The long-awaited Netflix series Squid Game Season 2 was finally released on the 26th. After watching the first episode, I must say it was an intense rollercoaster of tension. While some international media outlets are calling it a complete letdown, I remain hopeful for the rest of the episodes. (With seven episodes in total, it seems this season was crafted as a seven-part series.)
That said, I couldn’t help but feel the title of the first episode should have been something like Russian Roulette or 1/6 Chance instead of Bread and Lottery. A missed opportunity, in my opinion.
Episode 1 Summary
The buzz from preview audiences claimed the first episode exceeded expectations, so my excitement was through the roof. At the end of Squid Game Season 1, Seong Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) was about to board a flight at Incheon Airport. However, after receiving a call from the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), he changed his mind and didn’t get on the plane. Fast forward two years, and here we are.
Why two years? It’s not like the Squid Game takes place every two years. The time skip is a bit of a mystery. Anyway, Gi-hun spends this time tracking down the “Ddakji Man” (played by Gong Yoo), the one who first invited him into the games.
To begin his search, Gi-hun pays back his debts to a loan shark boss and hires people to scour the subway for the Ddakji Man. He offers an additional 1 billion won as a reward for finding him. The loan shark, eager to cash in, deploys his entire crew across Seoul’s subway lines, covering Lines 1 to 8. Despite their thorough search, they come up empty-handed until one day, at Jonggak Station, the boss and his junior finally spot the elusive Ddakji Man.
Ddakji: A Game of Slaps
True to form, the Ddakji Man is still going around challenging people to games of ddakji, where he gives cash rewards if his opponent wins but slaps them if they lose. (For those unfamiliar, ddakji is a traditional Korean game where players use folded paper squares to flip their opponent’s piece.) What was once a simple childhood game has transformed into a gamble in the world of Squid Game.
As in Season 1, the Ddakji Man appears sharp and professional, wearing a tailored suit and carrying a 007 briefcase (what Koreans call classic hard-shell suitcases). He moves around subway stations looking for desperate people with a gambling streak, acting as a recruiter for the Squid Game.
Bread and Scratch Cards
The loan shark boss and his junior tail the Ddakji Man, who buys 100 loaves of bread and 100 scratch-off lottery tickets before heading to Tapgol Park. There, he approaches homeless people and asks them to choose between the bread and a lottery ticket. Unsurprisingly, most choose the lottery ticket, leaving the bread largely untouched. The Ddakji Man then dumps the leftover bread on the ground and stomps on it.
As the loan shark duo tries to apprehend him, the tables turn, and they find themselves captured by the Ddakji Man instead.
Russian Roulette
The captured boss and his junior are tied up, forced to play a game of rock-paper-scissors. But there’s a deadly twist: the loser faces Russian Roulette. A revolver loaded with one bullet is spun, and the loser must pull the trigger. With a 1/6 chance of survival, the stakes are unimaginably high.
When the game reaches a stalemate, the Ddakji Man raises the stakes by loading five bullets into the revolver, increasing the odds of death to 5/6. The terrified junior freezes and plays a losing hand, leaving the boss to forfeit the game in an attempt to save him. But the boss’s sacrifice is in vain, as he dies in the Russian Roulette round.
Gi-hun Returns
Gi-hun, now staying at the Pink Motel, senses something is wrong when he notices signs of an intruder. Inside, he finds the Ddakji Man waiting for him. This leads to a climactic showdown: a one-on-one Russian Roulette game with a single bullet in the chamber.
“Do you really think winning that game made you someone special?” the Ddakji Man taunts.
“Admit it—you’re nothing but a dog in a mask, running, barking, and wagging your tail on your master’s command,” Gi-hun fires back.
As the tension escalates, Gi-hun survives his fifth pull of the trigger. The sixth and final turn falls to the Ddakji Man. Silence fills the room as he prepares to pull the trigger…
And then, the screen fades to black.
What happens next? Well, that’s for Episode 2. Stay tuned!
