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‘Squid Game’ Season 3: Episode 1

Run Time: 57 minutes

Rating: 16+/TV-MA (for mature audiences)

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Subtitle Availability: English, Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese

Audio Availability: Korean (original), English, Filipino, Japanese, Spanish (Latin America)

Warnings: Contains violence, profanity, and drug use

*SPOILER ALERT! This section contains details from the first episode of “Squid Game” Season 3.

Just when we thought “Squid Game” had revealed all its horrors in Season 1 and 2, the season finale returns with sharper edges, darker twists, and even moral questions that hit close to home.

In Season 3, audiences are thrown back into the game’s deadly playground, right smack into the high-stakes chaos of the previous episode, when Gi-Hun (Lee Byung-hun) tried to fight back against the gamemaster. As we dove into the first episode, we got to witness the next game, which, like all the others, is a wicked and terrifying rendition of a popular children’s game. The instructions were simple and yet brutal, as each player was challenged to make impossible choices.

“In the case of season 3, I wanted to introduce games that could really show the lowest bottom of human beings, because the series itself is reaching its climax," Director and Writer Hwang Dong-hyuk told Entertainment Weekly. “I wanted very intense games to bring out the bottom parts of human nature.”

For our latest Screen Test, we’re diving into the first episode of this deadly series, breaking down what worked, from the jaw-dropping to the heart-stopping moments that make “Squid Game” a binge-worthy roller coaster ride. Let’s see if this series still holds its place as Netflix’s reigning dystopian giant.

Run, Hide… or Die: Season 3’s Brutal Start

The new season is basically Season 2 part two, the director having previously revealed that they had to split the season into two as the episodes increased. We believed he made the right call, as this allowed Season 3 to present games with even higher stakes, and allowed audiences enough time to empathize with the characters — to get to know them better and witness how the games play with their heads and emotions.

We’re off to a strong start with episode 1, “Keys and Knives,” which kicks off where the last season ended, showing the player rebels fail at their mission, with the remaining ones getting shot down. Soldier no. 11, Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young), saves Player 246 a.k.a. Park Kyung-suk, by shooting him in the stomach and marking his coffin so he’d be brought to the organ trafficking team.

Meanwhile, the frontman of the game, Gi-Hun, wakes up in the bunker surrounded by his allies. As of now, there’s only Hyun-ju/Player 120 (Park Sung-hoon), the mother-son duo Yong-sik/Player 007 (Yang Dong-geun) and Geum-ja/Player 149 (Kang Ae-sim), Jun-Hee/Player 222 (Jo Yuri), and Dae-ho/Player 388 (Kang Ha-neul) — who had been the reason many of their allies had died due to his cowardice in the previous season — who are left on his team. The loss of many lives due to his plan, including Jung Bae’s/Player 390 (Lee Seo-hwan), has broken Gi-Hun’s spirit. He causes a scene before the next round of voting, asking the guards why he had been left alive. 

Meanwhile, Detective Jun-Ho (Wi Ha-jun) and the mercenaries on the boat are searching for the missing drone operator. While Captain Park (Bruce Locke) spins a tale of him getting drunk and falling overboard, Woo-seok (Jun Suk-ho) seems to have his doubts. The gamemaster then calls Captain Park, ordering him to keep the mercenaries away from the island and to kill everyone should things go south.

Back in the bunker, the voting resumes, and while Gi-hun forfeits his turn, the Blue team wins by a landslide. His allies comfort him that it’s not his fault and apologize for the failed rebellion. Yong-sik blames Dae-ho for not returning with the magazines, revealing his betrayal to Gi-hun.

Woo-seok also revealed to Jun-ho that something’s off about Captain Park, as he had seen him holding a screwdriver on the night the drone operator went missing. Jun-ho brushes this off, however, refusing to believe that the man who had saved him would sabotage him. Meanwhile, No-eul takes down the organ traffickers and saves Player 246, forcing the doctor to stitch him up. However, the doctor reveals that he had lost a lot of blood and would need a transfusion to survive, to which No-eul volunteers her blood.

In the next scene, Hide and Seek was revealed as the next game. The players were split into two teams at random. The Blue team was tasked to hide and find the exit within the arena’s maze, while the Red team acted as the taggers, tasked to find members of the Blue team and kill them on site. If they fail to accomplish these within 30 minutes, they will be shot down and killed. Blue team members are given a single key that can unlock any door in the arena, but not relock it. The Red Team, on the other hand, is given a knife as a weapon.

Before the game began, players were given the chance to make a switch with someone from the opposite team. Some notable moments during this period include Yong-sik exchanging with his mother, saying that she’s not a killer; Myung-gi (Player 33/Yim Si-wan) trying to switch with a very pregnant Jun-hee and promising to find and protect her once the game begins; Nam-gyu/Player 124 (Roh Jae-won) toying with Min-su (Lee David) and taunting him for watching Se-mi get killed; and Dae-ho, who’s on the Blue team, desperately trying to convince a Red player to switch with him and getting frustrated and paranoid at Gi-hun — who’s on the Red team — staring him down like he had a plan.

As the game begins, the Blue Team is ushered into an arena, and players are given two minutes to hide. Jeong-dae/Player 100 (Song Young-chang) announces that they should prioritize finding an exit instead of hiding, while Jun-hee, Geum-ja, and Hyun-ju team up.

Outside, Player 124 convinces Myung-gi to pair up. The latter reluctantly agrees, wanting to finish his task as soon as possible and find Jun-hee. The episode ends with the Red Team entering the arena. Gi-Hun is the last among them, claiming that it’s “his” fault (most likely pertaining to Dae-ho) before stepping inside.

The Final Verdict

While there was no complete game yet in episode one, the build-up was pretty amazing and intense, weaving back stories, plot branches, and helping audiences piece puzzles of information together to see how they fit into the bigger picture.

Just from that 57-minute pilot, you can tell that the rest of the season is going to be filled with emotional outbursts and a whole lot of betrayal, especially in the next episode, as players are once again forced to team up. And in “Squid Game” language, we already know that teaming up doesn’t always mean better, and will most likely ends up in a disaster — yes, we’re talking about Season 2’s Mingle.

There’s a lot of build-up for betrayal, and this season makes it impossible to predict what will happen next. The writer definitely made the storyline so intricate and packed, weaving mind games with death games with practiced ease.

We love the way each scene was arranged, as it kept viewers wanting more. Just when something exciting or terrible is about to happen or be revealed, it cuts to another plot branch with an equally satisfying and frustrating situation. We believe this is what makes this pilot a strong start to the season. It’s balanced, delivering tension and action, but never rushes the story. It builds anticipation scene by scene, kind of like that slow gasp of inhale before a scream.

This episode also proves that “Squid Game” still knows how to reinvent fear as it once again turns a simple children’s game into something terrifying. We knew it was only a matter of time before Hide and Seek made it into the lineup, as it presents the perfect setting for a suspenseful gameplay experience. Although we’ve yet to see the actual game unfold, we already know the stakes will be higher with the leading cast belonging to separate teams. The end of episode 1 gave us a sense of quiet dread as we began to ask if the game’s frontman, Gi-hun, would truly kill Dae-ho once presented with the chance and ultimately give in to the game’s brutal mind games. Or will there be another rebellion on the horizon? There will surely be jump scares — both in the form of players and plot — and betrayal just waiting around the corner.

Visually, Squid Game has always been stunning, not just in how shots were framed — putting emphasis on the characters’ emotions and their thought process — but also in the setting.

It’s ironic how these arenas have pastel and vibrant set designs, which only makes the color of blood of every fallen player stand out even more. The Hide and Seek arena looked right out of a child’s bedroom, complete with the bluish, dim lighting and glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. It reminded us of the monsters hiding under our bed, and the series just amplified that fear by presenting viewers with their possible childhood traumas.

Tense, scary, and razor-sharp in both pacing and storytelling, “Squid Game” Season 3 is already living up to the hype, and there’s no doubt that it’s only going to get even more intense from here as the games near their climax and end. We’re giving this first episode a solid 4 BEATS.

Let the final games begin. Watch “Squid Game” on Netflix today.

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