games are the finest murder pageant in the world, implying that other countries are hosting their own versions of the same event. How widespread is this practice? Do other countries stick to the children's games format, or does it change based on the location?
11.Will we see Sae-byeok's younger brother and Sang-woo's mother again?
Gi-hun leaves Kang Cheol, Sae-byeok's little brother, in the care of Sang-woo's mother, who soon discovers that the suitcase Gi-hun gave her is filled with an exorbitant amount of cash. Will we see this found family again? Will the games try to mess with them? The games better not try to mess with them.
12.Will the next group of contestants realize that all the games are printed on the walls?
I know they had a lot going on, but it's honestly shocking that after the beds were removed, none of the remaining players looked around and said, "Goddammit, seriously?"
13.And finally: Will the biggest star of 2021, aka Young-hee, aka this murder doll, make a return appearance?
In his letter to the fans, Hwang wrote, "You'll also be introduced to Young-hee's boyfriend, Cheol-su." So we know that she's in a committed relationship, presumably with another animatronic death machine, but not if she's letting him take over for a round.
Mark my words: By the time this series is over, these dolls will have an EGOT.