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- [00:00]
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- [00:22]
Stephen Thompson
Netflix's Korean drama Squid Game became a worldwide phenomenon, winning six Emmys and inspiring countless Halloween costumes. Now the series has reached its finale and we've got thoughts. I'm Stephen Thompson. Today we are talking about Squid Game on Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr.
- [00:44]
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- [01:43]
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- [02:25]
Stephen Thompson
Joining me today is Jaeha Kim. She's a syndicated columnist whose work runs in the Chicago Tribune. Welcome, Jaeha.
- [02:30]
Jaeha Kim
Hi Steven. I'm so happy to be here and talk about this.
- [02:34]
Stephen Thompson
I am so happy to have you. We have so much to get into.
- [02:37]
Jaeha Kim
Oh my gosh.
- [02:38]
Stephen Thompson
So when Squid game dropped in 2021, it told what felt like a complete story. Lee Jung Jae plays Seung Gi Hoon, a gambling addict who's fallen deep into debt. Soon he's recruited to participate in a competition in which 456 desperate people play children's games with life and death stakes. As the losers die in violent and bloody fashion, we learn more about the players and about a system that exploits their desperation and death. In season two, Gi Hun attempts to use his winnings to put a stop to the games, only to get pulled back into another round. We meet new players, many of whom are quickly slaughtered, and see Gi Hun attempt an unsuccessful coup against those running the games now. The story concludes with a third in which many threads are woven together. The latest games conclude, more people die and many plots are resolved involving the various forces working to end the games, including a detective, a rogue employee, and Gi Hun himself. Squid Game is streaming now on Netflix. Jae Ha Kim, what are your overall impressions of season three?
- [03:44]
Jaeha Kim
I thought that season one was complete, as you said, and it didn't need any sequels. But that said, I was looking forward to these season two and season three, and I enjoyed it. I thought the ending could have ended with the penultimate scene instead of how they did do it, and that would have made it stronger overall. But I enjoyed it. I've seen what people said where they were like, oh, it's repetitive. The games, you know, they took too long on voting. It was just weird. But I thought it was compelling. It's highly watchable.
- [04:13]
Stephen Thompson
I actually found the voting stuff really compelling in season two because it's kind of. It introduces democracy as kind of this, the show of personal freedom, even though it leads to the same end.
- [04:25]
Jaeha Kim
Right.
- [04:26]
Stephen Thompson
I thought that stuff was really interesting and they kind of abandoned it in part, I think, because it's just so obvious how it's gonna go. Like eventually you kind of commit yourself to then having to go through these dramatic votes. Well, they're not gonna be like, all right now, we're all gonna go home with $30,000. I found it highly watchable as well. But I also agree with a lot of those criticisms. I think anytime this season kind of takes you away from the games, which it does quite a bit, a little bit of momentum. We spend a lot of time with this North Korean kind of rogue employee who is trying to bring the games down from the inside. We get quite a bit of the detective and the boat captain and all the intrigue around, kind of trying to get to the island from the outside. That stuff, for me, kind of ground the show to a halt a little bit. I found it the most compelling when it was focused on kind of the most immediately endangered players. And, you know, one of the icky subtexts of Squid Game is it's most exciting when it's showing you this bloody, violent kind of real life reality TV show with these life and death stakes. That stuff is kind of the most naturally compelling in a way that is intended to make you feel uncomfortable. Each one of these games plays out like a pocket horror movie, and as such, they are. They are very compelling. We're gonna go ahead and spoil major plot points in this season, so consider yourself warned. In the second episode of season three, Jun Hee, she's the pregnant woman playing alongside her ex boyfriend, Joon Hee, gives birth to a baby girl who becomes a major, major plot point. Jun Hee is played by Jo Yuri. The baby becomes a player in the games after Jun Hee dies. Gi Hun becomes the baby's protector as the other players are consp against both of them. In the end, Gi Hun sacrifices his own life so that the baby can win the money. And while the Korean game facility is destroyed in that final episode, there's a final scene, which Jae Ha has referenced, set in la, where we see an American version of Squid Game starting to take shape with a recruiter played by none other than Cate Blanchett. All right, let's go again. As you wish, Je Ha. Let's start with the Cate Blanchett of it all. What did you make of that?
- [06:58]
Jaeha Kim
First of all, I think we all love Cate Blanchett. I mean, she's a phenomenal actor. But in this series, it was just so out of place. Everyone's gonna be comparing her to the Gong Yoo, the Korean recruiter. And for me, it just did not work out. I would have preferred if they would have brought her in as the surprise guest as like the Alpha vip. I mean, how great could she have been in that? Like, she takes off the MAS and there she is. And, you know, you would have just heard her voice and be like, I know who that is. That's Kate. That's Kate. You know, it's not through any fault of hers, but it's just sort of like it was tacked on, almost like it's an ad for a potential series, you know, because I guess the rumor is that David Fincher is gonna be working on the American version of the series. And I don't know, it just seemed like a huge waste of talent to me.
- [07:44]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah, it certainly feels like it's setting something up. Why would you bring in Cate Blanchett if you weren't going to, you know, make something of that in some future season or series? And you Alluded to the fact, Jaeha, that we get a lot of the VIPs in this season. And really, one of the very best things about season two was that it.
- [08:06]
Jaeha Kim
They weren't there.
- [08:07]
Stephen Thompson
In case you're listening to this and you haven't seen season one, these games are being played out for the benefit of these extremely wealthy patrons. They're coded as Americans. Their accents are a little all over the place. They are, generally speaking, not exclusively, but generally speaking, white people. And they're clearly meant to portray kind of these vicious, immoral, massively wealthy people. They are written so badly, they are acted so badly, and they come back with a vengeance. And we see them kind of again and again. So you would think maybe if you have access to a Cate Blanchett, you might cast, if not Cate Blanchett, known quantities.
- [08:52]
Jaeha Kim
Right? Right. To me, the VIPs took me out of the universe. More so than the lack of the games and the blood and the fights as you're talking about earlier, I don't know really why they're there. I think the series could have gone on without them having them sort of implied, but not seen or hearing from them. But, you know, on the other hand, I did see some stuff on social media where people are like, you know, they represent. Actually, I don't know what they represent, but they like the representation.
- [09:20]
Stephen Thompson
Well, yeah, they represent the deep, deep of amorality, immorality behind this stuff.
- [09:27]
Jaeha Kim
When you think about it, in this season, I think they kind of set up that Myung Ki, the father of the baby, he, in many ways, is more immoral than the VIPs. The VIPs are doing all this for their entertainment. And, you know, that's always been something that, you know, we've grown accustomed to. Myeonggi is willing to sacrifice his child. I mean, at first I thought that his story arc would show that, oh, no, he would do everything to save his baby. But I don't think that was the case. I think it was between him and anyone. He would have been the survivor because he would have made it that way. I don't know. When there's baby involved, I just can't. I just can't wrap my arms around a character like that.
- [10:07]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah. So Myung Ki is the crypto bro who's the father of the baby in question. If you didn't have an actor of the caliber of Im Shi Won playing that character who takes. Who kind of is taking heel turns, seemingly has a redemption arc and then another heel turn, it takes a really strong actor to Pull that off. I found his character arc among the most interesting of this kind of second wave of players, in part because I found that performance very, very committed and intense.
- [10:40]
Jaeha Kim
One of the best, if not the best on the show. I was personally thinking that, you know, oh, you know, it's Im Chi won. So of course I like him. And even when he was, you know, showing that he wasn't a good guy, I was. I literally. I had hope. I had hope that he would change. And that last. Oh, my God. When he had the baby and he knew that the baby was just a.
- [11:02]
Stephen Thompson
Prop, he was literally dangling a baby over a precipice.
- [11:06]
Jaeha Kim
And it's like, I had no doubt that he would drop that baby so that he could live. That, to me, was one of the most compelling scenes. It was not what I expected. It was not what I had hoped for. And when he, you know, catapulted down and pretty much just fell and died, I was kind of like, oh, no, but okay, but the baby's alive. That was the more important thing for me, you know, because he was not a good father.
- [11:29]
Stephen Thompson
You and I are both parents. We are both very easily manipulated by babies.
- [11:32]
Jaeha Kim
Totally.
- [11:33]
Stephen Thompson
I'm glad you brought up the baby again, because that's kind of the last thing I wanted to talk about here, which is the way the baby is used as a plot device in this season. We meet Jun Hee in season two. We know she's pregnant. It's Chekhov's baby. Right. It's Chekhov's pregnancy. You know, she is at some point going to give birth and that a baby is going to be a factor in the show. But the baby winds up becoming kind of the driving narrative impulse of the third season. I just don't know that it entirely worked. Starting with the fact that she goes into labor and gives birth during the span of a 30 minute game. Anyone who has ever given birth or known somebody who has given birth vaginally, knows that that is not a process that takes 15 to 20 minutes. No, I found that so silly. And obviously there's always gonna be a certain amount of suspension of disbelief.
- [12:32]
Jaeha Kim
Sure.
- [12:34]
Stephen Thompson
But, man, that baby just never stops being a kind of a plot device.
- [12:38]
Jaeha Kim
Well, and I think in this show, which is, you know, unbelievable in so many ways, and that's what we're meant to believe. A lot of us didn't believe that you could have a baby that quiet, that long under duress. I mean, if I had been dangling my son over a precipice, he would be able to sense that danger, you know, and there would be crying and squawking and the will to survive.
- [12:58]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah. Not since a quiet place has a baby been kind of a more problematic presence when it comes to the plot of a show. But you would agree, I mean Jayha, you kind of said at the top of this like this is still watchable. This is, you would say, flawed but extremely compelling.
- [13:17]
Jaeha Kim
Right? I mean I would say the first season is a must see. The second and third season should be seen together. I think people would enjoy it more that way. But you know, I can't forgive that ending. It just did not work. And that unfortunately that that is a remainder of like what I will think of the series. You know what I will think of how it ended. I was like, it didn't have to end that way. It should have ended with the frontman after he gave the money and the bloodied 456 tracksuit to Gi Hun's daughter. I think that would have just been so much stronger. I think viewers would have reflected on that ending as sort of like this is what his life came to. He died rich, you know, not poor like he started, but he still died. He has no life.
- [14:01]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah, I really, I'm remixing this show in my head. I'm moving that last scene to a post credits scene. Well, we want to know what you think about Squid game. Find us@facebook.com PCHHH that brings us to to the end of our show. Jaeha Kim, thank you so much for being here.
- [14:16]
Jaeha Kim
Thank you for having me on again. I love this. Thank you, Stephen.
- [14:19]
Stephen Thompson
And just a reminder that signing up for Pop Culture Happy Hour plus is a great way to support our show and public radio. And you get to listen to all of our episodes sponsor free. So please go find out more at plus.npr.org happy hour or visit the link in our show notes. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katzen and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello. Come in. Provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Stephen Thompson and we will see you all next time.
- [14:55]
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