This text accommodates spoilers for “Squid Recreation” season 3, episode 5 — “Circle Triangle Sq..”
In “Squid Recreation” season 3, episode 4 (“222”), the Entrance Man (Lee Byung-hun) presents his philosophical nemesis Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) an olive department … or quite, a really sharp knife. Throughout their clandestine assembly, the sport organizer expresses absolute disdain at the truth that Kim Jun-hee’s (Jo Yu-ri) child has been compelled to enter the sport, and that almost all of the finalist gamers are greater than prepared to kill the new child in an effort to save their very own hides. Fortunately, he has an answer: Gi-hun ought to take the provided blade and kill the opposite grownup gamers whereas they’re asleep, which might deliver the participant rely underneath the minimal required to play the finale, forcing the sport to an early finish.
The opening moments of “Circle Triangle Sq.” strongly counsel that the Entrance Man’s true intentions are way more nefarious. As Gi-hun sneaks towards the sleeping gamers, we see the villain sipping a drink and watching the occasions unfold in the identical approach he likes to watch all of the lethal video games. This and a handful of flashbacks point out that he is truly utilizing the identical trick sport creator Oh Il-nam (O Yeoung-su) as soon as used on him to get one over Gi-hun of their ongoing contest of morality.
Nevertheless, simply earlier than Gi-hun takes the knife to his first sufferer, he has a imaginative and prescient of an individual he is aware of very properly: Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon), who reached the season 1 finals with him and Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo). Because it occurs, Sae-byeok herself died a merciless and unfair demise when Sang-woo slit her throat within the dormitory earlier than the finale. “Mister, do not do it,” the apparition tearfully pleads to Gi-hun. “You aren’t that type of individual.”
Sae-byeok is the proper character for this explicit cameo
Sae-byeok was /Movie’s alternative for the perfect character in “Squid Recreation” season 1, due to her tragic backstory as a North Korean defector, steely resourcefulness, and multi-layered character arc. Her temporary, ghostly cameo in “Circle Triangle Sq.” is a pivotal one, because it convinces Gi-hun to place down the knife as a substitute of slaughtering the opposite gamers just like the Entrance Man did. The Entrance Man’s expression proves that this was the suitable name: As he watches Gi-hun put down the knife and stroll away from Participant 100’s (Track Younger-chang) mattress, the sport organizer’s face is a masks of barely hid anguish — each as a result of his personal actions clearly nonetheless hang-out him and since he realizes that Gi-hun has refused to stoop to the identical degree.
In some ways, Sae-byeok is the perfect and solely doable character to behave as Gi-hun’s conscience right here. Not solely did she meet her destiny in a approach that is similar to the knife plan the Entrance Man is pushing on Gi-hun, however she and Gi-hun grew shut close to the season 1 endgame. They traded backstories and even made a pact that they’d maintain every others’ households ought to solely considered one of them survive. There’s additionally the not insignificant matter that Sae-byeok has already saved Gi-hun from committing cold-blooded homicide as soon as: Earlier than her personal demise, she stops Gi-hun from killing Sang-woo in his sleep. “Squid Recreation” has been recognized to recycle twists and plot factors, and it is thematically extremely applicable (to not point out touching) that Sae-byeok remains to be searching for Gi-hun’s soul — be it in spirit kind or just as a strong reminiscence.
Sae-byeok reminds Gi-hun what he is actually about
Gi-hun is a sort man who particularly participates within the 2024 sport to deliver down the entire operation — and to show to the Entrance Man that religion in humanity conquers all. Sadly, he is been recognized to lose his approach, and “Squid Recreation” seasons 2 and three have been a painful downward spiral for the poor protagonist. Failed plans, lifeless pals, misguided revenge missions, and crushing guilt have all however swallowed Gi-hun, and by the tip of the brutal Cover and Search sport, his spirit is damaged and the Entrance Man appears to be profitable the pair’s philosophy tug-of-war.
Gi-hun’s comeback arc begins partway by means of season 3 when Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim) — who herself has been rendered hopeless after she was successfully compelled to kill her personal son (Yang Dong-geun) — lifts him from his stoop within the aptly titled episode 3, “It is Not Your Fault.” Granted, her monologue about respectable folks floor down by an unfair world has ulterior motives, as Geum-ja asks Gi-hun to maintain his head within the sport and shield Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri) and her child. Nonetheless, what works, works. Gi-hun quickly picks up the baton as soon as extra, drawing energy from his place because the child’s de facto custodian.
The Entrance Man’s Faustian knife provide is the ultimate hurdle in Participant 456’s quest for redemption: Had he killed the opposite gamers just like the Entrance Man as soon as did, he would have fallen from grace and deserted his perception in humanity’s inherent goodness. The imaginative and prescient of Sae-byeok is a pivotal second that turns the tide in Gi-hun’s favor and successfully marks the Entrance Man’s defeat of their personal battle: It doesn’t matter what occurs subsequent, Gi-hun has chosen the trail of sunshine when it mattered probably the most.
