#but i just really don't think hdh is like that

[lyxchen]

Okay I gotta say. I love how Hwang Dong-hyuk collaborates and talks about his ideas and script and directing with the actors. I'm pretty sure I already heard about this when season 1 came out but I can't find any articles talking about that right now. But from so many interviews I've read now it seems like he really likes it when the actors put in some of their own thoughts and ideas. It's probably really hard to write and film and direct two seasons in such a short amount of time while also focusing on so many complex and deep characters. He has to think of every character all the time, while the actors can really focus on just their own character. So him talking to them a lot and discussing his writing and directing and what he wants and what the actors maybe see in their character instead is so cool. Making a show can only really work well if everyone works together and helps each other improve. Gi-hun is probably such a great character Because Hwang Dong-hyuk let Lee Jung-jae give his own thoughts and ideas and that is also probably why Lee Jung-jae loves Gi-hun so much!!! There is part of him in that character!! The love and care of the actors and the director and the director's willingness to hear out criticism or improvement ideas is exactly what makes the characters in this show so amazing and human and personal <33

I love reading about when the actors talk about the script and maybe wondering about stuff in it and then, instead of being like "I had a little bit of a different view on it but oh well I can't change anything", they instead talk about how they brought it up to the director and talked it through and then came up with something that feels good and right for both of them <3

Like.. I just can't bring myself to get mad at for example Lee Byung-hun suggesting to do stuff differently from the script and them actually talking about it and finding a compromise. That's collaboration, that's how you work well together in film and theatre. That's how you create realistic characters with nuance and depth. A director forcing the actors to do everything exactly the way he wrote it isn't fun and likely won't result in a good experience for the actors. But the fact that the actors felt comfortable enough to question and sometimes disagree, or more like explain their own interpretation of the script, instead of just going with Hwang Dong-hyuk's directing no questions asked is a sign of the Squid Game team working well together!!! I love that, that makes me so happy!!

I once did an internship at a theatre and the director of the play where I got to be present for the rehearsals regularly asked the actors for input on the characters and how they think something should be acted. And sometimes the actors there would also bring up their own ideas without being asked for them first. It seems like the same thing happened on the set for Squid Game. Why is that a bad thing? How is that "the director not knowing their own characters"? That's collaboration, that's teamwork, that's compromising and working towards ending up with the best and most fleshed out version of a character. Like that's so cool, that's the best. Obviously I don't know how it actually was for Squid Game, but I've heard quite a bit about how a lot of directors can be very self centered and unwillig to listen to any criticism and Hwang Dong-hyuk just really doesn't seem like he's that kind of director. As far as I know the actors really liked working with him. I just don't understand how he is being so villainized for being a good director

Also side note: idk if people just expected something else but imo In-ho in season 3 was a very well made and written character. Like I don't understand how some say that he's "wasted potential" or that Hwang Dong-hyuk hates him or that he wanted In-ho to be a one dimensional villain. Like huh? Where? In-ho has a lot of depth and yes some of that likely comes from Lee Byung-hun suggesting stuff to Add More depth. But I don't think he was written to be a one dimensional villain and I also really don't think that Lee Byung-hun's suggestions contributing to that depth are a sign of bad directing or bad writing. In my opinion it's actually the total opposite. It's actor and director/writer working together to in the end get the best and most human version of a character

[nerdyhuntress]

HDH really made questionable writing choices back in season 2 too.

To start, the whole plot with finding the Recruiter/Salesman?? It feels like a boomer male wrote those ideas LOL remember that Gi-hun is ultra-rich now. Why would he WASTE funds by paying loan sharks to chase down randos on the subway? Even a teenage girl with social media contacts knows that we live in the modern AGE. He could have looked at camera footage or even found him online. Idk just thinking about it makes me so frustrated.

Someone also brought up a good point here on tumblr about Jun-ho. He and his mercenary buddies should have tracked down the cars/vans that take the players to the island. Instead, they focused all their firepower on capturing In-ho. THAT'S IT????

Also, there were two instances back then that felt VERY pro-life. To start, when In-ho was sharing his past with Gi-hun and he said the line "She'll give birth, even if it kills her." I was like "UMMM????"

It was a red flag for sure, but I passed on it. And then we had Jun-hee saying that she wanted to keep her baby, even though she had no money or job to support her family. Look, I'm staunchly pro-choice and I understand her decision. But I couldn't shake off the feeling that once is ok. But twice? Now, this message is getting ingrained in the audience's mind.

Little did I know, season 3's pro-life message became EVEN WORSE. Every single female character (Jun-hee, Geum-ja, Hyun-ju, No-eul) had a storyline related to dying for a child or their plotline revolved around saving a child. Even Gi-hun wasn't spared from this lol

Just WHY???? Doesn't HDH know that we women care more about THAT?? Or was he fueled by a weird desire to get the birthrate up in South Korea? Was this all just pro-life propaganda?? Instead of actually telling a good story, we were stuck with a baby plotline.

Needless to say, this is why I don't trust certain male directors anymore.

[itadooori]

my slightly cohesive squid game s3 thoughts (SPOILERS)

obligatory disclaimer that i am NOT trying to tell anyone that they're stupid or illiterate if they don't agree with this. you're more than entitled to your own feelings about s3, these just happen to be mine. i'm not looking to fight with anyone, i just thought i'd share some things that may help someone come to peace with season three a little more. buckle up folks this is a YAPFEST

To preface this, I want to say that whenever I interact with a series and it makes a decision I don't like and/or don't understand, I try my hardest to figure out why it's there. This is essentially what this post is: me figuring out why the things that happened in squid game s3 happened. Some of the things still bother me despite the reasons I've seen, and some things I've made a bit of peace with.

Over the weekend I've been formulating my thoughts about s3 and the finale. I also read some interviews explaining certain choices, as well as posts from people who liked the ending/the season and people who disliked the ending/the season. I wanted to give myself a bit of time to post about this with a clearer head, and also wanted to try to understand the message HDH was trying to send.

I've given myself some time to process Gi-hun's death, and I think I'm actually okay with it? I've always kept his death as a real possibility in mind, so the fact he died didn't shock me, but did devastate me as he is my favorite character. I honestly loved the journey that Gi-hun's character went through this season as a whole, it was so full of grief and despair and was extremely heart-wrenching.

Some posts that helped ease my mind a bit about Gi-hun's choice (as well as some of the finale as a whole) are this and this.

(I also found this post to be interesting and it opened my mind up to some deeper thinking, so I'd give it a look if you're interested!)

Now. I want to admit: I am not as unhappy with the ending as much as I initially was. After reading some of HDH's words and other peoples' analysis on the ending, I'm starting to understand the angle it's going for, and I do appreciate it.

Obviously, my critiques haven't vanished -- I have my fair share of things I'm not happy about. I wish that In-ho had a bit more screen-time. I heavily dislike how Jun-ho's character was handled in s3. I also think that the pacing was off in places, notably in the latter half of the season. And of course, I do wish that the reveal scene had a bit More to it.

Also I just dislike the idea of an American spinoff so I was bound to dislike that last scene LMAO but that seems more like Netflix meddling than anything HDH wanted.

HOWEVER, there were also several things this season that did hit me very hard, and that I hold close to my heart. Many, many people have brought up (and rightfully criticized) the things I mentioned above, and I feel that elaborating on those points would be regurgitating what's already out there. So I'll spend some time talking about the things I DID enjoy in s3:

• IDK if this is a hot take or not, but I really loved the Dae-ho and Gi-hun stuff. It was so fucking dark and the furthest we've ever seen Gi-hun fall and I enjoyed every second of it. I don't think Gi-hun was simply mad at Dae-ho about the ammo; that was only part of it. Dae-ho I think on a narrative level served as Gi-hun's internal monologue towards himself, and I think this is backed up by the fact Seon-nyeo tells him that killing Dae-ho will clear his bad karma. And in that altered state of mind, induced by a psychotic break, he believed that. Obviously, when he killed Dae-ho that caused some sort of Realization, which is why he switches from "it's your fault" to "it's my fault" as he attempts suicide again. Also, on the topic of Dae-ho, if you're upset about the military reveal, I'd recommend reading this post because Netflix fucked up the subtitles and I think the more accurate translation falls more in line with his character.

• As a trans person, I honestly liked how Hyun-ju's death was handled. Her death did not strike me as uniquely gore-y or horrible, nor was it tied to her transness. It was tied to her core traits of kindness and commitment to other people. Her death, imo, continued to humanize her. I hope that her existence helped open up some peoples' minds.

• I loved the callbacks to Sae-byeok. First, the more subtle one of Gi-hun telling Geum-ja that he's "not that kind of person" just hit me like a TRAIN. I teared up. And then when Gi-hun had an outright flashback to Sae-byeok when he once again thought about killing someone in their sleep, I actually bawled.

• The entire Gi-hun/In-ho flashback sequence with the dagger. I have no notes. That was beautifully done and one of the best scenes in the entire season imo.

• MIN-SU'S ENTIRE JOURNEY IN S3 WAS REALLY COMPELLING TO ME?? I already really liked him before, but I was absolutely enamored by what they did with him. The hallucinations were genuinely terrifying, and him finally taking Se-mi's hand in death actually made me tear up. I love that lil guy. He straight up went thru every circle of hell.

• Geum-ja's speech to Gi-hun was very very touching. Both of these characters just went through the worst day Ever and yet she still shows him kindness and a reason to keep going. I love all the subtle expressions LJJ displays in this scene too.

• I liked that No-eul got a good ending. She deserved it. I'm glad that she gets to reunite with her daughter, a reflection of something Gi-hun didn't get to do.

• The tragedy between Geum-ja and Yong-sik....goddddddddd I wept.

• Seeing Gi-hun carrying around Jun-hee's baby was like cocomelon to me. The way he smiled at her had me sooo weak I love him so much.

• Woo-seok's little side plot was fun and I liked seeing him get some spotlight.

• Jun-ho not wanting to become a cop again LMFAO I loved that the story still sticks to its dislike of cops and the justice system.

• Of course, as always, the cast's acting was absolutely phenomenal. Even for scenes I don't like, the actors did the best that they could and I think they deserve recognition for that.

There are some more things I could list, but this post is getting long enough lmfaoo

Now, I believe that my feelings on season three are more complex than they were initially. I feel a little isolated from the majority of the fandom right now because while I have my issues, I don't Hate it. Far from it, honestly. It feels more like a "i enjoy many things about this, and i understand and appreciate the message being sent, i just wish that some of it was done Better" type thing.

I've also been looking at squid game, especially season three, similarly to how I'd look at a Greek tragedy. Squid game shares a lot of key elements you see in them: dramatic irony, hubris, hamartia (a fatal flaw or lapse in judgement leading to a character's downfall), peripeteia (a sudden reversal of circumstances), catharsis (emotional release), and moral dilemmas. The themes also overlap, and I'm reminded of tragedies like Electra. And I think that some of s3's choices make a little bit of sense if you see the story as emulating a Greek tragedy; I'm not saying you have to like it, but for me it made me more understanding of the message being conveyed.

Finally, I want to say that my love for squid game hasn't diminished at all, and I won't be leaving the fandom any time soon. Even with my complicated feelings about s3, I still think s1 and s2 are incredible and it's worth sticking around even just for them.

TLDR; my thoughts are still complicated, but i don't think the season is as bad as i initially thought

[midnight--sadness]

although not a “feel good” ending , i thought it was perfectly fitting. I always thought the show had to end with him sacrificing himself, that’s just the kind of person gihun is. Why do you dislike it? what would you have wanted instead?

first of all, i'm really happy that you liked the ending!! 💞💞 and thank you for being so polite about asking my opinion even though you think the ending was fitting 🫶

i would have accepted gihun's sacrifice if it was under different circumstances. gihun dying to end the games was always something i feared but i knew was a very real possibility.

i know hoping that the vips or the guards would be arrested is too much, given the ammount of powerful people involved in the games. and even the records being destroyed would be something i could live with if it meant that gihun knew with 100% certainty that the games were over, that there would never be another ones in korea. this would involved everyone in the island dying, including the guards and the vips. i that would send a message to the outside that someone managed to kill those involved and dissuade them from creating the games again, especially with ilnam being dead and all.

this way, gihun would die fulfilling at least one of his goals. he didn't manage to save the players but he destroyed the games. and that would have been enough for me.

(maybe noeul and gihun joined forces after she realized that the games weren't helping the players and that the only way she could help them was by freeing them so she decides to help gihun by infiltrating the frontman's office and bringing junho to the island or something.)

i've said this a few times but i didnt like how gihun died without knowing who would take care of the baby, without knowing that the island would explode soon, without being aware that the games would end for good in korea.

and now, knowing that hdh considered gihun surviving and reuniting with gayeong just makes me mad bc i think that would also be a fitting ending. gihun as the sole survivor of the games again but having destroyed them, seeing the recruiter and realizing that he only killed one head. it would be bittersweet, but it'd be a nice parallel to s1.

the only thing i don't like here is that i dont believe gihun would ignore the games to be with gayeong, but the show ending like this would leave space for the audience to decide what they prefer - gihun continuing his mission in the usa or realizing that he cant save everyone and that his daughter deserves to have him in her life?

we could even have had inho there, watching out over gihun and seeing the recruiter as well, and getting this look on his face, like determination, and we would wonder if he's going to become frontman in the us as well or if gihun has changed him enough that now inho will destroy the games as a penance, a way to give back to gihun for what he did for him?

[yellowwwcrayon]

S3 spoiler filled rant incoming:

I genuinely can't believe Inho and Gi-hun didn't talk, like at all??? They never really had any kind of climactic discussion of their viewponts or even an understanding of each other?!?

I'm so confused!?!??!

And I don't even mean this in a shipping context. I mean, in the context of the emphasis that was placed on their relationship by the show itself with all their parallels (s1) and tension (s2). Why not have them actually do something with it????

What the fuck (pardon my language) was the fucking point of building up their relationship in season 2????

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE YIN AND YANG SUBTEXT FOR?!?!?!?!?

What about all the goddamn similarities between them!?!??!?!?!

And WHYYYYY make it obvious inho developed some form of attachment to gi-hun if, in the end, it didn't matter except for him giving his daughter the money?!??

I am without words..... I feel like season 2's character relationship developments didn't matter at all.....

I feel like they took a sledgehammer to any interesting or dynamic character points and made them static dolls to droll out the ending.

Also, this was all so cheesy & boring and yet strangely random and unpredictable in a bad way.

Sorry for the rant....I just can't comprehend a single thing I just watched...

Anon, I feel you in every sense of the word *sigh* and I absolutely agree that even without the shipping context, there are so many fumbled opportunities. I understand that HDH had like half a year to come up with the scripts and stuff, but come on, that's your job. the fanfic writers do this for a side hobby and they draft up way more intricate and compelling stuff within WEEKS (is it the power of old man yaoi? maybe) but still, I think it could have landed on an average ending/mostly making logical sense, instead of this slop...

[once-in-a-blue-moon-rising]

I keep seeing posts talking about the metaphor created in the final game: this all-male group, the majority of whom are middle-aged and ruthless and self-serving, being a stand-in for the people who do best under capitalism. Or, barely a stand-in, because this is the demographic who can really succeed in this system. You can't do well if you're not prepared to exploit people along the way (or push a baby off a pillar).

And I agree, I really do. It's a good metaphor, and it's definitely not misogynistic writing, much as I might wish for some of my fave women to have made it further. (I also actually think Gi-hun's death, and the reason he chose to sacrifice himself, were fitting for the show, although that's a little outside the scope of this post.)

BUT.

I also have big issues with the final game, and (at time of writing, post-first watch) didn't enjoy it an awful lot. The main reason for this is because (to me) it works as a metaphor, but it doesn't work very well as a story, and Squid Game has, in the past, balanced these two elements much better.

The main issue, I think, is that most of the characters who appear in the final game are really underdeveloped. Even Myung-gi, who we do spend some time with prior to this final showdown, is a bit of a mystery, but that's nothing compared to almost all of the other characters who have really only served as 2D adversaries to Gi-hun - encouraging people to vote O and get more money. (I'm slightly leaving Min-su out of this, as he is a bit more fleshed out, and I think it's kind of interesting to keep the guy who's got this far through fear and siding with the stronger side, despite the fact he's obviously deeply conflicted about what he's done. Also he doesn't have much impact in this game, really.)

To me, if this was going to be the group of characters we were going to finish the show with, we needed to spend more time with them earlier on. We needed to understand their backgrounds and motivations and beliefs and relationships. We needed to watch more closely how they treated each other in other games. And I'm not saying that they needed to be made into nice people at all - but they did need to be people. That, to me, is how you really inject tension and conflict into a scene, when the audience understands the reason the characters are making the choices they make. And wouldn't it have been even more horrifying, looking at a man openly advocating chucking a baby off a pillar, if you'd understood that man? If you could have sympathy for him and understand that he was a person, like you, even as you were appalled by his suggestion?

Plus, an episode and a bit is a long time to spend with characters you don't have much investment in.

(It has occurred to me that maybe HDH made most of the final men 2D lifeless villains to provoke the audience into wishing for their death and classifying them as trash, but again although this does work on a symbolic level, imo it isn't a great storytelling technique.)

And the thing is, I know he and Squid Game can do this balance of character and metaphor well. This is what made Sang-woo so great. I'm loath, actually, to put Sang-woo in the same box as, say, Player 100, but is that because I have personal information about Sang-woo and nothing on Player 100? Is it because I know how he justifies his actions, and it makes me tempted to excuse them too? If Gi-hun was not part of the equation, and Sang-woo had taken part in Squid Game 2024, would he have thrown that baby?* Would the metaphor have been diminished because I cared about him, or would I have been left feeling profoundly unsettled that ruthlessness and humanity could live in the same person? That the rich who step on others to benefit themselves in the real world are real people too, with thoughts and feelings and loved ones and beliefs - it's just that they found a way to justify the exploitation, that they've decided that we don't count.

To be clear, I don't think it would diminish the metaphor at all. If anything, it would make it more bleak, and in terms of the narrative, it would add so much conflict for us as the audience. It would have been much more engaging.

So. That's my problem with the final game, as much as I agree with the analysis about the message it's portraying.

*I'm not necessarily saying he would have, but I think he would have probably considered it, and I certainly don't think he'd have gone to the same lengths as Gi-hun to protect her. After all, to his knowledge, that baby has no guardian to care for her, even if she did win. And if he loses, his mother loses everything.

[fictionkinfessions]

(I just remembered, I actually got to paint with p.ai.nter once.)

([We] walked into his little space, I think It just wanted to explore since It'd never made [us] go in there before. And p.ai.nter offered for me to paint with him.)

(I could tell It got excited over the idea so I was getting ready to just. Watch myself draw whatever. I've never been someone who drew so I've got very little skill when it comes to that. If anything I was mildly curious to see how well It would do, while using my body.)

(But... that didn't happen? I could. Move. Properly and by myself, like in Sebastian's shop. I was so confused. I accidentally ended up confusing p.ai.nter too since I was just staring at myself for a while before doing anything.)

(It was fun. I actually really enjoyed painting with him, even if I had no idea what I was doing. He actually gave me tips. Showed me what brushes would be better to use and taught me how to think while you paint something. With his help, I actually managed to make a pretty simple and decent landscape. I think he might've had fun too? I don't think anyone's painted with him in a long time, so even if it was me, he still enjoyed the activity.)

(Though I did end up having to go. I'd spent so much time in there HQ was getting fed up with my lack of progress and started to make my PDG beep. Since It is afraid of death (even if I'm the only one that's actually dying here) It quickly took back control of my body and made [us] get out of there. [Our] sudden exit was probably startling, but considering the fact I was going to get blown up (not really but close enough) otherwise? I think p.ai.nter understood the rush hdh)

-Expendable, Roblox: Pressure, #sunstruck

x

[blissfulbluee]

i honestly don't exactly get how people see a show meant to critique how the rich and the powerful exploit the poor in a capitalist society and either get entertainment out of it (vips) or are simply so far removed from the reality of an average person that they are unable to comprehend it on a fundamental level (ilnam) and decide that the viewer, your average joe who pays 10$ a month to watch a tv show on a platform where the show has to be released in a way which allows people to binge it in a day because the average joe has no time to watch it outside of whatever free time they get from their 8 to 6 and is absolutely burnt out from living this way to the point where they're unable to maintain an interest in something for long periods of time, is meant to be represented by the vips. i've stumbled upon a few rants of that sort that implied anyone who did not like s3 has literally missed this point that hwang was trying to make and at this point they're more insulting to his capabilities as a writer/director than the actual critique aimed at s3 because to imply that he tried to draw a parallel between the median viewer and a vip is straight up... insulting to his critical thinking skills?

moreover, the only actual nod to real life people i caught in the way the vips were written was the vips' desire to participate in the games in a safe manner just to "feel what it feels like", which imo was meant to poke fun at mr beast and others who tried to make squid game happen irl. considering mr beast and the likes of him are usually bajillionaires and as removed from the average viewer as the vips are from players it feels justified (also, i would say the nod is warranted considering that not only trying to recreate the games irl is completely missing the point, it also led to real life exploitation of poor people which is just... yeah)

hi anon this is a little late so i sorry if you dont see this. ive been so exhausted lately so i didnt have the brain power to read and respond for a while but now im forcing myself to sjdjfjfm. anyway, thanks for this, you put it all so well!

you really hit the nail with this one. honestly it is really insulting to hdh to be like ‘yeah hes trying to say we are like the vips’ when he literally gives us nothing to relate to with them. if he wants to point the mirror towards us with these characters, hes actually gotta have a mirror. like you say the average viewer is no where near the vip in wealth and privilege.

ive also seen people say that people who didn’t like the season and critique hdh are like the vips and it always invalidates their point to me..bc like you say its even more insulting to the show than people who simply did not like it for one reason or another.

its usually just a way to make the other person in the argument feel bad for their criticisms. its also just a huge misunderstanding of what the other side is coming from. its assuming the commentary/questions/jokes are shallow or from the same place as the vips. like for example, saying the deaths were meaningless doesn’t mean the person cant see the meaning if they tried, it just means they don’t see the points the author was trying to make or what worth the death even had.

[onanightofwintryfog]

More Squid Game s3 thoughts

After thinking about season 3 some more there are so many endings and changes that would have elevated the season above the mediocracy it was.

give Junho a reason to be in the series in the first place. He was quiet a good police officer in the first season (at least he found Gihun and the island on his own, he was resourceful, he was deducing, he was sneaking around the island all by himself and survived) I refuse to believe he is that stupid to not suspect captain Park after Woo-seok tells him about his doubts. At least let Junho be more suspicious, and interrogate the Captain.

He was searching for 3 years and didn't think for a second that the person who saved him lead him around the sea in circles? No other boat was there, so just a happy coincidence that captain Park was there? I guess I can believe that he didn't suspect him at first, but even after what Woo-seok told him? I'm sorry, Junho's stupidity is just a plot hole or plot device. It makes no sense for his character to act this way.

Give Gihun some lines goddammit. He barely talked.

"Sit down, this could take a while." - that was just about a minute?? what was that line. Why was it there when they didn't have a confrontation? Gihun didn't find out who Inho really was. His one enemy he wanted to find for 3 years and he just leaves? I know I'm repeating myself. But a 5 minute dialogue scene was much needed between them. I can't believe they thought that would satify anyone after that build up?

Build ups and hype and fan expectations are hard, I get it, but that was just so pointless.

Gihun just accepting the games and the system now or what? He didn't even he try to argue? Why didn't he try to convince Inho to join him and they both take the island down? Inho very clearly wanted for Gihun and the baby to survive so that thought doesn't seem to far off? Gihun didn't have any fight left in him - and I get it that after what happend with the rebellion and later Daeho - but we see a slight change when he tries to protect Jun-hee and her baby. That should've been the point where his fighting spirit should've returned. He didn't chase the frontman and the games for 3 years to just accept to let an innocent child be a player in a game where they have no remorse killing a newborn.

The whole ending seemed so rushed. Gihun got a knife and didn't kill the players - to show what? That he isn't like Inho? But he killed Daeho? So why couldn't he kill player 100? So murdering one person is fine but more than that not? Just because he saw Sae-byeok? And if he saw Sangwoo? What would he have done then? Why was there just Sae-byeok for him to imagine? Why didn't we see more of his conflictiong emotions after killing Daeho? Why was there no callback to Sangwoo and what he did in their first game? He did it to survive, just like Gihun, so where was his character arc accepting this and accepting that Sangwoo did what he thought was best and so did he? Why was all his conflict internal and all we saw was LJJ looking distressed?

Gihun dies in the stupidest way possible. I get that he was depressed and beaten and hopeless and suicidal - but that could've changed with the frontman confrontation. Gihun realising they are going to die anyway and this is the only way to protect the baby and working together with Inho. Basically a Gihun corruption arc with excuse doing it for the child - which could've been so interesting. I don't understand how anyone thought that finale was a good ending to squid game?

I get that for Gihun sacrificing himself for the child seemed maybe like a good excuse to commit suicide for "a reason" but damn. It stills feels so stupid. I get that his search and goal to end the games was always doomed to fail - but I don't ask for a more hopeful ending. I'm asking not have the characters have a total character assassination between seasons.

There was so little interesting dialogue.

I know that HDH was fed up with squid game but still. They filmed s2 and s3 back to back. And the difference between those seasons is so extreme. S2 had great set pieces, so much tension and especially Gihun and Inho playing off of each other. And then s3 is just there to eliminate all the other players until we have a group of men arguing atop a pillar. Is that suppose to be a commentary on society? If so, it's not a very good one. The satire and bleakness from the first season was written so well. I refuse to believe it was the same guy writing s3.

Most of the character deaths are stupid. I think the only one that I really liked was Hyun-ju's because it was consistend with her character. She protected geum-ga and jun-hee since the beginning, she wanted to get them out there alive. So of course she would go back for them even if she could've saved herself. It was sad, it fit.

If the characters didn't get so much choice for the games (choosing the order in which to cross the bridge, choosing who to eliminate in the last game - just a time limit every time) it would be much quicker and wouldn't have led to so much pointless and boring arguing. Really those scenes draged on and on and I wasn't interested at all bc you knew what would happen - so why show all the arguing at all?

Inho could've raised the baby - in place of the one he lost and never met. But he brings it to Junho and fucks off to America? What? We never learned more about him. I really really really don't want a spinoff show (I would have to watch that bc of LBH, pls lbh don't do this to me, Iris was bad enough)

Gihun raising Jun-hee's baby would make much more sense than him jumping to his death in the hope that some of the so very nice people left on the island take care of it? I mean???? Sorry Gihun, I know they removed your brain for s3 but what? If we had gotten a scene between him and Inho in which Inho promises to take care of the baby if Gihun fails and dies I could understand it, kind of. But this? The VIPs wanted to kill the baby before Inho made it a player. I'm sorry. Why did everyone suddenly turn stupid?

I didn't expect for anyone to survive. I expected that not everyone got closure. Still!! They wrote the beginnings of those scenes (Frontman confrontation, Hwang brothers meeting) and didn't follow through. All their deaths felt cheap. And not in a "that's just how the system is"-way but in a "we forgotten how to write an interesting story"-way - maybe that was HDH revenge on netflix because they made him write two more seasons. Actually that is the only explanation that makes sense to me why s3 is the way it is - and the only one I accept. There was just plain bad writing and plot holes in it.

Also that cgi baby and dog were atrocious.

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

16 #1 Hits from the Early 60's 1982 Soul / Pop / Girl Groups / Pop-Soul / R&B

Again, I don't think that there's another label in the world, outside of the enormous ones that have had their hooks firmly dug into a wide array of genres, that could possibly have put out a whole series of compilations that consist solely of just their own #1 hits, like Motown managed to do here in the early 80s. Sure, they were just putting together these budget cheat code comps of easily accessible tunes, but by that same token, no other label that produced and released their own music had that same capability to just use US chart-toppers from their very own catalog. It's really such an impressive muscle-flex on their part, and really goes to show why Motown is the single-greatest institution in the history of American pop music 💪.

Now, they had a lot of successful acts, but throughout much of the 60s, the straw that really stirred Motown's drink was the inimitable songwriting and production trio of Holland-Dozier-Holland, whose work appears on eight of these sixteen tracks here. And the one partnership they had that ended up launching Motown into a previously uncharted stratosphere was with Diana Ross & the Supremes, who have six #1s that appear on this comp, all of which were produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland.

In 1964, The Supremes achieved their first ever #1 with "Where Did Our Love Go," and then proceeded to rattle off four more consecutive #1s in "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," "Stop! In the Name of Love," and "Back in My Arms Again." Their streak would then break in '65, but they'd still manage to squeeze out another #1 that year with "I Hear a Symphony." And the acoustics on all of these, along with a common formula of bouncy, undergirding rhythms and percussion, makes them simply unbeatable.

So, without that combination of Holland-Dozier-Holland and The Supremes, the 60s definitely wouldn't have turned out as nearly as fortunate as they did for Motown. HDH would doubtlessly apply their talents to other acts and probably achieve other big hits, but none would probably end up clicking as consistently and perfectly as they did with Diana Ross & the Supremes.

And what's perhaps even more impressive about all of this is that, by the end of the decade, Holland-Dozier-Holland would leave Motown and Diana Ross would go solo, and the label would still manage to rack up #1s in the next decade like no other label could, despite those drastic changes.

So, a killer slate of tunes here that really demonstrates just what an absolute powerhouse Motown really was. An excellent starter pack for any Motown novice out there who wants to get a taste of a bunch of the label's biggest successes in their earlier years.

Highlights:

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - "Shop Around" The Marvelettes - "Please Mr. Postman" The Contours - "Do You Love Me" Stevie Wonder - "Fingertips, Pt. 2" Martha & the Vandellas - "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave" Mary Wells - "My Guy" Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Where Did Our Love Go" Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Baby Love" The Temptations - "My Girl" Junior Walker & the All-Stars - "Shotgun" Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Stop! In the Name of Love" The Four Tops - "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" Diana Ross & the Supremes - "Back in My Arms Again" Diana Ross & the Supremes - "I Hear a Symphony"

[daeho388]

okay, dont hate me for saying this

but im kind of looking forward to the us squid game (only like 15-38%) but after the dust has settled and things are getting quieter in the Squid Game fandom, im really not ready to let it go.

On the surface, i 388% agree it's an absolutely awful idea, don't get me wrong, it's capitalistic bs. But there have been good American shows, and if they figure out a way to continue the story creatively, then I'm okay with it. I went into s2 thinking it was going to be shit and they were dragging it on, but I was so wrong, but I think that low expectation helped me fall in love with the series even more with s2, and set up an extremely high expectation for s3 which, eeeeeeeeh let's just not.

I just hope with the us one (is it even officially confirmed idk) they dont forget what made us all fall in love with the series and maybe there's some talks with hdh to tie up what loose ends are tie-up-able

with that said, im cautiously optimistic, expecting the worst hoping for the best

but I may still just be in denial with the series being over and as a wise man once said I HATE ENDINGS.

[lyxchen]

Hot take apparently but I do believe that a good writer and director will usually know his own characters best, especially when some of them are partially self inserts

[itadooori]

IM GOING INSANE OVER THE TEASER help i saw u wanted someone to yap in the asks and i was huh why not me

ANYWAY gihun my beautiful bbg.

i don’t see him getting his happy ending 😭 with s3 being described as “the worst one” / “the very end of despair”. HWANG DONG-HYUK WHEN I CATCH YOU 😭😭

i just wanted gihun to end the games & be happy with his daughter finally but that seems like such a faraway dream?? all throughout the teaser gihun had the most depressed, devastating face and im so worried for him. i really really do hope that the games dont take away gihun’s mercy too. with the way its going, i dont think he’ll have a villain arch (which i’m SO HAPPY ABOUT) but like. ughhhhh my shaylaaaaaaaaaaa

ALSO geum-ja and her son being separated??? devastated. dead. it’s going to be horrible either way, whichever of the two dies and i’ll be so sad ☹️

sorry for rambling!!

GI-HUN MY MOST BELOVED DOOMED PRINCESS as much as i would like for him to live i also don't want to set myself up for failure 😭😭 trying to be realistic so that the show can't catch me off guard!!!!!!!!!! (<- will still be in shambles if he dies)

the things that HDH and the crew have said about s3 have me soooo scared. like fym it explores the "the very end of despair". fym its a "truly unimaginably cruel and brutal story". fym "when all hope is extinguished and only despair remains, what lies beyond that?" HWANG DONG-HYUK GET BACK HERE

truth be told though, i am still holding out hope for a bittersweet/hopeful ending. i think despite hdh basically saying he's about to shatter the human psyche, i believe that the whole 'what lies beyond the end of despair' thing can still be spun into something good. maybe that's copium BUT IDC

ALSO YEAH. A HAPPY ENDING FOR GI-HUN JUST SEEMS SO FAR AWAY 😭 at the very least, going off what i'm seeing in the teaser and everything else, i also doubt his story is going in the direction of a villain arc. what i personally think is more likely is more of like.. a complete mental break? he's going to completely dissociate instead. there's only so much a man can take y'know

I AM ALSO SO SCARED FOR GEUM-JA AND YONG-SIK'S STORYLINE IN S3 😭😭 i think it's going to be yong-sik who dies going off how geum-ja looked at the end of the teaser, which is going to hurt so badly knowing that all she wanted was for her son to live even if she died

don't ever apologize for rambling!!!! i love to yap and i'm elated to have people in my inbox who let me

[midnight--sadness]

Crazy how the director didn't think this was a red flag lmao. Like your lead actor (who's not some newbie mind you but a veteran who has been in the industry for atleast 3 decades) read the ending and immediately went "yo you got any alternate endings" and he didn't bother to think that perhaps the ending isn't good at all lol

https://x.com/Kanit_Chinsin/status/1941004181873332414?t=wCpE3fIFbrf83rqD8GGRXw&s=19

i actually just reblogued this post abt this interview, so i'm glad you're giving me a chance to speak abt this anon!!!

i wish i could say its weird but i think that hdh was set on this ending and didn't want to change it, no matter people's reactions, including those from his cast. he's even said, in this interview, that if he went back in time to rewrite the series, he would make the same ending bc he believes its the perfect conclusion.

in that same video i linked, he says that his original ending (gihun surviving and seeing the recruiter in la) was very different than the one we got but that as he created junhee and her baby and said baby being born in the games, he decided to change it.

and all of these choices are completely valid. its his artistic vision and he ended the show the way he thought was best.

but i still think we should be able to criticize it. this ending left a lot of people unhappy, from die hard fans to casual viewers, and that's not really a coincidence.

the actors being disatisfied, from lee jungjae wondering abt the ending (he did end up accepting it i guess but not once in this interview does he say that he agrees with it; i do believe he has said that he thought the ending was appropriate or something along those lines, but i don't quite remember where that interview was from), to lee byunghun not seeming very satisfied with the direction the show took his character especially when u consider how much insight and love he has for inho, to wi hajoon also saying that he did have some regrets abt junho's storyline (i know my link is to a twt post with no link of itself but if u search for the round table interview, you'll find it), is very sad honestly.

they obviously all loved the show and the characters they were portraying. they are allowed to be sad with the direction the show took, same as us fans. in the end, the criticism towards this season are valid. this wasn't the best writing we've seen from hdh and he could have delivered a message of hope, which was his intention apparently, without needing to kill gihun, in my opinion.

all of this to say - i hope the actors have an ao3 account, they deserve it after this ending lmaooo

[yellowwwcrayon]

I have been vicariously watching the Squid Game fandom through your blog posts, and I just looked through the tags to see everyone pissed, so I am curious--with full spoilers ahead--what *did* happen between Inho and Gihun? I read they only had one conversation/confrontation, when their relationship had been really built up/teased beforehand? And Gihun sacrificed himself for what? Feel free to rant as much as you would like, lol.

I realize my chain of real time reaction reblogs may seem rather unhinged. I feel unhinged. work is boiling over, some nasty bitch in legal is yelling at everyone down the phone, and all I can think is damn hdh really didn't give a fuck about season 3 as I sit and bask in the chaos lol

Re: your question above, not much happened between them. Gihun didn't even say anything if I recall. like the whole bit was less than two minutes. we got no reasoning why he gave Gihun a knife when he summoned him all the way over besides it being something he was presented with back then and he killed the other contestants. I don't know why they said it was a poignant scene. they said virtually NOTHING. it wasn't even a conversation.

the old men arguing about who to chuck over a concrete block during the last two episodes took infinitely longer and was much more boring. AND THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATIONS THROUGHOUT, AND THE RANDOM SUICIDES, like why??? I get hdh was tired of the show but Jesus, a tiny bit more care would have been appreciated...

there's no homo, which was kind of sad but to be expected. I'm actually glad they broke it up into two separate seasons for 2 and 3. I honestly would not have been compelled to write Inhun fics at all if this whole thing had been released and I saw the ending back in December.

[once-in-a-blue-moon-rising]

I've been thinking recently that the reason that a decent chunk of Squid Game character analysis doesn't hit quite right for me* is because people don't necessarily look at the characters through the lens of the show's larger metaphors, which for a show like this, I think is essential.

Let me give you an example.

Recently I've seen a little bit of pushback against the idea of Gi-hun becoming the Frontman, or becoming part of the games in some other position of power.

And let me be clear, I really do understand where people are coming from on this, given that Gi-hun is essentially the human representation of the goodness in humanity and/or the struggle against an unjust system. I also don't actually think that this is the way that HDH will end the show - Squid Game is dark, and grim, but there is an underlying optimism that this type of ending would seemingly (more on this later) crush.

However, I personally think that people who object to the possibility of it happening on the grounds that it would be OOC, or a wild unprecedented plot twist, are maybe not exploring the metaphors of the show deeply enough and/or just looking at Gi-hun as a character independent of his environment.**

The show shows us pretty clearly that the ideal outcome - the outcome that Gi-hun openly wants, too - is for the games to be stopped, and for people to stop being exploited. We all agree on this.

But we've also been shown - so far - that hasty, violent decisions are not necessarily productive in achieving that aim. This, I think, as many things in the show do, mirrors real life, and is a whole other debate which I do not have time for in this post, but is essentially this: I can go out tomorrow, and I can firebomb an institution that I disagree with. It sends a message. It may inspire others. But it may also land me in jail, or get me killed, and in either case, I will no longer be useful in the fight against that institution, and it will (probably) survive my attack. It may even use my attack to prove its own moral superiority (already In-ho is trying to do this with the 'did you enjoy playing the hero?' line).

But, maybe, if I was able to go into politics, into the system itself, I could take some smaller steps, which, over time, could improve things. Could take down this system which I want to dismantle. Of course, I would also be part of the upholding of the system in the meantime, and I might have to compromise on some things in order to move forward with others, but perhaps what I did achieve would be longer lasting. Perhaps I could ensure that I continued actively fighting for change, instead of being rendered useless.

Now, I don't pretend to know which is the best way forward, either in real life or in the show, and it doesn't really matter in this analysis, anyway. Both methods have flaws, and both are limited because they exist within a system which does not want to be destroyed.

But, to me, the second option - the political option - is legitimate, regardless of whether it's your preferred method of defiance. And that's what a Frontman Gi-hun would be. He would still symbolise that defiance and that hope, but he would be working towards his goal in a very different way. He would be working from inside the system, with the express goal of dismantling it from within. If anyone could achieve it, he could.

As I say - I don't think Gi-hun becoming the Frontman is what's going to happen in canon for a number of reasons. It's a 'slow and steady wins the race'-type method of defiance, which isn't super exciting, and which also might be hard to really bring home with only six episodes to go. It isn't super in line with Gi-hun being a canonical gambling addict, and for those viewers who don't enjoy writing hundreds of words of analysis, it might seem to give a more pessismistic message than HDH wants.

However, I also don't think it's an outlandish, jarring theory, and I think to say it is, is to ignore the fact that there are many ways to defy an oppressive system, and that to remain morally pure - to accept no part in said system - might not always be the best way to fight it.

*obviously this objectively doesn't matter, I do realise that other people's fandom content is not for me specifically!

** if it's just personal taste then this post is 100% not about that