‘Squid Game' Season 3 Review: Netflix's Once-Thrilling Smash Limps to an Unsatisfying Finish
There are some series that work so well as one-and-dones that it's hard to imagine what could possibly be gained creatively from pressing onward with a second season. Sometimes, those seemingly unnecessary renewals nevertheless yield pleasant surprises: Barry got only darker and weirder as it went on, White Lotus successfully expanded itself into a globe-trotting anthology, and so on.
Other times, however, that initial skepticism proves justified. The second round of Netflix's South Korean sleeper hit Squid Game was a thudding step down from the first, rehashing most of the same themes and story beats at a slower pace with fewer insights. But it also delivered only half a season's worth of plot, planting bombs to be detonated later and then cutting off just as things got truly intense. A reasonable person might have hoped a third season could provide enough payoff to make at least some of those stumbles worthwhile.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Charlize Theron's 'Old Guard 2' Mullet Made Her Daughters Cry: "They Want Mom to Look Like a Princess"
Bert Kreischer to Topline Netflix Sitcom
'Ice Road: Vengeance' Review: Liam Neeson Returns for a Forgettable Sequel to an Already Forgotten Action Flick
Alas. It brings me no pleasure to report that the third and thankfully last of Squid Game seasons only confirms that we, like Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), should've left that cursed island behind for good after his first victory.
Season three picks up in the immediate aftermath of season two, as the last few rebels from Gi-hun's violent uprising are put down and their bodies cleaned up. Gi-hun himself is not among the dead, though that fact gives him no relief. The man who returns to the dorms is one so flattened by grief and guilt that he snaps to life only to scream at the guards to just kill him already.
They don't, of course. Nor are the surviving contestants moved to reconsider his earlier pleas to choose to quit. So the game, and Squid Game, proceed as usual, hurtling contestants through deadly high-stakes versions of hide-and-seek, jump rope and something the organizers term 'Sky Squid Game,' which is essentially a shoving match atop dizzyingly high columns.
But the thrill is gone, even if the VIPs — yes, they are back, and their bizarrely stilted line readings along with them — try to convince us otherwise. The voting is 'more exciting than the actual games!' one declares, as if responding to viewer complaints that the voting took up too much time in season two. 'This just keeps getting more and more interesting!' another announces late in this season, like we might start to believe them if they just say it loudly enough.
It doesn't work. While creator Hwang Dong-hyuk still has a few more nasty tricks up his sleeve — including one final twist of the knife so cruel I gasped when I realized what was happening — its latest run is too short on surprise and emotion and too long on misery and, well, length.
Its main thematic target is once again the unjustness of our modern capitalist system, this time with a specific and sometimes devastatingly shrewd eye toward how the pretense of democracy can paper over unspeakable cruelty. 'In accordance with your free and democratic vote, the next game will resume tomorrow,' the participants are informed after each vote to keep playing, as if there could be anything 'free' about such a choice being made in a system rigged by distant elites and enforced by faceless thugs. In one of the season's most darkly hilarious moments, a player apologetically informs another that the others have voted to sacrifice him. 'Please forgive me, but we're going to need you to die,' he pleads, invoking majority rule in a futile attempt to erase his own complicity and the man's desire to live.
But season three is an awfully long way to go for those occasional bits of wisdom, and a largely unpleasant one besides. Squid Game has never been a 'nice' show by any standard. Early on, however, its grimness was tempered by a deep empathy for the people trapped in this maze, and the occasional flickers of hope that compassion and connection might arise even under the harshest of climates; part of what made that initial outing so fascinatingly queasy was the tension between how bad we felt for the characters' suffering and how entertaining it was to watch.
Now, it's gloom and doom all the way down. The show is still great at coming up with new and creative ways to torture its characters (one twist involving a baby is as viscerally upsetting as it seems logistically implausible), but less so at digging into their humanity. And without the latter, the former starts to feel like misery for misery's sake.
If the new players introduced in season two felt disappointingly thin, season three makes no attempt to flesh them out any further. It's a miscalculation that limits our investment not just in clearly odious figures like sadistic Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won) or greedy Jeong-dae (Song Young-chang), but also in sympathetic souls like trans soldier Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) and expectant mother Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri). Aside from Gi-hun, now a strong silent type with no remaining trace of his old gregariousness, the one thing all of them have in common is that they seem more like pieces being pushed around a chess board than complicated human beings with agency and interiority.
In lieu of character and relationship work, Squid Game season three offers heaps and heaps of plot. But while there are a few bright spots — chief among them the bits of levity offered by slightly goofy, occasionally clever and generally lovable loan shark Woo-seok (Jeon Seok-ho) — the pace is lumbering. Painstaking efforts by guard No-eul (Park Gyu-young) to save a player she knows from the outside, the interminable quest by ex-cop Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) to find the island, and the frequent cuts back to the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) in his fancy chair and the VIPs in their luxury suites only drag the proceedings in the arena out further, while adding little in the way of new information, emotional impact or thematic depth.
By the time Squid Game finally crawls over the finish line, there's no sense of the triumph you might get from completing a really good story — only of relief that this entire grueling experience is finally over. The series has one last jolt to offer on its way out, one that could just be a fun little bow to tie the whole thing together or the start of yet another new spinoff chapter. For its sake and our own, let's hope it's the former. The kindest thing to offer this universe now might be a mercy killing.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series
22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History
A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gizmodo
an hour ago
- Gizmodo
‘The Old Guard 2' Cast on Making a Sequel That Bleeds, Thinks, and Fights Harder
On July 2, Netflix and Skydance will finally unleash The Old Guard 2, the long-awaited sequel to the 2020 action hit starring Charlize Theron as an immortal warrior protecting humanity. Ahead of the release, io9 caught up with returning stars KiKi Layne, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Marwan Kenzari, as well as franchise newcomer Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians, Snake Eyes), to talk about stepping back into the brutal, secretive world of the Image Comics universe and what it took to bring its next chapter to life. Isaiah Colbert, io9: Nile's evolution from a wide-eyed recruit to a seasoned immortal takes center stage in this movie. What aspects of her growth—whether through the grit of her action sequences or the deepening bonds with her team—were the most rewarding for you to bring to life? KiKi Layne: For sure Nile's growth physically. The stunts I got to do, the choreography, having a weapon, that was really fun to push my physicality to new levels for the second film. That was definitely the highlight for me for Nile's journey this time around. io9: Joe and Nicky's bond continues to anchor the heart of this story. How did you and Luca Marinelli navigate the evolution of their dynamic, balancing their centuries-old intimacy with a renewed sense of purpose as they face the film's escalating threats together? Marwan Kenzari: To be honest with you, we are developing our friendship off-set. We're talking constantly. If [Marinelli] is in his trailer, I'll visit him. We'll sit and spend an hour or two together talking about so many different things and aspects of life that we, ultimately, automatically brought that [with us] when the camera's rolling. That's just a gift that we have. We don't have to pretend that we love each other. I genuinely love this man. That makes it a lot easier to do the job. io9: Since the first film, Copley has transformed from a reluctant ally to a mortal fighting shoulder to shoulder with immortals as an integral member of the crew. How did stepping into that more physically demanding role—while still carrying the weight of his humanity—challenge or deepen your performance this time around? Chiwetel Ejiofor: I enjoyed it. In the first one, I was a little bummed that I was standing on the edge of all the action. They got to get involved [and] have all the fun. I was really excited when I was reading the script, and it was like, 'Oh, Copley gets into this now?' That's great. He needs a tap on the shoulder sometimes—people tell him he's not immortal, too. I love the idea of him—not just in the technical sense—helping the team organize and deal with the operations using his skillset. The actual getting onto the field and really getting stuck in is a really great addition to Copley's character. io9: Tuah marks your entry into an ensemble stacked with action heavyweights. Coming off your lead role in Snake Eyes, you're no stranger to intense choreography, but how did you find your rhythm within this team? And were there any moments on set that reminded you just how physically demanding The Old Guard's world can be in comparison to G.I. Joe's? Henry Golding: I was a big fan of the first film. I think that opening sequence down in the kill room was phenomenal. It was action that we hadn't really seen. The design of it was so visceral. I knew we were going to bring back some of the choreography. Sadly, I didn't get as much as I'd love to, but what I did get was so much fun to be a part of. The great thing about The Old Guard is the balance. The real story is the human aspect of living as an immortal. The action is the consequence of the world around them. Finding that balance is crucial. It was absolutely fun to get stuck in. io9: This film has had a longer road to release than expected, with delays and reshoots delaying its timeline. In the face of those production challenges, what helped you all rally as a cast and crew to keep the energy and focus alive, and your connections to your characters? Ejiofor: Films take the time they take. As an actor and a cast, you're always excited to get involved. We're familiar with these characters now in a way where it's not easy, but it's okay to jump back in. We're always able to jump back into stuff, and I think everyone understands that making films is complex. Sometimes they take a little bit longer, and you've got to figure out how to do that, and that's great. io9: The combat in The Old Guard 2 aims to be more intense and personal. How did you all prepare for sequences this time around? Kenzari: As Chiwetel mentioned, it's a part of your muscle memory. The choreography that the stunt team comes up with, you go through them, and you get better at them—you increase speed. It's a fun part of the pre-production of a shooting day where, at the end of it, you just want to master the choreography as good as you can. That's the way we prepped part one, and that's the same way we worked on [part two]—it's just that the choreography is different and more than what we had in the first one. io9: If you could pit any iconic action movie stars against each other in an immortal vs. immortal fight like Charlize Theron and Uma Thurman, who would you like to see square off? Kenzari: Good question. Layne: Uma versus Charlize is pretty up there. Ejiofor: Atomic Blonde against Predator Arnie. That's what I'd like to see—hand to hand. Put the guns away. Kenzari: Predator Arnie is good. Golding: I like that. Kenzari: Skin on skin. Everyone: (laughs) Ejiofor: Damn. Golding: How do you beat that? Next question. Kenzari: Does Home Alone count as an actor? Everyone: (laughs) io9: It's been five years since fans first met the Guard. What do you each hope audiences take away from this chapter, not only to satisfy that long wait but to remind them why this story was worth holding onto? Kenzari: The whole mortality, immortality element is a huge highway in the arch of the storytelling in this one. I think that is the question, even with us in the last few days of interviews. It's the question that keeps coming back: What would you rather have [in] either one of these two? So much in the movie is about that fragile, sensitive aspect of people healing and not healing—dying and not being able to die—is something that the audience will think about after the movie finishes. Ejiofor: I think they're great characters, and I think that's what you'll remember and have missed—these really great characters and this incredible team. And there are things to think about. There are philosophical questions in there and deep emotional resonances with their history. There's a lot there. The Old Guard 2 premieres on Netflix July 2. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Elle
2 hours ago
- Elle
We're Not Getting Another Season of 'Squid Game'—But We Might Get Something Else
Now that Squid Game's third and final season is out in the world, I am personally hoping for one thing: that Hwang Dong-hyuk can get some rest. The filmmaker and series creator has not been subtle about his exhaustion after creating the first season of the Netflix sensation. Imagine how he feels now, two seasons after that. 'Yeah, I'm very tired. I haven't had a deep sleep for a long time. I want to take a rest,' he told The New York Times before the season 3 premiere. 'Then I want to do feature films. I have an idea for my next feature.' There may be someone ready to take up the mantle: David Fincher, the director of Fight Club, Gone Girl, and The Social Network. In October 2024, Deadline reported that the filmmaker was eyeing an English-language offshoot of Squid Game, although neither he nor Netflix have confirmed the news yet. Still, it seems likely, given Fincher's ongoing collaboration with the streamer, which includes films and series like House of Cards, Mindhunter, Mank, and the upcoming Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood sequel. According to Deadline, 'Insiders say the Squid Game series is likely the project Fincher commits his time to in 2025.' The final scene of the Squid Game season 3 sure seems to set up an spinoff. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!) The episode closes with a scene of the Front Man in the U.S. coming across a person in a suit playing a version of Ddakji, the 'slap game' used to recruit players, with a disheveled man in an alley. When the recruiter turns around, it's a surprise reveal: She's played by Cate Blanchett. All she does is exchange a knowing look at the Front Man, their mutual recognition hinting that the Squid Game operation extends beyond South Korea. It's also the perfect setup for a U.S.-based spinoff. It's unclear if Blanchett will be the lead of that new show or just a one-time cameo, but the former is possible, since she previously worked with Fincher on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For now though, that's just a theory. No casting announcements have been made yet. As for the creative team, Deadline reported that Dennis Kelly, writer of Matilda the Musical and the TV series Utopia, is supposedly writing the script. Hwang has also voiced his own ideas for an offshoot. He told Entertainment Weekly, 'I actually had this faint ideation about possibly a spinoff—not a sequel, but maybe a spinoff about the three-year gap between season 1 and season 2 when Gi-hun [Lee Jung-jae] looks around for the recruiters,' he said. 'Maybe I could have a portrayal of what the recruiters or Captain Park [Oh Dal-su] or officers or masked men were doing in that period, not inside the gaming arena, but their life outside of that.' That Hwang's limited series has now ballooned into an international franchise might be a little ironic, considering the show's pointed critiques of capitalism. But he hopes that at least it gets viewers to start thinking about such issues. 'If they do none of that and only enjoy the goods and experiences, that could be a problem. But as long as it entails food for thought, I'm good with that,' he told Times. And if Squid Game comes to America, there will surely be much to discuss.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Squid Game' Season 3 cast, creator on the meaning behind the baby in final season
When Hwang Dong-hyuk's series Squid Game first premiered on Netflix in 2021, it absolutely took the world by storm as a thrilling and engaging story that people quickly became obsessed with. Four years later we're saying goodbye to the show that made a firm stamp on pop culture internationally, with an incredibly emotional, brutal and brilliant third season. After the Season 2 cliffhanger where our lead, Player 456, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), saw his best friend killed in the rebellion, and he comes face-to-face with The Frontman, things only get more heartbreaking from there. But as devastating as the game gets, it continues, leading to a shocking of the most impactful and interesting story elements in Squid Game Season 3 is the fact that Jo Yuri's character, Jun-hee, Player 222, gives birth to her baby during the Hide-and-Seek game. In the game half the players are trying to find the exit of a maze, with the use of keys of different shapes, while the other half of the group has to kill one of the players on the opposite side. Pregnant Jun-hee teams up with Geum-ja, Player 149 (Kang Ae-sim), and Hyun-ju, Player 120 (Park Sung-hoon), but as Jun-hee starts going into labour, Geum-ja has to deliver the baby. With so much of Squid Game being an evaluation of humanity, having a baby, this new life in the game was a particularly compelling choice. "It was critical to telling the theme and exploring the theme of the story, because Squid Game is a story through the character Gi-hun, we get to ask these questions. Do we still have humanity left in all of us? Do we as a human race have what it takes to turn the path the world is in for the better?" Hwang Dong-hyuk explained to Yahoo Canada, with a translator, about the importance of including a baby in the story. "The more and more we live out our lives I think it's inevitable that we become pessimistic, we become very cynical of everything that's unfolding." "And as you see the character Gi-hun, as a human being he hits absolute rock bottom. But despite all of that, are we going to give up? That's one of the questions I wanted to ask. And when we ask ourselves that question, I got to thinking that it is our duty to try to do something to better the world so that we can leave the future generation a world that is better than how we first found it. And it's important for all of us. It is a mission, a duty and a responsibility for all of us to not give up on our efforts to yearn for a better world, and I was able to do that through the baby." "I had so much trust in the actress, Jo Yuri. Although she's very young, she's very resilient and strong, and she meticulously prepared for all the scenes," Kang said said with a translator in a separate interview about working closely with her costar in Season 3. "And I just had so much trust in her and I felt like she was my own daughter when I was filming Squid Game together with her." But the baby's birth also leads to one of the most devastating moments in the show. In Season 2 we established the relationship between Geum-ja and her son, Yong-sik, Player 007 (Yang Dong-geun), but in season three things take a horrifying turn. Hyun-ju finds the exit to the maze and as she's going back to get Jun-hee and and Geum-ja, she's killed in the game by Myung-gi, Player 333 (Yim Si-wan), who is the father of Jun-hee's baby. "I knew that there were worries and concerns about myself being a cisgender actor playing a transgender character, but because Hyun-ju is such a cool, multi-layered character with such a good heart, I received so much love and support, and Hyun-ju received so much love and support, so I am very grateful about that," Park Sung-hoon said, via a translator. "And I think maybe she died a little too early. I'm so sad to let her go." But then Geum-ja's son finds his mother, Jun-hee and the baby. He tells his mother he needs to kill Jun-hee to save himself from death. That's when Geum-ja stabs her own son, protecting Jun-hee and her newborn child, with the guards ultimately killing him t the end of the game. "There were both scenes in seasons two and three that brought tears to my eyes," Kang Ae-sim via a translator. "I remember watching one of the clips together with the actor who played my son, Yang Dong-geun, for a promotional shoot, and we were watching the scene and we cried together, because it just was so sad and heartbreaking. And I'm a big fan of Yang Dong-geun myself. He is a great artist, musician and actor in Korea, so I was very happy to work together with him, but it broke my heart even more so." Grappling with what happened in the game, and what she did to her son, Hyun-ju dies by suicide. As the story continues, the decision is made that the baby becomes a player in the game. But first, both Jun-he and her baby must participate in the Jump Rope game. Jun-hee has a severly injured foot, so Gi-hun takes her baby and is able to successfully get the newborn to the other side of the platform. But with when Myung-gi tries to help Jun-hee in the game, saying that he wants to keep their baby safe too, she corrects him by saying that little girl has nothing to do with him, and she wants him to stay away from both of them. "I felt so much for [Jun-hee] in that moment," Jo Yuri said, via translator . "And that scene was actually my audition scene for the character. So it was a scene that I kept very close to my heart." "That was very emotionally difficult, and it's just a such a sad scene," Yim Si-wan added. "And while filming, I definitely felt that energy emanating from Jo Yuri as well, and felt that she was doing such a terrific job in portraying the intensity of that moment." "Definitely it is my hope that he will be understood more in terms of where he's emotionally coming from, but I am also concerned that he will be subject to more criticism and more hate." Because she won't be able to participate in the game with her injury, Jun-hee steps off the platform, falling to her death. Leaving her young daughter with Gi-hun to help her survive the rest of the game. While we won't completely spoil the ending of the show, we'll say the final episode starts in a way that may be surprising for fans, with respect to what happens to Gi-hun. But following him on this fascinating story has been incredibly moving, particularly as we see how his faith in humanity has evolved. "I thought very highly of the way Gi-hun thinks or views the world, and also his decisions," Lee Jung-jae said, with a translator. "Gi-hun is not the smartest guy. He's not the most capable guy either, but the way he thinks of others in his life and the other people that he meets, I think very highly of that." "And also from seeing the character Gi-hun as myself, I would ask myself, would I be capable of making such decisions like Gi-hun did? I wish I could have the courage that Gi-hun had to be able to make those decisions. So I loved seeing Gi-hun's decisions and his journey, and I am very grateful, and also happy that I got this opportunity to think about these issues by portraying Gi-hun, and also the opportunity to share those conversations with our Squid Game fans."
