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Squid Game: Difference between revisions
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**The old man panics during the riot. He stands on his bed at the top, out of the line of fire but terrified. The old man begs for the guards to stop the rioting, that everyone will kill each other. It ends up doing the trick, somehow. {{spoiler|When you learn who Il-nam really is, the answers become much clearer}}.
**Gi-hun tries begging the guards for help when Deok-su callously kills a man in the barracks. He says they can't stand by and let that happen, it's not fair. This comes back to an even more tragic note when {{spoiler|Gi-hun uncovers Sae-byeok's mortal wound in "Front Man" and she starts to lose consciousness from blood loss, while deliriously asking if she can go home. Gi-hun tries to keep her awake, begging her to stay with him, but runs to the locked doors. He starts banging on the bloodied areas, shouting that Sae-byeok needs a doctor, please help so she can play in the final game. All Gi-hun knows is that the last game needs players and hopes that this necessity will save Sae-byeok}}.
* [[An Aesop]]: You cannot trust fairness when privileged people set the rules of a game, or a system. The Front Man claims that the games are fair, but we see many cases where it's not true. As Gi-hun logically points out, there ''should'' be games where girls are favored more than guys, given that it's supposed to be random, but all the games chosen favor guys, meaning {{spoiler|only one woman makes it to the final round, or ''would'' have if not for glass piercing her abdomen}}. None of the challenges are girls' games like jacks or jumprope. {{spoiler|Gi-hun is right; il-Nam freely admits that the games were based on those from his childhood}}.
*[[An Offer You Can't Refuse]]: This is how the Squid Game forces the players to complete round one. At the time, most of the players are debtors who called the number, expecting to earn some money to avoid losing a kidney or going to jail. They then have to cross the finish line in Red Light, Green Light before the timer goes out; if they keep freezing, they'll be shot anyway. The guards congratulate the winners for making it past round one, who brokenly beg to go home. When the top square guard reminds the players they signed a contract and that if they refuse to play, they will be "eliminated," Sang-woo stands up and reminds them that the third clause says players can have a group vote.
*[[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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* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Season one ends this way. {{spoiler|Gi-hun wins the Squid Game by default when Sang-woo elects to kill himself rather than vote to go home alive and penniless with his childhood friend. His mother succumbed to her diabetes without the operation that she needed, meaning Gi-hun was too late by a few days. He spends the next year drinking and drifting, only using the money if anything to pay off his debts, and finds out that the old man Il-nam was the creator fo the games when the latter invites him to spend Christmas Eve in a penthouse. Their conversation and final game motivates Gi-hun to clean up his act, set up Sae-byeok's brother with Sang-woo's mother as well as the portions of the winnings that would have gone to his friends. It's implied he paid overdue child support so his ex consents to let Gi-hun visit Ga-yeong for her birthday. Before he gets on the plane to California, however, he sees the Salesman bitch-slap another potential player, and goes to try and stop him. All he does is confiscate the card, dial it, and promise that he's not forgiving them. The Front Man threatens him to get on the plane and see his daughter, making Gi-hun realize that his family is in danger unless he stops the Squid Game. So he turns around and gets off the plane, disappointing Ga-yeong again but determined to give her a better future}}.
*[[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.
* [[Dumbass Has a Point]]: Gi-hun is not ''dumb'', per se, but he is ignorant compared to the college graduate Sang-woo. He does have his moments of insight, however, that make him a more layered character.
** While fighting with his ex, who resents him for not being there through a difficult labor that nearly killed her in the hospital. Gi-hun points out that he was attending a strike to save his job and support her as well as Ga-yeong. His friend also died in front of him and there was no time to get him to a hospital. It was not an easy situation, but he had good intentions.
** Zigzagged, overlapping with [[Right for the Wrong Reasons]]. Gi-hun, while preparing for games two and three with Sang-woo and Ali, makes a legitimate point that if the games are supposed to be fair, a few ought to be girls' themed games like jumprope or jacks. He ends up proven wrong; much to contestants like Mi-nyeo's horror, all the games are clearly ones that boys played, some which favor strength and athleticism. {{spoiler|Turns out the games' claim of being fair are [[Blatant Lies]]; Il-nam admits that while everyone had a chance to compete and leave of their volition after the group vote, they were based on games of his childhood}}.
** Sang-woo and Gi-hun have a fight after {{spoiler|Sang-woo pushes the glassmaker during the Stepping Stones game.}} Gi-hun asks if that was necessary, and if {{spoiler|Sang-woo would have pushed Gi-hun if he had been hesitating in front. Sang-woo can't answer that, and rants about how Gi-hun is a loser and a disappointment. Gi-hun agrees. He then asks why the genius of their neighborhood is with him, the loser gambling addict, in the "shithole" of the Games}}.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]:
** The Front Man is definitely a hypocrite and a remorseless killer who will gun down his own men for breaking the rules. He is, however, sincere that the players need a fair chance. That's why he gets mad when he busts the guards for {{spoiler|feeding the doctor knowledge about the games in exchange for his help with organ donations}}. Later, he refuses to let {{spoiler|Gi-hun register for the games again when Gi-hun announces his intentions to take them down, telling him he won and should go fly to America and be with his daughter}}.
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