After three years, the most successful Netflix series of all time has returned in the form of the second season of Squid Game. It seemed impossible that the follow-up season would capture the viral magic of the original, and while the airtime remains to be seen, that’s changing out, yes, that Is A pretty solid season, although perhaps less so than the original, which isn’t a huge surprise.

The second season of Squid Game is excellent in some ways, but not in others. It’s spiced up with what feels like filler content, which isn’t particularly good for a season with only seven episodes. Most of it feels like a mere build-up to the third and final season, and by the time you get to the end you realize it’s more or less just one long season split in half. spoiler follows in this review.

Seong Gi-hun used his billions to track down the Games’ slapping recruiter and bring him back to those running the Games, namely the “frontman” with the black mask. Similarly, Hwang Jun-ho does the same thing: he sails around trying to find the island to reunite with his brother (who is actually the frontman).

The two join forces and the plan involves Gi-hun being kidnapped and returning to the island with a tracker and a team of mercenaries he hired, led by Jun-ho, to follow him and conquer the island. Unsurprisingly, things don’t go according to plan. His tracker is removed and Gi-hun is thrown back into the games, and we all knew that would be the case.

While the season gets off to a somewhat slow start, once games resume, one could argue that aspects of this part of the season work even better than the original. Season 2 does a really great job of putting together a large cast of characters, each with their own motivations and personalities, in a way that didn’t work quite as well in Season 1. These memorable characters include an old woman and her loser son, a rapper who continues to do drugs and party during the games, a trans woman seeking money for surgery and a move out of Korea, and a woman who is literally short before birth stands separately in the games, along with her dead boyfriend.

The most significant addition is the arrival of In-ho, who we know is secretly the frontman himself, but Gi-hun never finds out all season. By the end of the season, it still wasn’t entirely clear to me why the frontman would get involved in these games, and it seems to mirror the plot of the first season, in which the terminally ill old man does exactly the same thing. Here, during a possible player uprising, In-ho betrays some fellow players and puts the mask back on, but again, I still don’t really understand what this is about, as he could have easily died at any point before, or at least he wouldn’t have survived can without betraying yourself. Is it just for the thrill or was there an actual reason for it? If so, we won’t find out until the finale.

An interesting dynamic is also introduced here that wasn’t present in Season 1: the ability for players to vote to exit the games after each round, leading to some dramatic sequences and ultimately wild moments where the Teams kill each other to secure their own numbers. The continuation of the games may ultimately feel like a foregone conclusion, but it’s a nice mechanic that freshened things up a bit, in addition to the new games (and they’re all new, except for the introductory Red Light, Green Light) .

Everything that is not The games in season 2 don’t work well at all. This also includes the aimless plot of Jun-ho and the team of mercenaries sailing around trying to find the game island after Gi-hun’s tracker dies. This only gets interesting at the very last second, when it’s revealed that the captain of the boat appears to be a traitor hired by Squid Game, but even then it felt like a waste of 10 minutes per episode.

Likewise, the season started with a cool idea of ​​showing the story of a North Korean defector behind one of the guard masks instead of just focusing on the players. Guard No-eul comes into conflict with other guards, including the new manager, because she stands in the way of an organ harvesting part-time job that wants to get as injured as possible not dead players so they can get valuable parts out of them. She repeatedly kills the injured before they can be kidnapped, putting their lives in danger. Then it just stops. While I’m sure there’s more planned for next season, it was bizarre to see that epic Player vs. Guardian finale battle unfold, and she had no role in it at all. Another storyline that again felt like a waste of 5-10 minutes per episode. And these add up.

While it’s a good thing that the A-plot in Season 2 is solid here, completely useless B and C-plots bog down the season and make it seem overstuffed despite only being seven episodes long. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the series has come back, as it certainly doesn’t feel like a disastrous sequel. It’s definitely good enough and I’m excited to see how it all ends. But yes, a lot of that initial magic has faded.

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