TV REVIEW: SQUID GAME 2

4/5

Challengers

7 Episodes. Starring: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-joon, Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Lee Jin-wook, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Jo Yu-ri, Kang Ae-shim, Choi Seung-hyun, Lee Seo-hwan, Park Gyu-young & Gong Yoo. Showrunner: Hwang Dong-hyuk. On: Netflix.

Circle. Triangle. Square. Let the games begin again. Trying to avert your eyes from spoilers for 'Squid Game 2' on Facebook, X and Instagram's Threads is like trying to avoid liking the wrong ones on Bumble, Tinder and Hinge. It's all a damn game...and it's time to play again this New Year, just when you resolved not to. If you believe the rumours, like you should the hype, American Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio may join the third and final season of the South Korean super smash like the pop acts of BTS and BLACKPINK! Although our 45.6 billion won is on the numbers on his green tracksuit, not venturing too far out of the twenties. That iconic look, countered by the pink boiler suit and black fencing mask, changing of the guard has become a popular Halloween costume, especially for couples, since 'Squid Game's' 2021 release, taking over the fellow planet pandemic saving K-Drama, 'Crash Landing On You'. The second season of a 'Silenced' Hwang Dong-hyuk's showrun special also plays around with that in a sensational second episode after the epic first.

As divisive as the nature of this battle royale is controversial (really, it's just holding up a mirror to real life's reflections), 'Squid Game 2' has been met with "mehs" by some critics quick to write game players off when they're a little seasoned. Speaking of which, even forever young NBA G.O.A.T. LeBron James said he didn't like the end of the last season. Well, we don't like the way his Los Angeles Lakers trades away perfectly good points called Russell, if we're just saying. But admittedly, we weren't a fan of player 456's red hairdo by the end of season one. Rest assured, two years later, it's gone. None of this has stopped the seven seals of 'Squid's' second season, that came out on Thursday the 26th of December's Boxing Day (we don't binge, we enjoy things), beating 'The Addams Family' value of 'Wednesday's' Netflix first-week streaming record with 68 million views. Not to mention obliterating the streaming service competition of Marvel's 'What If...?' released over the festive period on Disney +. The Halloween thing with a Mona Lisa smile will get the chance to get her own back, although we have no idea when 'Squid Game 3' will come out this year, just a doll faced teaser. Red light!

Green light! The first time the Shaq sized doll turned around, 'Squid Game' turned decorated South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae into a 'Star Wars: Acolyte' actor, who learnt English just for that part. Just like it turned show stealer model, making her amazing acting debut, Jung Ho-yeon into a global megastar like Rosé, who sings karaoke with The Weeknd. Sadly, she's not back, aside from a headshot, but Jung-jae is, weathered and worn, but even better than before as he tries to take the game down from the inside in a show that takes cues from everything from 'Prison Break', season by season, to the red and blue pill choice of 'The Matrix'. Stick that one up your a##! He's also joined by the 'Midnight' of Wi Ha-joon's compelling cop character and the man in the plastic mask reveal of the great Lee Byung-hun's ('Joint Security Area', 'Inside Men' and Hollywood's 'Terminator: Genisys' and 'The Magnificent Sven' remake) frontman, who like a Trojan Horse is so much more with what's in store this season. Although for all the recruitment, it's the opening act of 'Train To Busan' star Gong Yoo that steals this show, playing even more deadly games with you than the ones by the train tracks. Think 'The Deer Hunter' and '187' meets outstanding opera and epic emotion. Played perfectly in palpable fear by Kim Pub-lae and Jeon Seok-ho. 

Not to mention the kind of kindness this world needs right now, in the last place you'd expect to find it. Moments of classic camaraderie come together in a rooting interest across the board. This second show is amazing before you even begin to make it with the man in the arena. But these children's games are anything but a children's story, in this show that takes shots at the ultra-violence we inflict on each other, whether physical or psychological. Not to mention the mental masochism we do to ourselves. Addictions like gambling, whether playing the horses or the crypto coin game (ZE:A's Im Si-wan buys into all of that). Class disparity and capitalism are also at war in this dystopian survival thriller that features even more compelling characters and strands of plot that twist and turn and thrill and (blood) spill. The military marine core minds of best friend Lee Seo-hwan and Kang Ha-neul give more strength to those voting X, circled by sharks. Whilst Lee Jin-wook's reason for being in the games will break your heart. Especially with the complication of Busan's own Park Gyu-young's character reveal in this Seoul story. Offering the most cruelly conflicting turn of this hit series with more nuance than Hollywood could hope for.

Click your fingers like Thanos, before this endgame, and T.O.P. rapper Choi Seung-hyun is one of the top, and most annoying characters this season. Signs of a great rapper/actor. Singer of Korean/Japanese group Iz*One, Jo Yu-ri keeps the K-Pop to K-Drama link alive like the baby her character tries to keep secret in her stomach. Meanwhile, controversy has come from Park Sung-hoon playing a transwoman (not to mention a pornographic post about a blue 'Squid Game' movie). Still, in conservative Korea, this revelation of a role is real progress. From Netflix's 'Squid Game: Unleashed' mobile game, to the Front Man's 'Fireplace' you can watch for an hour, or repeat for the whole night on the streaming service, N is milking this squid for all its ink, like the black blood that runs the same. Yet the second season might be inspired by the diluting real life reality show of 'Squid Game: The Challenge', when it comes to Yang Dong-geun and Kang Ae-shim's moving mother and son. There's even more bankable stars to mingle with and fill up the plastic piggy bank, as this all turns, but Dong-hyuk's wonderful writing does more than scrawl a signature on their cheques. You can't vote against this. Rock, paper, scissors, this hit is a cut above the rest. The best pentathlon in the year of Paris 2024 (terrific track teaser, by the way). The games have changed. And there's so much more to play for. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Playing: 'Squid Game', 'Squid Game: The Challenge', 'Squid Game: Fireplace'.