DON QUIXOTE AND THE SQUID GAME

Squid Game is a television show that became popular in countries around the globe. SPOILER ALERT - During its three seasons, roughly 1,000 people are slain, forks turn out to have multiple uses, and the hero is rendered unconscious seven times. (The takeaway for me is: don’t even THINK about becoming a player in the Squid Game!)

In my opinion, the most interesting part of the series involves a fight between two very different men. It is one of the most exciting and most lopsided duels ever filmed.

Various factors heighten the suspense. For example, the hero is unaware until near the end that a man posing as his loyal friend is actually his mortal enemy. Furthermore, the imposter wants both to break the hero’s spirit and to save his life. To understand their conflict, it is helpful to learn about the program.

Background Information

Squid Game is a condemnation of capitalism. The director wanted to show in an exaggerated way how, in an unfair society, the wealthy get away with criminal acts and the poor struggle to survive.

In the story, men and women in desperate circumstances are lured to a Korean island to play six games (“the Squid Game”) for money. (These are variants of child’s play such as hide-and-seek and musical chairs.) There they are supervised by soldiers, who wear bubblegum pink uniforms accessorized with masks and submachine guns. Players are executed by soldiers for losing a game, are murdered by competing players, or commit suicide. The prize money, which jumps with every death, grows to millions of dollars. Bodies are carted off in black coffins with a pretty pink bow. Yet ribbons, whimsical rooms, and cutesy statues cannot hide the fact that the site is a killing factory.

Hwang In-ho (“Captain” or “player 001”) is the leader running the 2024 game. Under him, more than 400 players are to fight, kill, and die for the entertainment of ultrarich villains (“VIPs”), who bet on the contestants. He and the VIPs consider the players horses and trash.

Seong Gi-hun, the other duelist, is the hero and the sole winner of the 2021 Squid Game. He first meets the Captain (in the last episode of season 1) after that victory. At the time Seong is riding, bound and blindfolded, in the man’s limo (and thus cannot see the Captain’s face). The Captain insults him, calling him and other players horses to bet on in a race. Seong is returned, unconscious, to society by being thrown out of the vehicle. In short, he gets flattened in round one of the duel.

Still tortured by what he saw and had to do to survive in 2021, Seong tries to prevent the 2024 game. When the Captain outwits him, he enlists in it. He wants to keep people alive by ending the Squid Game forever and to show the VIPs that the players are humans, not horses.

During the 2024 game, the hero leads an uprising to capture the Captain. The rebels seize guns from the soldiers for the battle. The revolt fails, largely because of traitors in the rebel ranks.

For a brief period, Seong, devastated and beaten down, is suicidal. He courts death twice, once with a soldier’s gun and once with the blade of a knife.

Meanwhile, a player gives birth to a girl. In the fifth game Seong saves the child’s life but cannot save the young mother. He appoints himself the protector of the newborn.

On the eve of the sixth game, the hero and the Captain have a climactic face-off in the latter’s lair. At the meeting one man drops his mask, and the other grabs the knife.

The Duel Is an Uneven Match.

The participants in the duel are hardly equals. The Captain is a ruthless, charming, and deadly psychopath with power over many people. He is more intelligent, polished, and eloquent than Seong. In contrast, the hero is an ordinary man pushed to extremes. A former factory worker, he is determined, despite the odds, to abolish the Squid Game and to preserve lives. This makes him a combination of Don Quixote and Sir Galahad. From the beginning, the hero is the underdog.

Another reason that the men are unevenly matched is the size of their armies on the island. The Captain is backed by numerous soldiers, including snipers. Seong only has his best friend and a handful of faithful rebels, all of whom get shot or stabbed.

What makes the war even more one-sided - and increases the tension - is that the hero becomes friends with player 001. The latter does a masterful job of worming his way into Seong’s trust. Unaware that the player is the Captain, Seong reveals his plan to capture the Captain to him and makes him the second-in-command in the rebellion. Until the last meeting between the two, the hero has no idea that player 001 is his nemesis.

Posing as a player enables the Captain to learn much about Seong. He asks Seong questions, eavesdrops on him, and studies him. In the process, the Captain collects useful information on his opponent. (For example, in one conversation overheard by player 001, the hero talks about how traumatic it would be to watch a good friend die.) Meanwhile, Seong, unaware he has befriended his adversary, is at an information disadvantage.

The Captain Attempts to Break the Hero’s Spirit.

The Captain starts to see that Seong is a compassionate man willing to risk everything to keep others safe. Yet the Captain endeavors to crush him. For instance, he murders Seong’s best friend in front of him. He also twice leaves the injured hero handcuffed to a post. The Captain seems to be trying to convince Seong that he is just an animal and loser after all.

However, the Captain underestimates his foe. Though Seong is driven to attempt suicide twice, he changes course.

The Captain Repeatedly Saves the Hero’s Life.

The most surprising aspect of the duel is that the Captain sometimes protects Seong from danger. Following are some examples:

1. In one game the hero’s five-person team is nearly out of time. Four of the players, including him, will be executed if the clock runs out. (The fifth, player 001, is untouchable since the soldiers would never attack their boss.) In the juggling portion of the pentathlon, Seong has to kick a toy five times. He is about to fail when player 001 forces the hero’s foot forward, for a (debatable) save. The referee rules the juggle a success only after player 001 signals, with rapid-fire nods, to him to do so.

2. Early in the revolt, one of the Captain’s soldiers is about to slay Seong. Player 001, while pretending to be on the rebel side, kills the man to rescue the hero.

3. During the insurrection, the rebels are told to return to their quarters or be eliminated. Seong and most of his supporters disobey the order. When they finally surrender, all get shot, with one exception. The masked Captain aims a pistol at Seong but spares him.

4. After completing an unholy mission, the suicidal hero decides to slit his own throat in a secluded room. However, the Captain, who has been watching via a camera, has ways to contact his staff. Three men quickly show up. The manager shoots the blade out of Seong’s hand just in time. He also leads the soldiers carrying the hero, unconscious, from the arena to safety. To survive, Seong needed to be escorted out. VIPs were roaming about killing every player still wearing a red vest like his.

During the pivotal meeting between the Captain and the hero, the Captain presents a stunning proposal. Specifically, Seong and the baby would be declared the champions of the games, split the prize money and exit the hellhole alive. There would be no sixth game.

But there is a fiendish catch. For this to happen, the hero must first murder the seven remaining players in their sleep. (To look on the bright side, six of them deserve a spot on the FBI’s most wanted list!) It appears that the Captain’s offer was designed to keep Seong and the infant secure AND to make Seong vile like himself.

Why did the Captain repeatedly prolong the hero’s life? Was he ensuring that the former winner would face the challengers in the last game for the pleasure of the VIPs? (This is unlikely since, under the Captain’s proposal, that game gets canceled.) Does the answer lie in the Captain’s feelings toward Seong? (By the time of their dramatic meeting, his feelings seem to have evolved from total disdain to grudging respect to reluctant admiration.) Did the Captain enjoy the duel with what turned out to be a worthy opponent and wish to extend it? Did he want more time to try to corrupt Seong and send him to the dark side (as he himself had been corrupted in the past)?

The Captain’s motivation is unclear. However, at different points of the story he serves as a guardian angel, Judas, or Satan. Given the complexity of his character, he probably had multiple motives.

A voice from the hero’s past - or his conscience - stops him from committing the homicides. Thus, there is a sixth game. The Captain, who is not a complete monster, may be rooting for both Seong and the kid to triumph.

Who Won the Duel?

In the final game, the hero kills himself to save the baby, leaving her the champion. He dives toward death refusing to turn evil. He wanted the VIPs to see him and other players as humans, and his self-sacrifice does shock the VIPs into silence. Because of events Seong set in motion earlier that year, he also succeeds in ending the Squid Game - but only in Korea.

The battle between the two main characters is exciting for viewers, in part due to the psychological warfare and surprising twists. (WARNING - People who decide to watch better not have a weak stomach for blood and gore!) Like Don Quixote tilting at windmills, Seong never really stood a chance in the duel. His demise makes the Captain (and capitalism) the official winner. Yet the hero showed far greater humanity than his enemy and was the superior man.

Renée Henning is an attorney and an international author. Her written work has appeared in her book Mystery and the Adopted Child and in other publications in North America (e.g., Spadina Literary Review), South America (Salto Al Día), Europe (e.g., Oslo Times), Asia (e.g., ActiveMuse), Africa (e.g., Modern Ghana), and Oceania (e.g., Freelance). One of her short stories was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.