Squid Games Season 3 Review – Humanity Wins, The Show Doesn’t
Netflix is back with the final season of the Smash Hit Squid Game. This time it is darker with more human emotions in fray, but does it live up to expectations? Let’s find out.
When the first season of Squid Game was released in 2021, we were just getting used to the new normal. This series felt hitting us differently with a breadcrumbing of humor and bright shades around a thick layer of blood and gore. We never expected it to be this good, honestly, but it delivered with every scene.
The second season was darker with less humor, yet attractive games and edge-of-the-seat moments. But what about the third season? First things first – expect no humor and to be very honest, no big reveal! It has a human side, but feels very meh
Storyline
The third season begins right from the last scene of season 2. After the failed coup of participants, we see the games continued due to the democratic voting. People are divided, with more and more people becoming greedy about the prize money. But player 456 and others (the old lady and her son to some extent, Jun Hee aka player 222, and Cho Hyun-ju or player 120) are still against the continuation.
But with the growing greed of entertainment by the VIPs and the organizers, the players are put into tougher and deadlier games. The story has been divided into three divisions. The main story continues with the participants, the second division, where Jun Ho is trying to find the island where the games are taking place and take the entire thing down. The third wing of the story continues with No-eul, a guard of the game, who is trying to protect player 246 as she relates to him because of his daughter. A lot of things happen in the finale, but it is for you to find out on Netflix.
What Works?
Performance
The show is packed with solid actors, and each of them delivers as they should. Every character from Player 456 to the Front Man, Cho Hyun-ju, the mother and son duo, and even the bad guys have given the performance of their lives. To be honest, I was missing Thanos and his maniacal acting. It was needed.
Storyline
As I mentioned earlier, the storyline has been divided into three parts. Among them, the main storyline delivers. It focuses on one thing, and that is humanity. There are layers in this storyline. To what extent can a person go for money? Is money more valuable than the life of your child? It also defines the thin line that differentiates between a hero and a villain. There are emotions, violence, and gore, but it will hit you at the right spot. I liked the final two episodes the most due to their writing.
Dialogues
Not much, but some powerful dialogues are making the rounds on the internet. In one scene during the climax, Player 456 says, “We are humans…”. If you have seen it, then you would understand why I am hailing it. It’s powerful and has depth. I wish there were some more powerful dialogues and arcs.
What Doesn’t Work?
Secondary Storylines
As I mentioned earlier, the second storyline is where Jun Ho is trying to find the island where the games are taking place and put an end to it. To be honest, this storyline felt promising in the beginning, but went nowhere. It kept on going in circles without any actual big reveal. In the end, they rushed it down without making an impact.
The third storyline of No-eul and Player 246 showed a lot of promise, but didn’t stand up to the expectations. The storylines felt very boring in most of the phases, lacking the oomph and wow factor that was expected from them.
Lack of Comedy
In the previous seasons of Squid Game, we had comedy in various forms. Somewhere, even dark comedy. But in this season, there’s absolutely zero comedy and a very dark setup. Well, I know that the makers wanted it to be dark, but if you are stretching a wafer-thin script to 6 episodes, then you need a blend of comedy too.
Predictability
Well, the outcomes of several events in this season are shocking, but somewhere deep inside, we all were predicting these. Except for the final winner, I didn’t find any shocking twists or turns. This slowed down the pace and felt like a slow burn cooking without any taste explosion in the end.
Games
There are three games in this season, but none of them actually delivered any excitement. Maybe they gave off too much in the trailer. In the second season, I really enjoyed the pentathlon and the mingle game. But in this season, especially the finale game was stretched too much and was very bland.
No Proper Character Arc
There was much potential with the new characters introduced in Season 2. Viewers were loving them, but sadly, they were taken off before we could connect with them. I will not give away any spoilers, but some of the key characters actually needed a proper character arc.
Will There Be Another Season?
I don’t know what the future of this show is. There are plenty of questions that are unanswered. But as the front man said that he is just a pawn and can be replaced. In the end, we see an amazing twist which opens up possibilities for more seasons and cash churning. But I don’t know if we will get all the answers.
Final Words
Squid Game Season 3 had potential. It focuses on humanity and overcoming greed. But too many subplots, which didn’t get the proper sendoff, made this meh. It was very hard for me to sit throughout the entire season.
Rating:
Got thoughts on Squid Games? Drop them in the comments.
While you’re here, check out our other movie reviews for more no-fluff takes.
Avik
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