Squid Game 2

I binged Season 2 of Squid Game in the 48 hours after it came out (despite telling myself I wouldn’t) and have finally digested my thoughts… because I enjoyed this almost as much as Season 1, but felt it had something slightly more complex to say. This is another show I could probably write a thesis on! (Mild spoilers ahead.)

Although there was no scene quite as devastating for me as the cookie-cutting game in S1 (“why do some people have easier shapes?!”… that line is always close to my mind when I think about social inequality, not to mention the imagery itself of how fragile the cookies are: one false move and everything is over, just like living in poverty) there were still so many moments that perfectly capture the horror and injustice of poverty within capitalism, foremost among them the other contestants’ reaction to realising Gi-hun has been there before:

“If you really did win this thing before, that’s good for us! You can give us some tips on how to win. And get to the end like you did.”

“That’s right! He’s won this: there’s nothing to worry about - we all can win! Now come on, let’s make money!”

We can all win! Let’s make money! 😭😭😭 That is the biggest lie, but the most widely clung-to belief, of capitalism. Everyone can win! The rules are fair! Never mind that “winning” means others are destroyed in the process. The fact that so many of the others are willing to overlook the dehumanising horrors of the game to cling to the knowledge that someone just like them won, so therefore they all can, is a really harsh depiction of how we uphold the system by buying (literally) into it. They know they can only do this by turning against each other, yet they’re willing to overlook that.

Also… democracy! All that voting was almost too on-the-nose. The greater emphasis this season on team games, cooperation, and forming alliances … and then voting, really made me think about the ways our politicians uphold inequality. Because the vote feels meaningless when it always came down to the decision of one or two characters, and the vote feels meaningless when 49% of people will be dragged to hell against their will… And yet the makers of the games repeat, over and over, that everyone has a choice, everything is fair. At one point, a character looks at the “no” side and comments on how they have a lot of women and old people… the more vulnerable-seeming in this context (although we see repeatedly how they have a LOT to offer. I’ll resist doing a paragraph on the narrow ways in which capitalism assigns value to us, yet misses so many no vital contributions. At another point, a character says to an elder trying to join their group, “sorry, we’re just looking for someone else”… actual job-interview lingo!)

And yeah, that roundabout game was just the best/worst/most incisive. All the slamming doors, the imagery of the roundabout itself … seemingly going somewhere because movement, but actually not, actually going in circles, actually slowly killing the more vulnerable people around you, all played to a joyful, saccharine, harmless, MEANINGLESS song, while you slowly come closer to death.

Final quote:

“The ones who created these games. If we should be going after anyone, we should be going after them instead.”

(Also, for the love of the universe, it’s SQUID GAME, SINGULAR, people!)