Undoubtedly the biggest event of the 2020s, <Squid Game> wrapped up a chapter with the release of Season 3 on June 27. While it’s a globally popular work, it can’t be said to be truly over, but at least the journey of Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), number 456, has certainly come to a close. After the 'rebellion' failed in the last season, what kind of ending did Seong Gi-hun and the remaining people face? Cineplay reporters watched the process with bated breath. This season, which oscillated between shock and predictability, what scenes left the most impression? The reporters of Cineplay selected the best and worst moments based on their preferences. In this article, we gathered the worst moments that made the reporters sigh without realizing it. We hope you share which scenes you found lacking in the comments.
※ The content below contains spoilers for <Squid Game> Season 3.
Seong Chan-eol_The Moment Describing 'Lunchbox'
In fact, what number 100 (Song Young-chang) says is completely correct. And that strategy is indeed the most novel and shocking in this drama. However, selecting the moment when number 100's group beats number 039 (Woo Jeong-guk) and refers to him as 'lunchbox' during the final 'high-altitude squid game' as the worst is because it completely flips the tone and manner of the drama. <Squid Game> depicts a very violent situation where everyone dies and only the survivors are the winners, but conversely, direct depictions of violence are relatively limited. Most of the violence is carried out through the environment, guns, knives, etc. For such a drama to suddenly depict a group lynching, and even the perpetrators are disturbingly cheerful in a black comedy style, is jarring. It would have been better if it had stopped there, but they hold onto the legs and break them, leaving no way to escape. Number 039 screams and seems to tremble in shock. This series of depictions is unpleasant. I know it was intended to be unpleasant. However, it is far from the unique unpleasantness of <Squid Game> so far. The method of depiction is excessively blunt. I would like to select this scene along with the threatening scene of the soldiers against Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young) from the last season as an excessive scene set from Season 2 to 3.
Kim Ji-yeon_The Moment Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young) Infiltrates the Headquarters and Burns Documents
Kang No-eul was undoubtedly a character that could have been more interesting. At the beginning of Season 2, when Kang No-eul received the invitation card to participate in the squid game, and when it was revealed that he was participating as a soldier rather than a participant, it was probably the peak of viewers' expectations for the character of Kang No-eul. However, the peak was just a peak, and interest in the character of Kang No-eul gradually declined thereafter. Then, in Episode 6 of Season 3, the moment Kang No-eul infiltrates the game headquarters and burns documents hit rock bottom. Kang No-eul burns all the documents, including the information of number 246, Kyung-seok (Lee Jin-wook), to whom he had inexplicably grown attached, and sits in the Front Man's chair, seemingly resigned, aiming a gun at himself. Does that mean Kang No-eul's only life goal was to erase Kyung-seok's history? Viewers, including myself, could not help but feel disappointed watching a character that seemed unique kill their own uniqueness.
Joo Seong-cheol_All Moments Featuring VIPs
VIPs are the sponsors of Squid Game, wealthy foreigners who wear extravagant golden animal masks and watch the games in luxurious rooms. Along with the masks, they refer to each other by nicknames, and their identities are a secret. They mock the human appeals of the game participants and even make the baby of number 222, Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), born in Season 3, a betting object; they are simply psychopaths. From the perspective of acting or directing, VIPs have been the most controversial setting since Season 1, criticized for being 'surprising', but in Season 3, their presence has increased dramatically to the point of being bewildering. If their reaction scenes had been absent, the tension of Season 3 would have been heightened. Originally, they watched from the outside in a relay manner, but at some point, they were invited by the host to take a helicopter to a deserted island for direct observation, yet the limitation of watching on a monitor has not changed, raising the question, 'Are they really enjoying the game?' It seems they cannot digest close-ups or detailed conversations. Moreover, at the end of Season 3, Kate Blanchett made a special appearance as 'Ddakji Girl', which became a hot topic, but if the setting is that Squid Game is also happening overseas at the same time, why are all the VIPs foreigners? In any case, if one starts pointing out trivial things about VIPs, there is no end. It would have been better if they had not been there, as it would not have distracted from the focus on the game.
Chu Ah-young_The Moment Seong Gi-hun Kills Dae-ho
In <Squid Game> Season 2, Seong Gi-hun, who rushed in with the determination to break the system, returned empty-handed, leaving only the sacrifices of friends like Jeong-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) and many others. Feeling guilty about this, Seong Gi-hun projects his guilt and sense of responsibility onto Dae-ho. Gi-hun ultimately kills Dae-ho in the 'key and knife' game, designed to wield hatred and violence against others, plunging into a swamp of despair.
The scene where Seong Gi-hun kills Dae-ho can also be read as a metaphor for the self-contradictions and limitations of some of the older generations or the 586 movement generation in Korea. This reflects the reality of those who were once the main players of social change but now turn away from responsibility in the face of the limits of a society that does not easily change, projecting their failures and divisions onto future generations or others. However, the direction in which Gi-hun questions responsibility is extremely despairing, as it turns towards Dae-ho, who should be united with him to break the system. Dae-ho is a victim of the manbox (the oppression imposed on men under patriarchy, the entire concept and norms that force 'men to be manly'). He disguises his true self in a family that imposes 'manliness' and grows into a distorted adult who creates a new persona accepted by society. It is not justifiable to hold him accountable for making decisions to conform again after feeling fear repeatedly. Furthermore, considering Dae-ho as a member of the current powerless young generation, who is too busy with survival to focus on social change and revolution, Seong Gi-hun's killing of Dae-ho also reveals the generational conflict in Korean society. Gi-hun's choice betrays the great cause of 'solidarity against the system and power' and vividly illustrates the irony of a subject of change, who once sought to change society, giving rise to a new structure of sacrifice.
