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Ep 3 - and we’re back for Red Light, Green Light.
The new cast of players is amusing, as is the new player 001. Also, one of the pink guards is a character. It’s not fresh, like s1 was, so the impact is less but it promises some new places with the cast of characters. Still in…
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E4 not dalgona - a 5 legged race. Or a 7 legged race - 5 players bound together at the ankles having to play 5 games around a race track before time runs out. The picking of the teams of 5 was interesting and only the first 2 teams went; the rest go in the next episode.
The soldier (pink masked guard) story is the most intriguing. I’m eager Thanos, the annoying rapper, to get shot. That probably won’t happen until the end.
Still watching.
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S2 seen
Like Cobra Kai, the season finale is just a monster cliffhanger because S2 & S3 are parts of the same arc. S3 should be S2 part 2.
E5-7 pick up because the main characters start dying so the investment is real. The games diverge from S1 after Red Light Green Light. And the characters get more interesting as they begin to crumble psychologically. The finale ep was mostly a huge fire fight, which I didn’t expect.
Overall, it was watchable. In some ways, more of the same. In other ways, some amusing variations with the new characters and games. One new thing is the players get to vote to end the game after each game. It’s a tad triggering watched the democratic process go sour, especially today on Jan 6, 2025, an odious day for democracy. The quitters are red Xs and the players are blue 0s - red v blue and X v O. This adds an extra level of tension as the voting scenes are long, but the tension isn’t too real because we know the game will go on.
I’m still finding the story of thr triangle guard to be the most intriguing; I’m eager to see where that goes.
D00M recommended? Sure, if you liked S1. I didn’t think S2 was as good but it’s still better than a lot of other alternatives. And it’s again at the top of Netflix; I’m always pleased when a show I like does well. It’s reaffirming. Usually the pop favs aren’t to my liking. Sometimes I can’t even get why they are so popular.
I’ll tune in for S3.
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Did anyone watch season 2?
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
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S3e1 Man, what a bummer. S2 left the players in a terrible state and the start of S3 just perpetuates it. It’s ’remember what they’re up against?’ Ok, ok got it. Things are worse than ever.
I’ll keep watching because I want to know where it goes.
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S3e2 began as a series of knife fights in a labyrinth. Very sanguineous even for squid game and I was thinking that the show just devolved into a brutal bloodbath then the end of the ep delivers some major character deaths and some gut wrenching scenes like what Squid Games delivers. My interest was waning and I was considering just jumping to the end of the season but the last 15 mins of e2 totally brought me back in. Such a huge body count and one of the most emotional kills yet. I’m all in again.
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Seen
S3 is conclusive. There’s some fine skewering satire of greed (capitalism) and democracy (so many votes) which is surely more poignant in S. Korea as here in the US, we e voted away our democracy. The set pieces and overall design is excellent, but what a sanguineous story where almost everybody dies. That’s been a key ingredient in the Squid Games recipe - cook up a cast of characters that you love and hate and kill them brutally one by one. The level of preposterousness is off the charts, but the drama of it all is what sustains it. Almost all the player deaths come with a moving or reprehensible back story which makes you feel each death viscerally.
The final ep is almost all epilogue, concluding notes on those few survivors.
And then there’s that final scene - an A-lister cameo that leaves the door cracked open for a reboot. That eta cameo - what a flex! If it happens, I’m all in.
Only D00M recommended if you liked s1. S2 & 3 are really just one story - one game series - slot in half for Netflix to milk it more. There’s a bit of fat in S23 that could be trimmed, but ultimately it arrives at a satisfactory conclusion.
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