This one took me a while. I'm not sure whether it was just life taking over and keeping me busy, or perhaps just not feeling the show at the moment. I realised the other day how far behind I was with the show and didn't really have an answer to give myself as to why I hadn't watched it. The first season was an interesting concept that ended on a fun note, I didn't expect there to even be a second season, though once news of it dropped I was just as cautious as the rest. I did start the second season a few months back, though it didn't really capture my attention in the moment and I just ended up going back into the real life obligations I had and watching very little due to the lack of time. But here and there I thought of it. And this week I decided to finally watch through it.
The second season picks up pretty much where the first left off. Our protagonist never boarded the plane and ventured off to start a new life with his vibrant new hair style. In the end, deciding to take matters into his own hands knowing the games wouldn't yet be over. His life now taking the role of revenge to the point of stopping the next round of games taking place. Also coming to realise that he was never really free having won the previous round. Alive, but with a tracker placed behind his ear that he soon discovers and removes at his own accord. This initial first episode has us witnessing how the comes continued on immediately, how the same types of people were exploited and given the infamous card. Gi-hun working alongside a group of mercenaries to try to find the distributor of the card. I liked this aspect with the mercenaries as it showed how the previous games had impacted loan sharks and a shady black market in which the previous contestants owed money to, naturally leading them to want to find the person responsible after the people in debt strangely all went missing.
Despite being so sceptical of the second season, as it didn't quite need to exist, I do think this setup justifies it, as it takes the role of a revenge story and broadens the world a bit more without immediately diving into the same formula, particularly with the same protagonist. This could've easily been terrible and its reason for existing is still questionable. I do think nothing after the first season would've been fine. Though the second season does manage to capture your attention with that additional world building that bridges the previous story together. Not too much of the same thing, without straying too far from what we all enjoyed before. And this definitely features a bit more action, building up to that inevitable return to the games for Gi-hun.
Once the games begin, I did find it a bit too much that they followed through with the same type of games. Primarily the one in which the group must walk as fast as they can to get to the other side without being noticed by the tall girl robotic. I can't help but feel that this was put in out of the general fame it gave the show to begin with. Where it as the thing that really kicked things off within the first season. As a result, some of the games don't really feel like they had the same initial weight that the first one had. After all, we get the general idea and that shock of it all is already gone. This is where the characters remain the most important part. If the games are repetitive or not as impactful, then we need to find characters to really care for and not want to lose within them. I think the second season does a decent job at that.
Characters are quickly introduced within the usual manner: announcing their shameful debts. Explaining that each person there is ultimately the same. Of course, with the possibility of earning a big cash prize providing they win the games, removing them from debt and giving them great wealth. The usual setup, nothing out of the ordinary here. And of course, our protagonist remains the main interest, having infiltrated with a tracker in his tooth. Despite the characters and increasing tension, the drama isn't quite enough to be engaging. The characters hold similar reactions to the first season, a similar structure and setup. Though Gi-hun's pans to infiltrate leads to a bit of an unsatisfying cliffhanger. A blatant sign of the third season to come (and it did). This is where the show loses that emotion, the classic Korean drama pull of the heart strings that lingers on and makes us uncomfortable. As mentioned before, we need to care for the characters more, to really feel their losses and the problems they've suffered that led them to this fateful point.
I don't want to write too much about the story, though I'm sure most people have probably seen this by now and I'm the one really late to the party with the third season already out and done. But it does scream like Netflix saw the success of the first season and the demand for more unique Korean shows and really pushed to get this one out fast. The story isn't necessary at all. But it does follow a decent structure that makes sense: Gi-hun's thirst for true revenge, not just running off and accepting his fate. The want to crush the games in its entirety. But again, it didn't need to be made. In terms of its quality, it's decent. The production side of things is good. I have no problems with that at all.
Haven't watched it but yes, I think it likely wasn't necessary but everyone loves money! I will probably watch this once I completely run out of other things to watch :)
Pretty much how I came to watching this ;^)