Squid Game Episode 2 – Hell

With the surviving players realizing what it means to be a part of these games, most are left shocked and perplexed at what they have just experienced. Gi-Hun thanks his long-time friend Sang-Woo for his advice and thanks to Ali for saving him last minute as he was about to fall. Gi-Hun also admires player number one for his bravery, as if it weren’t for him, none of the players would have grown the courage to play the game in the first place.

The four quickly form a bond after what they just witnessed as the doors open and the administrators return to show their appreciation to the players that have survived however before they can even explain anything else, one player pleads with them to please release her to go back to her home as she has a young baby that she hasn’t even named yet, with one player comes another and another as they all plead with the administrators to let them go back to their homes. Some even threaten the administrators that, claiming that this is kidnapping, they will be tracked and found as there is no way so many of them could go missing and have no one look for them but the administrators quickly calm the heated situation by assuring the players that they don’t want to hurt them or collect the debt they each owe.

They voluntarily agreed to play the games and must remember the clause they all signed, that no player may stop playing once the games have begun if any player doesn’t play they will be eliminated and that’s when Sang-Woo calls out the third clause, which states that if the majority of the players vote to stop the games then so it shall be, to which the leader agrees that it is so, but before that, he’d like to show the players what they are playing for and that’s when the piggy bank is filled with over twenty billion won leaving even the loudest people quiet. So money in front of their eyes could not just change their lives but so many others as well depending on what your goal is of course.

The administrator explains again that if they do agree to stop the games then only the dead players’ families will inherit one hundred won each which rubs of some players the wrong way, questioning why players that have died are the one’s gaining money when they survived but are to receive nothing, obviously this is a tactic to get players to continue playing but they continue explaining that they will now commence voting, to those who want to continue the games to press the green circle and to those who wish to stop the games to press the red cross.

As the players begin to vote, Gi-Hun can’t believe how close the numbers are to one another, for every circle there is always a cross next and this doesn’t stand with people in a good way, whilst some others feel that continuing the games makes no difference, others feel that it’s unfair to go back home without anything, let’s remember that everyone is participating in these games is owing someone out there so why even bother going back if your organs are only going to be taken from you anyway. As a fight is about to break out, the administrators clarify with the players that this is a diplomatic situation and no violence will be tolerated.  

As we get to the last vote the current outcome is one hundred players have chosen to continue the games whilst the other one hundred have chosen against the games, leaving one more vote to be cast by player number one, but as the old man walks towards the voting table, Gi-Hun remembers the old man had confessed to him about having a brain tumor, this leaves Gi-Hun uneasy as we don’t know the reason what the old man is possible thinking and if he can even comprehend his next action on the rest of the other players and thankfully player number one pressed the red cross, meaning the majority have decided to stop the games.

As the results are read, the other half are unhappy with going back home with nothing to show so they ask if they can stay and continue the games with the remaining players but the administrators decline yet do agree that they will be in touch with those who want to continue, so they steam the room with gas to put all the players to sleep and as promised deliver them all back home to South Korea. 

Gi-Hun and Sae-Byeok are dropped off together near a park however now their first challenge is to get themselves untied as both their legs and hands were tied to prevent them from attacking the drivers, this is where we learn a little more details about our players as Gi-Hun asks Sae to untie him so that he can also get dressed but Sae refuses, she stole his money so if she untied him he’d only attack her, to which Gi-Hun promises on his mother grave that he would not do such a thing but as expected Gi-Hun jumped at Sae-Byeok requesting his money back from her but she had not untied his feet so Gi-Hun could not catch her however she was more disappointed that Gi-Hun took his mother for granted to such a degree and walked away. 

Sang-Woo and Ali are also dropped together in Yeouido, as Sang turns on his phone, he is reminded of reality when seeing SMS’s from his clients that have lost all their fortunes, but even with that, he is kind enough to lend his phone to Ali to call his family and gives the young man money to catch a bus to get home.

The next morning, Gi-Hun goes to the police station to file a report against the administrators of the game but police officers are left speechless hence his explanations make this seem more like a stupid drunk man talking than a serious matter, all the officers take him as a joke until a young detective walks in the station with a prisoner, so they ask for any proof and that’s when Gi-Hun remembers the card and tells the officers to call the number on the back however this time, a woman picks up and calls the officers perverts for calling her asking to play games, the officer was so embarrassed to even the air left the scene lol… 

Gi- Hun meets Sang near he’s mothers shop but doesn’t go to greet her, this raises questions to Gi-Hun as to why Sang wouldn’t want to meet his mother when she misses him so much, Sang reveals that he had lost even in the future, all his clients money and even put his mother’s shop as collateral. 

Gi-Hun then receives a call from the hospital to which he rushes over with haste, there he is shown the harsh reality that his mother is diabetic and at worst will need to have her feet amputated, which costs a lot of money, of which they don’t have.

We then return to the young detective who’s on a call with his mother, it seems that his brother has gone missing and has not said a word, so the young detective decides to visit him. At his brother’s premises, he finds a box looking very similar to the coffins the players that are killed are put in, of course, he doesn’t know this but finds it strange, he also finds the same brown card that Gi-Hun had given the police offer to call.  

This episode means to reintroduce us to the characters that we’ve met and how they got involved in the situation and their reason. Sae-Byeok is trying to help her younger brother who lives at an orphanage, she’s also trying to find her mother who lives in North Korea but the man she’s been paying to get information is constantly coming up with excuses to get more money from her and this pushes her to her limits and threatens to kill the man if he doesn’t come up with any concrete information.

Ali returns to his place of work and heads up to see the boss who is coming up with reasons for not paying him his weekly wages for weeks now, he claims to be broke but as Ali looks on his desk, the man quickly removes an envelope full of money and heads downstairs to the manufacturing equipment, as he and Ali fuss and fight, one hand of the boss is caught in-between the compressing machines and crashes his hand. Ali saw an opportunity, grabbed the envelope of money, and runs home.

Sang-Woo calls his mother pretending to be in America, she tells him how much she misses him and wishes to see him, he neither needs to bring her anything back from America, he just wishes to be close to her son. She just loves her son for who he is but this sweet call ends tragically when the police officers arrive at her place of business wanting to question her about her son’s whereabouts. As Sang-Woo is drowning in his regrets, a hears a knock on the door, asking who it is, no one responds but places a card under the door, the same brown card we have come to know as the calling card.

Gi-Hun pleads with one of his friends for money to provide his mother with the medication he needs but his friends, unfortunately, doesn’t have that kind of money to just lend away, he to drowns in his sorrows until he sees a familiar face he met at the island, Player number 1. The old man tells Gi-Hun that he has decided to return to the games as his life is short and living out here is worse than inside there, as the two men get to know each other better, this leaves Gi-Hun with a very important decision to make.

As we get closer to the end of the night, we meet Deok Su, the man who’s a part of the Yakuza. It seems that his reason for his huge debt is that he had used the Yakuza’s money whilst in Vietnam and had made a huge debt at the Casino, unfortunately for him, the owners of the Casino have been looking for him, at the last second, Deok Su killed his apprentice and flee from the Vietnam hitmen.

Gi-Hun as always being the man looking to lend money from someone this time goes to the mother of his child to ask for money, but as the conversation was about to get heated, the husband returns with his daughter, he makes the choice to walk out after seeing his daughter but as he is about to leave the building the husband comes out with an envelope of money and asks Gi-Hun to leave his family alone after this. Gi-Hun becomes enraged at the man for thinking money can solve everything not realizing that his daughter is seeing this. Gi-Hun leaves the money and walks away.

As he approaches his home, the young detective is waiting for him and asks him about the report made at the police station however Gi-Hun having lost faith in himself asks the young man why he would think he could be of any help to anyone and closes the gate behind him. Upon reaching for the door, he sees that brown card right at his door, making a quick decision to reenter the games. 

The players are picked up again in the same van, using the same tactics but this time, two things are different, firstly, Sae-Byoek is only faking to be asleep, and secondly, Gi-Hun has been followed by the young detective and plans to invade these people to find his missing brother.

Thanks for reading…