“Squid Game”: should you (or not) devour season 2 on Netflix?

By his own admission, the creator of Squid Game Hwang Dong-hyeok had not planned to write a season 2. But faced with the immediate success of his turbulent baby upon his birth in September 2021, this South Korean director and screenwriter with a relatively unknown filmography was convinced to imagine a sequel to the misadventures of Seong Gi-Hun, his antihero played by local superstar Lee Jung-jae.

If you missed the phenomenon, season 1 plunged this divorced father up to his neck in debt into a secret competition whose participants had to compete in events inspired by the games of our childhood. At each stage, the losers met their death… until only one remained. The prize: the colossal sum of 45.6 billion won (around 30 million euros).

A satire that appealed beyond borders

With its explosive cocktail of ultra-violence, social satire and black humor, Squid Game literally shattered all records, becoming the most watched non-English-language series in Netflix history. It must be said that by denouncing the ravages of ultra-liberalism in South Korean society, Hwang Dong-hyeok managed to hold up a mirror to a wide audience, beyond the borders of his country. Ironically, this stunning success gave its producers plenty of ideas to exploit the vein.

A whole range of derivative products have been launched, from a board game to cake molds and a virtual fireplace in the series’ decor. And even a reality TV show reproducing the trials of fiction, minus the death. Extreme cold, lack of food… Some participants filed a complaint against Netflix, denouncing “inhumane” filming conditions. We think we’re dreaming.

Three years later, Squid Game sets the table again in an explosive context since South Korea is plunged into a serious political and economic crisis, President Yoon Suk-yeol more than ever in the hot seat following his failed coup in early December. During the presentation of season 2 in Seoul, it was a visibly moved Hwang Dong-hyeok who called on the people to take to the streets to make themselves heard.

If thrill-seeking spectators are expecting a new game of exhilarating massacre, the first episode essentially plays on the social, if not moral, chord of fiction. By pocketing the jackpot, Seong Gi-Hun has in fact uncovered a secret organization in which a small group of wealthy individuals delight in the misery of the poorest. Most of us would have managed to brush our guilty conscience under the rug? Not him.

Beware of Russian roulette!

After giving up on joining his daughter in the United States, the winner of season 1 therefore remained in Seoul. His objective: to return to the game in order to punish its creators. Even if it means squandering his fortune on a gang of thugs, tasked with finding the smiling VRP in a suit and tie who accosted him on a metro platform, opening the doors to a nightmare from which he never quite recovered. fully awake.

At the same time, we find Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), the young police officer who infiltrated behind the scenes of the competition before being “expelled” in a manner as brutal as spectacular by his own brother (Lee Byung-hun), long hidden behind the mask of the master of the game. He too is looking for a way to return. And Seong Gi-Hun will perhaps serve him the solution on a platter…

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After half an hour of rather lengthy exposition, episode 1 changes gear halfway through thanks to a game of Russian roulette of rare perversity. This half-hearted introduction gives the feeling that Hwang Dong-hyeok did not choose the easy way by favoring the development of characters over pure sensations, as if he absolutely wanted to justify the existence of this season 2 for reasons reasons more noble than mercantile. After these seven new episodes, he has already promised that season 3 will be the last. We just want to believe it.