Netflix Squid Game Season 2 Episode 1 shows the death of the main character

Major spoilers for The Squid Game Season 2 follow.

Trigger Warning: This post mentions suicide.

When it comes to The Squid Game, death is inevitable. Part of what made the first season of the hit Netflix series so memorable was the way it ruthlessly destroyed characters from one episode to the next. It would seem that no one was safe as they played a series of children’s games with deadly twists. While the main character Song Gi-hoon (Lee Jung-jae) survived the games and won the prize money, literally every other person he played with died a horrible death.

So it probably won’t be much of a surprise to say that some characters will meet their end in The Squid Game Season 2. In fact, in just the first episode, which is a returning character from Season 1 ends with kicks in the bucket in typically gruesome fashion. The character in question is the mysterious Recruiter played by Gong Yoo (I’ve seen some online sources call this character Salesman, but the show’s subtitles call him Recruiter, so that’s what we’re calling him here) . In case you need a memory refresher The recruiter is a mysterious well-dressed man who finds players for deadly games. He hangs out on the subway and challenges strangers to a game ddakji. Players must try to flip a leather envelope with another envelope. If they win, the recruiter gives them 100,000 won. If they lose, they have to give him 100,000 won. And if they don’t have it (and they usually don’t), he can punch them in the face. Eventually, when the player wins a few rounds, the recruiter invites him to play secret, deadly games that could win him a huge prize (or cost him his life, though he conveniently avoids telling them that).

The recruiter returns in the first episode of season 2, titled “Bread and the Lottery.” By the time the episode comes to an end, he has met a violent death.

As the second season of The Squid Games begins, we learn that Gi-hoon has spent the last two years (and some of his prize money) trying to find the Recruiter, all in order to get to the people who run the games and put them down for good. . Gi Hoon even has a whole team of guys who patrol the subway systems day in and day out. Somehow, the Recruiter has avoided detection this whole time, but he eventually shows up again in the premiere episode. He’s still up to his old tricks, playing what is the matter. We also see him playing another, twisted game: he offers the homeless a choice of either a bun or a lottery ticket. They can have one or the other, not both. Most people choose a lottery ticket and lose. When they then try to take a roll as compensation, the recruiter denies them the opportunity and ends up beating the rest of the rolls to a pulp.

Two of the men working for Gi-hoon go after the recruiter, but he eventually catches up to them, capturing them both and forcing them to play Rock-Scissors-Paper-Minus-One, which is a combination of Rock-Scissors- Paper and Russian roulette. One of the men was killed. All of this leads up to the climactic scene where Gi-hoon comes face-to-face with the recruiter in the motel room that Gi-hoon now owns and uses as his base of operations.

After some back-and-forth in which the recruiter reveals his dark and twisted backstory, he asks Gi-hoon to play Russian roulette with him (“You’ve probably seen it in the movies,” says the recruiter. probably referring to “The Deer Hunter”). He lays out the rules: You take a six-shot revolver (which the recruiter has), load one bullet, and spin the cylinder. Then you put the gun to your head and pull the trigger. You have a one in six chance of shooting yourself. But this will not be a normal game of Russian Roulette (obviously, a game of Russian Roulette is not a “normal” game).

The recruiter offers to “raise the stakes” of the game. Instead of spinning the cylinder after each round, players will just keep walking back and forth while pulling the trigger. With this approach, it is quite certain that one bullet will be fired in the gun no later than the sixth round. Surprisingly, Gi-hoon agrees to these terms and the game begins (all the while the operatic song “Con te partirò”, aka “Time to say goodbye” plays on the recruiter’s phone).

Everyone puts a gun to their head and pulls the trigger. Again and again the round is empty. Eventually, the recruiter starts putting the gun to his mouth instead of his head. It’s all very disturbing and anxiety-inducing, as the tension builds with each pull of the trigger. Soon there comes a point where there are only two rounds left, and one of those two pulls on the trigger will fire a bullet. Gi-hoon has a gun at this point, and the Recruiter points out that Gi-hoon can just say, to hell with the game, point the gun at the Recruiter and pull the trigger until the gun goes off. The recruiter even adds that the “key” to the people who run the games is in his coat pocket—Gi Hoon just has to kill him, climb inside, and retrieve him. The recruiter then adds that if Gi Hoon does this, he’ll have to admit one thing, “You’re trash and just as worthless as everyone else.” Ai. Tough, Mr. Recruiter.

However, Gi-hoon doesn’t take the bait. He plays by the rules, puts the barrel of the gun to his temple and pulls the trigger. A click. This round is empty. That means the last round is the one the bullet goes in, which means if the recruiter picks up the gun and plays fair, he’ll end up getting shot. Gi-hoon hands over the gun and reveals that they are now in a similar situation: the recruiter can either follow the rules or he can shoot Gi-hoon to death. Gi-hoon taunts the recruiter, telling him that he’s nothing more than a shell to the people running the games (note: mocking a guy with a loaded gun probably isn’t the best strategy, Gi-hoon). The recruiter lets a sly smile creep across his face, then places the gun under his chin and pulls the trigger. This time the gun fires – killing the recruiter as the episode fades to black and the credits roll. It’s a shocking conclusion, and we’re only on the first episode. Who knows how many more twisty surprises await us throughout the second season?

The Squid Game Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.