‘People like happy endings. Sorry!’ Squid Game’s brutal finale ramps up the barbarity | Squid Game

When season two of Squid Recreation dropped, followers had been cut up of their response to Netflix’s hit Korean drama. Whereas some viewers liked the dialled-up-to-11 depth of every little thing – extra characters, extra drama, extra staggering brutality – others discovered the tone relentlessly bleak. And this was a present whose authentic idea – a cabal of wealthy benefactors recruit poor folks to compete in bloodsports for money – was already lots darkish. Anybody hoping the present’s third and ultimate season, arriving this week, will present a reprieve ought to in all probability simply rewatch Emily in Paris as a substitute.“The tone goes to be extra darkish and bleak,” says collection creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, by way of an interpreter. “The world, as I observe it, has much less hope. I needed to discover questions like, ‘What’s the final resort of humankind? And do we’ve got the desire to present future generations one thing higher?’ After watching all three seasons, I hope we will every ask ourselves, ‘What sort of humanity do I’ve left in me?’”Characters die in inventive methods, like being pulled off a ledge in a gigantic tug of struggle gameThat’s a lofty ambition for what has develop into a flagship Netflix present – one of many defining cultural merchandise of the 2020s, which appeared to carry a mirror as much as a brand new period of desperation and savagery. The primary and second seasons set world viewership data for the streamer – exceptional for a present that’s not in English – and in 2023, it launched Squid Recreation: The Problem, a actuality present based mostly on the collection, which noticed contestants competing for a $4.5m prize. All this regardless of the truth that Squid Recreation can be one of the vital terribly violent reveals ever aired, that includes all method of brutal, disturbing loss of life scenes. Watching the present generally is a gruelling expertise: in almost each episode, a number of characters are pushed to their limits earlier than being unceremoniously shot by one of many present’s pink-suited guards.Due to Squid Recreation’s outsized success, it’s shocking the present is ending after solely three seasons in 4 years. By the point its finale airs, Stranger Issues, one other Netflix hit, could have run for 5 seasons over almost a decade. Lee Jung-jae, who performs hapless hero turned vigilante Gi-hun, says Hwang’s imaginative and prescient initially didn’t even permit for a second season. “He instructed us Squid Recreation was a restricted collection,” he says, additionally by way of a interpreter. “However as a result of it was met with a lot love from internationally, he needed to do subsequent seasons.”Consideration-grabbing … Park Gyu-young as No-eul. {Photograph}: ./NetflixThe undeniable fact that Squid Recreation was conceived as a one-and-done hasn’t lessened the present’s affect. After a surprising first season that performed up the distinction between the kids’s playground aesthetic and the copious quantities of blood and betrayal, season two raised the stakes with complicated, attention-grabbing new characters. The purple-haired rapper Thanos, performed by the rapper TOP, was a weird pill-popper with a proclivity for violence and talking in a wierd model of English, whereas Park Gyu-young performed Kang No-eul, a North Korean defector who turns into a guard.Whereas he’s conscious of criticisms of the second season, Lee says there was no alternative to vary season three, on condition that the 2 seasons had been filmed again to again. And moreover, fan response was not the chief consideration. “The messages of Squid Recreation are essential,” says Lee. “As an alternative of ‘fixing’ the narrative, we simply needed to ensure the message was conveyed. And naturally it’s a TV present – you need to present leisure. In season three, we’ve got new video games, new characters, twists and turns. It’s going to be very entertaining – however with a message.”That message – about humanity’s capability for violence, and the hazard capitalism places folks in – has been constant all through, however in season three, concepts of vengeance and retribution are given a variety of airtime, and the present leans into ethical ambiguity much more. This darkness is at odds, Hwang suggests, with what most viewers are on the lookout for. “Folks like a cheerful ending,” he says, “I’m like that too. However some tales, by nature, can’t have one. In the event you attempt to power one, the essence is compromised. If a narrative is holding up a mirror to one thing, then it’s not all the time a cheerful ending. Squid Recreation isn’t any exception.”As for whether or not loyal followers might be glad with the ending, Lee stays tight-lipped about what we’ll see, however is philosophical about its impact. “The finale was one thing even I didn’t anticipate,” he says, “so I’m positive a variety of followers is not going to see it coming. I feel lots of people could have totally different reactions. It’s positively going to spur a variety of dialog. I’m wanting ahead to listening.”For Lee, making two seasons back-to-back was difficult. “It was continuous filming for a few 12 months and two months,” he says. “So it was draining, bodily. However I might actually immerse myself in Gi-hun. Once I’m wired or bodily drained, I normally have actually good meals and that cheers me up. However I used to be on a eating regimen. There was no solution to launch the stress!”Lee is a veteran of the South Korean display screen however he finds taking part in Gi-hun – who goes from wet-blanket no one to hardened hero – endlessly thrilling. “Gi-hun is continually pressed,” he says. “He’s very annoyed, as a result of no matter he tries to do is simply not working. If somebody is pushed to that extent, even a very good man can change. It was intriguing to play a personality who goes by way of a lot change.”Generally the present’s intense brutality – characters die in horrifying and creatively violent methods, akin to falling by way of glass panels or being pulled off a ledge in a huge recreation of tug of struggle – can really feel virtually desensitising, which Lee says isn’t the intention. “I actually hope that individuals don’t develop into desensitised,” he says. “All these characters have very tragic backstories. I hope folks will deal with that and mourn their deaths.”Squid Recreation’s anticapitalist sentiment is so robust that it’s unusual to see the variety of promotional tie-ins Netflix has arrange, with firms starting from McDonald’s to Uber – a lot of which have been accused up to now of placing income earlier than worker wellbeing. Hwang says that, on the finish of the day, Squid Recreation exists in a capitalist system.‘Followers gained’t see it coming’ … Squid Recreation season three. {Photograph}: Noh Ju-han/Netflix“For me and Netflix,” he says, “we began out desirous to create a industrial product. It might be too far a stretch to criticise desirous to revenue from one thing that criticises the capitalist system. No studio goes to wish to create a narrative that’s too essential of society. Having mentioned that, if I felt [the partnerships] had been too extreme, to the purpose the place I felt it was damaging the spirit of the present, I would really feel otherwise. However it wouldn’t be proper for me to inform Netflix to not do one thing. I don’t have the authorized grounds for that. I’ve had sure emotions about sure issues, however I don’t assume it could be proper for me to say precisely what, or to specific my detrimental emotions.”Maybe that’s as a result of Hwang is already excited about what a Squid Recreation sequel may appear like. “There’s no saying we’ll by no means do one thing once more,” he says. “I don’t wish to shut the door – there are some threads left untied. If I had been to return again to the Squid Recreation universe, I feel I’d come again with a spin-off. Narratively, there’s a three-year hole between seasons one and two. Whereas Gi-hun was on the seek for the Entrance Man and the Recruiter, what had been these villains as much as? What do the pink guards do outdoors Squid Recreation? These could be enjoyable concepts to discover.”There’s additionally the matter of the present’s US remake, which is reportedly being developed by David Fincher, director of Gone Woman and The Social Community. Hwang says he hasn’t had any affirmation, however he appears to be like ahead to seeing Fincher’s take. “I’m a giant fan – I watched a variety of his works after I was finding out movie. So if it’s true, I welcome it with all my coronary heart.”Till then, Squid Recreation followers have the present’s ultimate season, which appears destined to spark as a lot hullaballoo because the earlier two. “Folks have been so curious. A number of them come to me asking for spoilers. I hold telling them that if you wish to have enjoyable watching season three, you simply have to carry nonetheless. It’s coming.” Squid Recreation season three is on Netflix on 27 June