‘Squid Game’ Recap: Refresh Your Mind Before Binge-Watching Season 2

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’re likely already familiar with Squid Game. The South Korean survival thriller became an instant runaway hit upon its premiere, bringing millions of new subscribers to Netflix from all across the globe. Ironically, Squid Game has grown to become one of the most financially lucrative critiques of modern capitalism to ever be released, having wrought millions for the streamer and launching many of its core performers to superstardom. Whether you’re fresh off a binge-watch of season one or haven’t revisited since the initial nine episodes landed back in September 2021, you may find yourself needing a quick refresher course.

Luckily, we’ve got you covered, with a comprehensive guide to the themes, narrative, and characters of Squid Game season one. With any luck, this quick refresher should leave you bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to tackle season two now that it’s available. As always, please be advised that the following write-up will contain heavy spoilers for the entirety of Squid Game season one, so be sure to bookmark this page and return later if you’re not up to date. Otherwise, let’s don our pink jumpsuits, trek to the mysterious island where the games are played and unpack season one’s most important moments.

What Happens in ‘Squid Game’ Season 1?

When the narrative of Squid Game first kicks off, viewers are introduced to Seong Gi-Hun, a down-on-his-luck gambler with a massive line of debt accrued to a gang of local loan sharks. Like many of South Korea’s residents, Seong struggles with his finances amid a rising cost of living, though his gambling habit has only served to worsen his financial future, even estranging him from his daughter and wife. When we first see him, Seong is stealing money from his own mother’s rainy day fund to pay off a minimum balance to his violent bookies. One day, after he is beaten senseless by his loan sharks, Seong crosses paths with a well-dressed man in the subway who invites him to participate in a mysterious high-stakes gambling pursuit.

After Seong agrees, he is quickly transported to an island along the Pacific coast where he meets a crowd of over 400 other players, guarded by a team of jumpsuit-clad soldiers with strange masks and machine guns. The game offers billions of Korean won to a sole winner, accounting for roughly $38 million in USD. Before the games can begin, Seong realizes that he knows some of the other players and takes a moment to interface with them. Cho Sang-Woo is a childhood friend of Seong’s, who claimed to be a successful investment banker. Much to Seong’s surprise, Cho is actually broke and has entered the game in hopes that he can keep up his guise of success to his friends and family. Seong also recognizes a man who robbed him earlier in the series, leaving him unable to pay for his daughter’s birthday gift.

Red Light… Green Light

The contestants of the Squid Games are guided to an open field and instructed to play the children’s game Red Light, Green Light at the behest of a robotic game master. As they begin the game, however, those who fail are executed via machine gun. This terrifies many of the contestants, causing them to panic and move out of turn. The few who survive this game, including Seong Gi-Hun, are outraged at the threat of violence and demand an end to the gamble at once. Together, the contestants activate a democratic clause in the Squid Game’s manual, which allows them to quit the game and relinquish their shot at taking home the money. The mysterious game masters send the survivors home to continue wallowing in debt, though each of the players eventually finds themselves returning to the game a year later as their finances have only become more dire.

The players’ collective decision to return to the game signals just how hopeless they have become in the fast-paced economic landscape of Seoul, as they now know that signing on to the Squid Game means risking life and limb. Still, the players proceed, and begin forming bonds and alliances to strengthen their shot at the money. Seong creates something of a rag-tag partnership with a group of lovable misfits including an elderly man by the name of Oh Il-nam, a meek Pakistani migrant and a woman who defected from North Korea. Meanwhile, a police officer named Detective Hwang Jun-ho surreptitiously makes his way onto the island by posing as one of the guards in hopes of finding answers about the disappearance of his brother. While investigating the annals of the behind-the-scenes infrastructure of the games, Jun-Ho begins to uncover a black market organ harvesting operation.

The Games Continue

As Squid Game continues, the players continue participating in a series of childlike games with lethal repercussions. First, they are made to perfectly cut complex shapes out of honeycomb candies without breaking them, then engage in a game of 10 vs. 10 tug of war and eventually compete against each other in a series of basic marble games. Between rounds, a violent gang member named Jang Deok-su rallies many of the strongest male competitors into an alliance. This group of thugs are not only ruthless during the games but take to rioting and attacking other players in the night, forcing the majority to craft prison-style tools and find creative hiding places to survive. Throughout the affair, Seong Gi-Hun and company narrowly manage to survive, forming a strong bond with one another along the way. That is, until it becomes time to perform the marble challenge.

At this point, there are very few players left, meaning the survivors are determined to lie, cheat, steal and backstab one another at every turn. Cho Sang-Woo takes advantage of Ali’s trusting nature and tricks him into throwing the game, as Deok-su brutally casts aside his right-hand man. In one of the most shocking and tear-jerking scenes in the show, Seong Gi-Hun exploits Oh Il-nam’s dementia, to muscle him out of the game. Before departing the arena to his demise, Il-nam explains that he was aware of Gi-Hun’s deception all along, but allowed it to occur because he has grown to think of the young man as his closest and most trusted friend.

Violence Grows Out of Control in the Final Rounds

Traumatized by the events of this game, the remaining players are made to cross a two-panel bridge made of tempered glass. As they progress, some panels shatter beneath their feet and drop them to their death. Many of the key players see their demise in this round, including the villainous Deok-su, who is pushed to his death by another cunning player. In the end, only Seong, Sang-woo and Kang Sae-Byeok (the North Korean woman) manage to survive. Despite their success, the trio is looking worse for wear, having taken numerous shards of glass and shrapnel during the bridge round. Still, the games aren’t over yet, and the next challenge sees them engaging in direct physical combat. Sang-woo kills Sae-Byeok, much to the shock and disgust of Gi-Hun.

When Gi-Hun gets the drop on his childhood friend, he refuses to kill him and instead begs to enact the democratic process, which would see them relinquishing the prize money. Sang-woo feels that they have come far too close to the end to quit, however, and stabs himself in the throat to give the reward to his peer. As he draws his final breaths, Sang-woo asks Gi-Hun to watch over his mother for him knowing that he will receive the multi-million dollar payout.

How Do Things End for Detective Jun-ho?

As the Squid Games are taking place, Jun-ho continues poking around behind the scenes, searching for answers about the bizarre organization or any clues which may lead him to his brother. In a shocking twist, he comes across a record book that confirms that his brother played the game – and won – back in 2015. During the final round of the games, a group of foreign VIPs are invited to a secret viewing booth on the island, where they indulge in a variety of delicacies and place bets on the contestants. One VIP corners Jun-ho, who is still posing as an ordinary guard, then demands sexual pleasure. Not wanting to blow his cover, Jun-ho takes the man into a private room and quietly kills him before attempting to make his escape from the twisted island.

Eventually, Detective Jun-ho makes it onto another nearby body of land, where he is eventually discovered by the guards. After he is captured, the man responsible for overseeing the entire game reveals himself to be Jun-ho’s missing brother, In-ho. At first, In-ho attempts to recruit his brother into the game, offering him a high-ranking position running the organization. When the detective refuses, In-ho shoots him in the shoulder, causing Jun-ho to fall off the edge of a cliff into the ocean, presumably to his death. For now, there’s no way of knowing how Jun-ho’s story will continue in Squid Game season two. While he certainly seems to have been mortally wounded and left for dead, we never officially saw proof that the gunshot or the drop into the water killed him, so some fans are still holding out hope that he’ll return in the new episodes.

Who Truly Runs the Squid Games?

After winning the game, Seong Gi-Hun returns to Seoul, only to learn that his mother has passed away. He honors the memory of his fallen friends by arranging for Sae-byeok’s brother to escape North Korea and sending money to Sang-woo’s mother. Over a year after the games have concluded, Gi-Hun is still traumatized and has refused to touch any of the money for his gain, opting instead to live frugally on scraps and reserves. One day, he is surprised to receive a letter from Oh Il-nam, which suggests that the elderly man is still alive outside of the game. Searching for answers, Gi-Hun travels to the address on the letter and discovers Oh Il-nam on his deathbed. In yet another shocking twist, Il-nam reveals that he was the original creator of the Squid Game, having drawn up the concept decades ago to entertain his wealthy friends.

Knowing that he was nearing the end of his life, Il-nam decided to play the game himself and wound up genuinely enjoying the bond he shared with Gi-Hun during the traumatic affair. Gi-Hun is understandably disgusted and dismayed and attempts to reason with the dying man, to little avail. After a brief chat about morals, life and the state of society, the two make a wager on the fate of a homeless man who has fallen asleep in the cold outside the building. The man seems to be representative of everything wrong with the modern world as people step over him carelessly, failing to display any basic humanity. Just before the time runs out on Gi-Hun and Il-nam’s bet, someone helps the man, signaling that society is still worth saving. Though Gi-Hun wins the bet, he isn’t able to prove his point, as Il-nam dies just moments later.

How Does ‘Squid Game’ Season 1 End?

With most of his pressing questions answered, Gi-Hun attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter. He buys a plane ticket to Los Angeles, California, but just before he can board his plane, he sees the same well-dressed man who recruited him for the Squid Game enlisting another desperate man in the terminal. Gi-Hun attempts to track the man down but loses him in the crowd before snatching the invitation card from the newly recruited player.

When he calls the number on the card, he demands to know who is running the game now that Oh Il-nam has perished, though the voice on the other end simply commands him to get on his plane and never look back. Just before Squid Game season one cuts to the credits for the final time, we see Gi-Hun contemplating his future, and solemnly turning away from the plane. We can surmise that Squid Game season two will see Gi-Hun using his newfound money and influence to infiltrate the game from a whole new angle, and perhaps rallying others to put a stop to the inhumane system.