Squid Game Season 1 Recap: 5 Important Moments To Remember Before Season 2 Drops

Squid Game Season 1 Recap: 5 Important Moments To Remember

'Squid Game' opens with a black-and-white flashback of children playing the game, with a voice-over explaining the rules. The setting, shaped like a squid’s head, hints at the violent and deadly nature of the competition to come. The plot focuses on Seong Gi-hun, a desperate, financially-struggling father living under constant threat from loan sharks. His attempts to solve his problems using his mother’s debit card for a birthday gift for his daughter and accepting money from his ex-husband to treat his mother’s diabetes illustrate his downward spiral.

Hope appears when Gi-hun meets a mysterious salesman and plays a few rounds of Ddakji (a traditional Korean game). This leads to an invitation to participate in a deadly series of childhood games on a secluded island, where the prize is 45.6 billion won. The competition, where 456 participants are forced to play games with life-or-death stakes, becomes the focal point of the show.

We also meet Hwang Jun-ho, a police officer who disguises himself as a guard to search for his missing brother on the island. As Gi-hun and others take part in the brutal games, the stakes grow ever higher.

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Red Light, Green Light

The first game is Red Light, Green Light, where the players must move toward a finish line, but any movement while the giant doll’s head is turned results in instant death. Many players perish in this game, but Gi-hun survives, realising that failure in any game leads to death. This moment marks a turning point, and Gi-hun teams up with other notable players, including Kang Sae-byeok (Player 067), a North Korean woman with plans to bring her family across the border, Cho Sang-woo (Player 218), Gi-hun’s childhood friend running from his financial ruin, Oh Il-nam (Player 001), a frail old man with a brain tumour, and Abdul Ali (Player 199), a Pakistani immigrant.

Ppopgi

Next is Ppopgi, where players must carve out a shape from a dalgona (honeycomb candy). Gi-hun faces the difficult umbrella shape but survives.

Tug of War

The third game is Tug of War, where teams pull a rope to force the opposing team past the centre line, leading to their death. Gi-hun’s team follows Il-nam’s strategy and wins the game.

Marbles

The fourth game, Marbles, is one of the most emotionally taxing. Players are paired up and must take all of their opponent’s marbles. Gi-hun uses Il-nam’s dementia to win, but Il-nam admits he knew what was happening. Hopscotch, the next game, sees the remaining players navigating a glass bridge, where stepping on the wrong glass square leads to death. By the end of the game, only Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and an injured Sae-byeok remain to face the final round.

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‘Squid Game’: Ending Explained

Before the final game, Gi-hun and Sae-byeok make a pact to take care of each other's families if one of them doesn’t survive. They plan to target Sang-woo, but Sang-woo kills Sae-byeok when she’s left vulnerable. Devastated, Gi-hun vows revenge and prepares for the last game. The two players must navigate a game involving a square, triangle, and circles, hopping on one foot. As Gi-hun nears victory, he chooses to spare Sang-woo, but guilt drives Sang-woo to commit suicide, crowning Gi-hun the winner.

Meanwhile, Jun-ho, disguised as a guard, uncovers the history of the deadly games, revealing that his brother, the Front Man, won the game in 2015. After a confrontation, Jun-ho is shot and falls off a cliff. One year later, Gi-hun learns that Il-nam, the elderly man he befriended, is the mastermind behind the games. Il-nam explains the games were a form of entertainment for the rich, who bet on the winners.

Gi-hun uses part of his prize money to care for Sae-byeok’s brother and Sang-woo’s mother. He plans to reconnect with his daughter but encounters the Salesman recruiting new players. Gi-hun decides to stop the games and calls off his trip to the US.

According to Netflix, in season 2, Gi-hun will return to the deadly survival game, where he will face another life-or-death challenge alongside new participants vying for the 45.6 billion won prize. Get ready for more intense and thrilling games when the season premieres on December 26, 2024, exclusively on Netflix.

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Credits: IMDb