*spoilers ahoy*

The best part about Squid Game Season 2 : Part 1 died in the first episode.

Ignoring the fact Season 2 undermines the point of Season 1, there was nothing to expand upon unless the writers threw us for a loop and killed Gi-hun in favor of focusing on another POV like Bunny Triangle Defector Lady’s.

It would’ve been interesting to see how one becomes complicit in killing their fellow humans for a few (billion) won.

Alas! Instead of a new perspective, the writers spent 3 years creating a main character that has experienced zero character development, and a far weaker plot full of forgettable side characters.

Gi-hun remains an idiot gambler, ignoring his daughter in favor of his own desires. Instead of gambling money, he’s gambling away the lives of others. That isn’t to say his desire to stop the games is wrong, but his methods of doing so display a lack of character development and intelligence.

For all the physical changes the writers show us, Gi-hun is still willing to nuke the lives of those around him for his own desires, which is precisely how he ended up playing the games to begin with.

The Front Man is just a front. The folks behind the games are Il-Nam and Fat Tiger Mask, who are physically uninvolved in the games except in the form of giving away their money and philosophizing from their yachts, which sounds a lot like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.

Gi-hun literally knows this, yet neither of his two brain cells ever come together to form a better plan besides finding The Recruiter and joining the games again.

Similarly, his half-baked military-esque takeover, which simply results in PlayStation Worker Bees getting killed, was inane. The fact he spent two years searching for The Recruiter should’ve clued him in to the fact that these folks are powerful. That Gi-hun never pauses to consider that he’s being toyed with is not his fault. It’s the fault of the writers.

Squid Game was a very on-the-nose critique of capitalism and trickle-down economics: there are more than enough resources to go around, yet those at the top would rather burn those resources than help those in need.

The Recruiter exemplifies this when he presents the homeless with the choice of bread or a lottery ticket, only to chastise those who choose the ticket. Ironically, he has the resources to give them both.

The games function similarly. The rich have so much money and such a low view of the poor that they’ll throw away billions of won for the sake of entertainment.

One would think the writers of Season 2 would expand upon this idea even a little bit. After all, the real villains are the ones Gi-hun cannot see, and they’re willing to sacrifice their allies (the PlayStation Worker Bees) for funsies. They have infiltrated every part of society, and a couple of guns aren’t going to harm them. But none of this crosses Gi-hun’s mind, nor does Hot Cop put his 2.5 brain cells together to develop a better strategy beyond Island hopping.

Speaking of Hot Cop, why was he here? By episode 7, he was farther away from the Island than he was in Season 1. His entire plot was a wild goose chase that culminated in him fondling fish bait.

The writers were better off having him awaken from his “coma” in Episode 7 instead of wasting our time and their budget.

Somehow, Gi-hun seems to have grown dumber than he was in Season 1. Being rich with blood money, of course he has little motivation to continue the games this time, but how did he so quickly forget the same hopelessness that drives each player to play “one more game” also drove him to return fully knowing the risks?

Granted, Season 2 contestants are given the option to peacefully quit after every game, but I digress. Gi-hun should understand why these people carry on, because he was once in their shoes.

Poorly written characters appear to be a theme here because the weakest part of Season 2 are the new characters. Frankly, you could remove any of them, and the plot wouldn’t change. That isn’t to say that all of Season 1’s cast were integral to the plot, but even if they weren’t, they were at least memorable.

Shaman Lady added nothing but annoyance. Pregnant Jun-hee exists for Front Man to appear somewhat sympathetic since she probably reminds him of his wife. Myeong-gi is a YouTuber fuggboi scammer, whose only value is repeatedly getting harassed by Thanos until he stabs him. The son/mother are boring. Thanos is obnoxious, but at least entertaining.

The only semi-interesting characters are Hyun-ju and Bunny Triangle Defector Lady (No-eul), the latter of which barely gets any screen time once the games begin.

Why have so many characters who do nothing over the course of 7 episodes? The 10 billion won debt uncle was more memorable than 78% of other characters here.

The pacing is also terrible. 15 minutes per episode are devoted to voting. 15 minutes devoted to dialogue rehashing stuff we already know.

Every so often, we get a scene of Hot Cop and his goonies opening coolers on an Island, while somehow never managing to find it suspicious that a random fisherman just happened to find his body.

To be fair, Season 1 wasn’t particularly a masterpiece of writing either, but the characters were relatively well-written, the plot was rather tight, and it was clear in what it was trying to say.

Season 2: Part 1 feels all over the place. Are we supposed to be rooting for Gi-hun? The Front Man? Bunny Lady? Given how polarized the world is, a much better Season 2 would be showing how someone gets radicalized or desensitized enough to become a PlayStation Worker Bee.

Alas! While the remainder of Season 2 could have some surprises, given the show’s current trajectory, it seems obvious Gi-hun will kill Front Man in a fit of red hair rage and take his place, or die. The games are already taking a toll on him mentally as he struggles to understand why people are willing to sacrifice their lives for money.

And perhaps it’s harsh to say Gihun hasn’t changed, because in some ways he has. The Gi-hun of Season 1 would’ve never sacrificed his fellow X-voters for a haphazard shot at revenge.

Squid Game Season 2: Part 1 Rating: 5.5/10