How a lot bleaker can “Squid Sport” get? When the sophomore season of Netflix’s sensational drama concluded, it left our hero, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), within the midst of his greatest failure. After rallying his comrades to show the tables on the forces controlling the titular video games, the Entrance Man (Lee Byung-hun) flipped the script, main Gi-hun to observe his greatest pal murdered in entrance of his very eyes. It was a choice from collection creator Hwang Dong-hyuk that spoke volumes and reminded the viewers that, regardless of realizing the stakes, Gi-hun is simply as trapped now as he was throughout his first go on the video games. “Abandon all hope, ye who enter right here,” certainly.
Season 3 spends a good portion of its episode rely lingering within the devastation, making the early levels of the ultimate season — at the least till we get that American model of the collection from David Fincher — appropriately bleak. Whereas Season 2 featured lots of setup, this new installment dives proper into the speedy aftermath of the failed rebel. Gi-hun and our different gamers, together with Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan), Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul), Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), Jang Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim), Park Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun) and others, are pulled proper again into the thick of it. Dong-hyuk can’t resist placing the remaining faces that audiences knew all through Season 2 via the ringer.
Whereas frustrations over a cliffhanger ending might have aggravated the viewers on the conclusion of final go-round, the partitioned method and total elevated episode rely repay in spades right here. Much like how the beginning of final season subverted the viewers’s expectations of what video games is perhaps performed, this block of episodes as soon as once more advantages from the viewer realizing what’s to return. Each interplay between characters takes on a considerably weightier tone as “Squid Sport” ticks towards its conclusion, an affect made all of the extra highly effective by the truth that Dong-hyuk actively sidelines Gi-hun for the early hours to dig into the supporting solid. It’s a extremely efficient resolution, one which dovetails properly with the growing stakes of late-round video games. The impact infuses “Squid Sport” with a newfound sense of hopelessness. Keep in mind how crushing the marble recreation was again in Season 1? An early episode of Season 3 manages to high that, to utterly heart-wrenching impact.
There’s some gentle — solely slight, that is “Squid Sport” in spite of everything — on the finish of this darkish tunnel, nonetheless. Because the season progresses, Dong-hyuk explores familial relationships to a surprisingly emotional impact. This aspect has at all times been current within the collection, however the idea of what mother and father and kids owe each other turns into a essential a part of the proceedings, and additional enriches the collection due to it. A part of that elevation is because of Lee Jung-jae’s efficiency. The reminder of his failure as a father has at all times loomed massive for Gi-hun, and with out giving a lot away, the chance for some stage of non-public redemption helps to raise Lee Jung-jae’s already superlative efficiency to a different stage. The work he does, significantly within the fifth episode, is magic.
What continues to be much less compelling are the plots of Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) and Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young), which don’t supply both character a lot to do exterior of their present plots from the primary half of the season. Each events are largely caught in the identical rut of both making an attempt to flee within the case of No-eul or discover the island in Jun-ho’s occasion. The web outcome has these plots treading water proper up till the ultimate episode, resolving in ways in which aren’t almost as impactful as the principle narrative. Moreover, intertwining their plots typically dilutes the facility and propulsion of the video games, stalling the strain as an alternative of heightening it. The identical goes for the inclusion of a brand new spherical of VIPs, whose Greek chorus-like nature turns into a car for restating the apparent as an alternative of providing one thing new or insightful to the proceedings.
When “Squid Sport” digs into its intense moments, the present proves it’s nonetheless greater than able to rendering a tragically compelling story that manages to entertain and have you ever emotionally invested in its characters. Dong-hyuk’s collection reimagined and re-energized the battle royale style to large outcomes. Certain, the depth of all of it is a characteristic, not a bug, however that’s married with robust characters and haunting visuals that linger. Season 3 continues this custom whereas offering an particularly resonant conclusion.
“Squid Sport,” in its last moments, says that whereas life goes on, discovering a technique to higher the lives round you within the context of the massive machine we’re all caught up in is well worth the sacrifices wanted to make that potential. Which is to say, “Squid Sport” manages to discover a ray of sunshine within the midst of all that bleakness. In a actuality this troublesome, that victory is value all the cash on the earth.
“Squid Sport” Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
