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Squid Game: Difference between revisions
Added Anyone Can Die, expanded Drama Queen.
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** Sae-byeok is revealed to be a North Korean refugee, along with her little brother. Her father and grandmother were killed, but there is a chance to somehow locate her mother either in North Korea or China. The problem is that her broker claims the smugglers ran off with the sums that she stole, and he says that if her mother got deported from China to North Korea, she's as good as dead for being marked as a "defector". Her brother also resents being in an orphanage, fearing that the kids are right and Sae-byeok has abandoned him. {{spoiler|Their last conversation is a fight and in the season one finale, he's guilty when asking Gi-hun where she is, as Gi-hun sets him up to live with Sang-woo's mother and the prize money that would have gone to Sae-byeok and Sang-woo}}.
** Detective Jun-ho Hwang's older brother In-ho has gone missing for a few days. He assumes that In-ho is just being In-ho since he makes trips like this all the time and his mother is worrying. Then he finds out that his brother hasn't paid his rent in a while and has been gone long enough for his goldfish to go belly-up and for papers to accumulate. Jun-ho also finds a business card, which looks identical to the one that a supposed drunk brought in claiming that he and 455 other people were kidnapped and forced to play games. He sincerely begs Gi-hun for help, saying that his brother may have been one of the kidnapped victims; when Gi-hun is too despondent and desperate, saying he can't help anyone, Jun-ho elects to follow him, and finds out that his story wasn't that of a bored drunk. Cue Jun-ho going undercover by posing as one of the guards, and facing the real possibility that In-ho might have already been killed and cremated, or worse dissected for his organs. {{spoiler|The truth is worse; In-ho won his 2015 games and is now running them as the Front Man}}.
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: One of the reasons why this series knows how to pack emotional wallops; none of the players are safe from sudden or undignified death. {{spoiler|Gi-hun has [[Plot Armor]] owing to being the protagonist, but he is the exception that proves the rule.}} Try not to get attached to anyone, major or minor in this story.
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* [[Drama Queen]]: Mi-nyeo makes her entrance by getting on her knees and begging the guards to let her go home after the Red Light Green Light game, claiming that she has a newborn that hasn't been named yet. Then she proceeds to vote for the games to continue. The old man notes she returned for round two, and wonders dryly if she named her nonexistent kid yet. Sae-byeok even notes that Mi-nyeo has been burning bridges because she can't pick a side, or know when to be serious.
* [[Gut Punch]]: Given the genre and the nature of the episode, these are bound to happen.
** Episode 1, "Red Light Green Light" has players 324 and 250 form a fast friendship, despite having just met in the barracks. Both are excited when they learn the title game is their first challenge, claiming it will be a cinch. They rib each other affectionately that they're going to win and bet a million won and who crosses the finish line first. Then 324 gets ahead of himself literally, and doesn't stop in time during Red Light, Green Light. Cue a gunshot, and 324 collapses. 250's first reaction, once he hears green light, is to run and check on 324. The poor guy is bleeding and coughing up blood, making the players realize this is a ''death game''. Cue the [[Mass "Oh Crap"]] where hundreds of players panic and try to run for the locked doors, banging on them. They end up getting shot in succession, until corpses line the field. Gi-hun survives only due to sheer luck, while Sang-woo has the sense to stay still and analyze the situation.
** Episode 6, "Gganbu", may as well be titled this trope. Players are ordered to pair up for the challenge while each is given a bag of ten marbles. {{spoiler|They have to play to win the other player's bag of marbles, and the loser is shot in the head}}. Sang-woo technically {{spoiler|loses to Ali, who is apologetic but wants to try and find another solution. Sang-woo betrays him and leaves him with a bag of stones}}. Gi-hun panics and tries to {{spoiler|scam the old man when Il-nam's dementia acts up, only for Il-nam to reveal he was faking it to test his Gganbu. As Gi-hun cries and prepares to forfeit his life as an apology for succumbing to weakness, Il-nam forces him to win, saying that he wasn't in it for the money, but to have fun, and it was nice while it lasted}}. Then we have Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong, who have a long conversation about their lives before they play. {{spoiler|Ji-yeong throws their game without hesitation, telling an anguished Sae-byeok that she has nothing to live for, except for debt and pain, but her new friend has a brother, and dreams. Her sacrifices means that at least she was able to do some good, and give her life meaning. The guard allows a tearful Ji-yeong to say goodbye to a sobbing Sae-byeok before shooting her}}.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Ji-yeong}} throws the marbles game and forces {{spoiler|Sae-byeok}} to win.
* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]:
** The old man has been a formidable player by staying calm during each death game, and oddly cheerful. Then tug-of-war happens, revealing that the players are chained to the rope and have to pull their opponents off an elevated platform, where a guillotine will slice the rope and make the losers fall. His team is full of underdogs, with himself, three women, and not-very athletic men excluding Ali. As they prepare to face their deaths, he stops smiling tells them it's not over yet. Il-nam explains that in tug-of-war, there are strategies you can use to ensure that you have the best team, even if it's not the strongest: have a strong leader in front, a dependable player in the back, alternate everyone else, put the rope under your armpits and lean back for the first ten seconds. It actually works until the opposing team gets a second wind and pulls back with sheer desperation and brute strength. Mi-nyeo later tells the old man that he was amazing and made her feel powerful with the leaning back strategy.
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