SQUID GAME – Season Three (2025)

The wait for the third season of Squid Game was months rather than the years we waited for Season 2, but there was really no need to split this sequel story into two halves. Doing so just killed the momentum, and frankly, I’d lost my emotional connection to characters who died early—to consequently less impact. I’d also forgotten the backstories of a few others. Reviewing this last batch of episodes also presents a challenge, as it’s difficult to discuss anything without spoiling the big developments. I’ll be as vague as possible, but if you’ve seen the season, you’ll hopefully understand my veiled meanings.

A significant “twist” is the arrival of a new player that, frankly, flies in the face of common sense in order to freshen up the character dynamics. At the very least, it creates an emotional conundrum for our hero, Seong Gi-hun / Player 456 (Lee Jung-jae), as his closest allies are killed off and he gets closer to winning his second Squid Game in a row. The early episodes have to deal with the fallout of Season 2’s climax, when 456 failed to overthrow the system. It was also revealed that his quiet comrade, Player 001 (Lee Byung-hun), was the game’s masked ‘Front Man’ / Hwang In-ho, in disguise.

This failure understandably impacts 456’s emotional state. However, that means the show’s lead character largely sits out the first three episodes—barely speaking, refusing to vote on whether to end the game (a conceit that lost its dramatic usefulness ages ago), and only begrudgingly participating. As a consequence, much of the show’s spark feels lost for a time, as the supporting characters taking up the slack simply aren’t as interesting. My tolerance for Detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) and his interminable quest to find the island where the games are happening ran out long ago. The only other actor of equivalent charisma, the fantastic Lee Byung-hun, also isn’t directly involved in events now thanks to the Player 001 reveal. 

The twisted children’s games also lose their lustre this season, as some are variations on ones we’ve seen before (a rope game is an admittedly better take on the first season’s bridge-crossing game), or are bloodthirsty but unimaginative. The worst offender is making Hide & Seek more lethal by arming the seekers with ornate knives. That episode itself is nevertheless a highlight because creator Hwang Dong-hyuk can still construct excruciating dilemmas for characters forced to make life-or-death choices, but the simplicity of the game’s design speaks to the series losing its sense of clever satire and leaning more on gruesome slaughter. 

Take the climactic game, which effectively boils down to “push each other off three tall structures until only a winner remains.” This is an almost comically terrible idea—enlivened by the drama of the players having to decide how to make these unthinkable choices, of course. However, the VIPs watching the Squid Game don’t hear what we, the audience, do. So, within the logic of the show, it’s difficult to see why they’d find this last game so thrilling, watching from afar through binoculars.

Ah yes, the infamous VIPs. They were a ridiculous and toe-curling part of the first season, and they return in force for the final season. I have no idea why, as they simply don’t work. I’ve read an article explaining that the English-speaking actors chosen aren’t very experienced (maybe they just live in South Korea, so are the best available?), and that the script’s Korean isn’t being translated into English that skilfully, leading to unnatural-sounding dialogue. A few of the actors have also been dubbed over, for some bizarre reason, giving an uncanny feel to those performances and the vocal inflections.

Perhaps if you’re a Korean native, everything seems fine to your ears, but to English speakers, the VIP scenes are utterly dreadful, making the show seem much cheaper and stupider than it is. I don’t understand why Netflix couldn’t have given Dong-hyuk this constructive criticism, offering to fly in better actors to ensure the VIPs aren’t so terrible this time. But they didn’t, so the cartoonish VIPs are more prominent than ever and twice as insufferable.

This being the last season of Squid Game lends the last few hours added tension, as you’re naturally excited to see how things conclude. Sadly, they keep the door open for more seasons, perhaps after the planned international spin-offs and prequel stories are released. We do get closure for poor Seong Gi-hun after all this time, but it’s not an especially satisfying one given everything he’s gone through. I won’t spoil things, but in the end, nothing much has really changed for the Squid Game’s overlords, and there was no rousing victory for the exploited and impoverished players. All we get is one of the silliest cameo appearances of recent memory, which left me dreading the planned American version, even with a talented filmmaker like David Fincher (The Game) involved.

Oh well, Squid Game lost its satirical edge after a truly remarkable first season, inevitably descending into sadistic spectacle and repetition as its ideas ran dry, but the games go on…

SOUTH KOREA | 2025 | 6 EPISODES | 16:9 HD | COLOUR | KOREAN • ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

writer & director: Hwang Dong-hyuk.
starring: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-joon, Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Jo Yu-ri, Kang Ae-shim, Lee Seo-hwan & Park Gyu-young.