Warning: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Squid Sport.
For records on Season 2, click on here.
There’s loads going down all the design by means of the ending of Netflix’s strive in opposition to royale thriller Squid Sport, one thing of a depraved between Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-a hit film Parasite—with its physique awe trojan horsing a more complicated message about class warfare, stratification, and predation—and Seen.
The series follows several “gamers” recruited accurate into a multi-day survival game. The gamers are renditioned to an island and pressured (?) to compete in playground video games, with the winners advancing to the next game and the losers being shot, stabbed, plummeted, or killed in some other creative and gruesome vogue.
After six video games, the winner is awarded the financial amount assigned to everybody who has been killed—the final prize being some ₩ 45 billion.
On the cease of the series, we be taught several issues concerning the sport. We be taught the sport has been going on for a few years and has featured thousands of contributors. We be taught one in all these contributors (and winner) is the Front Man, brother of detective Hwang Jun-ho—who he shoots and who falls off a cliff (fate unknown). We be taught that the organizer of the video games is after all Oh Il-nam (No. 0001), the historical man. He based the video games with several filthy rich site visitors after the community had change into bored with their fortunes and wanted to be pleased “fun.”
We additionally be taught that despite Oh’s loss of life and the photos Hwang attempted to ship to his Seoul police companions, the next year’s video games are in plump swing. The series ends with Seong Gi-hun (No. 0456) determinedly leaving the airport to cease the organization’s next game.
Right here’s what all of it may maybe perchance perchance well suggest.
Table of Contents
Who obtained Squid Sport?
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While the personality of the match allowed for just a few winners (the final game, squid game, is that you may perchance well perchance remember to play in groups) most effective Seong managed to survive all six video games. He left the video games because the winner.
How great is 45.6 billion obtained?
Seong takes home—by means of a gold debut card shoved into his mouth—roughly $39 million, which he promptly places accurate into a bank story and by no design touches until over a year after the video games. He then makes consume of about a of the cash to repay Cho Sang-woo’s (No. 0218) debt to boot to acquire Kang Sae-byeok’s (No. 0067) brother out of his orphanage, connecting him with Cho’s mother as a foster mother or father.
Other than these acts, Seong peaceable has a without a doubt in depth amount of earnings for whatever he has planned to acquire down the organization.
What does the ending suggest?
Netflix
In one in all the final scenes, Seong reunites with Oh and learns the historical man’s characteristic within the serve of the video games. At some stage within the meeting, while Oh lies minutes some distance off from loss of life, the two play one final game, betting on the fate of a homeless man, himself minutes from loss of life, below on the avenue.
Oh’s wager: Before midnight no person will cease to serve the man. He’s confirmed immoral. An person, who stopped beside the man earlier, returns with police a minute previous to midnight. Oh dies at the moment after, prompting Seong to quiz if he seen—if he seen that he had been immoral.
As low stakes as this final game seems, it will likely be one in all the biggest of the series.
Their wager is one in all accurate perception. Oh had first requested Seong if he peaceable retained hope in others after witnessing the manipulation, betrayal, and selfishness demonstrated all the design by means of the video games. Seong doesn’t answer, even though all the design by means of the video games he had tried to by no design execute one other participant. (He even choses Oh all the design by means of one in all the closing video games in an act not dissimilar to the person on the avenue bending to serve the loss of life homeless man.) The irony is that the very top participant Seong choses to betray is Oh—the very top participant for whom betrayal doesn’t subject; he’s outdoors the sport. (And, obviously, a additional irony is that previous to entering the sport, Seong is confirmed to be one in all the more egocentric characters—stealing cash from his mother, failing his daughter, and so forth. By the cease, even below excessive duress, he emerges because the most selfless.)
This strive in opposition to between egoism (the keep self-curiosity dictates accurate resolution making) and some maintain of collaboration/altruism represents the crux not most effective of the video games themselves—the keep one must first maintain if the sport is competitive or cooperative—however additionally the inside warfare for every participant.
It is additionally, one may perchance well pick, a resolution on the root of the describe’s portrayed earnings inequality. (It’s telling that Oh and his filthy rich site visitors, bored with their fortunes, by no design think to without a doubt utilize their cash altruistically.)
The correct beliefs of the extraordinarily filthy rich, Squid Sport leads us to remember, are without a doubt egoistic. They additionally remember that everybody shares this ethic, making it acceptable to prey on others. Oh’s final game with Seong is important since it reveals that this assumption isn’t basically factual. Other of us function not repeatedly act out of self-curiosity. In step with Seong, they additionally deserve the equivalent remedy in return—even within the event that they be conscious the violent video games.
Before Oh dies, we be taught that the “VIPs” gambled on the fate of gamers. At some stage within the final scene, Seong tells the organization that of us are not horses; they can’t be treated as such. (We first meet Seong within the origin of the series playing on horse races; by the cease, he has change into the horse.)
While he struggled with this egoism vs altruism predicament all the design by means of the series, Seong is now particular: the organization’s remedy of others is immoral, and the organization ought to be destroyed.
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What does the Squid Sport creator want to sigh?
On the series in traditional, creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk conceded that his gain understand on human relatives tends to be more cynical; on the exchange hand, he shares the closing conclusion of his protagonist, who he says he modeled a bit on himself:
“I remember that we cannot budge on living without have faith in other of us — except you opt to function immoral issues and budge down a darkish direction. Right here’s very successfully depicted within the lines of Gi-hun. Legal previous to the hour of darkness strive in opposition to when he’s drawing near Sae-byeok […] to advance be part of his group. Sae-byeok says, “I don’t have faith of us.” Nonetheless to that, Gi-hun says, “You don’t have faith of us since you may perchance well perchance; you have faith of us because or not it is a must to” — that design, we don’t be pleased anything to depend on. These lines from Gi-hun are, after all, precisely in step with my emotions.”
Hwang believes that despite the enviornment being “pretty grim,” an global whereby it seems unimaginable to have faith others, one has to have faith anyway. One has to remember that have faith is that you may perchance well perchance remember, that it is price it.
When Gi-hun turns serve from his plane within the final scene, he’s taking a stand in opposition to the forces of cynicism, the machine that grinds you down and forces you to treat others as objects.
Hwang defined the flip:
“That turn out to be once, after all, my design of speaking the message that you mustn’t be dragged along by the competitive stream of society, however that you may be pleased to peaceable initiate who has created your total machine — and whether or not there may be about a possible for you to flip serve and face it.”
Netflix
What does the ending suggest for Season 2?
While a Squid Sport season 2 hasn’t yet been formally equipped, the numbers are in—they on occasion’re staggering. Squid Sport is heading in the right direction to be the most considered non-English language television series ever for Netflix. And that’s essential brooding about Netflix’s other global shatter hits, including Lupin and Cash Heist. Squid Sport will likely change into one in all Netflix’s most a hit series of all time, length, and that form of viewership design heaps of obtained and USD. And heaps of obtained and USD design heaps of causes to enhance the describe’s shelf lifestyles.
How does the ending of Squid Sport residing up future seasons? It practically sets up an total franchise.
We peaceable know exiguous concerning the organization, the history of the video games, the guards, the educate situation recruiter, the organ operations, the VIPs, and the man now guilty, the Front Man, the brother to detective Hwang Jun-ho—whose fate is additionally unclear.
In an interview with The Events, Squid Sport director Hwang Dong-hyuk elaborated on this closing point, announcing that “one [idea for season 2] may perchance well be the story of the Front Man.”
The Front Man remains one in all the most mysterious characters of the series. Even supposing we be taught his identification, we don’t know his history: why he participated in a previous game (what debt he owed), how he came to acquire management of operations, and what is going to likely be pleased led him to shoot his gain brother.
In one other interview, Wi Ha-joon, who plays that brother, Detective Hwang, said he’d pick to acknowledge more of the brothers in future seasons. “My hope is that season two comes out, Jun Ho returns alive, and the story with Jun Ho’s brother is resolved successfully,” Wi defined.
Director Hwang seems to agree that both the Front Man and police storylines shall be pleased to peaceable change into more central. He went on to describe why the Seoul police angle, critically, warranted more show time. “I have faith the gap with law enforcement officers just will not be only a field in Korea. I explore it on the global records. This turn out to be once a field that I wanted to enhance. Maybe in season two I will focus on this more.”
Presumably the police be taught about—and not at once profit off—the video games. It will describe how an operation enjoy this would be pleased been hidden for see you later, given the exchange of abductions and lacking contributors.
No doubt, season 2 would additionally continue with Seong, as he seeks to acquire down the video games (and in all chance additionally police corruption).
Even previous to Seong seeks retaliation, shall we additionally explore a prequel season showing the creation of the sport, the predominant opponents, and the recruitment of the guards. Shall we be taught more concerning the historical man, the Front Man, and the VIPs.
The Squid Sport universe expands back and forth in time and, if Netflix and the Squid Sport writers are on board, may perchance well flip accurate into a long-working series.
Josh St. Clair
Joshua St Clair is an editorial assistant at Men’s Effectively being Magazine.
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