[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers about Squid Game Season 2.]
The second season of Squid Game was three years in the making, but it picks up exactly where the first, celebrated season of the Netflix drama left off. Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-jae) is thrown back into the games after devoting his fortune to finding them again, and although he hopes to change the system from within, he finds that it’s a tougher task than just keeping everyone still during “Red Light, Green Light.”
Throughout the seven-episode season, he and other characters in the games face the devastating consequences of playing life-and-death games. Some of those developments are truly maddening, while others are completely heartwrenching. Here, we’re breaking down the very saddest moments in Squid Game Season 2.
When Young-sik disappoints his mother again
In Season 2, there are multiple character connections that didn’t exist in the first season, including a mother-son pairing that’s both frustrating and sob-worthy to watch. Because Park Young-sik (Yang Dong-geun) has run up so much debt, his poor old mom Jang Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim) has thrown herself in the games in hopes of winning enough money to bail out their family. She is already devastated by finding her own son as a fellow player, and throughout the season, he just continues to break her heart again and again, including by voting to stay in for another round despite them barely surviving the games. She deserves so much better.
No Ju-han / Netflix
When No-eul dies after begging for the games to end
The “Mingle” game is a gut-punch on multiple fronts. Min-su makes the gutting decision to team up with “Thanos” and Nam-gyu instead of forging a new path forward with Se-mi, with terrible consequences. And Young-sik faces the possibility of losing his mother in the melee. Nothing’s more upsetting, though, than when No-eul (Park Gyu-young) is left behind in the mad dash for hideaway rooms and is gunned down — especially since she’s just unsuccessfully pleaded with her peers in tears to please vote to end the games. Gulp.
When the poor man finally finishes Flying Stone
In the six-legged pentathlon, the games are mostly simple enough in theory, but in practice, the pressure of four fellow teammates watching along in fear of their own lives — with the clock ticking down far too quickly overhead — makes even the most basic kid game impossible. Such is the case for the first group as the second player tries and fails to knock down the stone again and again. After soiling himself and listening as his team gasps in despair, he finally manages to finish his game, but not in time for any of the others to complete theirs. His momentary triumph quickly turns to anguish when the eager guards come along to mow the entire team down thanks to what he knows is his failure.
When Lee Myung-gi realizes his bad financial advice has put Kim Jun-hee in an impossible situation
As immoral as the games already are, the fact that they allow a pregnant woman to participate is even more gruesome. And the shock of formerly wealthy YouTube star Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan) discovering that his crypto advice has landed his now-expecting former girlfriend Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri) in such financial ruin that she’s resorting to these games is truly tragic. Before the season ends, they seem to finally start looking out for each other, so here’s hoping something good comes out of their pain in Season 3.
Netflix
When soldiers get left behind
Dae-ho’s (Kang Ha-nuel) former marine bravado is transparently false all season long, but still, it’s a total blow when he is unable to complete his critical mission of resupplying his fellow soldiers on the proverbial battlefield due to his own cowardice. This costs at least three lives as the players are unable to defend themselves from the approaching guards and die on the spot. Perhaps even more upsetting is the moment when Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) is forced to go back to the dorms to retrieve the ammo herself and finds that she’s too late and will have to hide while her soldiers pay the ultimate price on their own. We don’t know what’s going to come of this for either of these former military members — they could still face consequences for their participation in the rebellion — but there’s no way we’ve heard the last of this.
When Gi-Hun loses his best friend
There are many, many lives lost in the games and the revolt that Gi-Hun leads against the guards, but the one death that clearly rattles him to his core is that of Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), his childhood friend who is shot down right in front of him as a consequence of his decision to fight back. As life-changing as the loss of Sang-woo was in Season 1, this loss is undoubtedly going to be even more exquisite for Gi-Hun.
Squid Game, Seasons 1-2, Netflix