[Y Review] 'Squid Game 2' withstanding the weight of the crown...392 people who can't breathe.

'Squid Game' Season 2 poster ⓒ Netflix

"Netflix's biggest box office series of all time"
"The first Korean film to win the American Gotham Awards"
"Lee Jung-jae and Jeong Ho-yeon, the first Korean actor to win the Best Actor Award for the American Actors Guild"
Lee Jung-jae, the first Korean actor to win the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series."

A new era of Korean content was established under the terms of the first, best, and most. The Netflix series 'Squid Game' is back for its second season in three years and three months.

Following Season 1 in which people who participated in a mysterious survival game with a prize money of W45.6 billion risked their lives to jump into the game to become the winner, Season 2 depicts the story of Sung Ki-hoon (Lee Jung-jae), the winner of the last game, vowing revenge on the game's architect and jumping into survival once again.

As all participants except Sung Ki-hoon have died, new characters appear in season 2, but the work is still filled with unique characters, raising the interest of the play. The story of the character is both universal and special, leaving a great impression with different charms.

In particular, one of the biggest points to watch this season is that Lee Byung-hun, led by Lee Jung-jae, the main character of the series, takes the lead in a fierce and cool acting battle.

On top of that, each actor, including Gong Yoo, Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Wi Ha-joon, Park Kyu-young, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee Seo-hwan, Chae Kook-hee, Lee Da-wit, Noh Jae-won, Jo Yuri, Won Ji-an, Song Young-chang, Kim Si-eun, and Park Bo-kyung, decompose into their characters themselves, adding the three-dimensional effect of the play and enhancing persuasive power and immersion.

"Squid Game" Season 2 still cut ⓒ Netflix.

Following the first season, the director did not miss the social-critical and universal message and melted it throughout the work.

Social morality and ethical values, the shock and fear of human greed and selfishness stronger than survival, and the irrational structure of a system packaged and designed under plausible names such as free will and majority rule, etc. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk emphasizes that "choice and opportunity" in an infinite competitive society and forced situations through numerous characters like ours is essentially a contradictory illusion.

Moreover, it is too easy to become weak and succumb to fear and greed, but it also relentlessly illuminates the two-sided appearance of human beings that seem complex but simple, even human love that shines shallowly in the midst of madness and chaos. In this way, director Hwang once again succeeds in drawing consensus from viewers through universal themes and messages that everyone experiences worldwide.

Characters with depth from various angles, extreme emotional lines they play, and tense survival games that make your hands sweat. Season 2 of "Squid Game" seems to have clearly inherited the advantages of last season and expanded it cleverly.

It's not that there's something to be desired.

"Squid Game" Season 2 still cut ⓒ Netflix.

This season will be largely divided into three parts: the process before and after Sung Ki-hoon enters the game again, the story of Hwang Joon-ho (Wi Ha-joon) outside the island, and the narrative of Soldier No. 11 (Park Kyu-young) inside the island. Thanks to this support for other narratives as much as the survival game itself, the dramatic fun of the relatively new game and the overall speed of the work have somewhat weakened.

If you were a viewer who expected how the simple rules of games enjoyed as a child would change humans in extreme situations where their lives were taken, and what kind of strategy and brain fight Sung Ki-hoon, the winner of the last game, would face the designers, there is a possibility that they will be somewhat less interested. In particular, the question remains whether it was the best option to devote the last full episode of the shootout.

The appearance of Choi Seung-hyun (T.O.P., Top), who plays the role of rapper Thanos, also feels like a 'octuary' in the work. The scene in which he was convicted of violating the Narcotics Control Act due to smoking cannabis, etc., overlaps with reality and interferes with his immersion in the work. It may not affect global viewers who do not know his criminal record, but it also feels like a kind of viewer deception in Korea.

Apart from Choi Seung-hyun's drug conviction, exaggerated acting and inflated gestures throughout also leave a deep regret because they do not fit the overall tone and manner of the work.

{Squid Game' Season 2. Directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk. Actors Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Lim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Wi Ha-joon, Park Kyu-young, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee Seo-hwan, Chae Kook-hee, Lee Da-wit, Noh Jae-won, Jo Yu-ri, Choi Seung-hyun, Won Ji-an, and Gong Yoo. A total of seven episodes will be released on Netflix on Wednesday.