Jan 4, 2026 Jan 4, 2026 2026-01-04

Every few months I write movie reviews here. Sometimes for the lessons, like my Kung Fu Panda 2 piece, which became quite popular. Sometimes just for movies I enjoy, like Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache. Today I’m returning to a series I reviewed back in 2021, when it first took over the world.

Back then, I gave Squid Game a 10 out of 10. I also predicted there would be pressure for more seasons. Look like I was right.

Same Creative Genius

The games in seasons 2 and 3 maintain the same level of creativity. Sky Squid Game, the finale played on towering pillars, is just as inventive as Red Light Green Light was back in season one. But honestly, compelling and creative as they were, the games were never really the point.

What makes Squid Game compelling is its human documentary angle. And the truth is humans are fighting to eliminate themselves in real life just as fast as in Squid Game. The contestants don’t need pink soldiers to pull the trigger. Give people enough desperation, enough debt, enough hopelessness, and they’ll do it themselves. The games in the movie are just a creative canvas.

We watch fathers willing to sacrifice their own children. We see alliances form and shatter within hours. We see VIPs betting on who dies next.

End of an Era

Gi-hun dies in Season 3. The main character, Player 456, the gambling addict who won the first game and spent three seasons trying to destroy it from within – gone. He sacrifices himself to save a baby, the child of another contestant. In a show filled with betrayal and self-preservation, this choice matters.

The protagonist who entered as a flawed, estranged father dies protecting someone else’s child. It doesn’t feel like redemption. More like a statement that even in a system designed to strip away humanity, the choice to remain human persists. A gentle, silent statement.

Beginning of a New One

The ending doesn’t close the story – it seems to open a bigger one.

The Front Man travels to Los Angeles. In an alley, he sees a well-dressed blonde woman playing ddakji with a desperate man. She’s a recruiter played by Cate Blanchett. Which may mean the games are going global.

Meanwhile, Gi-hun’s daughter receives his winnings from the Front Man himself. The daughter he never managed to reconnect with now holds the blood money. Again, this doesn’t feel like justice or even closure. It feels like reality.

The setup hints at a continuation – potentially an American version, with new players, new games, maybe even Gi-hun’s daughter as protagonist. The game adapts. The game never ends.

The Verdict

Seasons 2 and 3 aren’t as spectacular as the first – and they couldn’t be. You’ve already been exposed to the core of the movie. But they manage to complete and expand on the initial proposal in a very compelling way. The first season asked “what would you do for money?” These final seasons ask “was it really worth it?”

The answer, delivered through Gi-hun’s sacrifice and the American recruiter’s smile: Maybe not. Maybe yes. One era ends. Another begins.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely.