- Squid Game season 2 is now screening on Netflix
- Lee Jung-jae’s Gi-hun returns for more deadly games
- How did Squid Game season 1 end?
Squid Game season 2 is getting closer, with audiences counting down the days before the show returns to Netflix screens worldwide.
The first series of Squid Game landed on the streamer in 2020. It pulled viewers into a world where gamblers are forced to play life-or-death games for a big money prize. Directed by Hwang Dong-Hyuk and starring Lee Jung-jae as our reluctant hero Seong Gi-hun, the series became a quick hit.
Read more: Everything we know about Squid Game season 2
By the time the dust had settled, Squid Game season 1 had become one of Netflix’s most streamed shows ever. It racked up an eye-watering 1.65 billion hours viewed within its first four weeks on the platform.
Cut to 2024 and Squid Game season 2 is just a few weeks away and a lot has happened since we were last in this deadly world. Forgotten what happened in the show’s first series? Fear not. We’ve rounded up all the key moments in this handy Squid Game season 1 recap.
Squid Game season 1 series recap
Squid Game season one opens by introducing us to Seong Gi-Hun (Jung-jae), a gambling addict who has hit rock bottom. His addiction has not only ruined his family life but it got him in deep with loan sharks.
Struggling and unsure where to turn next, he meets a suited man in a subway station who invites him to play a card game named Ddakji for cash. Gi-hun quickly becomes obsessed and when he finally beats the game, the Salesman (Gong-yoo) informs him of another opportunity with a higher monetary reward.
Intrigued, Gi-Hun takes the Salesman up on his offer and is sedated. When he awakens, he’s entered the Squid Game alongside 456 other players each wearing numbered green tracksuits. Gi-hun quickly befriends an old man known as player 001 (O Yeong-su) who he discovers has a brain tumour. He also recognises an old childhood friend, Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo)
A masked stranger known as the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) tells the group that they stand to win 45.6 billion won (around $38 million). However, for the pot to reach this number, people must die. For every player ‘eliminated’ an additional 100,000,000 won is added to the jackpot.
The players must survive six games over six days, the first of which is called Red Light, Green Light. Here, players must make their way across an empty space without being spotted by a giant robot doll. If they’re seen, the doll will shoot to kill. The game ends in a blood bath but Gi-hun manages to survive.
What are the games in Squid Game season 1?
Shocked, the surviving players vote to end the game and forgo any prize money. However, when Gi-hun tries to alert the authorities, no one believes him. Eventually, the prize money becomes too much and many return to the Squid Game. However, the police officer, Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who Gi-hun visited decides to investigate as he believes the game is linked to his missing brother.
By episode three, Jun-ho has infiltrated the game while Gi-hun and the rest of the survivors continue the games. In game two, they must carve stamped-out shapes from delicate honeycomb cookies. Gi-hun survives this round by licking the sugar away to reveal the shape.
Game three is a tug of war, with groups of ten pitted against each other and the losing team falling to their death from a raised platform. Meanwhile, as Jun-ho’s investigation deepens, he attracts the attention of the Front Man. Soon, we discover the Front Man is Jun-ho’s missing brother and a former winner of a previous Squid Game.
How did Squid Game season 1 end?
Game four invites players to pair up and play marbles, with whoever ends the game with their opponent’s marbles winning.
Gi-hun is paired with the elderly player 001 and their friendship deepens before he is sadly eliminated. In episode seven, we’re introduced to the VIPs. These are a group of wealthy individuals who watch and bet on the Squid Game while hiding behind animal masks. They watch the remaining players embark on game four which involves contestants making their way across a glass bridge.
Some parts of the glass are sturdy, while others are made with thin, tempered glass and will end in a player falling to their death. By the end of the game, only three players remain, including Gi-hun.
How did Gi-hun survive Squid Game season 1?
When Sang-woo kills an injured player, the survivors are down to two. Meanwhile, after a tense chase, Gun-ho discovers his brother is the Front Man before narrowly escaping the island where the Squid Game is held.
In the final episode of Squid Game season one, Gi-hun manages to emerge victorious after refusing to kill his childhood friend Sang-woo and forfeiting any prize money. This is upended when Sang-woo takes his own life, ultimately leaving Gi-hun as the sole surviving player and overall winner.
Read more: Does Gi-hun have red hair in Squid Game season 2?
With the prize money transferred to his bank account, Gi-hun spends the next year at a loose end, unable to touch his winnings. After receiving a mysterious card, he learns that the player 001 is not only still alive but one of an originator of the Squid Game.
On his deathbed, he tells Gi-hun that he wanted to enter the game to feel something real before he passed away. After completing the promises he made to the players he met in the game, Gi-hun travels to t airport to meet his estranged daughter in Los Angeles.
However, when he spots the Salesman recruiting new players for a new game, he decides to return, dying his hair a vibrant red. It’s here where the show’s first season ends, with Squid Game season 2 setting up Gi-hun’s return, this time with vengeance on his mind.
