Squid Game (S2) / Ep. 82

I'm Jessica and this is Teba K Rambles where a couple of friends review Korean dramas and we are back for I think the season 6 kick off. I think this is the first episode of Season 6. I'm sorry, I'm kind of discombobulated and I don't really know because I think you and I, me and my guest really wanted to talk about this show.

And so this is technically the hiatus off time offseason, but we're here and we're going to talk about Squid Game Season 2. I am joined by Miguel. How are you, Miguel? How's it going? I'm well, thank you. How are you? I am good. We had a really nice lunch earlier. We had Korean barbecue and it was delicious. And for those who don't know, Miguel is one of my oldest K drama friends. And you can listen to Miguel on a number of episodes, including Squid Game season one.

That was the very first episode you were on in 2021. It's been like four years. It's shocking. You've been on 2521, Snowdrop, First Love the Glory, Alice in Borderland most recently. And so we're back and we're going to talk about Season 2 of Squid Game. But before we do, if this is your first time listening, go ahead and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. We're on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast and many more.

And if you like us, please give us a five star review on Apple Podcast and Spotify. That goes such a long way for us. And then come and check us out on social media. What's left of it. To stay up to date on our latest episodes and reviews, you can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and as of today, TikTok. Who knows what's going to happen in a few days or a month at Debak Pod DAEBAKPOD. And lastly, if you're a fan, the best way to be a fan is to become a patron for as little as

$2.00 a month. It's a great way for you to get involved and show your support. You can check out the page on patreon.com/debakod. Shout out to our patrons Janet, Curtis, Vale, CD, Alana, Grace, Cindy, Lorna, Sami, Caitlin, Julia #1, Michelle, Tenmei, Marta, Adelphia, Maria, Sarah, and Julia #2 I so appreciate you guys and all of the free patron members as well. So we were here four years ago talking about Squid Game ago and. Here we are again. And here we are.

We're going to, we're going to get started. I think I had you read the synopsis last time. I'm just going to go ahead and read it this time. Sounds good. Asian Wiki Synopsis of Season 2 of Squid Game. After winning the Squid Game and receiving its massive cash prize, Song Yun plan to live a new life in the United States. However, Song Yun, still haunted by the deaths of all the players he competed with, decided to skip his flight and returned to Seoul.

He spends the next three years looking for the people responsible for the Squid Game. He has enlisted the help of a loan shark, Sunshine Capital, to find the people who work for the Squid Game. Meanwhile, Detective Hong Duno has opted to transfer from the Major Crimes Division and work for a small neighbourhood's police substation. In his free time, he works with Captain Park and travels on his boat to find the island where he saw a game take place that involved the deaths of the players.

His brother Hong Ino was on that island. Soon, Song Yun is able to join a new round of the Squid Game, but his goal this time is to stop the game once and for all. Good luck with that, I mean. And now season 2 aired December 26th, 2024. We are several weeks removed from that. We are recording this in January 2025. Season 2 is 7 episodes long. For a refresher. Season 1 aired September 17th, 2021. Yeah. Three years we're here. Three years later, basically it's the new season. It shows.

Season 1 was 9 episodes long and this one is 7. Like I just said. Same director and writer Hong Dong Yok, he's back and we have a lot of returning cast members. We have Eaton Day as well as we had Dune. Like I said, these are the characters that I mentioned in the synopsis. That's Player 456 and the undercover cop. We have a lot of side characters returning to. We have Kung Yu as the subway predator slash recruiters slash Superman, whatever you want to call him. Kung Yu is back.

EB Yong Ngun is back, as well as the front man, the guy in the black mask. And then we have a ton of new players this season. Imchiwan is player 333, Kanganu as player 388, Izhenuk as player 246, Paksungun as 1/21/20. You've seen this guy, this actor in the glory.

Yeah. Young, Dungun player, Double O 7, Kanye SIM as player 149, and the list really goes on and on, including TOP Top as Thanos player 2:30 Pacquiao Young also plays character Noel, who is actually, I'm not going to say who she is because that's actually a little bit of a spoiler, But tons of people in this show, a lot of familiar faces. And I think we're at the point where I can ask you what you thought about Squid Game before I kind of tell you about all the tea that's happened.

OK. Yeah, as a whole or like this new season? This new season and then if you want like in relation, how does it stack up against Season 1, you know, so on and so on. OK, OK. But general those non spoilers, this is the non spoiler section. When I tell you I really enjoyed the second season, I hope that I'm not alone in that, but we'll see. I haven't given anything away, like I have not let Miguel know what I think we're going. Into this blind, we're just

like, oh, did you see that? And we're like, Yep. And that's it. So so I loved it In a lot of ways, I actually like the second season a little bit better than the first. And because it's like something that I love about Squid Game and it's definitely present in the second season. They really take their time with the pacing, but it never drags. Like we don't, we're not just thrown straight in just like in the first season.

Like they're building these people up 'cause it's not like Battle Royale or even Alice in Wonderland where, oh, you're getting to know them throughout, like. No, you mean to delay their land? Sorry, yes, well, that too. But they lay a good foundation for who these people are and why we should care that way. To us, these like contestants are not just numbers, like they're actual people. They have their motivations and

everything that we see them. We can kind of pick a side, like, OK, like this person may have done that, but you know, she has gastrographin to pay for or something 'cause it's always something really like chaotic. I love the production value of the second season. I love that everything looks brighter now, like the color grading isn't as dramatic and Netflixy as it was in the first. Like now it looks bright and horrifying. I, the character, Oh my God, the

characters. The characters had me at my limit. I was over it. I was over it so fast. Because the show aged very well with or the writing age very well with the time. Because now you know, Gen. Z is old enough to play in this game and we really see that like right off RIP something I won't forgive. I just I got to throw this out there because it's already well known from the I'm not letting the red wig go. I'm not letting it go.

I was so I was punching the air. I was throwing stuff off my desk like I'm not letting the red wig go. You called it the Ronald McDonald look. In I was so I was so mad. It was enough to get the show cancelled. Like if they never came back, I was like, you know what, it's fine. This was great up until this moment, but I'm not letting that go. In any event, I loved it. I I love the pacing. I love we'll get into it, obviously, but I love the direction that it took.

It felt like there were two shows going on at once, which normally is not a great thing, but in this case it really ticked all the boxes for me. The new characters are a delight. Every single one of them is just awful, but great. I really loved it. Like I really loved it. I actually started watching it.

We had set this up a while back, but I went one night to watch it and I didn't go to bed till like 2:00 in the morning and I had to basically take a nap and get up and watch the rest of it because it was the first thing I did. I loved it. I am so glad to hear that you loved it.

I also really enjoyed Season 2. I'm just going to get that off my chest right now before we go into a little more of like the scandals and the controversies about the show is that I walked in knowing all of the beef, knowing all of the back story of these actors of the Netflix of it all, which we have to talk about have like a whole Netflix, right? I have to have. And this show really did, I think, well, I said in Season 1, our review, what is the price of

a human life? And how this show doesn't seek to necessarily answer this overtly. It's doing this through the course of the plot and what what happens. You know, moral and ethical quandaries, they subsist in Season 2, we get more of the same. You said there was uneven pacing in Season 1. And now in Season 2, you're like, OK with the pacing. You're feeling like it's earned. Well no, I was good with the pacing for both. Oh, OK. I was good with the pacing

across the board. I thought that it built up well, yeah. This show, season 2 has the same panache, same sharp cinematography as season 1 and you said as much as well that it's like a great looking. Show great looking. They really increase the quality, yeah. Still about classism or class disparity in every sense of the term. In this season. It was actually funny, like the comedy elements. Yes, it was so funny.

Felt a bit new compared to season 1, which is a little more bleak I guess compared to season 2. So for what it is, which is AI, think of it as a sequel, right? It's a true sequel. Season 1 was not predicted, projected to do the numbers that it did. So just like when a movie does really well all of a sudden season 2 greenlit. Ronald McDonald.

I don't consider this as like a season 2 of a story that's already been written or thought of in that way, that there was always going to be a season 2. Season 1 left on an open-ended sort of cliffhanger type thing. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the Creator had Season 2 fully planned out and in mind. Would you have been happy with it if it had just ended there? Oh, yeah. I wouldn't have minded it at

all. Yeah. But that's because I'm different than most people in that I can just infer, make it up what happened next and have some sort of imagination. And other people, many people don't have that, like, they need to know exactly what happened next. And I'm like, you can figure like he goes back like it's very. Yeah. Like it's easy to fill in the. Blanks, Right? Exactly, Exactly. But there's a lot of people that don't want to take the creative leaps to fill in what an open ending is.

And that's what that open ending was, was an affront to a lot of people. Yeah, yeah, no, I expected there to be a season too, honestly, just because of not even because of the numbers, because by that point, like it exploded in popularity. But that's The funny thing about Netflix. It doesn't really matter. Like everything, even that Anne of Green Gables show was like,

or the the rollerblading show. These shows were so like, Oh my God. And then two weeks later, everybody forgot everything about it. No, because I'm still upset that they cancelled Anne of Green Gables. So is everyone in Japan? Apparently I am pissed. Pissed. You Oh God, I don't want to segue into like Anna Green Gables and like that drama like what they did. But how could they cancel that show? Anyway, This show is a reunion for a few of the cast members.

And I wanted to put this up front that Kankanul, which is player 388, he's the one that went to the military or went in the Marines and was like showing off his arm tat half the time. So that young guy and Imshiwan, who plays player 333, he's the Crypto guy. OK, so those two. MG. Coins had worked together in another drama called me saying An Incomplete Life, which is

basically a 10 year old drama. They don't have that many scenes together in Squid Game 2, but this industry is very small I would say. Yeah. So everyone's going to have work together. They work together. Ebungan frontman and TOP Thanos both were in Iris. Do you remember Iris? Of course I remember Iris, every Korean deli, every Korean supermarket, and that you remember the Dark Ages and that little bootleg area where all the discs.

Were yes. Posters just iris, Iris 2, Iris 3 Iris reawakening like I. Remember because they did a movie and everything of like it was. A whole moment it. Was it was so Iris and then Pacquiao Young. Who is I don't want to say who she is because we're in the non spoiler section. But anyway, Paki young actress and Idanuk, who is player 246. He's the dad with the terminal child. They were both in Sweet Home, which is another Netflix

original show that actually see. We reviewed season 1 on the podcast and Rico was on that episode with me. So if you want to go back and listen to Sweet Home, you can. That is basically all of like the good news that I wanted to share about the show. I'm like on the edge of my seat. OK, this like, is this like a Gone with the Wind level controversy? No, it it really is not. But I'll, I'll, I'll preface this.

So let's get into Netflix, let's get into the scandals, and then we'll get into the complaints about the show itself, like the plot having to do with the actual production of what we saw on screen, which has really nothing to do with the behind the scenes like scandals of each actor and all this stuff. OK, let's hit on Netflix first. So in season 1 and in our review of season 1, we said that this was Netflix's biggest ever series at launch. It was number one on the

platform for weeks. It's been watched by 2/3 of all Netflix users. 142,000,000 subscribers watched at least 2 minutes and Netflix gained millions of new subscribers and it increased the value of Netflix the company by a billion dollars basically. Wow, a billion dollars. That's how much value Squid Game added to. Netflix billion. With ABB. So that being said, we were going to get a season 2 with or without the creator of Netflix of of of the show.

OK, that's just how it is. Because of how Netflix structures its deals with creators all these years later were 3-4 years removed from the original series airing date. It's become part of the zeitgeist. It's already entered the zeitgeist. People are wearing Halloween costumes of Squid Game, right? The Vans sales bike. The Vans sales bike. Which you talk about vans anywhere? Yeah, yeah. So Netflix, it's well documented, well known now that Netflix does not pay its creators. Oh shit.

They pay a flat fee for the content. And in the structure of the deal, the creator, whoever comes to the Netflix and says I have this show, I have this script, they have to sign away their intellectual property rights and they do not get any royalties. What for their show? Yeah, you're hearing this is all true. I wow. Yes, so the director slash creator of Squid Game, the one this man had been writing and and dreaming about this show for almost a decade, had to sell his

laptop to make ends meet. Do you remember all this like? This. I remember this story, he was basically the JK Rowling of K drama for a second. Like he was borderline homeless. He sold all his stuff. It was rough. It's a real rags to riches story. Except is it a rags to riches story when he's not getting paid? Like Netflix saw a billion dollar increase in its company value. He did not see a penny of that. Not really nothing. Yes, nothing.

He signed all of his intellectual property rights away. That's like. That's why Netflix would have made a season 2 with or without him. So let me make sure I have this 'cause now I'm pissed. No, I'm pissed. I felt like we used to talk about Netflix. I guess on some level I can understand the royalty part just because, you know, capitalist hellscape. But did he get paid? Anything for? A flat like he just got like a check. Like, yeah, he just, they just cut him a check and said thanks.

And then here's your budget for the show. So you're telling me like the T-shirts, going to the Korean market and seeing all those Squid Game? All going. Into that's like pokey nothing. Nothing, I'm telling you. Wow, he doesn't get a sense, you know what I'm saying? It is really insane. We need to start like a petition for this man.

The creator has gone on record. There was like ABBC interview that they did with him recently, like in the promo leading up to season 2's launch and they were asking him, oh, we heard you lost 9 teeth during season 1 during the production of season 1. And he said yeah, I lost 9 teeth from the stress. Oh my. God of and look, I would've been devastated losing 1 tooth. I would be devastated chipping it too.

What's going on? He's telling us he has lost 9 teeth because he is an auteur and he's stressed about the the production of this almighty show that there's no guarantee that it was going to make bank at all for Netflix or anybody. He says he came back and did season 2 because of money. Yeah, he was like, I really didn't get compensated fairly for season 1. Look at all of that. It has done. It's a cultural phenomenon.

It's a cultural phenomenon. People who have never seen AK drama before have watched Squid Game. Point of fact, I was in New York the year that Squid Game came out like Halloween because it was there were St. performers like in New York, no word of a lie. Like break dancing in the like pink like outfits to like a trap remix of the theme song was like with like a beat and everything. So like cultural phenomenon. It was a vibe. That's that's horrible. Yeah, he lost teeth.

So he came back just to get paid because I'm sure that the deal that he cut this time was for way more money. That flat fee or whatever was for way more because they were like, OK, if we do a season 2 and it sucks, it might make us lose money, right? Right. So he came back literally to get what was his. Oh my God, it's like a parallel to the show. Yeah, parallel to the show, I also want to go on a rant about three years for seven episodes. Yeah, that's kind of that's kind

of deeply inferior. I'm. Freaking pissed like it is heinous work. Netflix I know is counting their days because they have fed us worst smelling shit as customers for decades now. They've put ads on the platform which was the whole point of streaming content on their platform in the 1st place ad free. They've now have A tier with ads and then the price hikes every year for next. $16.00 now it's.

Ridiculous. Then, setting all that aside, that was just to augment the larger point of why the hell does it take two to three years to produce 789 episodes of one single season of television? Network television was pumping out 22 episodes in a season in presumably one year. No waiting years between seasons at that.

Say what you want about the working conditions on a network television show, but damn, at least everyone got paid residuals for the rest of their natural lives so that the licensing and reuse of this precious content fed them when they were hungry. 2 by 50 years down the line and. None of that's going on now. The model for Netflix is cost plus. That's what they call it.

It's pitiful. With Cost Plus, Netflix offers to pay for an entire season of a show upfront, which is what it did for other shows like the original Netflix show House of Cards. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Right then, plus a premium premium in air quotes that Netflix calculates and it's what they think the back end would have been on the show. You know, this, this makes a lot of sense. This makes a lot of sense.

That's why every time you log into Netflix, like do you ever log in and you look at things recommended to you and you're like, this shit is made-up. This isn't a real show. Where did this come from? There's like three seasons of a show that just popped up out of nowhere and it's a Netflix original. This. They're just throwing everything at the wall at this point. So here's the bottom line. Netflix took advantage of the fact that it was new and shiny and didn't fit the network TV

slash cable model. So the unions and gills didn't negotiate for this shit. They said if streaming takes off, then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. And streaming took off faster than you can say Bob's your uncle and there is no bridge to cross. Now it's an entire fucking Great Wall of China to negotiate over because Netflix is like, well, why would we come back to the negotiating table when we have all the leeway?

We hold all the cards. While the WGA and SAG after strikes last year were partly about negotiating residuals with the streamers to resolve this problem. This is what's frustrating in regards to K Drama is that you'll be sorry to hear Netflix does not refuses to sit down with any equivalent guilds in Korea. Really, they don't even know who to call over there at Netflix Korea. They run it like a scam.

Yeah, I have a quote here from a Collider article that says Korea Broadcasting Actors Union was having it out with the streaming giant. Or rather whatever comes before the out because Netflix won't even pick up the phone. Union president Song Chang Gun is frustrated that the streamer doesn't pay royalties or residuals to South Korean

talent. And since they technically don't employ South Korean talent to begin with because they outsource its productions to local companies, they feel they're not even obligated to talk with the unions because they're like, we're not hiring you. XYZ production company is hiring you. So take it up with them. But like, they're not the ones getting the distribution rights. They're not the ones that are reaping the benefits and getting all the money.

So it is Netflix that you, you know what I'm saying? I have to. I feel like this kind of the, you know what, this kind of, it doesn't justify it, but it kind of do you remember the whole thing with NHK, like in Japan, like we're only now starting to get Japanese dramas. Yeah. They keep their stuff really, really, really tight for reasons like this. It's only now. A couple years ago they struck a deal with Netflix. And I'm. Releasing Yeah, me too, but they're bringing a bunch of old,

old, old. But that's how they start. Yeah, that's how they started with K Dramas too, is that they were licensing for a period of time these older shows, well known shows and stuff to be on their platform. And that entices people to sign up even for Netflix so that they can watch this in their region. And then they're like, OK, we're going to take all of this info and we're going to create our own Netflix Japanese drama now. Yeah.

It's no wonder they drag their feet to like get to the global market. They probably saw what was up. That's this is really devastating news. I'm not even going to like, I'm just like really upset. Here I am thinking we're breaking strides. Like I actually like lifted up, Netflix says. Like damn, like we're finally giving international acts and. They're not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. No, but I didn't, you know, I didn't expect the other side of

this is working a mantle. His teeth fall out and then giving him a piety check on top like this is horrible. I'm telling you, and this was info that we really didn't have in. I think we recorded that in October of 2021 about our Squid Game Season 1 review. After three years, more shit has really come out about Netflix and it's beyond frustrating to see how they operate.

And really the reason why we have such a big Netflix Squid Game is because it did numbers on the platform and then Netflix started investing, marketing into Squid Game and you started seeing it everywhere, right? But think of all the Netflix shows that you don't freaking. If you're not following Netflix accounts on social media, you're not going to get any marketing for it. They do not market any of their originals. I never thought of that. You're up. You're right.

Yeah, they don't, unless it's like a big. No marketing. Budget like. It's not like a movie where you like, need to go in a press tour. You need to talk to these outlets. You need to do meet and greets and all this stuff in a red carpet. That does not happen for Netflix shows or movies. Counter Days, Netflix. Except for the big ones that do numbers like Squid Game, Bridgeton, and Stranger Things. Were there movies that were Oscar contenders? Like wasn't The Irishman one of them?

And. Yeah, but again, that's a Scorsese movie. So of course they're going to market the Scorsese movie. Like that's got to be in the deal that Scorsese inks. It's like you have to market my movie and they'll do it. It's a Scorsese like. Yeah, like that's yeah, they're not going to do like they're not going to take out bus ads and like no billboards for Anne with an E like. No. SO anyway, that's my Netflix rant. I'm going to get off my soapbox now and talk to you about the

scandals. OK, cool. OK, so you know about TOP Top from Big Bang. First of all, I love Big Bang. I have to say that I am actually still Avipi really appreciate the music of Big Bang and I don't care that it's dated and it's a second generation group and all this other crap. Like it made me, and I do mean that punny because the Maid album really solidified my place on Spotify because I got Spotify around 2012 and that's around the time that the Maid album came out and I played the shit

out of that album. It was a vibe. It was a whole like these new bands, I'm just, I'm not going to mention them because I don't need an army of fans come after me. But I'm looking at this. I'm like wow, I wish this was Big Bang. I wish this was Big Bang. Why aren't they playing Big Bang in Target? Do you remember what his scandal was? I remember vaguely, was it drug related? Yeah. So he was arrested in 2016 for marijuana usage. He pled guilty and I think that he was.

I think he served jail time if I can't I can't remember correctly. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. The pot usage has branded him a drug addict and he has been blacklisted from the music industry and he basically declared himself retired in like 2017. He was like fucking over it. He don't want to deal with nobody. He doesn't participate in any Big Bang activities anymore.

It's really sad actually, that he has become sort of this reckless who only comes out to promote the fact that he was going to go to the moon. Do you remember this? I remember that for marijuana too, but then again their laws are so tight you can't even smoke. Even if you like, let's say you go to California and you smoke weed there, they can still prosecute you for it like when you get back. Yeah, exactly.

It's just weed like. TOP has a really fractured relationship with the Korean public in particular because I think the global fans don't really care that much that he smoked weed. Nobody gives a shit, people smoke more weed than they do cigarettes so like nobody cares

anymore. When TOP was announced to be part of his cast in Squid Game Two, there were a lot of, let's say, mean comments online from the netizens and people were speculating what kind of character he was going to play and how could the director possibly cast TOP and all this stuff. Come to find out, he's playing like a facsimile of himself. I'm obsessed with this.

It is such perfect casting and once the show was released, there were so many Korean outlets who were putting out scathing articles about him, about his performance in the show and how it was cringy and all this stuff and just like berating him. So that is scandal number one is just TOP and his persona not jiving any Korean. It's. It's it's horrible. I gotta say like without spoiling anything like this newfound information makes me love his character that much

more. It was pretty brave. Of. Him so much more I would say to even. He really, you know what? He really took it out and threw it on the table and said, you know what, Like I'm blacklisted from anything anyway, Let's just kick it up to 100 and just piss everyone off. I'm so here for it. Yeah, this is great. I love this. The other scandal is they had a. What do they call a cisgender? Man play a transgender woman, and that's Paksungun's character.

So people are mad about that. I have to reiterate that Korea is a very conservative society, OK? LGBTQ plus rights are really never front and center on the agenda, and people really don't give a shit. So like, that's their that's their culture. You have to think about it that way, that the fact that you even have a trans character in the show is doing a lot. It's saying a lot, especially on behalf of the Creator.

I'm actually really shocked. And when I saw that there was a trans character, I was like, oh, like I've never seen a trans character in because they always do kind of like that vaudevillian like. And the Japanese dramas do this too. It's like the character that's vaguely androgynous but they never get into like hey like I'm trans and this and that like the actual details of being trans or and then to for it not even to be played as a joke. I was. My mind was blown when I saw

this character. Yeah, yeah. It's not my first time seeing a trans character because they also I think there was a trans woman in ITE Wan class as well, which is also a pretty big show with Paxogen. I don't know if you've heard of that joke but anyway. So it but again, few and far between. Is there any sort of representation like that on AK drama, let alone a global phenomenon like Squid Game? OK #2 POC sungun same actor. This is recent.

He shared to his Instagram story with his 1.2 million followers, an adult parody film of Squid Game 2. And he immediately like took it down. And people don't know if he'd meant to do it on purpose or if he was trying to share it to like like a a burner Instagram account or with friends in a direct message or something like that. It's very weird. We don't have a lot of answers, but I think he already apologized or tearfully apologized. You know how the whole bit is like people?

I'm ready to listen and to learn like or whatever it is they say. So this was the other a scandal with this actor and really I don't really give a shit, like personally. I gotta, yeah, I gotta be honest. Just like TOP's drugs like drug like, right? Quotes. Like scandal. Like, wow, I don't, you know, I think this show is going to provide. I thought it was going to be a good, OK, cool. Like we're putting a trans character front and center. It could be a good chance to

kind of like. Open up a conversation, right? Make you feel a certain way about this character because you haven't looked at this struggle through the lens of a real life character who's like tangible on screen, has a struggle, has a mission through the course of these games, and it like didn't matter. Like I can kind of. Get they were focused on the casting on like, why'd you cast a guy? They kind of got up. I don't know, maybe lighten up. I don't know, cuz that's this.

Well, then again, that second one, sharing a porn parody is kind of like, that's kind of like, I think it's a little. Funny. Personally, it is pretty funny. It's just like the Chris Evans, like, OK, like scandal. I'm not going to go into that. So anyway, no, the the point that I want to try and make before I go into the rest of the scandals is these people are not angels, OK? Not even there is a perception of Korean entertainers and Holly

way of stars. Whatever the hell you want to call idols, whatever you want to call them that they don't do any drinking, they don't get drunk, they don't have sex like they don't like do any of they don't watch porn, they don't any of anything. And that's simply not true, OK? These people are fully grown adults most of the time. With lots of money. With lots of money, what the hell do you think goes on behind closed doors?

So I think everyone needs to just like touch grass on a lot of this and just keep it in perspective. I know that we're Westerners. I know that we have a different view and what constitutes a scandal. But honestly, like for people who are shocked that these people smoke weed and like do all this stuff, take a deep breath and think about it. And I don't know what else to tell you so. I I couldn't agree more.

I couldn't agree more. Like I, I don't understand how so many people have fallen for this. Like the idol culture. I don't get it. It's like, OK, fine, like they dressed them up a certain way and did all this stuff, but come on. Like there's been so many scandals for so long that are like worse than this. So. Talking about worse than this, we'll get into E Jung Jay, who is player 456. That's our lead in the show. He was guilty of multiple DU is with assault charges from the

late 90s and early 2000s. This is obviously about 2024 years old. This these scandals and people love to bring up this scandal for him. Frontman Ebyungen sued in 2009 by his ex-girlfriend for being a chronic gambler and tricking her into a sexual relationship with him on the false pretenses of eventually getting married. Yikes. More recently, you know he's been married to actress Emin Jung since 2013.

Mine too. He was cheating on her with a model and there was a secret recording video recording of him making inappropriate comments about her like the model basically 2 girls when she was one of them and the other one was an idol or something like that. They were friends and they extorted him for money, blackmailed him with this video and then he turned around and sued them and one and the two girls are now in jail. So or they went to jail. Oh. Yeah, blackmail's huge over there.

Huge. Or a huge crime, rather, Yeah. I mean both in both senses. Huge crime and huge. So that's ebungun. People love to bring this up and love to talk about ebungun. Two things can be true at the same time. You can have an asshole be famous and deserve the fame like because they're actually they actually have talent. Yeah, like Leonardo DiCaprio. Yeah, classic, classic Chevy Chase, another classic asshole. So there's so many cases of this and you can cancel them.

You can avoid their projects, what have you. But like two things that Kevin Spacey. Oh my God, that's a great example of like, sorry to say, Kevin Spacey. Horrible person. Probably should have stayed cancelled. But yeah, he's a great actor, just can't deny that. Right, he should be in prison, but he great actor. Great actor. Exactly two things can be true at the same time. The season 1001 The old man Oh. Yeah. Oh no. Convicted of sexual misconduct and assault.

That one tracks. That guy creeped me out. Like from day one. He. Was a creeper. We all knew it so, but that was after Squid Game. That was after he gained fame and after he went to the the Emmys and stuff. Then they were like, oh, he's not. My girl's like, shaking his head and like. You know all this all I'm getting from this, all I'm getting from just let TOP smoke some weed. Not literally like TOP is a good least of it.

You know, I'm going to create I'm going to create an Instagram, one of those like those little story things. It's like TOP who he is and what we can do to help because we need to like this is a crisis. I need to. I'm not even done. I have two more. Oh no, Player 246 Jinnuk. OK, He's the guy that has the child that's terminal. Oh, OK. Back in 2016, he was accused of sexually assaulting his 33 year

old friend. The courts, however, claimed it was consensual because she offered him a shower and a clean shirt after the encounter. So they were like something doesn't track. The math is a math thing here. That's nice. He was cleared of charges because she ended up saying her claims were false and then he countersued her. There's that scandal. You're like rolling your eyes. It was just like, Oh my. God can't deal with this. It's it's we're all this.

It's it's the same everywhere and somehow worse. Here's the last one and I think this is might be. The worst. Also, real quick, I just want to say, like, as you're telling me all these scandals, I'm looking at a document with the profiles of all of these contestants. Yeah. And it's their faces in front of the pink background for their ID card. And this is like The Guess Who of scandals. Like, I feel like I'm playing Guess who. It's like, let me knock this one.

It's the last one, and I don't think people talk about this one enough. Is player 100? This is song Young Chang. He's the old guy who wanted to keep playing the game. And he had the most debt out of anyone in the in the contestants. OK, get ready. Back in 2000, 2020, five years ago, he was convicted. Convicted of underage sexual wrongdoing, as in with a minor? OK. He reportedly paid a 16 year old $150.00 to have sex with him in his car twice. He was 42, married with a

daughter. How old was the victim? 16 years old, he got 10 months and two years probation. He barely served a month, then was released, and then he absconded to the United States. We need to free TOP. That's it. Free TOP. I don't. I wonder I have to. Wonder the fact that he was blacklisted and then he ends up in Squid Game season 2 anyway like is wild. But did they? This has to be intentional, right? Like this casting has to be.

Intentional. I I don't know, I think the TOP 1 was definitely yeah, for sure divine casting, but the rest, yeah. So you know what? I don't care what happens to any of these people after this. I gotta tie. We can all die. OK, going back to the show and like what are the complaints

about the show itself? I heard complaints about the tonal inconsistency of season 2, how it undermines the narrative because you're flip flopping between people are laughing and hay and cheering each other on and then all of a sudden like they want to kill each other and it's doom and gloom. I thought that was great. I actually have an entire like section in my notes about the humor. Like, it's great, it's funny. I don't.

Other complaints that I've seen are that the showrunner has prioritized entertainment over substance. In what way? Like it feels like such a natural segue from Season 1. Like I'm actually in shock at this because it's very cohesive I think. People have said the characters, the new additions to the cast are forgettable and that to prepare your face. I wish you guys could see Miguel's face. Who are these people? People have said the

performances lack nuance. No, not any more than the first season at the very I'll I'll give them some of that, I guess, but I don't think. So they also said the deaths don't feel meaningful or particularly tragic. That's true, but we can't talk about why yet. So. And then I have some other complaints because they had a mixed critical reception. A lot of critics didn't like it. They disliked it. Diminishing returns, season set up for a finale, very

unsatisfying ending. And I can see where they're coming from as far as the season felt incomplete, Right? Listen to me, Season 3 is going to be season 2 Part 2. That's what I thought it was. I didn't even know they were going to brand it as Season 3 until you had told me. I'm like, so when does Season 2B come out? Yeah, no, it's season 3. I was like, yeah. OK. And I didn't want to tell you like offhand, I totally agree because I just wanted to leave it for this review. But yeah.

It felt really incomplete, yeah. Yeah, it did feel really incomplete, so I get why people are saying that. Other people saying this season was boring or mid. I watched almost all of it in one night, it was so good. Oh shit I forgot one scandal. OK, so this doesn't have to do with the specific actor or actress, this has to do with the show. All right. So Squid Game season 2 has prompted serious backlash in Vietnam. Can you guess why? I OK, I don't. Oh wait, because of the war they

mentioned the. War. Exactly So. The issue in question relates to the references to the Vietnam War, many viewers accusing the show of glorifying the participation of South Korean soldiers in the conflict and whitewashing the atrocities. OK, well, have they seen any American movie made for the past 60 years? Yeah. So they're the Vietnamese state media outlet Lao Dong is reviewing. They said that Vietnam Cinema Department is reviewing whether Season 2 conflicts with the

nation's film laws. And they could, like, remove it, I guess, from that platform, the Netflix in Vietnam. OK. Like, I mean, every country thinks that they're the hero in their own story, so I don't know, OK. Yeah. I mean it's definitely better than paying a 16 year old so. Oh. Like, if this is Barry, I, I can see why you forgot that. And like, not to be insensitive, it's just kind of like, OK, well, all right.

Yeah, so. We got through a lot to get here, so forgive me if I'm a bit underwhelmed. I would say that all of these complaints, right, like barring the boycott that's happening on behalf of Vietnam, all of these complaints just go to show that people don't like sequels, people don't like multi season shows. And I think the problem is it's impossible to make season 2 more jaw-dropping than season 1 because the novelty, the shock

has worn off. Nobody knew what to expect on season 1 and it's suffering from sequel fatigue. Like how do you make this bigger, better, badder? Oh, more games. Different games, different characters. It's suffering from the same thing that every other sequel suffers from. Yeah, but I mean, even with I can't bring myself to dislike it. Like everything felt like such a natural progression of the first season. Like everything, the games, everything. Yeah, so. So I.

Just want to say. That I liked it. I liked it a lot. It was really pretty much as much as I like Season 1. Sorry about it. Sorry to everybody who disliked it, but this is not. We're not too too haters here, I guess. No, yeah, if you're, I'm not piling onto any of that. So yeah, if you don't like it, you're not in for a good friend. Well, hopefully we can change your mind and give you a way to

appreciate. It yeah, perhaps Speaking of the future of Squid Game. So there has been something some news floating around like that's been getting millions of views on TikTok of people sharing the Squid Game cinematic universe. The SGCU OK it's images circulating of what looks like a Kevin Feige MCU like presentation at Comic Con with a phase one timeline including Squid Game Season 3, Squid Game USA, Squid Game 1987, Squid Game 28th and Squid Game World.

Is this a meme or is this real? It's fake. It's all fake. It's fabricated lies. Don't believe it? OK, good. Now if it happens that there is Netflix takes a cue from this or they had something leaked, then fine. You can feel free to comment in a year after this podcast has gone live to say you're wrong, fine. As of today it's all fake. OK, thank. God, like I don't. We did that already with Marvel. We don't need to do it again like we're we're so good on.

That so an update on the 45.6 billion won. It is now worth in today a time of recording $30.9 million USD. That's the pot OK on the show. I just want to remind everybody that Squid Game is a real game, like played by kids and was popular in the 70s and 80s in Korea. And well, three of the characters in the show could be seen as being based on real life stories, true stories for echoing these stories. Okay, got it.

I will give you those stories and then we will rate the show out of five Soldier Bottles. And then we're getting into the spoiler section. I'm ready for it.

Ready. Okay, the trans character, Going back to the trans character, there was a transgender soldier in South Korea, Byung Visu, who was a staff Sergeant and was a tank driver before being discharged from the army in January in 2020 after she underwent gender reassignment surgery in Thailand. It's all like coming together in November 2019. So she fought for the right to continue serving in the Army. And it's really sad what happened to her because she was denied and discharged and then

they denied her request for reinstatement in July 2020. And unfortunately she committed suicide in 2021. It. Was only four years ago. Yeah, I like, I was half expecting this to be from like the 90s. No, this is recent. This is recent. Byung Wisu was only 22 years old. Damn. Yeah, the crypto scam. Doquan is a South Korean former businessman and software engineer, Co founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, the parent company of crash stable coin Terra USD and cryptocurrency Luna.

This is all gibberish to me, by the way. Terra USD and Luna collapsed in May 2022, wiping out almost 45 billion with AB billion dollar market capitalization in one week and causing hundreds of billions in losses in the larger crypto market. This guy was on the run. They were like trying to find him and I think they caught him in Dubai and now he's facing charges in the US and South Korea in like multiple countries.

He's on on trial for fraud. I. Don't blame him, I'd run farther for less. So like, honestly. 45 billion. Can you imagine? $45 billion. I'm like, I mean, I'm putting money into like a made-up currency. Oh yeah, no, that's never going to go wrong. So sorry to all the crypto people out there, but like. Don't worry, it'll pay off. You'll get your next Bitcoin, Julia. OK, the shaman. I couldn't want this lady. I'm sorry.

For nearly two years leading up to the recent martial law declaration and his impeachment, President Yun Sokil reportedly visited a fortune teller, a shaman in Kunsan, South of Seoul. He visited over 20 times. He asked for the fate of different military officials and God knows what else. So that is in the zeitgeist for the Korean audience. That's something that the Western audience, the international audience, might

not know. That is so funny and I'm going to rewatch it again with all this in mind. So Can you imagine your president is like consistently going to see a shaman and you're like, what can the is the shaman running the country like it's, you know, God, it sucks. You know what? That you know, the martial law thing actually makes sense now. I didn't know that. Yeah, So what would you rate Squid Game Season 2 out of five soju bottles? 4 1/2. Yeah, I'd give you like 4 four and a half four.

It's just because of it. It's just because it's a truncated season. That's literally the only reason. Like if it would have been a full season and it would have kept up the momentum we're going to talk about, I think I would have just given it A5. I don't want to fault the creator for the injustice that was done to him and the craziness of Netflix. And that's why my score is still like 4/4 and 1/2. That's fair. I mean, he has diplomatic

immunity in my heart. Yeah. He lost teeth making this thing literally. He's like, yeah, he's fine. Poor guy. So we are going to get into spoilers for Squid Game 2 finally, right after this. Excuse me, I can't. You know I am. Oh. Sorry, what? All right, we're on the other side of spoilers, so anything goes. We are going to spoil Squid Game season 2 and talk about characters and what the hell happens in this show. So where do you even want to start?

I think episode 1 is a little bit funny because we get the return of the recruiter. Kong you. I love him, I have to tell. You This was like an amazing, amazing episode I thought. It was so good. Because it fleshed out this character, the subway game recruiter who's playing Takchi with people and slapping them upside the head every time they lose. It expanded on the lore of this guy, and everybody in their mom knows who Kong Yu is. It's an amazing, amazing

episode. What did you think of this one? I love the episode. I loved it specifically. Well, specifically for the recruiter. I'm glad that we got some back story, but even in the first season, he's like a top three character in my book, even though he's not because he's so well casted. He is creepy. He is so creepy and so stoic, so to see his back story or for him to give his back? Sorry, I'm not normally a fan of the very exposition.

It is an exposition dump. My if in case you're wondering who I am, my father died and it's like, OK, but but in this case, it was interesting because it's like anything we know about him is interesting. I love that the first episode. I don't know if you know this, but I'm a huge police drama fan and this felt like like huge, like the killing. I've seen the killing, I think about 30 times, front to back, the American one. Not no Yeah of.

Course, the German one. Yeah, True Detective, all that. Like I live for detective dramas. I wanted to be a detective as a kid. Neither here nor there. But I love police dramas. This first episode feels like a police drama. It has so many elements. The chasing, the canvassing, the humor. Can I just. I need to get into the humor because it was one of the first things I had written down here. Let's see humor. I really appreciate the one off bits of humor in the show.

Like the biggest standout is the atrocious recorder music. When they're like, this is the man we're looking for and they have this really heinous like mannequin with a drawn face. And I was like, like, it's this military March on a recorder. I don't know if you guys remember that horrible excuse for a wind instrument that looked like a flute when we were

in middle or elementary school. They're playing police marching music off key in this music while all these like mercenaries and St. thugs are like looking for this. It had me rolling. I had to pause. The mannequin just took me out like right? On the I know same. I couldn't do it. I couldn't. Do it I like every single meme that I see of of that thing of this just like the head with the paste it on paper cut out you see the. Foot soldiers at the subway stations.

Have you seen this man? Shut up. They're. Like they're. Like what he's seeing, him seeing the recruiter outside of his enigmatic state was like the casting. They nailed it again. I mean, I know it's the same guy from the first season, but just seeing him out of his enigmatic state, like going around town, he buys like food. Bread versus lottery, Do you want to talk about that scene and like. Go for it, lead us in. Lead us in. Sadistic. Sadistic. He goes and buys the First of

all, I like that. There's a shot of Kungu's, the palm of his hand and it's calloused from slapping people in the face. And I was like, wow, that's a great touch. That's a blink and you'll miss it. He's been doing this so long, he's got fucking calluses on his right hand. So anyway, he goes and buys all this bread, goes to this park, which I think is also significant. That park, I can't remember why. I think it was has to do with the Democratic movement, I believe maybe in Korea.

Oh yeah, and they do like everything that goes down happens in front of. Their ear but that didn't that exactly so this area is significant. It's it's charged he goes to this park where all of these homeless people were or struggling people are just laying about and he gives them the choice to either pick the bread which will feed them. They're presumably starving. They haven't had anything to eat or a lottery ticket.

And this basically portends the whole rest of the show, which is are you going to get the immediate satisfaction, the immediate satiation of your need, or are you going to take a chance on the very slim chance that you could win more money? Yeah, and then the interaction's horrible. I think only one or two people chose the bread. Everybody else chose the lottery ticket. And he gives them a coin, he gives them money to scratch off the lottery ticket. And then he's like, MMM, bummer,

give me back my coin. And he has to. It's so. It's so vile. It's so vile. And then he takes all the bread and this cracked me up on he was horrible, but he crashes out so hard. He dumps all the bread on the ground, calls everybody like names and then starts stomping on the bread like a cartoon character, which I just want to say is an aside. You can tell this is in South Korea because that guy would have gotten his shit rocked by

like everybody in that part. They were like, he wouldn't have made it past the first guy. He'd be like, oh, word. And then they would have described the bread. But anyway, it was such a great crash out. And I think one of my favorite qualities of this was I really got to commend the actor because he's stomping on it in this fury. But you can tell he's getting, like, this sick thrill from, like, just stomping out the food. Like, he can hardly contain his

smile. Yeah. And then he regains composure and walks away. Yeah, it was. It was a great way to open the show outside of the terrible red wig like. The the Ronald McDonald wig. Yeah. So they introduce, obviously in this episode, the food, the bread versus lottery, this facade of democracy, which appears after every game because they start voting.

This is new for the season. They vote after every single game, whether to stay or go X or O, promising them that if they continue with the game, if you can, if you get the lottery ticket, there's a chance you can win more money. You know, this is all just in Episode 1 where this social experiment in the park. Yeah, it it's just like laying the whole foundation for how the rest of the show is going to go. It was really clever. Really, really clever. I love that and just I love it. Sorry.

So we get paper scissor rock with the loan shark guys because they do happen upon Kong Yu. He beats the shit out of them and kidnaps them. Two grown men kidnaps them. I have no doubt that I don't know that they knew that they were rocking against Kong You. There was no chance. The paper scissor rock is very memorable and horrible. I thought it was fitting that their gags that he had on them were in the shape of dog bones. Yeah, really.

The dehumanizing aspect comes really, really quickly. Yes. Like these people see these contestants as just garbage, as animals. Yeah. Yeah, and Turndo is playing, and that's the song that he hits play on, and I'm like, wow. It's always opera with these guys. Always off. It's the the Blue Denoob Waltz is back for season 2. But yeah, this whole paper, scissor, rock thing, it's shocking. As an audience, you, you don't know what to do. Like what would you do in that situation?

It's the first like show of overt violence because up until this point, so I can see why people thought the tone was inconsistent. But I actually really appreciated this because instead of going full sadistic like gory show they started with like a police manhunt.

They throw in some humor. You're getting to know people and then in the last like 3/4 of the episode is when we see oh, like this really brutal, sadistic, vile game and they just it was so gory to like it was I knew it was going to happen and it was still. Like and the casting of Kong you is it can't be like understated how they gave this really sadistic paper scissor rock game to Kong you, who is like the Brad Pitt of Korea, right? So I loved that it allowed

Kongyu to be super unhinged. It was a great like change of face. And he was very animated and riveting to watch. He was so good. Yeah, then Kongyu finds our 456 at the Pink Motel, which I think it's funny that he owns the Pink Motel and that it's pink, right? Like pink is the signature color of the games the Squid Games. After everything that happened, I would never want to see that color. Again, exactly. It's literally the same exact pink.

And then when Kong Yu is there, and this is before they do the Russian roulette, his presence is so imposing in the room. When 456 walks in, Yes, you just see his back phone use back. And then he turns around and he's sipping on some, like, banana juice through a straw. And he's almost childlike. Yeah, it. It's so weird. I love that juxtaposition. Weird character. I love. And I think that people didn't really get it. I don't. That is the tone of the whole rest of the show, embodied.

That's the whole point. Like childlike imagery juxtapose with brutal violence. Yeah. You're playing games you played when you were a child, but it's life or death. The stakes are way higher. So like they. Go out of their way to point this out multiple times to like, player 100. Yeah. Is like, how hard could this be? Like, we're just playing Children's Games, like, so they really push that point. Yeah, yeah. It's terrifying. The story about shooting his own

dad. So we get that from recruiter Kung Yu. You get immediately through his story, through his the way he's speaking and what he's saying, he he thinks he's above it. He thinks he's superior. He thinks he's cut out for this job that he worked his way up and doesn't believe that he's trash like the contestants are or that he's just a dog with a master, which is what 456 keeps calling him. You're like, you're just a, you're doing their bidding like a dog.

You're a trained animal. I like the I like it when we see true psychosis in a show because he's so convinced that he's not a lap dog. And he's like, yeah, OK, that's what you say, but I'm not. He's so. The illusion of. Dedicated to this he's like, yeah, my dad begged for his life and I had no problem shooting him like that's when I knew I was cut out for it and it's. Like, and it's a God complex, like you're crazy towering over your your own father, like the person who gave you life.

Classic. And I'm like, wow, this is really powerful and crazy and this is episode 1, the time to say goodbye Russian roulette. He wants him to admit when the odds are one and two that he'll die. Not saying the names makes it so confusing. So Kong Yu wants 456 to admit that he's a piece of trash who got lucky and made it out of the dumpster. Yeah, and he doesn't really jive with that. No, of course, the odds are in 456's favor because he gets the last shot. Kong Yu has to kill himself.

Yeah, I love that. There's also, and this is also echoed throughout the rest of the show, the rest of the plot. Where are you going to follow the rules? Yeah, yeah. It's like because that they're given the opportunity where they can break them but. Because they could just walk away. There's no they don't have to play the game. Right now they're given the option to just like leave and they don't or. You can just be like, you know

what, never mind and just yeah. Just go get a job somewhere like and get a life. But instead he feels so trapped and he feels, So what is it? Superior committed all of these things that he was like, fine, I will kill myself for nothing. It's for nothing. It really is, and he almost to prove. A point. He did it to prove a point. Thus ending. I mean, I don't know. He'll never be back so. No, he's not going to go back. Is he going to be OK?

No. So. But I love the the fact that you he was treating the the two gangsters who he kidnapped and had them play, Saber says. Or Rock. They were not. They didn't sign up to play the game. No, he's just a sadist like, and he's, he's about that life like he really is like that. He gets to how many people he's done that to. Exactly, exactly it makes you think. Amazing casting. I I couldn't get out. I was in absolute law. He was the real star of that first episode.

And the acting in that, he was just so excellent. A lot of people have been taking screenshots of that scene and how Kongyo has like a uneven face, basically how 1/2 is shaded in like pink or something and he looks confident, he looks cocky, he looks determined. And then the other half, which is I think shaded in blue. He looks terrified and unsure. Love this. It's quite interesting to see how he's a mix of fear and doubt and sadistic overconfidence.

It's so weird, but I was here for every second of it. Yeah, every second of it. Loved it. So episode 2 comes along, the game will not end unless the world changes is the concept of this episode. They put him in the games after his pitiful little 456 is pitiful plan doesn't happen. It's like crashes. Yeah. Don't they like put like they put a chip in his? Yeah, they put a chip in one of his molars, but. When he gets in like they find he he's just like I'm fucked. At least that's what the

subtitle said. Like he goes to check they had removed it. Yeah, yeah. I I thought it was funny that people were like, how can they remove his tooth that had the implant and all this stuff and they don't remove TOP's drug cross. This was one of my favorite. Details and I'm like in. The whole show. Why would they remove his drug cross? That's going to make for better entertainment if someone's coked out and like tripping balls.

They're like everything they do is from that angle of sadism and like, this is going to tie back to something that happens, I think in the last episode. But I love that detail so much because it was the first thing I thought of, like when I saw him, I'm like, oh, OK, So they look through everyone's stuff and they're like, OK, let's see what how this guy tries to play all drugged out. Let's see if he distributes any of this to anyone else. And let's see how they play

drugged out. Like this will be a fun wild card. They're horrible. They're letting people destroy themselves. So yeah. Yeah, why wouldn't, why, why would they take that away and have him play sober? That's ridiculous. Like that. Even me, like I'm not running no games here, OK? I'm like, yeah, that's stupid. Like from an entertainment standpoint? I would. Absolutely. Think of reality television. Why would you take the drugs away from this? Give him more and work it into the.

Budget. Yeah, exactly. It just, I didn't think people weren't thinking on that. They were just like, they took away his implant. I'm like, yeah, so they won't be found out and they can't be tracked. When you look at, I think the, I think it, it's interesting because when I look at all the faults, it really comes. I'm not really the kind of guy who's like, oh, well, if you don't like it, it's because you don't understand. But from all the criticisms I've

heard, I think that's the case. When you look at this show through the lens that the people in charge are just unrelentingly, bottomlessly sadistic, everything in the show makes perfect sense. So of course they let him keep the cross. And I love that detail. I love it. The backup plan for 456 is OK, reinsert me back in the game, reinsert me back into the matrix and I'm going to destroy the matrix from the inside out,

right? That was his Plan B, and he was he was going to show Player 001 that someone did help that homeless man in the end, and he lost the final game in Season 1. As he died. There's this thought that the world is predictable, and that's coming from the front man. This is back when they're talking through the loudspeaker, a Charlie's Angels style. The limo. He's like Bosley coming into the.

Car, literally. So the game makers think that people are predictable, that people are hopeless, that no one is ever kind. It's survival of the fittest. The richest, the poor, are just horses to be raced, trash to be incinerated, playthings. And what Kyun 456 says is I'll show you that the world doesn't always go the way you want it to. I love that it's not always true, but I. Love it, right? It's like very like, OK, hope. Hope that's awesome.

Yeah, at the end of episode 2 we get the twist, which I this was the only thing that surprised me in the whole fucking show was that Pakyu Young is a pink soldier. That threw me super hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything with the little girl. I have notes on that, like the little strawberry hat, the rabbit, seeing the characters. You know, we are so by osmosis, if that's the one, right?

Like familiar with Disney culture and we hear horror stories in our own community of like, oh, somebody did a big no no, they saw Mickey Mouse or something without their helmet. And it's just so when I saw that little girl in the dressing room and then Oh my God, I hated everything with a little girl. I hated it so much. And then when I began to hate it even more, something that really pulled me out was we went and it's always the bone marrow transplant.

Literally it's always the fucking bone marrow transplant. Like it's on every K drama drinking game. I don't know if you've ever read through them. There's always a bone marrow transplant right next to the kid that goes away and comes back from overseas. I'm like. It's very cliche, but I think that there were a lot of clues that I missed about Pacu Young being a pink soldier. The fact that she's literally in a pink Bunny outfit. Yeah, in retrospect, it's

weirdly obvious. And her theme park Co worker said that she's the only one who can last a long time in that sweltering pink Bunny costume. She can do that because she's used to being messed up for the games. Like it just makes a lot of sense and I did not see it coming. I just don't get what her motivation is yet. That's the only thing that there was me. Like the twist was great.

But yeah, she's. Like the North Korean defector Part 2, because we obviously we had that character in Season 1 who was so compelling and trying to win the games for her little brother. And then this character who is not quite developed at all really in season 2, she's introduced but not fleshed out really. She wants to bring her son from North Korea, which it's very highly likely that that kid is dead and buried or not even

buried. Highly unfortunate for the character, but she still holds out a little bit of hope. And she kind of got not hoodwinked, but you know, it was one of those side hustle jaws that they were like what? You have some skills, we can use you. It's high paying. Come and do this job. They don't got Uber out there. Like what's going, you know, I, you touched on something really interesting because that's something that stood out to me very, very quickly.

And at first I was kind of like, this seems kind of lazy, but I really came to appreciate it. It's interesting how many of these characters are basically just, they're basically not a copy and paste, but their essence is very similar to the characters we got in the first season. So we have she turns out to be a soldier. She's basically like a facsimile for season 1 North Korea girl.

We have the trans character who stands out for being different, much like the Indian expat who is living in South Korea. We have the shaman lady, which that's going to be a whole thing, who's basically effects Emily for the really needy, annoying older Ajuma from the first season. You remember the really annoying lady who was just like, OK, like for every. It's a lot of the characters were kind of like plucked, like their essence was plucked in.

Yeah, they're archetypes. We were carried over. But I still, I was here for it. So yeah, I really. So we don't know her motivation though, right? We don't exactly know her motivation for staying and doing these games, I guess year after year, because it's not her first year doing this Pink Soldier gig. And I thought it was interesting that they spent time in this particular episode and in Season 2 for Pakya Young's character. They're setting up that she she's not immune to like other

people's struggles, right? She really connected with the little girl she saw whenever she was there present in the park at the parade, and she gave her a lollipop. And so she's looking out for the little guy. She's looking out for this. Those less fortunate than her who have maybe another, everybody's got a sob story, but that's a really sad sob story that she's terminal. She needs a bone marrow transplant. It's horrible. And she did that little like

crayon drawing with her in the. It's adorable. And the little hat brought it to the hospital. It's a beautiful moment. Went out of her way to get the strawberry hat to her in the hospital after she collapsed and you're like, Oh my God, she can't possibly. That's why it's so surprising that she is a pink soldier who throughout Season 1, faceless, most mostly faceless. And we do see some pink soldiers, their faces, but also trying to profit off of the contestants and their dead

bodies. And you know, you had that whole organ harvesting ring happening in season 1 with the pink soldiers. And so when she puts on the costume, you're like, but she's a mother, but she's a North Korean defector just like that other girl from Season 1. And like all these things that make her human, it goes away when she has the mask on. I guess she's just trying to. I guess this is their way of telling us that, well, you're either a contestant, it's like the victim or assailant thing,

right? Either maybe? The victim is the assailant. Maybe the assailant is the victim. And I think that's. Because this. Character is telling you. It obviously doesn't pay well. No, she uses most of her money and her resources to try to contact. Yeah, try and get her kid. Back but she's living out of her car. Yeah, she's homeless. Like sleeping in parks. She's doing nothing so.

We head into episode 3, we get all of the new contestants, another partner, 56 contestants in the game, and we we meet the the shaman. The irony of the Shraman saying that Kihuen for 56 is surrounded by spirits and can't stay or go. She correctly assumes that he's plagued by guilt basically, and says that if they get out of there, let her perform a ritual. And I'm paraphrasing because I don't think I have a direct quote. Dragged back here by angry souls. That's what she was saying.

Even a broken clock, right? So exactly a broken clock is right twice a day. Even though she sees clearly, sees his plate and what he's struggling with, she can't see the obvious danger in front of her that she might die. All these people are are going to die. I mean, it's pretty obvious, right? Like if you were to wake up in that room thinking you were part of a game, you'd just be like, wait, this is. Only one winner. What could that mean?

I could say just send them home. So the shaman, and of course the fact that later on in the show she exerts her power through her having a pulse on like the spiritual and the spirits and stuff like that, she is getting people to vote the way she wants them to. Yeah, she starts basically making like a micro cult and like, yeah. And considering that the impeach South Korean president was taking advice from a shaman for years. It it's starting to all fall together.

Yeah, yeah, this is very touchy for the Korean audience, I would say. Building a militia out of people already within the games too, like, OK, yeah, horrible. But in Episode 3, one of my favorite things that happens is it shows in a way, it's kind of good that there it was this long because I mentioned this earlier, but Gen. Z has really come of age. So my I love this, the orientation, for lack of a better term, when they're introducing and it's all these Gen.

Z kids. Like, what about my shoes? They were limited edition. I bought them off of stock X Oh, can I have a pink suit instead, please, Mr. Pink man? Like this, Like this jumpsuit's ugly. They're trying to take a group selfie with Thanos. All of it was very, very believable. And it's so ridiculous. I'm like, this is exactly how this would go down. Like I was rolling at. This. Yeah, it's very apartment. You know the director slash writers is really tapping into

something here. Really has their finger. On the pole, so I was. Like, oh, this is exactly how this would go down exactly. And even when they take that, when they go to take the group selfie, I love the game Masters. I guess the soldiers. Yeah, pink soldiers. And they're like, you can't do that to the selfie. And they're like, Oh no, it'll be really quick. And they're just standing there like in disbelief.

You can't see these soldiers faces, but they're just standing there like I but I said no, like what do you mean? It's so funny. Yeah, it's crazy. The new rule is vote after each game whether or not to continue if the majority votes to end the games and the winnings will be distributed amongst all of these people and game over. It's a. Pretty good deal. But I thought I was like, wow, that's really generous. So you can see that that doesn't go down easy after any game.

Like they always vote to still play the game, whether out of there's not enough money, I'm not going home with enough money, which means not enough people died. And they don't care. And they don't. Start dividing in the X's and O's. We said this, I think in the Season 1 review, that Korea doesn't give second chances to people a lot like that's not a. Really a graceful culture. Yeah, exactly.

So when you're branded someone who is severely in debt, let alone you actually owe millions of one, it's often not just to the bank. You're owing loan sharks, predatory loan sharks, just like the ones that you know played paper, scissor, rock in Episode 1. And it's something you can never pay back and they're counting on you to never. Be exactly. This isn't like our culture, which everyone has credit card debt, everyone's in debt. Yeah, like who cares?

If anything, you're supposed to build debt so you can buy a house. Yeah, you can just claim bankruptcy and then you'll rebound in a few years. But over there, that's not the case. The fact that they're like, we're not going home with enough money is more severe than the games are played here. And we'd be like, well, I'll just declare bankruptcy. That's a very important thing to point out too, because it's a

criticism that I've heard a lot. And it's like, no matter how much debt you're in, you're not like, most people wouldn't do that. It's like, no, not over there. Like, well, not in any society that would basically, I mean, in real life even like in a society that you're basically so ostracized for being in debt. Like of course this would probably play out like. That right, Because these loan sharks and the entities that you borrow from are not just going

to come after you for the money. They come after your family to pay off the debt they're threatening you with. You know, I'll sell your organs and things just to pay for the money out and things like that happen all the time. People get kidnapped. Do they have protections over there? Like, I know this is getting into the weeds, but we do like we have really extensive laws against predatory loans and gambling only became legal two

years ago. If your mom had medical debt and unfortunately she passed, you don't assume that debt. No. But it could be a they do, right? They do. Exactly. Yeah. Jesus. So it's serious. I don't know how else to say that. So that's why people are like, we're still going to play. My life is not worth anything unless I get the money to pay off my debt. Jeez. Well, I mean, at least that kind of bolsters and.

I think there's been a lot of conversation about the fact that people aren't looking at the collective period like when it comes to because there's people that are begging to leave, begging. They don't want to die, They're scared shitless. I would be too. I'd be shaving my pants first of all and I'd die first round but be stop I. Wouldn't make it past where I'd like. Green No. It's. Shaky.

I'd be like shaking like a leaf. The fact that people are just not caring about other people really struck a chord with, I think, viewers in the season. They saw a lot of comparisons to the political climate that's happening today. And even if I don't subscribe to that, let me just say the creator really did not give 2 shits about the American election. This was written maybe finished in 2023 and they had their first script reading in June 2023. So the 2024 election. Yeah.

Nobody gave a shit about that. That was not I. Mean it just it just dropped yesterday. It's not like they just filmed it yesterday. You know what I mean? Like so that's a weird SO. People are like wow, this is so like whatever. I'm like OK settle down. I'm glad you found that interpretation. You're not wrong for your interpretation, that's totally fine. It's art. You can interpret it however what the fuck you want. But.

In terms of events and consequence, though, you're wrong, so there you go. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's exactly what I want to say. We meet TOP's character, purple hair, which if you don't know anything about TOP, he's known for having crazy hair colors. My favorite is the pink. Do you remember the pink hair with the pink suit for that of wardrobe? That was a whole moment. That was a whole moment.

I loved it. Their collaboration with 21 on a couple of songs and then like the Pink and the Pink and had to be there. They gave him purple hair, and he plays a rapper who won some reality show and then lost it all because of drug addiction. And I was like, oh, you can't make it. Oh, my God. So this character was written before TOP was ever, you know, attached to the project. That is what the writer director said. But when it came to casting, he

was like, OK, great. Like I'd love to take a meeting with TOP and it happened. That is so great. The fact that he's even in this, I'm telling you, it is special. It's special to see him on our screens. He was so funny. He was easily just, he was so endeared because he was so dumb. He's so dumb. I love like he's just kind of like he kind of reminds me of Orla from Dairy girls. No matter what's going on, he's somewhere in the background just like like just bombing his head

and just like beat that. He's making himself like they're just introducing rules and he's like his ad libs in English are. Quit, quit and if you don't know anything about TOP, this is not going to land as well because even the raps and things that he was doing, I was like, oh. Hey, Senorita. And then he would say something Korean. He's like, we can make it out of this game, OK? I'm just like, what? Bro? Shut the fuck. Oh God, it's so great.

So anyway, we also see curly haired dude with his mom. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So double O seven with his mom 149. This was like the one that I really sank my teeth into this relationship and those two playing together, especially in light of the fact that 456 Kyun like reinserted himself back into the game in season 1 because he needed money to save his mom. Like his mom was sick. The irony is it didn't matter,

right? His mom died anyway when he exited the game and won the squid game to see this character, the wires got crossed. They're both in playing the squid game. I'm like oh shit. That was rough. Yeah, that was rough. But that was immediately the idea that the characters aren't memorable. Like, what are you talking about? Like we have a mother son duo. Yeah, the son is like a greedy,

like nightmare. The mom's like this empathetic woman who literally joined this just to get him out of debt, not even her own. Powerful. Iconic. And then also they meet the trans character 120 is Hyunju. I I think people, I don't want to say that this is like the mom is very traditional, right? She's a comes from a different generation. And so when they meet 120, she like, doesn't get it. Like, she doesn't get the concept of being trans and why would you change your sex and gender?

And, like, you can tell that she's traditional just from her hairpin. Yeah, right. Like, Korean married women traditionally wore a hairpin called a bigno to hold their hair in a bun at the nape of their neck, and she's wearing one. This is like a relic. Like she doesn't have to do this to signify that she's married. She's like literally an old Korean woman who was in the war. Like because she mentions, I think she mentions like and what?

I'll give her credit for this. Nothing was really out of malice. She was just remarking she's like, oh, she looks really ugly. What an unfortunate looking woman. I was like, well, she was just like. Is that a man or is that a woman? Yeah. And I'm like, this is you could have this conversation with any person from an older generation. Yeah, like it was. There was no malice there. No, no, no. And you know, as the show goes on, it's not like it just gets better. So I mean.

It does. And then we have 120 who tells her story and she says, oh, I was fired from my job. Come to find out, she she was in the military in the ROK Special forces. Wow. That was such a great reveal. Yes, I love that. I loved it and that again just echoes the true story that I said in the non spoiler section. Thanos cracking open his pills, stashing across, was actually reminding me of Cruel Intentions. Yes.

Bro Oh my God I was like he's the Marsha fucking Brady of the Upper East Side. I love this. Yeah, you can't make it up. Thanos shoves three people to their deaths. And that part took me out. And you go thing and then fly me to the moon, pop slash remix versions starts playing and I'm like, wow, that's is that a a bit? Because TOP really wanted to go to the moon and then they cancelled that trip. The note is the same 1 I had for the first season.

I need that jazz set. I need that jazz set like I don't know, I need it. And then the remix jazz sequence, like just stop. Like, like they dropped a beat and everything. What did you think of 456 trying to warn everybody? Yeah, that whole segment, that was really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then people are actually taking direction versus the complete carnage and panic from Season 1. But that's why more people died in Season 1. Nobody had nobody. Knew what they were getting

into. Yeah. And it's like when they're running, I do love how at that point they kind of establish who's going to be an ex, like, who wants to leave the game and who wants to stay in the game. So very clever groundwork. There and then, just like Ali's character in season 1120 is there helping 456 save that dude who ends up getting shot anyway cuz. That was cuz life is cruel if I busted Elon Musk as I keep calling 001 just looks he looks like Elon Musk.

I don't know. Yeah, so we got to talk about 001. I was seeing too much of this that people didn't realize that player 001 was the front man. But right. Like, yeah, like I am convinced. They did not. I'm like what? I'm convinced. I'm convinced that people are watching this show while like, scrolling on their phone literally because there's no way. Like you can't. How? Can you not? Attain that like it happened

like 10 minutes ago. People are talking about theories and I'm like, that's not a theory. That's that is the thing. The thing is that that's not subtext. That's what actually happened. That's the actual identity of this person and people missing that Ebungun is the front man is 001 is shady is playing the game out of for some underhanded reason. Yes, exactly that's. So what did they think was happening when they made that big show of not showing who 001

was until he turned around? It was, they explained that it's not even yet. Whatever. Oh. God. Yeah. Yeah, Ebungun's. Character. Me too. Evington's character decides the vote at the end of episode 3 and he votes to continue the game. And the fact that he looks back and witnesses 456 and his look of despair, and he smiles. Yep, classic. To tell you everything you need to know about that character and his motivations, he's there to Humble 456. Yeah, right off RIP.

Like there was never a moment in the entire thing where I thought, oh, maybe he's coming around and he'll see these people. This man has watched thousands upon thousands of people die in those brutal ways. He's not going to come around. So I, you know, there is something that I was wondering about though, like 456 not being immediately suspicious about 001 considering what happened. Last that didn't make sense to me I was like 0456 is actually

stupid because any and there. Was like falling in there was enough in there like when 001 new 456 is real name and he's like how did how do you know my name? He's like no poker face whatsoever. Your friend said it and he's like, oh, OK. Like what? That that would have been like. I'm going to sit over here now. Yeah, like, OK, I'm going to isolate you, bitch, because you're going to kill us. So I don't know why he wasn't immediately suspicious of 001,

but yeah, wrong choice. That was the only thing that kind of threw me. Like whatever, I overlooked that. But also, oh man, I forgot to ask you this. When did you know that the boat driver, the captain of the boat, was this? Immediately. Immediately. Well, there's a there's an old trope of like the shanty guy who plays both sides. Whoever pays who plays pays more. It goes back to the Hardy Boys.

Like, it's such a classic trope. But also just every single chance he got, he was like, I think we should turn around. Yeah. Oh, no, we're all fine. We're good. Oh, well, he should go to a hospital. When one of the men get hurt on the ship, he's like, I still think we should go back. No, we're good. He's like, all right. So like immediately, like there's too much resistance.

There's so much resistance. You can't tell me that looking for two, I think it was two years that the cop was out there searching the surrounding islands and barrier islands for the Squid Game island. And I'm like, he's undermining that investigation. Like, period. I don't understand why people were people were surprised in the final episode that he was evil and on the Squid Game payroll. I was like how it. Makes perfect sense. It makes perfect sense.

Like you have this guy navigating those islands for a living. How the hell did he find it? Whatever. How the hell did he find the cop just floating around and he was like, I just stumbled across you. I was like, bullshit. What is this the? Border on this remote like UN like uncharted island like he obviously he goes there. Obviously the front man let him know, hey, my brother just fell off a Cliff, why don't you come and pick his ass up so he doesn't die? That I mean.

So many opportunities to get that. Or like with the chip that was in 456's tooth, they find it in a tackle box full of bait. Like, Oh yeah, this was sold to us on the pier. I wasn't. Fucking let. Me, be clear. He's in on it. Completely clear. I wasn't disappointed with the reveal. No, but I was waiting for it because I was like, I wonder how they're going to show. It 1000%. But I love that. People didn't read it.

They're not reading it. I was convinced because so many people are watching Squid Game and they're coming up with theories and I'm like, it's not a theory. Did. We watch the same show did. We watch the same show. Like I don't like spouting that media literacy is dead. But after going through the frenzy, the social media TikTok frenzy of Squid Game and seeing the comments and seeing how people were reacting and what they were guessing and what they weren't picking up on, I'm like,

yeah, media literacy. Maybe. Maybe it's. Dead. Maybe it's dead. I don't. I don't know. Yeah, I don't. Episode 4 and five Kanganul, we get his reveal. He like pops up when they're eating and he's 388. He grew up the only boy in a generation or two among five sisters. And when his fellow Marine asked why his family let him become a Marine, a Marine, he said. And there was definitely a look, a beat there before he answers and says, he said, oh, my dad wanted to be wanted me to be

more manly. So he encouraged me to enlist. I'm like, there's something he's not saying there. There's a history, There's something shady about his reaction and whether he's a Marine or not. And his name means like Big Tiger, which is like really massive, like overtly masculine. So I'm like, he's compensated. This is a big compensation for something, right? Yeah, I think it's just like, I think if we read it on the surface, because it happens every day.

The dad obviously wanted a boy and instead got a bunch of girls before him so. That they were trying for the boy. That's why there's five sisters. So they finally have the boy and they're like, all right, we're going to like, we're really going to make this one as masculine as we possibly can. Doesn't work because, you know, he's out there playing Lulu. Skip to my loo or whatever their analogue is for that. Like over there. He's like, they're like, how do you know how to play this game?

This very girly hopscotch game? Oh, I have like 5 sisters. Oh, OK. Yeah, I liked his character. I think he was very like, I don't know, friendly. Yeah, he's very friendly, very tripper. And I love how Kanga Noel plays it like to be quite honest with you, because you could miss all, all of those cues unless you were, you're sitting there and you're like, oh, he's there's something he's not saying. I wonder if he was in the military at all or if he defected or something.

That's my whole thing exactly. That's. What a lot of people think is that maybe he's a defector or maybe he never went to the military and he's not a Marine, or maybe he just, you know, Marine drop out or something like that versus a defector. He was discharged or something. When he shows his tattoo to like the crew on the XS during, well, the last episode and everybody just busts out laughing and this like insecurity that he has around it. He's like, they can see through me.

Like I, I wonder what that's going to. Turn out the coward is that's his trigger, right? Is that someone thinks he's a coward? Yeah, and it's. And that comes into play in the final episode is that he is having some sort of trauma response to the shooting. I actually wrote there the Marines are so endearing they must be headed straight for death. That was my note for them. Not wrong. Episode 4, Let me see. Oh, can we talk about that nightmare that 456 has?

Oh yeah, sure, go for. It, yeah, so like the first game is the same, which I appreciate, you know, but then the second game, we think it's going to be the Dalgona game again. Plot twist. Not so plot twist. They end up changing it. But 456 and it was clever marketing too, because it was misdirection right from the start. He tells everybody, OK, the triangle's the easiest shape, just get the triangle. But when he opens his container, it's a bunch of triangles within

a triangle. He starts getting berated by a room and it turns out to be a dream. I don't know what's worse. I don't know if it's worse that that was that that would have been a possibility, or the games that we got instead. Right, Because instead we get this nightmarish group project of a game. Yeah, we get the five game relay. What is it? It's like Jack's it, It's a relay race and then it's Jax and there's like a hopscotch game like Kiki, like where you just hold up like like hacky sack

basically. And then then the envelope game and whatever. Yes, the spinning top game. I love those games. Me too. I thought that was so. This was a really great episode I thought. It was so. Good or it was I think it was 2 episodes like the games. It was 2 episodes, yeah, like, and it was just as the trans characters team like she was, she was basically leading. This pack of misfits. Yeah, you could tell. Her the shaman is. A leader.

Yeah, which, you know, special. Great under pressure, and that all comes back in the final episode, right? Like these great qualities Set 120 has. I have a quote here. Oh yeah, 'cause the shaman, I have two. Did you laugh when the shaman got like? Decked in or yes, I was like cheering because like the shaman's getting very mouthy and the older lady, the movie she's like, why does the skank keeps talking, keep talking down to us. But then I got man fuck group projects, which I stand by.

But when the shaman is like, I don't know if I can do this. The spirits or whatever, the Special Forces agent, she just slaps the shit out of her and says if you give up, I'll kill you before the gods do. Took me out. Took me out. I was busting out laughing because my favorite bit in this, again, I love the humor in this. And they say, well, what are you? She's like, I am whatever, shaman of the sea. And everybody just looks at her like a Bikini Bottom resident,

like just exhausted. Just like. Yeah, like. I loved it. And then a lot of people picked up on the fact that 456 and his group with the front man, they went last because if they failed then the pink soldiers could just kill everyone and leave the front man 001 alive, maintaining his anonymity and his identity. And then I also like the fact that front man people picked up

on the suit. This isn't my original thought, but in all of the points leading up to he's inserted into the game, 001 slash front man was using his left hand or everything. Like picking up his glass of whiskey and taking off his mask and stuff all with his left hand. And then once he does the spinning top game, he's failing over and over again because he's using his right hand to throw the top. That was a really good detail. I love that detail as well.

And then of course, a successful attempt was with his left hand. I love also the. SO after each game they clean up the bodies. Yeah. Something I found really clever was they didn't clean up the blood. No, the blood was there for them to slip in, to trip in, to throw everybody off. That was a really clever, if not, you know, sadistic. Yeah. What was your favorite game of those? Mine was the Jacks. Yeah, yeah, I really like the jacks that.

Was wild. Because I thought that like hacky sack, the hacky sack thing, I was like, I think I could do that. Like I was like, that's not I. Have the coordination of a dead moose and I could do that so like. Or I think it's really difficult to flip the the Takchi game where they have to flip the folded paper. I'm like, yeah, I could not do that. That would take me like 1500 tries to do that. But the Jacks thing, I'm like,

Oh yeah. Which a lot of people have been posting their family members playing this game on TikTok. I don't know if you saw that trend. I have been like, this is my mom playing the game or whatever. I forgot what the game is called. And they are not a day has passed since they last played that game. It's. Amazing. I love it so. You have to pick up like. I think it's one, then two, then three and. So on and so on. You got to do a trick shot for the last one like you just.

Yeah, the trick shot of like flipping it and then catching it on the top of your hand. It's crazy. I love. It it's a game of skill that turns into a game of chance. Here for it. Love it. Oh, my God, The timid girl who was in Yeah, 120, the trans woman, her group also had this really timid girl who was begging to leave the game. She had like, short cropped hair. Yeah. When she calls 120 unni, I, like I almost cried. Yeah, really affirmed like, no, it really like shook me to my core.

She's. Like unni which means older, it means older sister. Really affirmed like who she was. It was great. It was great and she was the first one to reach out to her. Everybody was rejecting 1 Tony so. Exactly because everyone was just looking at, I mean, it's a microcosm of, I suspect Korean society at large that they like, I want nothing to do with this anomaly. And they keep othering her. And then this girl just opens up and says, hey, like, do you have a partner?

And like, it's so touching. It was great. Loved. It second vote and I, I think this one, I kind of kept getting the idea that everyone was just addicted. It was a gambling addiction. Yeah, you got a room full of gamblers being offered a chance to win something they're of course going to win to keep going. Exactly. So I was like, what is addiction? These people are in severe debt. Society has written them off. They're outcasts. They have nothing technically to

lose. And like you said, many of them are addicted to gambling, or at the very least they're risk taking. And this is the ultimate gamble with their own lives, the chance to win more money literally hanging over their heads in a giant childish Piggy Bank. Yeah, and the casino sound effects. Yeah, the casino something like no, no, no, like and then introducing all of what they could win.

Yeah, it was very structured, just like a casino, like the flashing lights, the positive color for staying. Yeah, No, no windows. There's no windows. Are about closing the red light, green light and closing the roof on that. Oh yeah. That's what I read that as. I'm like, oh, they're really gonna like, they were trapped before, but now they're like trap trapped like. And then we also get talking

about the trans character. She's talking about, like, where she wants to go. She wants to go to Thailand to, like, finish her transition. She's not done. And of course the girl says you're beautiful too, Ani, because they're talking about oh, like there's so many people just like you and Thailand and they're all so beautiful. Like she just says you're already beautiful. I don't like. Even the curly haired dude was like oh some of them are even prettier than the women here.

Yeah. I love a great. Moment of community and like, I don't know. Like but then the Ajima comes in with the like. That cracked me up. She's like, well, I'm not going to go as far as to say you're beautiful, but you're very pretty and I see you and I'm like, that is such an old woman compliment. She's not a liar. Like she didn't lie. She was like, I don't, not personally do I think maybe not, but. It's always that, it's always that compliment from an older

person. But it was still very touching. She's like inviting her to her home, like we'll have soup. We'll have. Beef. I mean, this is the equivalent of like Princess Diana hugging somebody with AIDS. Like this is literally it's big right for. It's really good representation. Like I don't, I don't know how it would be received in Korea, but I I thought it was very respectful representation. I thought it was very positive representation.

Someone from an older generation, someone who's very traditional, who already voiced some of the things that maybe society at large already feels. And then she's getting to know 120 and she's like, well, you're nice, like you're a good person and like I just why don't you come to my home? Like that is very to invite her to her home and like cook her a

meal that's does a lot. Yeah, and the concept of like forgiveness when she because the transcriptor she ultimately does in one of the votes, votes to stay. Oh yeah, she votes. Yeah. And everybody feels very betrayed. But it's also like, at the end of the day, you know, she's a great leader. She's friendly, she's welcoming. She wants to be seen for who she is. But ultimately, like, this surgery means so much to her. It means being realized as a woman and living her life.

It represents like a new life. Yeah, so she apologizes and they quickly accept her back to like, you know what, We get it, but don't do it again, Yeah. Don't do that shit again. Episode 6 and seven we get the mingle game, which is like that rotating platform and they have to. Musical chairs. Yes, musical chairs. It's very. Much musical chairs. Man, the girl who called 120 on these she dies brutally because she fell down and. You know, I know that they tried

to like I still blame. We haven't talked about him and I'm kind of glad because I hated him like right off RIP more more than TO PS character, which really tells you something. Was this dirtbag with the cryptocurrency? No, the crypto oh man, she. Wants what a piece of shit he was the he was the reason why home girl died.

I mean, I know they're like, you wouldn't have had time, but the way that 120 sees it is I could have at least tried to sue her and you shoved this bitch out of the way so that you can come in. No, you like ran into our room and shut the door, right? Exactly. Horrible. She could have made it. I don't. I don't buy that she could have made it. She got up with the quickness. But no. This is the new like. Could Leo have survived on the

door at the end of Titanic? Could this poor little girl have survived 095095 young me man, just As for young me. Because damn, she was. Devastating. It was devastating and she wanted just being like she wouldn't have made a yadda yadda bitch like. If I was him, I'd keep it. But you know what? I loved that detail too because it's a classic pump and dump

scheme behavior. It's like, well, I never told you to buy it. I never told you when to sell it. I was just promoting it heavily and encouraging you to do it. I never told you to do it. You bought it, you sold when it was low. That's your problem. Everybody who's historically been in that kind of pump and dump scheme has a very like, I have no accountability for this whatsoever.

So and then on top of that, his pregnant ex-girlfriend who he ghosted being in the games, which we haven't even talked. About we haven't talked about her, but like, damn, yeah, the mingle game is devastating. And I think 120 has to feel extremely responsible for the death as well, not just because like, oh, she couldn't make it in time, She couldn't get her and she won. Like push shoved his way in and all that shit. The fact that just before 120 voted to keep going in the games.

Yeah, accountability rolls really deep in this. Was it worth it? Like even if you win, was it worth it to kill this girl who like actually affirmed your identity and called you unni with like all the love in the world and was supportive of you? Like, did you really want to kill this kind of person? She better not have died in vain. Oh yeah, no. Oh my God. Because like I love the mother son duo. I can't say it enough.

Like when the mom approaches the girl and she's like, you need to eat more eggs because you're pregnant. And like, oh, stop immediately. I was like, if anything happens to this woman, I'm going to kill everybody in this fucking room myself. I will be a pink soldier. Like I will go in. I'm going back to the mingle game when her son gets dragged off and he's trying like fighting those two dudes and stuff to get back to his mom because I think the number was 3.

And so they were trying to find one other person. He like, can't, no matter what he's struggling against, he couldn't get back to her and her face and his face and how sorry he was after they survived that game. Oh my God, it killed me, Cut me to. Pieces horrendous. But a plus for front man 001 and 4:56 just swooping in to save her. They did not ask her like do you want to live? Do you want to be in a group with us? They just picked her up and ran into a room and I was like, wow,

yes, that's. That was great because even 001 couldn't let that happen. 001 was playing that game as if he was really kind of die. What do we feel about his motivation? His motivation was that. Well, The thing is, he really puts on a good show in the game before that, which was the pentathlon, the five game relay, he's like cheering and shit and like all in the game and. He's like vibing. He's like. Yeah, he's vibing like he just. It's almost like he forgets.

He gives a story though, that his wife had cirrhosis and needed an organ or whatever. I wonder though, that's true. That's. 100% true. It's a. 100% true because we find out this season that it was an organ harvesting thing. The best lies have a little bit of truth in them. Yeah, and that story rang of truth to me. It's too specific. It's too specific and of course it ties perfectly in with the story that we had.

June's mom is saying, yeah, I think in one of the 1st 2 episodes where he's having dinner with his mom. And of course Ebiungan is still missing. They don't know where he is. And the mom is talking about family history and that family tea of like, I couldn't do anything to help his wife. Ebiungan's wife, 001 lost his wife and I couldn't do anything and all this stuff. And that tracks that he lost his wife to cirrhosis of the liver, couldn't get a liver transplant and she died.

And to me the story is in 2015 he entered the games to win money to pay for his wife's surgery or whatever or buy a liver off the black market or something for her. And he won the game but it was too late. His wife already died. Same deal as 456 and his mom dying. Yeah, so he made it up the ranks and like, that's what the organ harvesting things for, can you know? Like he couldn't cope with that irony, the injustice and being too late. Yeah, so then he goes on to lead and then.

Yeah, exactly. The Oregon harvesting, Yeah. Which some people are like I don't think he's in the Oregon harvesting ring or like he doesn't know in season when he did find out and he was like, I don't really give a shit with like what they do with the organs. Which is weird because I thought that I forgot about that detail. Admittedly that, but I feel like that makes perfect sense. These people are garbage, but at least we can get organs that'll

be valuable to someone else. Yeah, and he has a personal story of needing an organ or wanting to buy an organ off the black market, possibly to save his wife. Missed opportunity I guess. Whether he condones it now or he wants it to end now or looks down on it, or he just tolerates it in the happening in the background, that seems like that's all what's happening in Season 2. Yeah. So yeah, we're talking about the

mingle game. We can talk about TOP and how he sets off even in 001 and Front Man goes and beats him to a pulp right there and it's because he mentioned. Save this speech for your kids. Like, yeah. Exactly. And that like set 001 off because of course his wife and his unborn child died. Extra funny when you consider like the cracks in his facade are so big because then he doesn't just like punch him like he goes and like does a like a Vulcan grip on his neck.

Yeah, he starts. Wailing punches him in the face, like starts chopping up everything like it's it's like, oh, he can fight. And I think it was 456's best friend was the one who witnessed everything like he he thought the whole thing stunk from the very beginning yeah and then he's like, how did he know your name? And he's like, oh, and then when they're doing the matchmaking game or the merry go round game, whatever, yeah, mingle witnesses

mingle. He witnesses 001 choke a guy out and kill him just so that they don't get eliminated. Yeah. And even within the constructive, like, yeah, it was the ferocity, the motivation and everything that he did, Like, he didn't even think twice about killing this guy. It was like, the biggest red flag to him. So. But 001 is clever enough not to show his hand because on the next vote, he votes to leave. I don't know.

That was it was a good detail. I don't know what they mean by saying that there was no the critic idea that there was no meaningful death. Like there was a couple. And the structure is just different in this one, right? Like they have someone tipping them off. They have people who are willing to work together. There's a faction of people who want to leave. Of course there's not going to be as much death. They're not experiencing it the same way.

One last thing I'll say about the mingle game is that TOP and his minion were dancing on the rotating platform. It took me out. I was so. That's not just any dance. That's apparently the dance for the song that's playing. Yeah. So they're do, it's like choreo, like they're doing the the dance of this. The song that's like. So we would not get that as a Western audience. I've never seen that, no. Some people have commented who I think they're Korean American or they're Koreans on TikTok.

And they said like this game is you played it as children. But it's very easy to be exclusionary and mean as a child and play this game because because you could say you don't have to have to call out numbers. Basically you could say like everyone wearing bread, like come here, everyone wearing this, everyone who has a dad, come here and he can get really mean.

Like the kids can be mean playing this game as innocent as the game is. Like, I guess we can be mean too when we're playing like Red Rovers. Red Rover. Red Rover San Miguel over and And if your name doesn't get called like your shit had a log, yeah. It's like me pick last in dodgeball but literally instead. Literally getting pick last in dodgeball is a wonderful way to put it too. Love that we come to. They get another meal and it's Kimbop wrapped in foil. Love this.

OK. I want to point this out that like people don't really get, the western audience wouldn't get why having a fork wrapped up in the quembop is a red flag. Why would that set off alarm bells in 456 when he looks down at his food and he sees a fork with his quembop? People don't eat quembop with a fork. This is like finger food. This would be as if they gave them PB and JS and there's a knife in the PB and J sandwich when it's already sliced for you in half.

That is what they did with the Keem Bob. They're like, oh, violence is about to happen because they just. Gave. It's a metal fork. It's a metal fork. It wasn't plastic. It was like 'cause. Even. Yeah, everything was finger foods up until they finally voted or when it was a draw. That's the only time they introduced this. So very clever. They put a fork in the Keem Bob and they wanted violence and they got it the better to skewer each other with and. Iconic prison riot.

The prison riot Exactly Prison riot season 2 The significance of using chopsticks in Asian cuisine. I just want to point this out. They're like, they don't eat. You're normally with forks and knives because of Confucianism. Confucius, who was against violence and disliked pointed objects to be present when eating. He was a vegetarian and he believed that sharp utensils at the dinner table would remind eaters of the slaughterhouse.

He also thought that knives sharp points evoked violence and warfare, killing the happy, contented mood that should rain during meals. Which is why chopsticks kind of people cook with chopsticks, but now they started to eat with chopsticks as well. The very fact that the Asian cultures don't tend to use knives or forks in their cuisine, It's very alarming when you see the fork in with the Kimba. I just want to like point that out. Because the only ones who do

like are children. That's the other layer to that is only kids when they're eating. Like you don't learn how to use chopsticks a little bit later. So even in the Bento or whatever, it's like the teensy tiny, kind of like hordor of fork that you get. Yeah, so. And I love the way they reveal the fork. Yes. When he opens it and it's like this shining, and it's a really sharp fork, like the tines are kind of like, cut inward. And I'm like, oh, shit. Like they planned it.

Yeah. Everything is so well calculated. I wanted to say that on here because I feel like some people might not have had the moment when he looks down and sees the fork in the Keem Bob. You're just like, oh. Gagged, gagged, Absolutely gagged. Because it's just like the look of horror on his face when he sees it. He's like, Oh no. Yeah, then there's a rumble in the men's bathroom and TOP gets a fork in the neck. Saddest moment in the show. Second saddest?

Stop it, Stop it, of course. It was that dirt. But I mean, they're both terrible, right? But man, that that Bitcoin guy, man, I can't right in the neck. Right in the jugular. Then the other dude cribs is drugs. Yeah, he's like, bummer. Let me get that good shit. So I wanted to point this out here because I have it in my notes that the Puck you young, her character, who's the pink soldier, the North Korean defector, she almost gets raped at one point like there was.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, like they threatened her with basically rape if she continues to kill people instead of leaving a few of the the losers alive for organ harvesting. Because they can't remove the organs. If they're like, they're dead, there's nothing left. Exactly, I feel like violence against women in the show is shown but not addressed in any meaningful way. Right, because they just like pin her down. It's very. I don't know if you felt any type.

Of it was deeply uncomfortable. Yeah, I'm just I. Already repressed it like I'm. Unsettled in my soul when they did this to her and there's literally like no way for her to get out there in a locked room together. Terrible. You know, it's because she's humane that she keeps just like offing these people instead of allowing them to be harvested for organs. It's completely unethical. It's disgusting. And she's like, well, fuck all that. Like the rules say, you kill them, you kill them.

Yeah, and she made a point to do it. She's like, I don't she when she talked to like basically the assistant manager, for lack of a better term. Yeah, that was interesting. Which that assistant manager was in my name, which is another I think Netflix original show, which is like very violent. But I remember him from that show and he was great so. There you go. I I like that she spoke to him directly because he was like, oh, I was the one who got you in here and you had nothing.

You had no one. And she's like, yeah, I don't really care what you want. My job is to kill them, and I'm going to kill them. So there you go. Because she has nothing left to lose. But I don't think that the villains really experienced that much. They experienced nothing left to lose so that all of these contestants can kill each other. But I don't think they have enough people on their team to realize, like, that cuts both ways. Like she doesn't give a shit and why should she?

They hired her to kill these people. She's going to kill them, so. And I think the final conundrum or moral quandary of the show happens in the last episode or so, which is they're going to stage a coup. Yes. And try and get into like the control room of the games, the moment when 001 front men glocks in and asks 456, are you suggesting that we make a small sacrifice for the sake of the greater good?

And 4:56 with his bull chest says if we miss this opportunity, the sacrifice will be even greater. And it's like, OK, so the ends justify the means. You're going to leave all of these people to get slaughtered in the middle of the night with forks while we hide and strike after this carnage happens? That's just good strategy

though. It's terrible, but it really is because it's like there is nothing they're going to be able to do. The people who wanted to continue the game were just as bad, if not worse than the people running it because they were not going to let up. They already, they said everything they needed to say. Like we have nothing less to lose. We're not going to change our minds. Like that's it. And they were the ones who initiated the attack to begin with.

So like when you see all that IR footage? Of well, he's talking about he's leaving Team X to to fend for themselves in the bloodbath. Yeah. He's not really talking about Team O, who wants to continue the games. He's talking about, oh, you're going to leave all of these people in Team X who want to leave, who are begging to leave the games to fend for themselves because they're going to get slaughtered. Well, I mean, got to break a few eggs.

And that was so you're the quandary isn't so much of A quandary for you. You're like great decision. I don't think so because I if it means ending the games, because I can see how 001 will kind of use that as kind of like, what is that not? Yeah, like false equivalency, right. It's like, oh, see, we're not that different. It's like, no, we kind of are because like your end justify the means is we're going to throw away people that we deem useless and expendable just for

entertainment. Mine is we're gonna hide out because we're not gonna be able to stop them anyway. And then we're gonna stop this game from ever happening. Right. So there's like a futility. Right, there's a bit of a. Different thing. Yeah. OK. I see what you're saying. Yeah. All right. He's got my vote. He's got my vote. Also cuz I would have hit and even if he wouldn't have told me so by that last night I would have been sleeping under the mattress.

I would have been like. So Kangan Dole, the Marine, quote, UN quote, he turns out to be having some sort of trauma response to everything that happens, the shooting, the shootout. He doesn't know how to use a gun. That threw me. When he didn't know how to use a gun, I was like never been a Marine in his life. He has never served. He maybe got a tattoo overseas or something of the Marines and like he is pretending to be a Marine because even if he served

he would know how. And again this is coming from all of the males in Korea have to serve A2 year mandatory enlistment. Even if he wasn't a career Marine he should have served his two years and he should know how to load a gun, use a gun. He's a completely clueless, even if he'd never used that type of gun before, he should be holding the gun a certain way and like all the stuff, let alone he's saying he's a Marine. Yeah, like, even the most basic Marine can, like, do some damage.

So like 120 coming back 'cause he he's sent back to get all of the like leftover ammo and magazines from the soldiers after completely having a nervous breakdown in the hallway and just standing there like a sitting duck, which couldn't be me, runs back into the room to start collecting these things, starts panicking. 120 is like, cover me, I got to go see what's holding this guy up and finds him shaking.

And she looks at him like, OK, like we'll talk about this later, give me the ammo and runs back. But she recognizes something in him At this point, I don't know if you've never been a Marine or maybe you have really violent PTSD, but something's wrong. So but you know, just runs back because they need to kill off these pink soldiers. So also 120 taking out the cameras. Oh my God, Carrying that team, genius, Carrying that team. She was strategizing the minute she got in there.

Yeah, like right off RIP. As soon as she saw things were off, she was like, OK, we're going to do this, we're going to do it right. Love it. Love to see it. I love the final episode. I love the final sequence of 456 and his bestie trying to make it to the control room and getting pinned down and you know, 001 front man finally betraying them. It took long enough, but it took in a good way. In a good way. You can see Evie and then it's just like fucking over it. Like he's like.

Yeah, he's like, it was fun to play pretend over here like Marie Antoinette, but we got to get back like and let's just like. Let them eat cake. And it just goes to show the consequences of playing a hero game. And that's what 001 I think says to him. And he's like, you were playing hero and for what? Yeah, this is the consequences of you trying to be a hero. It's like, Oh my God, I'm looking forward to the next season. So when he takes off that mask, he's like, it was, yeah, that's

gonna be like a whole moment. Yeah, something that not now that we're at the end of the show and we have like that little flash card that says 2025 is season 3 coming 2025, we did not actually see any of the VIPs in no. Thank God, I thought that was really. Really. I hated it. I hated it. The whole like animal masks, human furniture. I think that after three years of living with Squid Game, it is I think overdone at this point. We are over saturated on Squid Game and then season 2 comes

out. Yeah that there was almost no need to show the VIPs because you are the VIP. Oh, oh, I like that you the. Viewer are the VIP. You're like, why aren't there more games? Why aren't we seeing this? Why aren't we seeing more deaths? I don't care about these people. Like, yeah, oh, you're the VIP. Love that I also if that you know, if that means not having to hear really really bad English. Horrible English. Nobody speaking like they couldn't whatever.

Yeah, who was the most annoying character? Shaman. The shaman. No no no, I love the shaman. In a weird way I do the most annoying character. Oh the the Bitcoin guy. Piece of shit floor to ceiling. And it's not even close. Floor to ceiling, like just a piece of shit. Like even more than 001. Palpably, viscerally a piece of shit. Yeah, yeah, him. Him. Yeah, just him. Everybody else I can live with in some way or another.

By him specifically. Yeah, and the poor pregnant girlfriend also powerful moment in the show. The show keeps making a lot of statements in the statement about the trans character when she and the Ajima, the old lady mom and the pregnant girl all go and use the restroom together. The ladies restroom. Iconic. You cannot tell me that it's not a clear statement. Yeah, very clear. Yeah, very, very clear. And she's like, it's OK. She's a woman. Like she can come with us. Yeah.

Yeah, I do love that, Ajima. Like the mom. Just please, Mr. Triangle, don't you have a mother? Oh my God. Diaper I couldn't bring my things. I couldn't. And just like mid sentence just opens her. Oh, OK, Well, thanks. Yeah. I loved it too. More out of annoyance than benevolence. I know what Whoever is behind that triangle mouse is just rolling their eyes like Jesus Christ come. On Shut up, I'll let you go to the bathroom. Like enough love that.

There are so many theories floating around for what's going to happen in season 3 for the mid credits scene as well. Do you have any theories? I'll share some that I've seen. It threw me really hard to see the red light green light girl again, just kind of standing there. So I got to be honest, I have, I got nothing. I got nothing. Because if it's going to be, if it's going to be 1/3 full season, that changes things because I'm guessing we're going to get like 7 more episodes so.

Yeah, it'll be 7 to 9 episodes I would say, but. What have you got? For theories, theories about the next game. So we get the mid credits scene where it's a train light thing and we see Chosu, who is the little boy mannequin. Yeah, so we'll see. First theory is that they're going to play Jack and Joe go up a hill to fetch a pail of water. That doesn't make any fucking sense to me. I don't, yeah. What is it that's not even a game? That's not. That's a nursery rhyme.

That's a nursery rhyme and #2 they're not playing Western games, period. I don't know where people they're like, they're going to play Jack and Jill. I'm like what the fuck? Are you Jack and Jill? Like where? Where? Ain't no Jack or Jill out there. It's just because the two, the boy and the girl animatronic, they are kind of the equivalent of a Jack and Jill in Korea. But again, like a Dick and Jane type of. Thing Exactly, exactly.

But I'm like, they're not going to play Jack and Jill go uphill with a pile of water #2 I saw people saying it's going to be a train dilemma, which I'm like, oh, that's, I like that. I like that. Classic. Classic number 30 Do you want? Why don't you explain what a

train dilemma is? For people, a train dilemma is a really classic psych game, basically or scenario where basically you're given a moral quandary of like, OK, on there's a train coming and it divides among two different tracks. You're the one who's going to pull the lever that pulls it to one track or the other. So on track A, for example, you'll have a group of terminally ill children, and on track B, you'll have the most powerful CE OS in the world.

And your dilemma is who do you? Don't let handsome men do crimes stand there. It's up to you to decide. Are you going to pull the lever and spare all of these people who control all these companies, Or are you going to kill terminally ill children who ostensibly don't have a future anyway? Or are you going to try to Save the Children so that they can at least have a chance at life? And that sounds like such an absurd example, but that really is that's a. Train You have to choose who

lives and dies. It's an impossible, it's very Sophie's Choice. It's a really brutal like there's no winning if you're a moral person on in any way, there is no winning either way because ultimately people are dying and all the rest of it. So that's the classic train dilemma. The other theory is that the black and white tiles that are on the wall in the sleeping chamber, you know, where they are when they're not playing games, suggest that they're going to play maybe trackers or

chess. And I'm like, again, that's a Western game. Every everybody plays chess though. Not checkers, but. Yeah, but again, these are like games from the 70s, eighties, 90s in Korea. I also, I'm a little sceptical about that. Some people also suggested that it could be another black and white game. It's Go, you know, game with a little white and black tiles. Yeah. A lot of theories around that, there's theories around who dies. The first theory is that there are crosses.

A lot of iconography, I would say in the season deals with crosses. And so in certain frames, you can see there's a cross in behind 456 or a cross behind front man 001. And they're saying, oh, they're going to die because they have a cross nearby them or upside down crosses in the design of the voting booth as well, which what does that say about the voting process and this like fake democracy that they have going on here? Will 001 in front man die? I don't know.

We'll see. Another theory is that, and I like this one, the tunnels beneath the island which you see in season 1 and it's explained that these tunnels are for the VIPs to escape and it's all rigged with explosives to destroy the island and any evidence that it existed in the games. We at June will evacuate the players through the tunnels and then blow the whole island or #2 which this is a very elaborate theory. And I was like, wow, I have to say this one.

Number two, even then, 001 slash frontman will threaten 456 with his daughter's life, so that 456 will assume the role of the new frontman and will be completely enslaved by the games. I can kind of see that, but then I can also see him just taking himself and everybody out by detonating everything. So I hope it doesn't go beyond Season 3 because I think at this point like no season. 3 is the final season. OK, I think, I don't think that there's any angle where this

game survives. I don't, I really don't. I think that they're really just gonna like nuke it out and just end it. Because here's the thing, all of the VIP are international, right? Like, we don't know exactly who they are, but these people are powerful and they're rich and they're global, so who's to say this is the only Squid Game? It can't be.

It can't be. Maybe they'll be a reveal kind of like, well, it's a spoiler for that show, but maybe, maybe they'll be a reveal like, oh, this is just going on everywhere else, too. Exactly. Yeah. Or they, you know, kill Squid Games in Korea. But then there's Squid Games happening in in other places. I fully believe there's a real Squid Game, but we're not getting into that. I have no trouble believing. You're like, I don't know if this is a conspiracy or not, but I think there's.

It makes perfect sense to me. So those are some theories that I wanted to share. We're at the tail end of this episode. One thing that I really liked about the show was that it is a real journey.

You know for 456, right? He was so innocent, so naive, so happy go lucky and and smiling and much happier in season 1 and he. Even his picture that became a meme of just like, yeah, yeah, I. Know. And then in Season 2, he's just completely downtrodden, guilty and depressed and really haunted by the choices that he did or did not make while playing Squid Game. They did a good job with the makeup too. Like it's not just the passage of time. He looks visibly older and like

beat down in this new season. No offense to the actor, but it's like it's only been three years. You shouldn't look that much he. Looks really correct. That's a man who lost sleep. I'm here for it. I'm here for it. Yeah. Seeing the game leader in the trenches I thought was really refreshing, if not a little bit annoying that he didn't immediately 456 and immediately pluck out to be suspect of anybody who would have been 001. Crazy.

It's just unacceptable because you think he'd have all his faculties and be more street smart after season 1. Yeah, and I don't know, I guess my main stray observation of all of this was that I don't normally like sequels in general, like they and they very rarely work out, but I really love that they did. I think they did an amazing job. I think that we have analogs for characters from season 1. And yeah, I can. I can see why.

The pseudo like sapphic romance of the first one between the North Korean girl and the other girl, the you know, you got Ali fighting for his life, you got all this stuff. I could see why anybody who was interested in that tone wouldn't really resonate with this, but we needed to move away from that. There's no way this season would

have been the same way. If you have somebody who's trying to warn them every step of the way and trying to kind of like bring consciousness into them, for all intents and purposes, everybody who goes into this game gets locked in and can't even remember what life was like outside of it. So you have this person haranguing them the entire way. Like, hey, it doesn't have to be like this.

We can leave everything. I love the direction of the second season I see and I'm just really looking forward to the third season. Nice all. Right. Well, that's it. We've kept you guys here long enough. We've said our piece about Season 2. We'd love to hear from you guys. You know where to find us. Miguel, do you want them to contact you? If you want to, I'm here. Like, tag me in the thing and I'll be here. Fight me.

Fight me, OK? I'll link resources for how to help TOP and everyone else involved. OK, Yeah. All right. We're gonna get out of here. That's been our show. Thank you for being here, Miguel, once again. And hopefully we'll have you back really soon, but that's been our show. I'm Jessica and this has been the Tiba K Rambles podcast.