This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 2.
There’s a fascinating meta-narrative threaded throughout the second season of Netflix’s megahit Squid Game. It’s about how little creator Hwang Dong-hyuk actually wants to make a second season of Netflix’s megahit Squid Game.
Hwang, bless him, has been remarkably candid in discussing how he had no plans to continue the Squid Game narrative following season 1’s conclusion. His return to pen seasons 2 and 3 had more to do with his frustration with missing out on the windfall of season 1 cash than it did with creative fulfillment. Despite Hwang’s understandably financial mindset, Squid Game season 2 is not only a coherent followup to a global phenomenon but a pretty great one too!
There are, however, some telltale witness marks left in the narrative to indicate that the creator is kind of over this whole thing. From returning games to familiar character archetypes to a needless organ harvesting redux – Squid Game season 2’s dedication to “playing the hits” can sometimes bleed over into full-blown trolling territory. And none of those elements feels like a bigger inside joke than the season’s big twist: the reveal that Player 001 is yet again a ringer involved in the games.
After season 1 revealed that Player 001 in the 33rd Squid Game was none other than game creator Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su), this season copy/pastes the exact same twist all over again by making the game’s mysterious masked Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) this edition’s Player 001. It’s preposterous, dumb, and lazy. It’s also the best part of the season. In fact, Hwang Dong-hyuk told Netflix that it was the “most important” part of the season.
Making Player 001 an insider again works on multiple levels in Squid Game season 2. The most obvious way is in establishing a level of thematic and narrative resonance with the show’s first season. Repetition tends to get a bad rap as it’s one of the easiest rhetorical devices in a writer’s toolkit. But no one gets mad at a hammer when there’s a nail that needs struck and no one should get mad at Squid Game season 2 for noticing there was a juicy new Player 001 role ripe for the taking. It would have been far less satisfying if Player 001 were merely some nobody. The position is imbued with importance thanks to Oh Il-nam’s treachery and Squid Game identified the only other existing character on its roster that could provide similar dramatic oomph.
The Front Man entering the games also reveals something crucial about our hero Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae). He’s kind of an idiot! As the only survivor of 2021’s edition of the games, Gi-hun runs the risk of taking on an almost mythical status within this story. By the time he dyes his hair a garish pink and delivers a measured threat to the Front Man at the conclusion of season 1, Gi-hun resembles a comic book titan more than a capable, working class hero. Season 2 doesn’t shy away from depicting Gi-hun’s heroism and supreme competence in the face of danger but it also humbles him in some important ways. Amid all the stress and chaos, it’s understandable that Player 456 would overlook the obvious Player 001 gambit again.
Of course, the most important part of this Front Man reveal is that it gives us more time with the Front Man himself. In an interview with Netflix, Lee Byung-hun joked that his role in season 1 felt like more of a glorified cameo. That is very much not the case this time around and the show is all the richer for Lee’s added presence. Lee understands that he is not playing one role but several. The entity we know as “The Front Man” contains multitudes: he is the omniscient overseer of the games, yes. But he’s also the meek Player 132 from 2015’s 28th Squid Game, Jun-ho’s unfortunate brother Hwang In-ho, and most intriguingly: Oh Young-il.
It’s this last identity that helps take the Front Man from a background boogeyman to the fully-fleshed big bad that Squid Game needs him to be. Nobody knows who the “real” Hwang In-ho is but his performance as Player 001 Oh Young-il certainly seems like it would be the closest. Like Gi-hun before him, Oh Young-il undergoes the mettle-proving crucible that is the Squid Game, and in the process reveals his true personality. He is as pragmatic as Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) knew his brother to be, as cruel as The Front Man has proven himself to be, and as team-oriented as any Player 001 must be. It’s like Oh Young-il is of the games themselves and maybe that’s because he is.
I hope you noticed that Oh Young-il has the same family name as former Player 001 Oh Il-nam. Because Seong Gi-hun certainly didn’t (Again: he’s kind of dumb)! The “Oh” surname sticks out in a country where roughly half the population is known as Kim, Lee, or Park. It’s possible that Oh is a false surname that Squid Game pretenders share, but season 2 makes it clear that the truth is likely more dramatic than that. In the season’s second episode, Jun-ho offhandedly mentions that Hwang In-ho was his mother’s adopted son, not his brother by birth. Squid Game fans have also noticed that Oh Young-il is lactose intolerant…just like Oh Il-nam said his son was.
Combine that with the knowledge that Hwang In-ho’s father wasn’t in his life and it seems possible, if not probable, that Young-il is Il-nam’s son. Gi-hun even may be related to them as well as he too cannot drink milk. If this all sounds a little Skywalker-y, that’s by design. Due to its political themes, Campbell-ian approach to elemental storytelling, and jaw-dropping production design, Squid Game has always felt reminiscent of Star Wars. That its middle chapter concludes on a downer cliffhanger involving a black-masked villain only adds to that sensation.
Due to the violent nature of its premise, Squid Game didn’t have many eligible characters to bring back for season 2. With only its compelling protagonist firmly in place, the show needed to identify an equally-compelling antagonist from its relatively small surviving cast. By plugging The Front Man into the role of Player 001, Squid Game not only succeeded in that, it created an even bigger mystery for season 3 to conclude.
All seven episodes of Squid Game season 2 are available to stream on Netflix now.
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