Squid Game- Season 3 (review)

Published by Mason Oldridge, 4 July 2025

CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Netflix’s biggest series comes to its highly-anticipated conclusion - but will the games be ended once and for all?

Season 3 picks up where Season 2 left off, after the failed massacre. The remaining games are played out, while Jun-ho continues his mission to find the island and No-eul attempts to rescue Gyeong-seok.

The final rounds are as exciting as ever with a predatory Hide and Seek, Jump Rope on a high bridge and a giant version of the Squid game. Player 222 giving birth throws a curveball and Min-so throwing the secretly empty necklace on the bridge is a clever move. Furthermore, the deaths of Players 007, 120, 149 and 222 are all sad but inevitable, though Geum-ja killing her son to save Jun-hee is unbelievable. Also, the VIPs are seen to be as evil as ever as they vote to enter the baby into the games whilst revelling in the deaths, though this prompts a broken Gi-hun to return to his badass savour role in which he crosses the bridge with the baby and subsequently cares for it after Jun-hee’s death. As an aside, the chilling juxtaposition between the deadly games and the colourful sets, joyful music and friendly voiceover is still comical.

The ending produces a mixed reaction. The thrilling Sky Squid Game leaves audiences wondering how Gi-hun is going to survive this one, until, unpredictably, he doesn’t. His sacrifice for the baby matches his noble personality but sees all his pain and efforts have been in vain. As Jun-ho closes in on the island, In-ho sets the island to self-destruct and therefore the games do end, but the Front Man, the VIPs and all staff involved in the operations successfully evacuate and are never caught, leaving justice to go unserved. However, at least Jun-ho, No-eul, Gyeong-seok and Woo-seok get their happy endings. Finally, the tease of a recruiter in Los Angeles suggesting the games are played in America makes for an interesting closing scene.

The conclusion is undeniably disappointing as one of television’s most epic heroes dies and some of television’s most sadistic villains go unpunished, but nevertheless, Season 3 is as grippingly entertaining as the first two and the South Korean show built on the simple yet genius idea of deadly versions of children’s games deserves to be Netflix’s most successful series. “Humans, not horses”.

9/10