Squid Recreation Season 2’s Greatest New Characters, Ranked

Tread fastidiously and solely transfer ahead in the event you get a inexperienced mild: this text incorporates spoilers for “Squid Recreation” season 2.

In the event you’re even just a bit bit acquainted with the idea of writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s hit Netflix sequence “Squid Recreation,” you in all probability know why the present incorporates a ton of recent characters in its second season. Through the first season, which turned one of many streamer’s largest reveals ever when it premiered in late 2021, we observe Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae, who gained an Emmy for the position), a person who’s critically down on his luck and owes a ton of cash over some unpaid gamblings money owed. When he is supplied the possibility to take part in a mysterious competitors, he principally has no different alternative however to simply accept … and when he is taken to the mysterious location, he realizes that anybody who loses the sport is killed on the spot, narrowing the sector till (presumably) only one individual wins the grand prize of 4.56 billion gained. 

Every participant is assigned a quantity, and with Gi-hun as Participant 456, the video games start and he finally triumphs — however after the sport’s controller the Entrance Man (Lee Byung-hun) tries to persuade him to flee South Korea and fly to America, Gi-hun decides to skip his flight and search out the Entrance Man and his crew, exposing their many, many crimes. Within the course of, he embeds himself again within the sport and meets an entire new group of gamers determined for a life-changing sum of money, so which new characters are nice — and which one actually sucks?

Thanos is just on this record as a result of I need to discuss how annoying he’s. Performed by Choi Seung-Hyun, Thanos — no, actually, that is his character’s title — is, in accordance with the reactions of different gamers after they first meet him, a fairly well-known South Korean rapper (in a little bit of meta-casting, the actor who performs Thanos is additionally a well-known South Korean rapper, who goes by the stage title T.O.P.), however he is simply as determined as all people else there after investing in a crypto firm run by Participant 333, Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), a YouTuber who ended up scamming his buyers. Thanos’ entire deal is that he is a jerk. One way or the other, he smuggles medicine into the video games in a cross necklace — and whereas this seems like an enormous plot gap contemplating that Gi-hun enters the sport with a tracker in a false tooth that the guards take away earlier than he begins enjoying, however they someway do not examine an infinite cross necklace for contraband — and makes use of these medicine as leverage with different gamers. However that is not even the shadiest factor about Thanos. Through the very first sport — “Purple Gentle, Inexperienced Gentle,” identical to the primary season — he shoves a number of gamers to the bottom so that they are killed, and when a lethal battle breaks out within the participant’s quarters, Thanos is positively gleeful over the violence.

There isn’t any level to Thanos, finally — he meets a grisly finish within the participant’s communal rest room — and his whole disregard for human life and the well-being of these round him simply gives a miserable distinction to the opposite gamers, who really like each other. Thanos sucks and he is boring. The actual man from the MCU performed by Josh Brolin is definitely higher, in that he is no less than attention-grabbing.

The (morally corrupt and bankrupt) Netflix actuality present based mostly on “Squid Recreation,” subtitled “The Problem,” featured a mom and a son enjoying within the sport collectively in a bid to take house a big money prize — and whereas season 2 of “Squid Recreation” does characteristic a mom and a son who find yourself within the sport collectively, it does not seem to be it is straight impressed by the “precise” sport present. At first of season 2 of “Squid Recreation,” participant 007, whose actual title is Park Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun), is shocked to comprehend that his aged mom Jang Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim) is participant 149. Yong-sik is riddled with playing money owed, which is why they’re each within the video games, and all through the early days of the sport, they principally stick collectively.

When Geum-ja and Yong-sik department out and begin making inroads with different contestants, although, they actually blossom. Yong-sik is comparatively unserious however unfailingly variety, nevertheless it’s Geum-ja, who survived the Korean Warfare below appreciable duress, who actually grows all through the season. Whereas placing Yong-sik’s nicely being forward of her personal, Geum-ja additionally reveals consolation and kindness to different gamers — together with the timid Participant 095 (Kim Si-eun) and Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) — making this duo an ideal addition to the season. 

“Squid Recreation” is, if nothing else, an especially merciless present, and one of many cruelest issues it does in season 2 is introduce a pregnant participant into the sport. The participant in query is Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), who bears the quantity 222 and has a reference to one other participant … the aforementioned cryptocurrency scammer Myung-gi, who’s the newborn’s father. Jun-hee is aware of she wants cash to lift a toddler, so she dangers two lives by getting into the sport and trying to win however does not anticipate to run headfirst into Myung-gi, who clearly needs her again; Jun-hee is not precisely thrilled by that prospect, to place it frivolously (she was additionally the sufferer of Myung-gi’s rip-off, so as to add insult to damage).

All through season 2, Jun-hee proves herself to be a extremely unbiased and protracted participant, searching for herself whereas additionally forming bonds with different gamers — even in her moments of weak spot, she manages to kind actual relationships with the individuals round her. Most notably, when Myung-gi begs her to get again collectively in the event that they’re in a position to go away the sport, she refuses, proving that she’s not falling for his act once more. Jun-hee is nice, however we do not know but if we’ll see extra of her in season 3.

Hyun-ju — participant 120, who’s performed by Park Sung-hoon — marks a giant step for “Squid Recreation” in that she’s the primary transgender character to look on the present. At first, characters like Geum-ja appear to evaluate Hyun-ju, which makes her understandably defensive, however as Geum-ja will get to know Hyun-ju, the 2 really kind a extremely pretty relationship (in one of many season’s extra touching moments, Geum-ja tells Hyun-ju that she’s stunning). Apart from that, although, Hyun-ju is a badass.

As a former particular forces soldier who misplaced her place after revealing that she was transgender, Hyun-ju is a pure competitor (who’s there to assist fund her gender-affirming surgical procedure) and proves fairly fierce throughout video games — however she by no means does that at anybody else’s expense. Quite the opposite, she’s the primary individual to supply pep talks or assist different individuals in the course of the video games, even when it places her straight in danger … and because the season closes, she proves invaluable in Gi-hun’s ambush in opposition to the guards (she’s significantly useful with a gun). Hyun-ju is, with out query, probably the most attention-grabbing and compelling characters in “Squid Recreation” season 2, and I actually hope she survived the finale, as a result of I would actually like to see extra of her story.

Performed by Park Gyu-young, No-eul is, with out query, essentially the most fascinating new character on the second season of “Squid Recreation,” regardless that it isn’t all the time as a result of she’s doing the proper factor. After we meet No-eul, she’s working a (really crappy) job as a theme park mascot, however when she meets a younger lady affected by pediatric most cancers who wants a bone marrow transplant, she abruptly quits her job and calls the mysterious quantity on the again of a card we noticed in season 1 — specifically, a card that will get individuals concerned within the video games. There’s an instantaneous twist with No-eul, although; she’s not becoming a member of the sport as a competitor. She’s becoming a member of as a masked guard.

We study a bit extra about No-eul — she’s a North Korean defector whose youngster remains to be there — however an important factor she does in season 2 of “Squid Recreation” is attempt to sabotage the group’s organ donation. As in season 1, the useless and injured gamers are delivered to a makeshift surgical middle and their organs are eliminated for transplant, which is simpler if they are not killed immediately; No-eul makes positive she takes out each participant on sight in order that it is tougher to obtain organs. It is an understatement to say that she makes a number of enemies doing this, and on the finish of season 2, we’re undecided what occurs to the girl working as Guard 011. No-eul’s story appears removed from over, so I would be prepared to guess she reappears subsequent season.

Season 2 of “Squid Recreation” is streaming now.