“Squid Game” season two is perhaps one of the most polarizing pieces of media I’ve seen in a long time. All the reviews I’ve seen so far are either slamming the new season for unoriginality, poor writing, and more, or they are praising the season for the new characters, creative new games, etc. As a big fan of the first season of “Squid Game”, I was pretty nervous going into the new season, with both high hopes that the creators would come through with a good continuation of the story, and apprehension that they wouldn’t. Here are my thoughts after watching the new season.
Long story short, I love the new season. I think it’s quite good, maybe even great. I can kinda see where people dragging the new season through the mud get stuck though. The premise of this season is a continuation of the last season, which definitely does take away from a lot of the shock value that the first season had. I also don’t think that a piece of media needs an incredible amount of shock value to be good, but I can see where this criticism comes from. Going into these deadly games with a sense of what’s going to happen already can definitely take away from the experience a bit.
One thing I love about this season is how much personality all the new characters have. I found myself forming connections with almost all of the main cast members, and being distraught when some of them inevitably die. One of my favorite new characters is a rapper who goes by ‘Thanos’ (yes, like the Marvel villain). Whenever he’s onscreen, it’s always the funniest thing to watch, he has so many little quips and weird personality quirks that it’s hard to not form a connection with him. But on top of that, he’s just a likeable character. He’s very impulsive, energetic, and doesn’t take most things seriously. Although he acts as a sort-of antagonist (or at least, an impartial third party) to the main cast, I couldn’t help but watch his every move and hope that he makes it far in the deadly games.
I’ve also enjoyed getting to know certain characters from the first season a little better. Getting to know characters like Seong Gi-hun (the main character), The Front Man (what the antagonist refers to himself as), and the Game Recruiter better have greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the season. The Game Recruiter (I don’t believe he’s ever named in the show) had a lot more to him than I thought in the first season, and I loved getting to see a little more of what all his job entails for the games.
There were a couple things that I thought weren’t perfect about this season though, and I think the reason why the first season will remain my favorite of the two. One of these things is the music choices throughout the season. Some of the music during the games or just in general seemed like they didn’t really fit for the setting in which they were played. It didn’t take much away from my overall experience, but the music and a couple other plot-related details were a few reasons why I didn’t like this season quite as much as the first.
Overall, I think “Squid Game” season two is definitely worth a watch. While I don’t think it’s as good as the first season, it’s still a magnificent continuation of the story. I really appreciate that the creators of the show weren’t trying to make the second season better than the first, they were simply trying to tell the second part of this story. I would give “Squid Game” season two a 4.5 out of 5 stars. “Squid Game” seasons one and two are available to watch on Netflix and has a third and final season coming out later this year.
