It might have been straightforward to take the profitable high-concept premise of “Squid Recreation” — hard-luck contestants compete to the dying in a sadistically kiddie-themed battle royale — and easily replicate it for Season 2. In any case, the present’s first season, which appeared on Netflix to little preliminary fanfare in 2021, was embraced as a shrewd fable of late-stage capitalism and drew a reported 330 million viewers worldwide, changing into the streaming service’s most-watched title of all time.
However the second season of the present, which premiered on the day after Christmas, introduces an intriguing plot aspect that cannily faucets into the present political second. Crucial critiques for the brand new season have been blended, however the brand new installment of “Squid Recreation” is perhaps the very best pop-cultural examination but of the social dynamics which have led to a collection of rightward shifts across the globe — from the election of Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s hard-line conservative president, in 2022 to a second victory for Donald Trump right here at residence. If the primary season was about how capitalism forces folks into unimaginable decisions (reminiscent of braving a murderous recreation present in hopes of bettering a determined lot), then the second season is all in regards to the toll of tribalism: how the push to pit ourselves in opposition to each other in a winner-take-all political battle results in destruction and despair for all.
To know the present’s second-season evolution, it helps to recall a spotlight from Season 1: the second episode, titled “Hell,” wherein traumatized survivors of the sport’s first problem got the chance to vote on whether or not they’d wish to proceed the sport. Provided that the sport’s first problem led to dozens of casualties among the many contestants, a viewer may assume the contestants would unanimously vote for escape. However when confronted with the persistent hopelessness of their plights within the exterior world, the contestants choose universally, by the tip of the episode, to re-enter the sport — believing that its perilous contests provide them the very best likelihood for altering their fortunes. The sport is merciless, however the world is crueler. And they also vote to play.
In Season 2, this winner-take-all dilemma turns into not only a one-off vote however an occasion after each spherical. Surviving gamers should resolve, by majority vote, whether or not to finish the sport for everybody or proceed in hopes of gathering the biggest doable jackpot. And there’s one other twist: Prematurely ending the sport now not ends in everybody going residence empty-handed however reasonably in everybody splitting the winnings evenly. It’s a traditional game-show dilemma — stop now and take the cash you’ve gained, or press on in hopes of a much bigger fortune — however within the fingers of the “Squid Recreation” creator it turns into a malevolent social experiment.
The contestants rapidly cluster into two opposing factions: The purple “X” workforce, which desires to get out and keep away from additional bloodshed, and the blue “O” workforce, which is raring to press ahead regardless of the dangers. The present isn’t refined about its political allegory. The voting scenes are staged to really feel like political rallies, with X and O camped out on their very own sides of the aisle. In a later episode, a wave of populist fervor seizes the group, buoyed by desperation, greed and survivorship bias. “We’ve made it this far, so let’s do that another time!” a contestant urges the sluggish to transform. What ensues ought to include a set off warning for any American who was dismayed on Nov. 5, as the following electoral landslide for the blue workforce is accompanied by chants of “4 extra years!” — sorry, “Yet one more recreation!” — that sweep the gamers’ dormitory.
In the end, the contestants notice {that a} extra expedient method to achieve an edge is to remove the opposition, reasonably than convert it — and because the corps absolutely devolves into tribalism, they take up arms and assault each other. That’s the eventual message of the present’s second season: Tribalism is a conflagration that consumes itself.
Hwang Dong-hyuk, the present’s creator, began writing the second season simply after Yoon Suk Yeol was elected to the presidency in South Korea. He clearly had political division on his thoughts. At a panel final fall in Los Angeles, held a number of days earlier than the U.S. election, he mentioned of the present that he needed to inform a narrative “about how the completely different decisions we make create conflicts amongst us” and the way he hoped to “open up a dialog about whether or not there’s a means for us to maneuver in a route the place we will overcome these divisions.”
It’s almost definitely no coincidence that “Squid Recreation” comes out of South Korea, a younger republic with a turbulent historical past marked with authoritarian leaders. As just lately as December, Mr. Yoon tried to declare martial regulation and has since been impeached after widespread and sustained strain from the Korean public. Footage of their joyous protests went viral all over the world and echoed comparable mass demonstrations that led to the removing of President Park Geun-hye in 2016.
There’s a second within the Season 2 finale that, to me, felt like a beacon of hope for the human spirit. A member of the Xs (performed by the star of the collection, Lee Jung-jae) manages to rally sufficient allies among the many contestants to mount a insurrection in opposition to their armed, pink-suited guards, as they try and storm the management room and take possession of the sport. A few of these volunteers sacrifice their lives in service of the bigger mission to free all of the contestants — even members of the opposing workforce. Solely when tribalism falls can all of the gamers rise.
As America awaits the second time period of Donald Trump, I ponder how we as a citizenry will reply. Are we too deeply divided already, right into a purple workforce and a blue workforce, and too preoccupied with our particular person comforts to behave in a means that considers another person’s welfare? Based on the parable of “Squid Recreation,” we may be both conspirators in our mutual destruction or deliverers from it. We’ll discover out whether or not or not we will muster the braveness and the compassion essential to work for our collective betterment when a brand new season of the American drama begins on Jan. 20.
