Squid Game: Humans Are...

 "We are not horses... we are humans."

Well, that finale was good... until it wasn't! I can see what they were going for... but the finale needed more drama, not for the suspense to end early and the rest of the episode to consist of a postscript, however satisfying it is to see Gi-hun's daughter, and Jun-ho, become rich, showing that the Front Man has some ethics. 

It started well, though, with the suspense of the final game. The baby's father, in threatening to kill his own child, made sure that he deserved to die, as indeed he did. It was more of a surprise to see Gi-hun die, but on reflection it makes sense. He's a terrible father too, in parallel... and for him to win twice would stretch credibility. The whole scene played out brilliantly and with maximum suspense, and was positively vertiginous at times. Heights are really not my thing...

No-eul, after being on the verge of suicide, gets a nice little hint of hope. But it's not an entirely happy ending. The bad guys get away, and THAT final scene...

This is a flawed final episode. But it has its good points, and at least the characters are well-served.

Squid Game: O X

 "Your money, your girl, your life, they're all mine..."

And with this, the most brutal episode yet, the stakes are even higher.

Next episode is the finale, so naturally Jun-ho and his undeerlings, with the help of a drone, seem to find the island, albeit explosively. But, among the players, there's so much drama and so much anguish.The game of Mingle, which lasts for several rounds, is the most evil yet and, for the first time, we see the death of a non-redshirt. We also see, with this being a game that rewards such things, unexpected moments of weakness and... yes, ruthlessness. We won't see In-ho in the same way again, likeable as he claims to be.

This game evokes cliques and tribes, as in school, and the dynamic is very much that- popularity, ruthlessness and, in the horrifying final round where there's intense competition for a limited number of rooms, ruthlessness. But perhaps the intended metaphor, as ever, is the free market.

Things are no less intense during the vote on whether to continue. After much drama and tension, it's revealed that there will be another vote in the morning... and, as soon as Ji-hun sees they've all been provided with metal forks, he sees the horrifying implication: they need to survive the night. And so arguments turn to violence, leading to atruly shocking final shot...