Ahead of 'Squid Game 3,' enjoy the recap of 'Squid Game' seasons 1 and 2: All about the greedy participants, thrilling games and more

Time of India

10-05-2025

Blood, Sweat, and
Tears
might be the definition of 'Squid Game,' but it's the betrayal and
greed
that run deep into the veins of the series. The game is infiltrated with traitors, and it's normal than you would expect. Whether the uniforms are green or pink, it's the deadly games that keep the series alive with thrills.
01:25
Squid Game Season 3 Teaser: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun Starrer Squid Game Season 3 Official Teaser
Squid Game Season 1 Recap
We meet the lead,
Seong Gi-hun
, whose luck is as stale as a rotten fish, and he suffers through every twist and turn life could ever provide - until he encounters a man in a black suit.
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The recruiter challenges him (slaps him brutally) with a game to win a monetary reward. With the desperation for the money, he agrees, and so do the other 455 participants.
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Undo
All 456 members in green jumpsuits are made to compete against each other to win a massive cash prize. The games are judged by the cameras and controlled by the men in pink with lethal weapons in their hands.
Well, don't forget the marks on the mask - the circle-marked soldiers have the lowest hierarchy, and do the guarding; the triangle-marked soldiers kill the participants upon failing the task and take the dead bodies to the crematorium; and the square-marked soldiers controlled the games, and announced instructions while communicating with the front man.
Along with Seong Gi-hun, the other pivotal characters are Player 218,
Cho Sang-woo
, who is the old friend of the lead and is equally in debt; Player 001, Oh Il-nam, who is he oldest amongst the participants; Player 067,
Kang Sae-byeok
, the North Korean woman who pickpocketed him outside the game and wants better life for her family; Player 199, Ali, the Pakistani player; Player 212, Han Mi-nyeo, the woman who changes her face faster than chameleon to side with allies; and Player 101, the OG gangster with a knife.
The thrilling game of 'Red Light, Green Light' turns into
Red Blood on Green Jumpsuits
. While the lead characters are not dead, they vote to get out of the game and not take any money, as they realise those who fail do not get eliminated, they're encountered. However, they return from the real world for money.
Soon after joining, the players start to form allies. As the heart skips a beat throughout the games, the 'dalgona' game and the 'tug-of-war' game occur. While the life-threatening games are running on the front, the soldiers at the back are using the opportunity to sell the dead bodies' organs. With the fights or food and confrontations, the participants move forward to the 'marbles' game where the allies turn to foes, and stab the back without restricting themselves from twisting it even further.
As the games progress, the 'glass tile' game even drops jaws further, where the participants seek revenge. At the finale, Gi-hun is the winner, after his opponent, Sang-woo, stabs himself.
No! That's not the end. The mind-boggling, gasping twist is yet to be dropped.
Player 001, Oh Il-nam, is revealed to be the creator of the game and even participates in it for fun because he was dying!
When Gi-hun is leaving for the United States, he notices the recruiter inviting someone to the game. While he tries to chase him down, the recruiter escapes. Well, Gi-hun dramatically states that he cannot forgive him, and changes his decision.
Squid Game Season 2 Recap
Now that the playtime begins again, Season 2 brings new characters that bring humour, thrill, massive rage, and all the answers to what could go wrong.
Three years after Gi-hun dyed his hair red, he goes to the island again - to stop the games - forever. For someone whose fate was stale, Seong Gi-hun survives the game of russian roulette against the recruiter, who dies. While Gi-hun is cautious in the second season, he cooperates with the police and keeps a tracker with him, only to find out that it was taken before he entered.
The instructions state that after each game, the players can choose to suspend the games or continue on their own will. In descending order, the players are supposed to vote, and Player 001, Oh Young-il, chooses the last vote.
Guess who is Player 001? It's the Front Man himself!
Along with Seong Gi-hun, there are other pivotal players as well. We meet Player 320,
Thanos
, the reckless and nonchalant participant to ever exist; Player 044, Seon-nye, the scary woman with the prophesies; Player 390,
Jung-bae
, the best friend of Seong Gi-hun; Player 222,
Jo Yuri
, the pregnant young girl who is trapped in the game after a bad investment from her ex-boyfriend; Player 333, Myung-gi, the influencer brat boyfriend in question whose decisions led to loss of thousand of people's money; Player 149, Geum-ja, and Player 007, Yong-sik, the mother-son duo who is co-dependent on every step. Although some fan theorists have wild speculations about Player 149 being related to the
Frontman
.
After Gi-hun helps the participants with the first 'Red Light, Green Light' game, everybody trusts him and chooses to play further. As the expected game is the 'dalgona' game, they are pretty chilled out, but the games are not the same.
As it turns out, the second game consists of five mini-games played by a team of five, and is supposed to be completed in five minutes. The next game, 'mingle,' created a storm on the internet with its catchy tune and the game itself. The participants had to mingle around the floor, and as soon as the tune stopped, they had to run to the rooms according to the announced number of participants.
Furthermore, Thanos is killed with a fork by the aforementioned influencer, and Jung-bae gets brutally killed by the Frontman in front of Seong Gi-hun. While the Frontman's identity is not revealed, he makes Gi-hun feel guilty for his best friend's death because he decided to rebel against the game, format, soldiers and the Frontman himself.
However, with the questions and never-ending theories, Season 3 is awaited by all the fans for the unanswered plot twists of the previous seasons. Hwang Dong-hyuk's 'Squid Game' is one of the highest-ranking series in the world, charting the lists and breaking the record.