Squid Game Season 3 Finally Gives Fans What They Always Wanted (And It’s Terrible)

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Contains general spoilers for “Squid Game” Season 3

In the third season of “Squid Game”, we delve deeper into the lives of a select group of VIP characters, who until now had minimal screen time. However, this expanded focus unfortunately reveals that these new characters are tired stereotypes and lack the intrigue to keep viewers engaged, mirroring their own boredom within the series.

The characters among the four VIPs in Squid Game could have been more nuanced and engaging, but instead, they feel like tired stereotypes. This might have been a deliberate choice on the part of creator-director-writer Hwang Dong-hyuk, serving as a critique of western morals. This approach works when these characters appear briefly in a season, but becomes problematic when entire episodes, such as Episode 3 and Episode 5, are dedicated to them. In essence, the extended screen time given to the VIPs in the final season of Squid Game risks diluting the overall impact of the series.

The VIPs drag Season 3 down

In the first season of “Squid Game”, the high-class characters – foreign millionaires who secretly sponsor and observe the games for their amusement – are subtly introduced and appear in just three episodes: episode 7 titled “VIPs”, episode 8 named “Front Man”, and the last episode of the season, “One Lucky Day”. In contrast, they play a minimal role in season 2.

Viewers understand that these characters are wealthy foreign investors, who have been attending the games since they were first invited by Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su) and his colleagues. It’s already established that they are sociopaths who view those less fortunate than them as disposable waste. This was effectively conveyed in Season 1 without repetition. However, devoting a significant portion of Season 3 to emphasizing this over and over again seems unnecessary, especially when characters like Buffalo Mask, Panther Mask, Lion Mask, Eagle Mask, and Bear Mask (David Sayers, Jane Wong, Bryan Bucco, Jordan Lambertoni, and Kevin Yorn) are gambling with the players’ lives, engaging in excessive drinking and drug use, sexually abusing people, and making offensive jokes.

It’s clear that these characters are malicious, and it seems unnecessary to dedicate 20 minutes showcasing their joyous anticipation of a baby’s demise. Instead, let’s focus on the character who has been significantly underrepresented in Season 3 for a more balanced narrative.

The VIPs eat up time that belongs to the Front Man

Since a significant portion of the series focuses on the antics of the VIPs, be it their role-playing as Pink Guards or gambling with babies’ lives, some characters, like Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), the sometimes kind Front Man, receive less screen time than they should while managing his group. This valuable character often gets overlooked in the process.

Indeed, he does engage in an exciting scuffle with Kang No Eul (Park Gyu-young) in Episode 5, but for most of Season 3, he observes the games from afar and directs VIPs through their experience. Given that the entire series revolves around Hwang In-Ho’s complex relationship with the optimistic, heroic, and morally upstanding character Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), and they have minimal interaction throughout Season 3, it seems that this time could have been utilized more effectively on a more engaging topic than the decadent lifestyles of the wealthy.

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2025-06-27 10:30