Squid Game 3x05 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-07-11 17:28:39 +0000 UTC
Comments
They do the smart play of just letting the visuals and silent acting sell the revelations of In-ho. (Do hear you on the reaction to the news about O Yeong-su by the way.) How the whole span of these games, how In-ho’s tried to impart to Gi-hun the fact that he’s not a monster, he’s just ahead of the curve. Byung-hun did marvelously well with the terrific facial acting when his social experiment failed. As we’re saying, it’s great to see Byung-hun get the global recognition via this show. Still remember him standing out in the G. I. Joe movie. Mixed bag of a film though it was, he was a big highlight of that, Snake Eyes too. Sort of lost track of the gun, though I did note the close up of it as the doors closed. So, when the door opened again, it slid into place. Getting big laughs at this point from your comments about the Jun-ho business, and I ain’t even arguing with you on that one. They do have the good touch of humanizing the masked man in charge, providing a reason for his Burke and Hare activities, though yeah, still no sympathy for him. Think 203 was also the one who killed the guy who almost killed Yong-sik in the Hide-and-Seek round, you mention the jump rope as well. He and the other players outside of Gi-hun, crypto fucker, Jeong-dae, and Min-su, all feel like it’ll be fun to rewatch and try to catch them in the earlier games. The dialogue does get a touch over the top as they try to sell to Gi-hun that the baby is a bad seed. The whole part of this was never going to be subtle, so yeah, you just run with it. Cathartic how Gi-hun points out how easy it is to get the alliance to fall, and sure enough, it does. The in-universe shock works as you do realize that outside of Jun-hee, no one did realize who’s kid it was until crypto fucker said anything. Certainly, Gi-hun had the good look, so I get the huge laugh. Jeong-dae was one of those completely insufferable villains that had just the right amount of charisma that though a chore to get through time with him, you love the moments where he crumbles. Be curious to see about Song Young-chang and his past work.
Thomas Corp
2025-07-11 21:20:28 +0000 UTCI'm heartbroken to say that when the news came out about Il-nam's actor, the only response I could muster was "Sure, why not?" So many other creators I've been attached to have turned out to be this way, why bother getting attached in the first place at this point? My new favorite scene to reference about a tiny mistake blowing everything up: Big Red gum in Poker Face. No, I'm not going to explain further because spoilers would be unforgiveable here.
Ryan
2025-07-11 20:58:47 +0000 UTCI adored the opening here, sliding the last piece into place for In-ho without ever feeling the need to spell it out. This whole time he's been telling himself anyone else in his position would have done the same thing, and now he's trying to prove it to himself by getting Gi-hun to do it. Lee Byung-hun is fantastic both as a younger unhardened In-ho, and showing just the barest dismay when his plan falls apart at the last minute. What were you trying to prove, that deep down everyone's as dirty as you? You're alone. I knew from the moment we saw No-eul crawling that she was going for the gun, but just because I'd spent the whole fight wondering what happened to it. And Jun-ho at long last gets to actually do something concrete against these guys, while I'm just hoping this wasn't the whole reason we had to sit through this whole thing. Most of all I'm impressed at Not In-ho getting that little speech about how he once lost someone he loved to a failed kidney, reminiscent of Conquest's "I am so lonely" moment in suddenly humanizing him without at all making it feel like we're now supposed to sympathize with him. 203 kind of comes out of nowhere here as a major bad guy; all I remember him from before is pushing that woman over during jump rope. But he makes up for lost time as a very believable physical threat who's so gung-ho about killing people even his allies are a bit put off. Which is a good thing to hold on to as the dialogue here gets a bit cartoony with all of these guys seeming to be complete sociopaths who can't comprehend the idea of human empathy, no matter how much Gi-hun keeps protecting Rhoda Penmark. But if you can get through that, there's still some great material to be had here as the alliance falls apart the moment the possibility of having to turn on one of their own comes up. And I don't know if I was supposed to laugh at the reveal of the baby's father being treated as this huge plot twist in-universe, but I'm glad I got it. And as we bid him farewell, I'll give some props to Song Young-chang for being such a compelling in-game antagonist across two seasons, never letting up on how despicable 100 is while still having a level of charisma that we can believe he could pull so many people to his side. Looking up his resume, he's had a pretty prolific career going back to the early '90s, and I'm now pretty curious just what's in there, and whether you could see a role like this coming from him.
Ryan
2025-07-11 20:49:58 +0000 UTCPlenty to say about the penultimate hour of the show. Start with the dad. Knew you wouldn’t like him getting shot at, though I like how he committed to not going down without a fight. He shot the one guard which was great. And now Jun-ho has caught up with him. Connected to that is No-eul and her confrontation with, er, didn’t catch the guy’s name. You used the term “Head guard” and I just stuck with “Masked man in charge”. She had her goal, and she was sticking to it. They both put up a fight. Started yelling at the guy for just swiping one of the cigars, as that was just rude. Shared sentiments with the “Ya dumb fuck” with the guy, albeit I just kept saying to him, “You are one DUMB son of a bitch.” with his Bond Villain stupidity in taking his sweet ass time with finishing No-eul off. Your glee at No-eul going to get the gun, which you clocked before I did, was absurdly wonderful, just as your response to the guy having the perfect “Oh, SHIT!” look of realization. As you say, to his credit, he did launch, but it wasn’t enough before she put enough holes in him to make a golf course. And thanks to No-eul, Jun-ho has found someone, though not before he gets the call from In-ho, which bodes an ominous Cain and Abel confrontation. Speaking of In-ho, fascinating how his offer of the knife parallels when his predecessor gave him the same opportunity. Before seeing the episode, I caught the image of In-ho in the finalist finery, spoiling that we would get a flashback with him, which I surmised was likely anyway. Could have taken a whole season of his time as a contestant in the games, though I realize that it probably was not an economically feasible idea. Clever way to get a scene with Il-nam without having to hire the actor back as that’s not an option for obvious reasons. So adore how you held the belief that Gi-hun wouldn’t give in. And you were right about that. Gi-hun retains his humanity, contrast to In-ho who threw it away. Demonstrating how In-ho is the dark mirror of Gi-hun, what he could have been had he lost himself. One of the significant reasons, as you say why In-ho has been so fascinated with Gi-hun. And as we have seen, In-ho is trapped in the world of the games. Where every morning, In-ho awakens crying. And not because he has nightmares. Nor because he has sad dreams. No, he awakens crying due to having sweet dreams. Why then does he cry, you may ask? Because the dreams he has can’t come true. Not that the dreams Gi-hun has are any better, if we’re being honest. An exception being the vision of Sae-byeok that appears to save his soul. Was not ready for how that got to you as it did, Jess. We then proceed to the final game. They were getting some strong Paths of Glory energy in this episode. This show loves the Kubrickian it seems. I think everyone agrees with you on needing the proceedings to be sans VIP commentary. You do feel bad for Min-su, who, as you assess, is a perfect demonstration of what happens to someone not suited for these games. To his credit, as you remind us, he did take out two hated characters. To his additional credit, he’s also the only other one aside from Gi-hun who didn’t advocate for killing the baby, so he gets a gold star for that one. That could just be being distracted by the withdrawal and hallucinations, still. At the very least, death allows him to see a comforting and familiar face before the end. The others have the difficulty of facing off against Gi-hun. Gi-hun remembering his training from The Acolyte and spin kicking some bitches, always a good trick, that would have been grand, yes. Love how he weaponizes the others self-preservation and greed. And in Gi-min’s case, probably the concern about his hair being shiny, loved your questions about that as that made me laugh myself silly. Gi-hun did have quite the look when crypto fucker presented the paternity results and said that he IS the father. He’s still on both of our shit lists, though he at least got to take out Jeong-dae. Speaking of, you ask about was his name ever said. Well, I think they said it once, but otherwise, yeah, his name didn’t really come up as much as others. Rather enjoyable how you said to him, “You’re embarrassing. You’re so embarrassing.”, which, yes, he was. You can’t stand to see a chicken cry. And karma hits him just as shaman lady predicted. Love how you sided with 039 with his final act. And you actually do sort of feel bad for him in the end. And now we have the last men (and the baby) standing. We do have some ground to cover in the finale. Going into the finale, things look to be coming together that suggest that the games could end. Lots of little things coming together that threaten the games if nothing else: Jun-ho crossing paths with Gi-hun again. Woo-seok doing the most and being one sharp cookie. No-eul getting the dad to safety. Piscano complaining to his mom on the wire. Marty realizing the house had the fresh coat of paint, hence the green ears. Dedra being added to the Death Star group chat. “You can do a hundred things right, but it takes only one mistake to destroy everything.” as they say. (Wow, I snuck in two references to that film in this comment. Didn’t entirely plan that one, but it works out well.) The hope is there if nothing else, and I appreciate how you hold onto that. Me, my favorite character left standing is the villain, so we seem to have maybe different priorities with what we want, and/or what we ultimately will get. Reserve further discussion for the finale. For now, I just want to offer gratitude for how wonderful a time it has been sharing this show with you, Jess. I’ve no doubt the finale reaction will be most wonderful. Until then, thank for the excellent reaction to the penultimate hour.
Thomas Corp
2025-07-11 19:15:51 +0000 UTC
