Squid Game Season 2 ends with a violent turn anchored by shocking plot twists that transpired during its seven-episode run.
Season 2 of the hit Korean Netflix thriller drama sees Seong Gi-hun (the winner of Season 1's Squid Game) re-entering the tournament to try to destroy the game from the inside. However, little does Gi-hun know that one of his closest allies could ultimately become the reason for his downfall.
Squid Game Season 2 premiered on Netflix on December 26.
Every Plot Twist in Squid Game Season 2 Explained
Warning - the rest of this article contains spoilers for Squid Game Season 2.
The Recruiter Dies
Squid Game Season 2, Episode 1 mostly revolves around Seong Gi-hun's efforts to track down The Recruiter (played by the returning Gong Yoo who is part of the star-studded cast of Squid Game Season 2).
Gi-hun even uses some of the prize money to hire mercenaries to find The Recruiter. Some of his hired men, specifically Mr. Kim and Woo-Seok, thinks that he is insane because they have been searching for him for two years, but they can't still find him.
However, in one random encounter at Seoul Metro, Mr. Kim and Woo-seok unexpectedly finds The Recruiter and they end up following him.
Unfortunately, The Recruiter is one step ahead of them and he ends up kidnapping both of them.
The Recruiter kills Mr. Kim after losing a game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Minus One" infused with a Russian Roulette twist involving a gun, sparing Woo-seok's life due to the rules of his twisted game.
The episode ends with Gi-hun coming face to face with The Recruiter.
The Squid Game winner mocks The Recruiter for being the Front Man and the VIPs' "lap-dog," and this prompts the mysterious Ddjaki expert to play the game of Russian Roulette with Gi-hun.
This dangerous game ensures that the bullet inside the cylinder will be fired and someone will end up dying at the end.
After a tense back and forth, Gi-hun's luck prevails as The Recruiter kills himself right in front of him.
While The Recruiter starts off as a calm yet menacing figure in Squid Game, Season 2 pushes him to the edge which unleashes his deranged side.
Some would think that his inner insane self is brought about by the crazy world of Squid Game, and it was only a matter of time before it snaps him from the inside.
The Recruiter's death also paves the way for Gi-hun and In-ho (the detective who was thought dead by many) to join forces to try to put an end to the games.
The Front Man Joins as Player 001
After successfully devising a plan to persuade the Front Man to bring him back into the games so that he can destroy it from the inside, Gi-hun is confident that he can stay alive because he already participated in the past and he has backup (in the form of In-ho and other mercenaries) who are ready to infiltrate the island because of a tracker he placed inside his tooth.
However, he realizes that his plan is screwed after finding out that his tracker was removed by the Masked Employees of the island.
Still, he is defiant and his new goal is to keep as many players alive as possible.
To give a brief recap of some of the players, joining Gi-hun in this new iteration of the games include a mother-son tandem (Player 149 & 007), a famous rapper named Thanos (Player 230), a pregnant woman Kim Jun-hee (Player 222), a failed YouTuber Myung-gi and the father of Jun-hee's unborn child (Player 333), a transgender ex-marine Hyun-ju (Player 120), and Gi-hun's immature best friend from Season 1 Jun-bae (Player 390).
During the infamous Red Light, Green Light, Gi-hun manages to keep a good chunk of players alive (including those mentioned above), but there are still those who ends up dying.
The final minutes of Squid Game Season 2, Episode 3 showcases the players choosing to whether to continue playing or stop everything and go home unscathed.
With the voting tally tied at 102, there is one last player left to vote and it is Player 001.
As fans can recall, Player 001 in Season 1 ends up being Oh Il-nam (aka the mastermind of the whole gaming fiasco they are all in) so there is already a trend that the player assigned that certain number spells bad news.
Season 2 delivers one of the shocking twists after it showed that Player 001 is none other than Hwang In-ho (aka the Front Man).
Given that Gi-hun has no idea that the new Player 001 is the Front Man, this surprising turn of events proves to be a gamechanger as the Squid Game's protagonist is at a disadvantage from the start.
The Front Man, disguised as Young-Il, forges a strong bond with Gi-hun to gain his trust throughout the next round of games.
The Games Changed
After successfully winning Red Light, Green Light, Gi-hun is confident that they will play the same games he experienced three years ago.
It even comes to a point that he even shares information that the next game will be Dalgona, a challenge where a player needs to successfully carve out their chosen shape within 10 minutes.
However, Front Man and the masked employees appear to be one step ahead since they change the next two games to blindside Gi-hun.
Instead of Dalgona, the second game is called Six Legged-Pentathlon where the players will be grouped into five. While their legs are tied together, each member will play mini-games and they need to win each one in order to move on to the next.
The goal is to win all the mini-games and cross the finish line in five minutes.
The mini-games are as follows: Ddjaki, Flying Stone, Gong-gi, Spinning Top, and Jegi.
The third game in Season 2 is called Mingle. It is quite similar to the "Boat Is Sinking" but with a deadly twist.
Players are gathered together in a merry-go-round platform before grouping themselves together based on the number called out by the intercom.
They would then enter a small room before the masked employees kill those who failed to meet the required number of players left outside the platform.
No-Eul Works as a Masked Guard
Squid Game Season 2 introduces No-Eul (Park Gyu-young) as a potential new player who seems to be an ideal choice to enter the Squid Game.
No-Eul is a North Korean defector who left everything behind in the North. She wants to reunite with her daughter, but she has yet to find her after all this time.
In a shocking twist in Season 2, Episode 2's ending, it is revealed that No-eul works as a masked pink guard for the games.
She is also an expert sniper and she can be seen as one of the shooters in the Red Light, Green Light game who kills the eliminated players.
Speaking with Tudum, Gyu-young explains No-eul's mindset on why she decides to become one of the masked employees in the game, noting that she has her own mission of "letting hopeless people pass on peacefully without pain:"
"No-eul begins working at the game with the mission of letting hopeless people pass on peacefully without pain. She’s someone who can’t go on living but must do so. She joins the game with the idea of lifting others’ pain and giving peace to those suffering just like her."
Jun-ho's Boat Captain is a Mole
In Squid Game Season 2, it is revealed that Jun-ho was rescued by Captain Park, a local and friendly boat captain who knows the surrounding sea very well but he has no idea where the Squid Game island is.
While Gi-hun has spent two years looking for the evasive recruiter, Jun-ho has a mission of his own since he also endured the same amount of time looking for the island where the games are being held.
In an unexpected turn of events, Season 2, Episode 8 reveals that Captain Park is a mole this whole time and he has secretly been conspiring with the organizers of the game.
Captain Park is seen messing with the drone used by one of Jun-ho's mercenaries. Once he is caught, Park stabs the guy and throws him overboard.
Gi-Hun's Best Friend Dies
In the finale, Gi-hun maps out a plan to lead a rebellion among players, seeing it as a last resort to save as many as lives possible.
His ultimate goal is to get the guns from the masked men, recruit as many members as possible, and launch an assault inside the facilities to find the Front Man and stop the games once and for all.
However, Gi-hun and his troops are overwhelmed by the masked employees of the game.
Adding more fuel to the fire is the fact that the Front Man (as Young-Il) betrays them by killing two other players before faking his death to convince Gi-hun that his plan failed.
Gi-hun and his best friend, Jung-bae, have no choice but to surrender. To teach Gi-hun a brutal lesson about the fact that there is no hope in the world, the Front Man kills Jung-bae in front of him then the screen cuts to black.
How Squid Game Season 2's Ending Sets Up Season 3
The fact that Front Man did not kill Gi-hun suggests that a final showdown between the pair is in the cards for the already-confirmed Squid Game Season 3 in 2025.
At the start of Season 3, it looks like Gi-hun will be detained and the Front Man will let him watch as his friends and allies will continue playing the game until its fateful end.
Squid Game Season 2's mid credits scene did tease that the game will continue, especially after showing another version of Red Light, Green Light where two robot dolls (one in front and one in the back) are now guarding the players.
As for Jun-ho, there is a good chance that he will find out that Captain Park is a mole and he and his men could make him locate the Squid Game island.
Doing so would mean that a rescue mission for Gi-hun will happen, leading to another heartbreaking and tense reunion between Jun-ho and his brother, the Front Man.
As for the other players still alive in the game, it remains to be seen if the game will reach its conclusion since it is reasonable to assume that Jun-ho's rescue mission would derail everything.
All episodes of Squid Game Season 2 are now streaming on Netflix.
