Squid Game Season 2: Is it Worth the Hype?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for season 1. If you haven’t seen season 1 yet, go watch it!

“I’ve played these games before!” yelled player 456. If you’ve kept up with the newly released TV shows on Netflix, you’d know that this famous line is from Squid Game’s season two. For readers unfamiliar with the show, Squid Game is centered on a group of people in large amounts of debt playing children’s games to win prize money and ultimately leave debt-free. Sounds too good to be true, right? Right. Because if you lose even one game, you’re shot dead. 

Season two of the show premiered on September 17, 2024, and it left the world shocked. We are introduced to new characters, but also see old characters coming back for revenge. Gi-hun, the winner of season one, has been using the prize money to pay groups of people to track down the recruiters for the games. Hardened by the deaths of his friends, Gi-hun decides that he will use the money to exact revenge on the Frontman (the gamemaster).

Typically, the sequel to anything (book, movie, show) is not good. The writers tend to either reuse the formula they used in the original release; come up with a spin-off that ends up having a dull, and not very eye-catching, plot; or try to add to the storyline from the previous release. While most of these are… ideas, to say the least, the only way, in my opinion, to make them effective is to have many unanswered questions in the original release.

Squid Game season two does exactly this, building off of the mystery left behind in the first season. Leaving off from season one, season two is very similar because the games are running. But this time, it’s a bit different. There are different rules, different kinds of players that enter, and ultimately different kinds of relationships formed. The shocking plot twist in episode seven keeps viewers on the edge of their seats as they wonder what the players will do next. 

Season two also emphasizes the aspect of voting after every game to determine whether to continue or end the games. This ultimately creates a divide between the people who want to continue earning more money at the risk of more deaths and the people who don’t want to bear the risk any longer. The tense dynamic is another interesting part of the story in season two that adds its own unique feel compared to season one. While season one followed the order of the games pretty strictly, season two offers more wiggle room for other things to be going on simultaneously. This diversion from season one’s orderly plot helps keep the narrative interesting. Since it’s assumed that viewers have seen season one, rewatching essentially “another season one” would bore us to sleep. By adding elements outside of the games that progress the overall plot in some way, we as the audience can enjoy when everything gets put together and the different storylines converge. 

Overall, Squid Game season two has a new and refreshing cast, as well as some popular and important old characters. Combined with the new plot, the different perspectives and storylines that season two incorporates are what led to the huge success of the show. Around the world, fans who’ve seen the show’s season two are sitting in anticipation for the third season, coming this year on June 27, 2025.

Squid Game season two is most definitely worth the hype and 100% worth watching!