Squid Game: Gganbu

 "I'm pretty good at getting the things in the holes, huh?"

After weeks and weeks it's been quite clear that Squid Game, while being fundamentally plotted around the deadly games, is also a bloody good drama with character and subtext... and emotions. But dammit, this episode made this forty-four year old man cry.

The gimmick is simple: the characters pair off... and it turns out they have to play marbles against each other for survival, with characters tending to have paired off with their friends or, in one case, spouses. Naturally, the pairings are for maximum emotional cruelty, but the first casualty is poor Mi-Nyeo, whose desperate charm cannot save her from being the one character unable to find a partner, and thus the first to die. Ouch. I liked her.

Up to a point it's not hard to suppose that the characters we've followed will best the randomers against whom they are pitted, so it's no surprise to see Deok-su, not yet receiving his inevitable comeuppance, survive. Nor are we surprised to see Mi-Nyeo win out against a woman we haven't really seen before, but the circumstances are heartwrenching as this lovely lady willingly lays down her life after a heart to heart, concluding that Mi-Nyeo has more to live for.

Then there's the evil Sang-woo, whose dirty tricks doom poor Ali. I hope he bloody well dies for this. But most heart-wrenching of all is the pairing between Gi-hun and the old man, who sacrifices his life for the younger man but not before teaching him a stern moral lesson about exploiting the weaknesses of others. The old man's death scene is utterly devastating, although he at least has the dignity of being shot off-screen.

This is excellent, devastating television.