Squid Game Season 2 delivered — or did it just coast on the original's legacy and leave us with nothing but a cliffhanger?

• M
  Maya5d ago

  My wife and I watched it together and she turned to me at the cliffhanger ending and just said "are you KIDDING me" and closed the laptop. That ending genuinely ruined the whole experience for her. I get it honestly.

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• M
  Maya2d ago

  Season 3 better have a real ending or I am going to lose my mind. I'm serious. Give us closure.

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• KT
  Kofi T.3d ago

  i binged it in one night then immediately went online to see if people agreed with me that it was great and then read a bunch of criticism and now im not sure what i think anymore. the internet has broken my ability to form opinions

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• L
  Liam6d ago

  I watched the whole thing in one sitting and felt nothing by the end. Season 1 made me cry three times. Season 2 made me check my phone twice. Something is off.

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• L
  Leo4d ago

  Every major streaming platform is doing this now — split your story into parts so people subscribe for longer. It's a business strategy dressed up as creative vision and I'm so tired of it.

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• T
  Theo3d ago

  nobody is asking the real question which is why are we still watching rich people make poor people suffer for entertainment both in the show AND as viewers. the whole premise should make us more uncomfortable than it does

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• R
  Reese5d ago

  Netflix greenlit season 3 before season 2 even aired. That tells you everything. This is content production, not storytelling.

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• MT
  Morgan T.3d ago

  The social media hype machine is running so hard that I can't even tell if I genuinely liked it or if I just think I did because everyone else was talking about it. That's a real problem with consuming media in 2025.

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• RL
  Ravi L.6d ago

  Season 2 was fine. Not great, not terrible. The problem is that when the original aired, nobody expected it. It hit you out of nowhere. You literally cannot recreate that feeling, so of course the sequel feels lesser. That's not the show's fault.

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• MS
  Marco S.2d ago

  the games in s1 had emotional stakes attached to specific characters we already loved. in s2 we're meeting people and they're dying before we care about them. that's the structural failure nobody is naming correctly

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• LM
  Liam M.5d ago

  honestly the games themselves were less creative this season. season 1 had ddakji, honeycomb, the marble game that destroyed me emotionally. season 2 felt like they ran out of ideas for the actual challenges

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• P
  Priya3d ago

  Season 2 confirmed for me that the original was a one-time cultural event, not the launch of a franchise. Lightning doesn't strike twice. This is fine television that exists in the shadow of something extraordinary.

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• F
  Feli3d ago

  season 2 spoilers but the way they handled [THAT death] in episode 6 was genuinely shocking and I respect it. they're not protecting fan favorites. that's integrity.

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• AL
  Alex L.4d ago

  I cried at episode 4. I'm not going to pretend I didn't. Say what you want about the structure but it still gets to you when it wants to.

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• A
  Avery5d ago

  Gi-hun becoming radicalized is actually a fascinating and underrated character direction. Turning the survivor into someone who's maybe just as dangerous as the system he's fighting? That's bold writing.

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• R
  Reese3d ago

  Korean dramas have been operating at this level for years and Western audiences only notice when Netflix puts a budget behind it. Squid Game isn't exceptional for Korean TV. It's just the one that got exported.

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• N
  Nina5d ago

  I think the criticism misses what Hwang Dong-hyuk is doing. Season 2 is deliberately uncomfortable in a different way — less spectacle, more rot. The games feel more mundane because that's the point. The horror has normalized. That's not lazy filmmaking, that's thematic progression.

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• P
  Priya5d ago

  Can we talk about how the voting mechanic in season 2 is actually more disturbing than the games themselves? The idea that people keep CHOOSING to stay when they could leave — that's scarier than any game.

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• A
  Avery3d ago

  That comment above is exactly the kind of reductive take that makes film discourse exhausting. Execution IS the invention. Shakespeare didn't invent jealousy. Influence and originality are not the same thing.

  88
• J
  Jamie2d ago

  I don't understand why people watch things they hate and then go online to explain how much they hate them. Just... stop watching? There is so much content. You are allowed to opt out.

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• RT
  Reese T.4d ago

  season 2 is literally better than 90% of what's on tv rn and people are complaining because it's not as good as one of the greatest shows ever made. the bar you're holding it to is the problem

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• JM
  Jordan M.5d ago

  The new characters are genuinely interesting though?? Player 390 and her whole arc had me invested in a way I didn't expect. People are sleeping on the actual character work happening here.

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• J
  Jordan3d ago

  People keep saying "it was just okay" as if "okay" for a prestige streaming show isn't genuinely rare. Most of what gets made is unwatchable. Okay is actually pretty good.

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• DM
  Drew M.4d ago

  The Front Man storyline is the best thing in the entire season and nobody is talking about it enough. That character has layers now.

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• D
  Drew5d ago

  The cliffhanger discourse is so weird to me. Did people expect a complete standalone story from the MIDDLE part of a trilogy? Of course it ends on a cliffhanger. That's what middle installments do.

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• AR
  Avery R.4d ago

  The fact that it's still the most-watched non-English language show Netflix has ever produced says something. Critics overthink everything. Audiences don't lie.

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• J
  Jamie4d ago

  People forget that Season 1 also had pacing problems and filler. We just didn't notice because we were watching it fresh. Give Season 2 five years and people will reevaluate.

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• DT
  Drew T.4d ago

  My hot take: Gi-hun is a terrible protagonist and he was in season 1 too. The show is always better when he's not the focus.

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• Z_
  Zara _x5d ago

  its just squid game 1 but worse lol. same vibes, same twist structure, same "ohhh society bad" message. we get it

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• P_
  Priya _x3d ago

  I actually think the slower pace of season 2 is its biggest strength. Season 1 was relentless to the point of numbness. Season 2 lets you sit with the dread. Different approach, not wrong approach.

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• YK
  Yuki K.4d ago

  The political subplot this season is where it lost me. I don't need my Korean survival drama to become a commentary on cryptocurrency and populism. That's too on the nose even for this show.

  47
• NM
  Noah M.5d ago

  I work in a high school and the kids were obsessed with it again. Like season 1 level obsessed. Whatever we adults think about the quality, it clearly still has something.

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• N
  Noah3d ago

  The costuming and production design are still world-class. Whatever else you think, it is a beautiful show to look at.

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• M
  Marco4d ago

  I showed my parents season 1 and they refused to watch season 2 because, quote, "we already know what happens, people kill each other for money." They're not wrong? The concept has a ceiling.

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• I
  Iris3d ago

  My roommate works in content localization and said the English dub is noticeably better this season. Apparently they hired a completely different team. If you watched dubbed in season 1 and stopped — worth trying again.

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• L
  Liam3d ago

  the whole thing is just battle royale with better cinematography. people act like it invented something

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