After season 1 revealed that Participant 001 within the thirty third Squid Recreation was none aside from recreation creator Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su), this season copy/pastes the very same twist another time by making the sport’s mysterious masked Entrance Man (Lee Byung-hun) this version’s Participant 001. It’s preposterous, dumb, and lazy. It’s additionally the most effective a part of the season. In reality, Hwang Dong-hyuk instructed Netflix that it was the “most necessary” a part of the season.
Making Participant 001 an insider once more works on a number of ranges in Squid Recreation season 2. The obvious means is in establishing a stage of thematic and narrative resonance with the present’s first season. Repetition tends to get a foul rap because it’s one of many best rhetorical gadgets in a author’s toolkit. However nobody will get mad at a hammer when there’s a nail that wants struck and nobody ought to get mad at Squid Recreation season 2 for noticing there was a juicy new Participant 001 position ripe for the taking. It could have been far much less satisfying if Participant 001 have been merely some no one. The place is imbued with significance due to Oh Il-nam’s treachery and Squid Recreation recognized the one different present character on its roster that might present related dramatic oomph.
The Entrance Man coming into the video games additionally reveals one thing essential about our hero Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae). He’s type of an fool! As the one survivor of 2021’s version of the video games, Gi-hun runs the danger of taking up an nearly legendary standing inside this story. By the point he dyes his hair a garish pink and delivers a measured risk to the Entrance Man on the conclusion of season 1, Gi-hun resembles a comic book e book titan greater than a succesful, working class hero. Season 2 doesn’t draw back from depicting Gi-hun’s heroism and supreme competence within the face of hazard however it additionally humbles him in some necessary methods. Amid all of the stress and chaos, it’s comprehensible that Participant 456 would overlook the plain Participant 001 gambit once more.
After all, crucial a part of this Entrance Man reveal is that it offers us extra time with the Entrance Man himself. In an interview with Netflix, Lee Byung-hun joked that his position in season 1 felt like extra of a glorified cameo. That could be very a lot not the case this time round and the present is all of the richer for Lee’s added presence. Lee understands that he’s not enjoying one position however a number of. The entity we all know as “The Entrance Man” incorporates multitudes: he’s the omniscient overseer of the video games, sure. However he’s additionally the meek Participant 132 from 2015’s twenty eighth Squid Recreation, Jun-ho’s unlucky brother Hwang In-ho, and most intriguingly: Oh Younger-il.
It’s this final identification that helps take the Entrance Man from a background boogeyman to the fully-fleshed large unhealthy that Squid Recreation wants him to be. No one is aware of who the “actual” Hwang In-ho is however his efficiency as Participant 001 Oh Younger-il actually looks like it might be the closest. Like Gi-hun earlier than him, Oh Younger-il undergoes the mettle-proving crucible that’s the Squid Recreation, and within the course of reveals his true character. He’s as pragmatic as Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) knew his brother to be, as merciless as The Entrance Man has confirmed himself to be, and as team-oriented as any Participant 001 should be. It’s like Oh Younger-il is of the video games themselves and possibly that’s as a result of he’s.
I hope you seen that Oh Younger-il has the identical household title as former Participant 001 Oh Il-nam. As a result of Seong Gi-hun actually didn’t (Once more: he’s type of dumb)! The “Oh” surname stands proud in a rustic the place roughly half the inhabitants is called Kim, Lee, or Park. It’s doable that Oh is a false surname that Squid Recreation pretenders share, however season 2 makes it clear that the reality is probably going extra dramatic than that. Within the season’s second episode, Jun-ho offhandedly mentions that Hwang In-ho was his mom’s adopted son, not his brother by beginning. Squid Recreation followers have additionally seen that Oh Younger-il is lactose illiberal…similar to Oh Il-nam mentioned his son was.
