There aren't many shows that truly deserve a second season. We're living in the era of the 'limited series' and as such we've become accustomed to a one-and-done drop, where a little bit of something great is worth more than a bunch of average seasons trickling on afterwards.
Squid Game is the kind of show that is ripe for the latter course. It would be so easy to just cash in with a phoned-in sequel season.
The Netflix juggernaut was the surprise hit of 2021, amassing 330 million viewers while racking up 2.8 billion hours viewed within its first three months of airing.
Its appeal was down to a blend of factors, starting with unforgettable, heart-stopping moments and hard-to-watch brutality. Once viewers emerged from their initial daze, other qualities began to come to the fore.
This was more than just a stomach-clenching survival thriller: Squid Game had a nuanced premise that explored the effects of a capitalist society on the vulnerable and examined the exploitation of inequality in a palatable way.
Still, shock was the conduit for that premise.
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It was the unpredictability of how far the show's creator Hwang Dong-hyuk was willing to take things. The uncertainty of how tense things were going to get pushed us to the edge of our seats as we smashed the 'next-episode' button.
How, then, is season two expected to follow the same formula and yield the same success?
We've seen humanity at its opportunistic and desperate worst (at least as far as Squid Game is concerned). We know just how cold, depraved and unfeeling the gamesmasters are and as for twists, we'll be on the look out for them after Oh Il-nam's (O Yeong-su) deception.
The answer is, it can't. So Hwang doesn't even try.
Instead the showrunner takes a different approach to season two, resulting in a deeply enticing watch that lives up to the standards of season one.
If Squid Game's debut season was predominantly about the violence lurking around every corner, season two is a deeper, richer and more intimate watch, with more emphasis placed on the players as people.
This was a strength in season one and now Hwang grounds season two in it.
Think of season one players Ali Abdul (Anupam Tripathi), Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon), Ji-yeong (Lee Yoo-mi) and Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo).
This time around, Hwang introduces more characters who organically evoke the same reactions as our departed favourites and leans heavily into exploring them as individuals as well as their place within the collective of players.
The bonds they form out of the necessity for survival become more and more intriguing as the season matures.
This happens particularly with trans character Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), whose arc involves themes of rejection, bigotry and acceptance.
The struggles of Player 222 (Kim Jun-hee, played by Jo Yu-ri) become increasingly and visibly evident, and the relationships she builds in face of those struggles are tentative and precious.
The same can be said for the mother-son duo Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun) and Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim). Their relationship is tested over the course of the series in ways that will needle an uncomfortable reaction out of anyone who watches.
Basically, expect to be invested, and once you are, there is that Grey's-Anatomy-level fear that you're about to lose someone you've come to care about.
Just the kind of stakes one needs to keep the show energised.
This is still Squid Game, however, and despite not relying on the carnage to keep us hooked, the show certainly isn't lacking in that department as episode one's high-pressured game of rock paper scissors can attest.
The uneasy game of Russian roulette which follows also urges us to expect the unexpected.
Those gagging for more games may be disappointed, as there aren't as many in the follow-up season as its debut. Still, what Hwang does give us is terrifying, entertaining and diabolically tense, with a tweak to its format that leaves room for chaos.
What isn't tweaked is the foundation of the show, which still centres on the effects of capitalism, how it separates us, and society's obsession with money ebbing and flowing between greed and necessity.
Hwang remains good at exploring these themes with nuance; nothing is ever black and white when it comes to the choices people make in and outside of the games, especially when desperation becomes a factor. The showrunner builds on this in season two with the pink soldiers coming into focus like they never have before.
Ultimately, Squid Game wouldn't be the success it is without Lee Jung-jae's Seong Gi-hun, the famed player 456 who vowed to take down the games. He finds himself back in the belly of the squid, no longer the pitiable player he once was but emboldened by his determination.
His single-mindedness is both admirable and crazed, and where it leads him will have consequences far larger than he could have anticipated.
All episodes of Squid Game seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream now on Netflix. A third and final season has been confirmed. Squid Game: The Challenge will also return for a second season.
Read more Squid Game news on our dedicated homepage
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
