As a result of, because the gamers in Squid Recreation season 1 uncover a lot to their chagrin, typically a selection isn’t a lot of a selection in any respect. The title of season 1 episode 2 “Hell” doesn’t discuss with the circumstances throughout the video games however exterior of them. Participant 456 Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and his friends return to an actual world so filled with money owed and threats that all of them simply decide to re-enter the video games as soon as once more. In the long run, they’d the selection to go away and so they had the selection to return. However that doesn’t imply they felt answerable for their future.
That grappling with selection was essentially the most thematically-rich side of Squid Recreation‘s first season. Now, in its second season on Netflix, Squid Recreation returns to the subject as soon as once more in a far grander vogue. Within the course of, the present expands its trenchant critique of capitalism into a bigger exploration of capital, the democratic course of, and the more and more exploitative methods they’ll intersect. Arriving on the tail finish of an election yr for a lot of the Western world, Squid Recreation as soon as once more feels just like the timeliest present on tv.
The contestants of Squid Recreation season 2 aren’t afforded one selection, however a number of. On the conclusion of each sport, the surviving gamers are invited to vote on whether or not they need the video games to proceed. Although he ought to know higher from his voting expertise within the 2021 model of the video games, returning participant 456 Gi-hun initially views this vote as an opportunity to save lots of all of those wretched souls.
Because of Gi-hun’s pre-existing data of the primary problem, “Pink Mild, Inexperienced Mild,” the squid players don’t undergo too many casualties. With “solely” 91 gamers eradicated, 365 stay to play one other day. To Gi-hun, 365 souls saved is a large victory. To these 365, nevertheless, there’s one other, extra necessary quantity: 9.1 billion. That’s the amount of cash accessible in prize winnings after the 91 deaths within the first problem. If the remaining contestants exit the problem now, they are going to take house solely 24 million received – or roughly $16,000 – per particular person.
Moreover, Gi-hun’s mere presence as a survivor of the video games solely confirms to the gamers that successful them is a chance. And doing so will probably be so much simpler with him round. “We’ve got a earlier winner right here. What do we now have to fret about?” Participant 100 (who’s ₩10 billion in debt) says. As soon as once more, the designers of the video games have revealed themselves to be eager understanders of the human situation. Not having selection concerned wouldn’t be as satisfying to the competition’s spectators – even the hyper wealthy don’t wish to really feel like useless butchers. However the ingredient of selection must be current in comparable to method as to not truly jeopardize the continuation of the video games. On this method, Gi-hun’s involvement in one other model of the video games feels much less like his try to finish them and extra just like the Entrance Man utilizing him as a carrot to dangle to maintain them going.
By the three rounds of voting featured in season 2, Squid Recreation takes on the rhythms of a functioning and “wholesome” democracy. Voters are given “X” and “O” badges relying on which vote they solid and so they shortly cut up into factions that resemble acquainted two-party political constructions. The X’s and O’s dine collectively, develop methods, and even work on catchphrases with “Another sport!” changing into a rallying cry of the O’s. However whatever the votes solid and any progress made, every election all the time inevitably ends in one other spherical of slaughter.
