‘Squid Game’ Season 2 could also be dropped from the title

Warning: spoilers for Squid Game season two ahead

Is it possible to get PTSD from a TV show? Squid game isn’t listed as a cause in any medical journal, but binge-watching the second season of Netflix’s global hit made me feel like the haunted character in Edvard Munch’s Scream.

the first season of the series was dropped in 2021, in the midst of a pandemic that left millions of people around the world dead from Covid. Its apocalyptic feel fits that moment of death perfectly, even as the show’s driving action distracts us from what’s happening in our real world. Its scathing critique of capitalism is so cleverly wrapped in a thriller that Netflix could transform it. Squid game into a cash cow, squeezing out of its premise a video game, a live interactive game (yes, I tried it)a reality show (which ironically led to some complaints about Exploitative treatment) and tons of merchandise—including green tracksuits and pink guard uniforms, in case you want to cosplay.

This time, Squid game doubles down on both its unrelenting brutality and its critique of capitalism. One of the episodes is even called “Bread and the Lottery,” in case the show’s premise doesn’t already have the “bread and circuses” idea spinning around in your head. The film is filled with income inequality and a winner-takes-all mentality, as people who are broke, in debt, degrade themselves for the sake of bored billionaires. What could be more timely?

Once again, our guide through this wasteland is Gi-hun (Lee Jung Jae), female survivors of last season’s match. His victory was the definition of a bitter victory, and it changed him. No longer a hot-tempered gambler willing to abandon his fate, Gi-hun is a damaged man. He considers his bounty “blood money,” to be used only to track down the game’s creators and end the bloodbath. That hunt brought Gi-hun to Jun-ho (Wi Ha Jun), the policeman from last season is trying to find his way back to the island.

Both men are determined to bring the perpetrators of the game to justice, and both actors bring a sweet humanity to their roles. Unfortunately, convoluted plotting and searches take up the first two episodes of the season, slowing down the early part of this rotation considerably.

“You manipulate people who feel like they’re at a dead end,” Gi-hun says, eyes filled with tears, as he finally makes contact with the masked Chief Darth Vader (Lee Byung Hun). “You think people are just horses in a race and you own the horses.” Front Man expressed disdain, quoting (in an allusion to our current distorted politics) Matrix. “They could live in peace if they took the blue pill, but they still choose the red pill to play the hero. Do you think you are a hero who can change the world? The answer is yes, and thus the season begins properly as Gi-hun is once again included in the game as Player 456.