“Squid Game 2” Draws Mixed Reviews From Foreign Media: “Thorough Letdown“ vs “Surpassed Season 1”

Premiering at 5 PM on December 26, Squid Game: Season 2 continues the story of Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae), who returns to seek revenge and confronts the mysterious Front Man (played by Lee Byung-hun) in another round of deadly games.

The first season of Squid Game, released in 2021, became a global phenomenon, earning Lee Jung-jae the Best Actor award and director Hwang Dong-hyuk the Best Director award at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2022. Given the massive success of Season 1, expectations for the sequel were sky-high.

On December 28, according to FlixPatrol, a website that tracks online content service rankings, “Squid Game 2” ranked first in Netflix’s global TOP 10 TV programs category as of the previous day.

Looking at country-specific rankings, the series claimed the top spot in 92 countries/regions, including the United States, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Turkey. Among the 93 countries where FlixPatrol tracks viewership, “Squid Game 2” was the most-watched content in all but New Zealand.

However, following its release, public opinion regarding the inclusion of Choi Seung-hyun (T.O.P), who was convicted of drug use, has been largely negative, and critics have also expressed differing opinions on the new season.

Positive Reviews Highlight Action and Depth

Rama, an MPA-certified entertainment journalist, praised the series, saying, “Squid Game: Season 2 is even crazier than the original. Some moments, like the ‘Deer Hunter’-style scenes, are deeply unsettling. The season is packed with action driven by themes of retribution.”

Variety also gave a favorable review, noting, “The structure, costuming, setting, and even the haunting cover of ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ remain the same in Season 2. Still, it mostly thwarts repetitiveness by finding new angles to examine what seemingly ails modern-day Korea: capitalist exploitation, the erosion of morality and class inequities. The show’s signature brutal violence, blood, guts and gore are still hyper-present, but the terror among the players, including Gi-hun, who has experienced it all before, remains palpable.”

The publication also commended the introduction of new characters, including a mother-son duo (Yang Dong-geun and Kang Ae-shim), a YouTube star (Im Si-wan), and a psychotic rapper (Choi Seung-hyun), which added fresh dimensions to the series.

Additionally, the 2nd season also delves into the soldiers guarding the death game, earning praise from Variety, which noted “One of the most interesting aspects of Season 2 is that it moves beyond the players.”

Meanwhile, Aayush Sharma, news writer and film critic for The Daily List, said, “In the first season, viewers saw the series diving into the human psyche and how they would react when moving ahead in a dangerous direction becomes the only option. But Season 2 takes this to a whole new level, and dives into the deepest corners of the human psyche, revealing how easily trust can be broken and alliances can shift when survival is at stake.”

He also praised Lee Jung-jae’s performance as “scintillating”, saying, “No one could have played this character better than him and he continues to bring that emotional depth and nuanced intensity that make his character both relatable and unforgettable, solidifying his place as the heart and soul of the series.”

Criticism for Pacing and Familiarity

On the other hand, there were also harsh reviews directed at Squid Game Season 2.

To begin with, The New York Times published an article titled “‘Squid Game’ Hits a Red Light”, which begins with the comment, “The second season of the Netflix smash delivers more stylized carnage, but the story stalls.”

“You will hear things you essentially heard in Season 1. You will see things you saw in Season 1. And should you happen to hear or see something new, it will likely come from a character who is very much like someone you watched die — or kill someone — the first time around”, the site explains, adding, “There’s a lot more misery than delight as the season returns us to the games, repeating the bloody spectacle with new twists but the same crabs-in-a-barrel personal dynamics” and “It continues a story but does little over its seven hours to expand it.“

The Hollywood Reporter, a film magazine, also evaluated the second season of ‘Squid Game’ as a complete disappointment in an article titled “‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Review: Netflix’s South Korean Smash Loses Its Edge”.

The article describe this second season of Squid Game as “a thorough letdown”, adding, “It will be interesting to see whether the most disappointed viewers are those craving only a clever reproduction of what the first season did so well or those demanding additional depth in the series’ mythology and world-building. Because somehow, over seven episodes, the second season of Squid Game manages to do neither. It’s lacking in the fun and whimsy that kept the first season from wallowing in its backdrop of misery, and entirely lacking in new details or insights on the nature of the Game.”

USA Today also dropped a scathing review, saying that the series “still violent, but more disappointing than shocking”, and “doesn’t serve (director) Hwang’s stated anticapitalist message” as it gets “so wrapped up in details that it loses its political plot“.

“Season 2 mostly offers cognitive dissonance and frustration. The second half morphs into a fairly generic action set piece, crescendoing to a bitterly underwhelming climax and a conclusion that offers no kind of closure. It gives the distinct impression that director and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote Seasons 2 and 3 as a single story and just chopped it somewhere in the middle to prolong the series for another season for Netflix“, the site lamented.

British site The Guardian also criticized the new season, pointing out that , “One of Hollywood’s many bad habits is the bloat caused by splitting a story in half in a bid to double the profits”, while “‘Squid Game’ was always a perfect one-series story”.

The fact that it was Netflix’s most profitable series placed Squid Game in a creative bind, it also commented, adding that “it spends far too many episodes dragging its heels extremely painfully”.

Finally, Time Magazine criticized the season for its pacing, stating, “It takes too long—two plodding episodes out of just seven this season—to get them there.”

The review added, “As it stalls, the show unnecessarily reiterates Gi-hun’s grievances against the bored billionaires and burns time on characters who don’t end up being especially important.”

The publication also argued that the plot felt like a rehash of the first season, stating, “Once Gi-hun is back in his green tracksuit, the season feels like a cycle of play, murder, rage, repeat. The return of the giant, creepy robot doll Young-hee feels like pure fan service.”

Furthermore, Time criticized the season finale’s abrupt cliffhanger, calling it “frustratingly unfinished.”

Divided Reception Raises Interest

So far, Squid Game Season 2 recorded a critic score of 83% (out of 100) and a general viewer score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, an American content rating site. Rotten Tomatoes viewers also gave mixed reviews, with some saying it was “a solid sequel”, “a surprising game that will capture fans who like competitive challenges”, and others saying it “lost its essence”, “same fun as last season”, and “not as immersive as Season 1.”

With reviews split between acclaim and criticism, it remains to be seen how Squid Game: Season 2 will perform in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Squid Game: Season 2 is now available to stream on Netflix.