You’re a divorced, middle-aged man, chronically indebted and addicted to gambling. You’ve lost your job as an assembly worker, and your current job as a chauffeur isn’t helping to cover your expenses, so you turn to loan sharks and steal from your mothers bank account to help yourself out. One day, you’re offered a hefty cash prize in return for winning some children’s games. Seems like a dream come true, right?
Meet Seong Gi-hun, 47 years old and 410 million South Korean won in debt.
More commonly known as Player 456, protagonist Seong Gi-hun in Korean drama series “Squid Game” finds himself joining and winning the infamous 33rd edition of the games to pay off the Korean bank and angry loan sharks that are chasing after him. What he doesn’t know is that this win would cost him a lifetime of guilt and burden, having to deal with the death of hundreds of people, some being the closest to his heart. With each person’s kill in the game being listed at $100 million won, Gi-hun leaves the games with $456 billion won in his bank account; or to him, the loss of 455 innocent lives, and their blood on his hands.
The end of season 1 reveals the depression which encompasses Gi-hun’s life following the games: guilt, a heavy burden, and unanswered questions which leave him feeling broken. When faced with the chance to start life anew in America with his winnings, Gi-hun instead decides to uncover the masterminds behind the games, and put an end to them, once and for all. In order to do this, he re-joins the games. Gi-hun, a once light-hearted soul, loses himself trying to seek out the light in humanity.
Gi-hun’s plan to end the games in season 2, however, quickly diminishes as he is shockingly betrayed by a beloved player.
The mesmerizing cliff-hanger of season 2 has left viewers with questions and theories about what’s to come in season 3. So without further ado, let’s jump right into the hottest predictions for season 3.
Young-hee and Chul-su
You saw the teaser at the end of season 2, right? Those two, terrifying dolls?
The young female doll (aka, the motion-sensing killing girl) who runs the game “Red Light, Green Light” is named Young-hee. The boy which has been represented at the end of season 2 is said to be named Chul-su. These two dolls could indicate many of things, the most obvious being that the next edition of “Squid Game” could involve a much deadlier version of “Red Light, Green Light.”
Gi-hun cracked down on Young-hee’s mechanisms in season 1: with the help of his friend Sang-woo, he recognized that she is a motion sensor. This discovery led him to save many lives in the second season, by having everyone run across the stadium in straight lines, with the strongest being at the front of the line, and weakest at the end. This action of course, triggered the head of the games, who felt the need to implement a doll from behind, one who will help Young-hee recognize motion from all corners of the room, maximizing the death toll in the first game of the next edition of the games.
Young-hee and Chul-su are said to be like the Korean versions of Jack and Jill. Could these killer dolls be serving to enhance “Red Light, Green Light”, or will there be an even deadlier game in the next Squid Games?
In-ho and the organ harvesting
Unsolicited organ harvesting is a prevalent theme in “Squid Game”. Some eliminated players are spared, left half-alive, only to have their organs harvested and sold to Chinese criminals in exchange for cash.
In season 1, we learn that Hwang Jun-ho – the young police officer and brother of In-ho (the Front Man) – had his life saved by In-ho via kidney transplant a few years earlier. Viewers also learn during the second season that In-ho’s wife suffered from acute cirrhosis, leaving her to require a liver transplant. Having already spared one organ for his brother, In-ho could not spare another for his wife, leaving him feeling angry and perhaps even guilty for her eventual death.
Could the organ harvesting in Squid Game be some sort of twisted way in which In-ho is trying to heal the trauma and guilt of not being able to help his wife? Or is this simply just another scheme within the system of the games to obtain some extra cash?
Gi-hun as the Front Man
Viewers learn that Hwang In-ho – The Front Man – was once a player and former winner of the Squid Games. Desperate to help his sick wife, he joined to obtain some “quick cash”, unaware of his fate. Having his spirit torn down and sense of humanity stripped away from him during the games, it is said that In-ho fell into a similar depression that Gi-hun did following his win. Theories suggest that In-ho returned to try and stop the games, just like Gi-hun, but was instead offered to join the system as the Front Man. This would be the less violent choice to end his mental torment and guilt, although, it also shows his ultimate surrender to the games and his loss of spirit and hope in humanity.
Some speculate that it’s undeniable that Gi-hun will be the new Front Man, because why else would he be allowed to play the games again, and survive… for a second time? The second season seems to be a setup for his new future: the moment that Gi-hun accepted some of the players’ lives being sacrificed for his rebellion, everything was determined.
As the Front Man punishes Gi-hun for rebelling against the games by killing his best friend in season 2, could this indicate that Gi-hun may face a similar fate to that of In-ho? Will he recognize that humanity is beyond saving, and opt to join the system in order to save himself? Or will a different fate await him?
Gi-hun and Ga-Yeong
Theories suggest that season 3 will be set some 10-20 years in the future. Said to be the darkest and most sorrowful season of the series, it may include Gi-hun’s daughter, Seong Ga-yeong.
In season 1, Ga-yeong is 10 years old. With a time jump of about 10-20 years in season 3 (and a time jump between season 1 and 2 being roughly 3-4 years), Ga-yeong would now be in her 20s. Having now lived in America for most of her life and constantly seeking out the unrequited love and attention of her father, Ga-yeong travels to South Korea in search of her missing father. In the process, she goes bankrupt.
Having no money left to search for Gi-hun, Ga-yeong desperately joins the Squid Games. With Gi-hun now the Front Man, he recognizes his daughter among the players as Player 456. Unsure of how to help her survive, he joins the games as Player 001, keeping the cursed connection between Players 001 and 456 going.
Making it through the games alive, Gi-hun – just as Il-nam – reveals himself to Ga-yeong following the games. The discovery that her father became such a devious criminal leaves Ga-yeong and Gi-hun’s already strained relationship at an even bigger fallout.
Player 149
Could Player 149 in “Squid Game 2” actually just be another one of the masterminds behind it all?
There’s actually many clues that give this away throughout the second season. To being with, Player 149 enters the game with her hairpin (which is actually a weapon in disguise) without any difficulties, while Gi-hun’s tracker is removed. Why is this so? Moreover, when everyone thought she would die during the mingle game, Player 001 (the Front Man!) saves her life, though he has no benefit in doing so… she also happened to stop one of the players from fighting against the games coordinators, as she knew the risks it would entail.
There has been speculation that Player 149 may be the wife of Player 001 from the first season (Oh Il-nam, creator of the games). Will season 3 confirm this prediction?
It all makes sense…
Captain Park.
In season 2, it is revealed that “Captain Park” is the captain who saves Jun-ho once In-ho shot him. There is a lot of speculation that he may be another mastermind behind the games.
Let’s connect the dots: during season 2, officer 011 is scolded for killing players before their organs are harvested. The official which scolds officer 011 says that the “Captain” will figure out what she’s doing, and that her actions will upset him – viewers go on to learn that Captain Park is a criminal: could he be the one transporting the organs from the island?
Captain Park was the one who saved Jun-ho – could it be In-ho who sent Captain Park to save him and keep him away from the island? Or is it truly and merely just a coincidence that Park was casually sailing by the Squid Game island the day that Jun-ho was shot?
And, listen to this. Captain Park’s boat has the number 122 plastered on it. In season 1, while Jun-ho was foraging through the games archives, he discovers that Player 122 won the games in 2006… this would go on to further explain how past winners go on to work for the games.
Capitalism can be defined as an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, investments determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods determined mainly by competition in a free market.
At its core, “Squid Game” encompasses the allegory of a modern capitalist society. Albeit a thrilling and entertaining series, it is a satire critique to the dark side of capitalism and consumerism, which both create inequality and injustice in society. It represents the elite and us: how we are their toys for entertainment, and how society is practically full of “poor” people not having the power to rise to an equal situation as the rich. Nonetheless, an illusion of equality is perpetuated within the games, as in real-life, showcasing how money and power corrupts people and institutions, leaving societies filled with greed and violence, at the very least.