On December 26, we shall drag our food-filled bodies to the couch to watch season 2 of Squid Game. But you might have forgotten what happened if you’re like me and binged season 1 in a pandemic haze of baking bread, Zoom pub quizzes, and disgusting foam coffee. Like literally, that was a lifetime ago, I was a different person in 2021. Don’t fret besties, we’re going to get through this together with a complete recap of the Squid Game season 1 finale! Who survived the Squid Game? What was revealed in the end? What do we want to find out in season 2?
What happened in season 1 of Squid Game?
So, 456 contestants sign up for the chance to win a LOT of money. They’re all cash-strapped for various reasons, which we discover along the way. Examples include gambling, medical bills, and white crime. They’re taken to a mysterious facility where they compete in a series of childhood games — but these aren’t exactly like the ones from their schoolyard days, they’re deadly. The most memorable one was “Red Light, Green Light” where you have to stop moving when a creepy doll turns around. Throughout these games, 45.6 billion won — roughly $38 million dollars — is on the line, and there can only be one winner at the end of it. So it’s a terrifying game of survival of the fittest. It’s designed to bring out the worst in desperate people.
Who are the finalists of Squid Game?
After five terrifying trials that almost made me wet myself, we have three finalists. Gi-hun, Sae-byeok, and Sang-woo all made it to the end. Gi-hun cares about Sae-byeok and isn’t willing to lose more of himself to this game. But Sang-woo is still in it to win it.
The trio get all dressed up and enjoy a lavish celebratory dinner together. At the end, a steak knife is left for each of them. The lights go off in the dormitories, and Sang-woo stabs Sae-byeok, who’s already suffering from injuries from the glass bridge game. She dies — sad.
Who won the won in the end?
Without Sae-byeok (still crying), it’s two childhood friends facing off in the final game. It’s the titular Squid Game, which is basically a game of chicken, where players try to hop over into the opponent’s home base within a squid-like diagram.
Gi-hun is pissed about losing his girlie, so he goes right in and makes the move. He gains the upper hand, but when it comes down to it, he can’t kill his pal. He decides to forfeit and give up his winnings on the condition that he and Sang-woo can walk away.
But Sang-woo has come too far by now and has given up too much of his humanity. He does the deed for his pal and plunges the knife into his own neck. As he dies, he asks Gi-hun to look after his mother. Gi-hun is thus named the winner of the games, and all of the money is put into a bank account for him.
During the ride back to the real world, the Front Man, who’s in charge of the games, informs Gi-hun that the games are a form of entertainment. He compares them to the horses that Gi-hun used to bet on.
What else happened in the Squid Game finale?
So we know that Jun-ho infiltrated the games as a guard to discover what happened to his brother. In episode 5, he breaks into a records room and finds a winners list, with his brother’s name on it. But it’s only in the finale that he really discovers the truth. Not only is In-ho alive and the victor of the 28th Squid Game, but he’s also the bloody Front Man leading the games!!!
Jun-ho escapes to a nearby island to alert the authorities of this murderous operation. The Front Man appears and reveals himself to his brother. Then In-ho shoots his brother, and the detective stumbles backward and falls off a cliff. Since we didn’t see a body, there’s always a chance he survived this and will come back in season 2.
Back to Gi-hun. He returns home to find out that his mother died alone while he was playing, and so all of this was for nothing. He wanders aimlessly for a year until he finds a business card with the Squid Game logo. It has an address and is signed by “gganbu,” meaning an old neighborhood buddy. Gi-hun arrives at the glossy high-rise building and finds a hospital bed with a familiar person in it. It’s Oh Il-nam!! The older contestant who Gi-hun had befriended and betrayed in the gut-wrenching marbles game in order to move on to the next level.
All those tears spent mourning the old dude were for NOTHING, as not only is he alive, but he’s one of the creators behind the games. He is richer than rich (think Taylor Swift level) and made the games with his besties for their entertainment. Il-nam basically says life sucks if you’re too rich or too poor…okay. But the brain tumor he mentioned during the games is real, and that’s why he became a “participant” so he could feel something before he died. He then dies, for real this time. As a result, Gi-hun takes the only obvious route of a drastic hair change — cutting it and dying it red. Not only is this a symbol of his rage, but also a refusal to conform to society now that he is rich.
Gi-hun follows through on his promises. He gives Sang-woo’s mother half his winnings and brings Sea-byeok’s little brother to her to be looked after. Gi-hun decides to fly to the US to visit his estranged daughter. But then he sees someone being recruited for the game and intercepts. He calls the number all angry, only to be interrupted by the Front Man, who tells him to go catch his flight. Obviously, angry boi doesn’t do this. He turns back with a determined look on his face. This game is anything but over.
What was the homeless man bet about?
One final thing, as people seem very confused about the homeless man bet in the finale of Squid Game, and this is a very important metaphor for the whole show.
Once we learn who Oh Il-nam actually is, we find out he is hella wealthy and made his money off loaning desperate people cash. Basically, he gets them into the situation where they need to enter the Squid Game in the first place. When Il-nam and Gi-hun talk one last time, he gets Gi-hun to agree to a final bet. Looking down from the high-rise building, they see a drunk, homeless man lying in the street in the cold of winter. The man will die of frostbite if no one comes to get him soon. Il-nam bets Gi-hun that no one will help the man by the time midnight strikes. Gi-hun dismisses this bet as nonsense.
This metaphor really captures what the Squid Game means. Il-nam admitted he started and joined the games just to feel something. Thus, the morality of the rich is usually driven by ego. In contrast, Gi-hun has hardly touched the money, as he feels so guilty for participating despite his lack of choice in the matter.
As for the bet, Gi-hun ends up the winner, as someone helps the drunk man. But Il-nam dies before he can learn this.
