Series Review – Squid Game Season 3
Creator: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Starring: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, Park Gyu-young
Year: 2025
Squid Game Season 1 was a phenomenon. Biggest Netflix show ever. Costumes everywhere for Halloween. Think pieces about capitalism from people who’d never thought about capitalism before.
Season 2 was. Less. The return felt obligatory. Gi-hun going back into the game felt forced. The new characters were less memorable than the originals. The social commentary became text instead of subtext.
Season 3 is the conclusion. And it’s. Look. It’s brutal. It’s bleak. It’s exactly what you’d expect from Hwang Dong-hyuk who has been very clear that he thinks the system is broken beyond repair.
The games this season are more elaborate. Higher production values. Netflix money showing. There’s one involving a bridge that takes the original glass stepping stones concept and scales it up in ways that are genuinely terrifying. Another uses a classic Korean children’s game I wasn’t familiar with and the setup is emotionally devastating.
Lee Jung-jae carries the show on his back. Gi-hun at this point is a broken man trying to break a system that can’t be broken. His performance in the later episodes is. I mean. Harrowing. The man has dead eyes and somehow those eyes still communicate everything.
The Front Man storyline gets resolution. Lee Byung-hun has been underused for two seasons and he finally gets material worthy of his talent. Without spoiling anything — his backstory episode is the best episode of the season. Maybe of the series.
But here’s my thing. Squid Game has always been on-the-nose about capitalism and inequality. The metaphor isn’t subtle. Rich people watch poor people die for entertainment. Season 3 doesn’t have anything new to say — it just says the same thing louder.
The ending is definitive. No sequel hooks. No ambiguity. Hwang Dong-hyuk finishes his story and walks away. I respect that even if the conclusion is. Depressing. Very depressing. Like “I need to sit with this for a while” depressing.
Is it as good as Season 1? No. Season 1 was lightning in a bottle. But it’s better than Season 2 and it provides satisfying conclusions to the character arcs that needed concluding.
Watch it. Be prepared to feel bad. Then go outside.
My rating: ★★★★☆
