Squid Game season three divides viewers as bleak themes hit home

Warning: This article contains spoilers.

Millions of fans are bidding farewell to Squid Game, the Emmy award-winning TV series that has topped Netflix’s charts and become a symbol of South Korea’s ascendance in Hollywood.

The fictional show follows cash-strapped players as they battle it out in a series of traditional Korean children’s games – with a gory twist, as losers are killed in every round.

Squid Game has sucked in viewers since 2021 with its candy-coloured sets and bleak messages about capitalism and humanity. And with its third and final season released last Friday, fans across the world are returning to reality.

Some South Koreans, however, have found themselves reflecting on the society that inspired the dystopian series.

“I feel like Squid Game 3 revealed the true feelings and raw inner thoughts of Korean people,” reads one YouTube comment under a clip from season three.

“It reflected reality so well like how in real life, at work, it’s just full of ruthless people ready to crush you. This show nailed it.”

Squid Game was born against the backdrop of cut-throat competition and widening inequality in South Korean society – where people are too stressed to have children and a university placement exam is seen as the defining moment of a person’s life.

The diverse characters of the show – which include a salaryman, a migrant factory worker and a cryptocurrency scammer – are drawn from figures many South Koreans would find familiar.

The backstory of protagonist Seong Gi-hun, a car factory worker who was laid off and later went on strike, was also inspired by a real-life event: a 2009 strike at the SsangYong Motor factory, where workers clashed with riot police over widespread layoffs. It’s remembered today as one of the country’s largest labour confrontations.

“The drama may be fictional, but it feels more realistic than reality itself,” Jeong Cheol Sang, a film enthusiast, wrote in his review of Squid Game’s final season.

“Precarious labour, youth unemployment, broken families – these aren’t just plot devices, but the very struggles we face every day.”

Those darker messages seemed to be brushed to the side on Saturday night, as a massive parade celebrated the release of the blockbuster’s final season. A giant killer doll and dozens of faceless guards in tracksuits – among other motifs of the deadly games – marched down central Seoul to much fanfare.

For South Korea’s leaders, Squid Game has become a symbol of K-drama’s success on the global stage. It is also part of a string of successes – along with K-pop act BTS and Oscar-winning film Parasite – on which newly elected president Lee Jae Myung wants to capitalise as he sets his sights on exporting K-culture far and wide.

There are signs the Squid Game hype may even go further: the show’s final scene, where Cate Blanchett plays a Korean game with a man in a Los Angeles alley, has fuelled rumours of an American spinoff.

The series ended on an “open-ended” note, Lee Jung-jae, the star of the series, told the BBC. “So it poses a lot of questions to the audience. I hope people will talk about those questions, ponder upon themselves about the questions and try to find an answer.”

In the show’s later seasons, viewers follow Gi-hun’s quest to bring down the eponymous games, which are packaged as entertainment for a group of wealthy VIPs.

But his rebellion fails, and by the end Gi-hun is forced to sacrifice himself to save another player’s baby – an ending that has polarised viewers.

Some argued that Gi-hun’s actions did not square with the dark portrait of reality that showrunners had developed – one that had so well captured the ruthless elements of human nature.

“The characters’ excessive altruism was disturbing – almost to the point of seeming unhinged,” reads a comment on popular South Korean discussion site Nate Pann. “It felt like a fake, performative kind of kindness, prioritising strangers over their own families for no real reason.”

But others said Gi-hun’s death was in line with the show’s commitment to uncomfortable truths.

“This perfectly describes humanity and the message of the show,” another commented on YouTube.

“As much as we wanted to see Gi-Hun win, kill the frontman and the VIPs, and stop the games once and for all before riding off into the sunset, that’s just not the world we live in and it’s certainly not the one that Gi-Hun lived in.”

Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show’s creator, told reporters on Monday that he understood the “mixed reaction” to the final season.

“In season one there were no expectations, so the shock and freshness worked. But by seasons two and three, expectations were sky high, and that makes all the difference,” Hwang said on Monday.

“Game fans wanted more games, others wanted deeper messages, and some were more invested in the characters. Everyone expected something different.”

For some, at least, Gi-hun’s final choice offered a hopeful reflection of reality: that even in times of adversity, kindness can prevail.

“That paradox – of cruelty and warmth coexisting – is what made the finale so moving,” said Mr Jeong, the film blogger. “Watching the Squid Game made me reflect on myself. As someone who has worked in education and counselling, I’ve questioned whether kindness can really change anything.”

“That’s why I stayed with this story. That’s why I call this ending beautiful.”