Squid Game season 2 review: Too much cannon fodder stunts strong return

On the other, his follow-up can't rely on the shock value that helped propel the original to its historic success, while the Squid Game concept has been watered down in recent years by reality spin-off The Challenge and utterly baffling online creator MrBeast.

But if anything can reignite the mania of late 2021, it's the season 2 premiere, which kicks off this latest chapter on a remarkably strong note and ends with a knockout scene for returning star Lee Jung-jae.

His character, Squid Game champion Seong Gi-hun, is found three years on from his victory, living a reclusive life in an empty, eroding hotel and using his enormous winnings for one simple mission: revenge.

Alas, that's proving more difficult than expected; even with a small army of goons sweeping the Seoul subway system each day, he's still no closer to finding the suited-and-booted salesman who recruits players with a spontaneous game of ddakji.

Arguably, the opening two hours are some of the strongest that season 2 has to offer, with Hwang taking his time to find a way back to the surreal Squid Game compound, bringing us on a journey that feels both exciting and believable.

The momentum stays high upon arrival too, with an informed and toughened Gi-hun taking a very different approach to Red Light, Green Light, while a shock twist in the post-game vote will have you scrambling for the "next episode" button.

Unfortunately, cracks do start to show in the second half, which lacks the visceral gut-punch moments that got everyone talking about season 1. Largely, that comes down to the players.

The original episodes were blessed with some really compelling and memorable characters, including mysterious older man Il-nam, North Korean defector Sae-byeok, Gi-hun's treacherous classmate Sang-woo, Pakistani migrant Ali and wild card Mi-nyeo.

After watching the season 2 finale, I remain unconvinced that any of this latest crop will reach such legendary status, with several supporting players feeling disappointingly underbaked.

Those who work best are mother-son duo Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun) and Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim), whose charming dynamic easily tugs at the heartstrings, while K-pop star Choi Seung-hyun is delightfully unhinged as villainous rapper Thanos.

I don't feel particularly comfortable or qualified to wade into the controversy surrounding trans character Hyun-ju – played by cisgender actor Park Sung-hoon – but she is a genuinely interesting figure in the story.

As for the others, I can take or leave them for the time being, but it's worth noting that not everyone is dead by the end of season 2, meaning there's still time for some players to thrive in the third and final instalment.

In the immediate term, it means that there are relatively few impactful deaths across these seven episodes, sapping tension from the twisted trials as the players being executed are always quite obvious cannon fodder.

The games themselves are hit-and-miss; of the new additions, a one-on-one showdown in the first episode is probably the most intense due to its low-fi intimacy, but a challenging spin on a three-legged race also produces a strong sequence.

Unfortunately, rather than building in tension as the first season did so well, this instalment loses its footing towards the end, with the last game not living up to its potential and the season finale being rather disjointed on the whole.

The latter complaint is made worse by this not feeling anywhere close to a complete story, leading me to wonder if seasons 2 and 3 – which were shot back-to-back – were ever planned to drop as a single plus-sized release.

Nevertheless, the bombshell cliffhanger does set the stage for a strong and satisfying closing chapter, which is likely to benefit from having a smaller roster of more developed characters.

Hopefully, that includes returning favourite Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who is used so sparingly here that it's a wonder they bothered to bring him back. The puzzling dynamic between he and his estranged brother, The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), requires much more attention.

I was more than ready to give Squid Game season 2 an enthusiastic four-star recommendation based on the early episodes, but a loss of momentum towards the end and a strong sense of incompleteness has brought that down a notch.

Nevertheless, I do believe that fans of the original series should go a few rounds with this follow-up and I remain optimistic that Hwang's brutal saga can stick the landing when its concluding episodes drop next year.

Much like Gi-hun, I'll be seeing it through to the bitter end – and attempting to keep as many people with me as I can.

Squid Game seasons 1-2 are available to stream on Netflix.

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