"If voting mattered, they wouldn’t let us vote."

(Mark Twain)

The second season of the popular South Korean series returns with the same intensity and brutality that made its predecessor a global phenomenon. This time, however, the discourse on dehumanization and capitalism reaches new heights of denunciation, with a narrative that not only continues to delve into the dark heart of social inequalities but does so with a sharp critique of the nature of the political and economic system that governs the world.

The beating heart of Squid Game 2 is the continuous dehumanization of the participants, forced to fight for their survival in deadly games. The season amplifies this theme by showing that it is not only physical violence that reduces humans to mere tools of entertainment, but also psychological manipulation and control over individual aspirations.

The game itself and the complex web of alliances and betrayals closely resemble the logic of the market: the idea that only the strongest, the most cunning, or those most willing to sacrifice others can emerge victorious. The game becomes a metaphor for the "struggle for success" in a society that rewards individualism and punishes solidarity.

Gi-Hun's return, protagonist 456, is a sort of "Socrates" returning to the cave. After his victory and apparent liberation from the prison of the game, Gi-Hun finds himself grappling with the emptiness that "freedom" has left him with. His life has been marked by the same disillusionment that struck most of the game's participants: the money that was supposed to bring some form of redemption only deepened his sense of helplessness and existential void. Yet, like Socrates, Gi-Hun feels that there is a deeper truth to seek, a need to confront a reality that others fail to see.

His return to the game is not just about survival, but a philosophical choice. Just like Socrates, who returned to the cave to urge the other prisoners to see and reflect on the outside world, Gi-Hun returns to communicate the truth, to understand the dark forces that move the game, and to unmask the system that has manipulated the lives of so many people. His participation, therefore, is not just an act of resistance, but of awareness: he returns to the game not as a mere player, but as a sort of "philosopher" who wants to discover and reveal the deepest truth, the one behind the masks of the puppetmasters and their games.

Gi-Hun, returning to the game, is like a man who, having tasted freedom, feels that he must return to the heart of darkness to defeat the corrupt truth it represents. This return represents a tragic awareness: it is not enough to physically escape the game to be free, because the system that generates it is larger than any single person. Only by confronting it again, directly, can Gi-Hun hope to illuminate the truth and perhaps unmask the illusion that the game and society have built around him.

The new characters, like the drug-addicted rapper Thanatos number 230, who lost all his money investing in cryptocurrency; the bully 124 who worked in a nightclub; the transgender woman 120, a former special forces soldier who wants to fund her surgeries; the ex-soldier and North Korean deserter 011, now a sniper, who wants to reunite with her daughter; the popular YouTuber 333; and Mrs. 149 who wants to help her son pay his debts—do not go unnoticed, standing out for their distinctive characters and determination, both for good and bad.

In the second chapter of Squid Game, the character of 001 is the dark leader, who, although disguised and blending in with the participants, proves to be the central figure manipulating and directing the game. While in the first season, number 001 was an elderly, helpless figure, here 001 represents a diabolical mind, the master who enters the game not to play, but to demonstrate his absolute supremacy. He is a man who is not afraid to expose himself, while always maintaining his invisible power, using the game not only as a tool of entertainment for the rich but also as a stage for exercising his manipulation and limitless control.

His decision to enter the game undercover, blending in with the participants, is a clever move: a man who seemingly is just like the others but actually knows that every move, every action, every death, is under his control. He masks himself among the competitors, displaying an apparent humility and vulnerability that make him the perfect candidate to go unnoticed. But in this very pretense of normality, 001 finds his true power: he is not a leader who commands from afar, but one who immerses himself in the heart of the game, becoming part of it to maintain full control. This behavior evokes the figure of the "invisible master," who knows how to make himself "invisible" in the eyes of others while remaining the most powerful of all.

In a system where people are driven by desperation and the hunger for money, 001 represents that figure who does not need to expose his authority because he knows that his power lies in his ability to manipulate others' psyches. A kind of Grand Inquisitor who understands humanity’s inability to manage its own freedom; his true strength lies in the fact that he knows how to play with human weaknesses and exploit every moment of uncertainty or fear. Like in a board game, he knows every move and knows what each piece on the chessboard will do, while the others clash against one another without ever realizing that the real game has already been mapped out.

One of the most disturbing aspects of 001's character is his attitude of absolute contempt for human life, which makes him the perfect symbol of the most cruel and inhumane capitalism. Although apparently empathetic and affable, 001 has no respect for the lives of the participants, who are for him nothing but expendable pawns in a game designed to test his superiority. His philosophy is that of the game as a metaphor for life, where the only thing that matters is the final victory, no matter the cost. The death and suffering of others are simply part of a process that reinforces his distorted view of justice, which is nothing more than the triumph of his own will and dominion.

In this sense, 001 is the "absolute capitalist," one who does not see people as human beings, but as resources to be exploited, tools to be used for his own amusement or to enrich himself. The game, for him, is a projection of the laws of the Darwinian market: the weakest are eliminated, while the strongest survive, but only because they are willing to carry out terrible actions. The "freedom" offered to the participants of the game is an illusion, because the system controlling them is already decided from the beginning. Those who enter the game are destined to be manipulated, exploited, and eventually sacrificed. His sadism is not just physical, but psychological: he enjoys not so much killing, but seeing others reduced to mere tools for his own purposes.

An interesting relationship is the one he builds with 456, whom he does not intend to eliminate, because he is fascinated by his ethics, which he cannot fully understand but is certainly drawn to. With his perfidiously paternalistic attitude, he knows that the real victory lies in making others believe they have a chance, while in reality, everyone’s fate is already sealed. His logic is that of superiority and the elevation of a few at the expense of many, a vision that leads to the creation of a hierarchy in which the weakest are sacrificed without mercy.

When the truth is revealed and the game unfolds in its final form, 001 reveals his true face: it is he, the leader, the one who created all of this, the one who orchestrated the game. His motivation was never money, but power and absolute control. The revelation is of a man who wanted to test human nature, who decided to become a deity himself, deciding who lives and who dies, who is worthy of salvation and who must be sacrificed.

001 is the embodiment of that invisible, absolute power that does not need to show its face to be feared. It is the force that dominates the lives of others but is never seen directly, always acting in the shadows.

In summary, 001 in the second season of Squid Game is the true architect of the game, the symbol of a power that operates behind the scenes, destroying all hope of freedom or justice.

Critique of "Democratic Freedom"

Democracy in a capitalist country is just a farce to justify the rule of the capitalist class.

(Karl Marx)

The series does not limit itself to a simple critique of capitalism, but goes further, questioning the very foundations of "democratic freedom." The season examines the contradiction inherent in the fact that people voluntarily participate in the game, even under the pressure of enormous economic difficulties, highlighting how individual freedom is illusory in a system that forces people into choices that aren’t truly choices. The idea of "freedom" that allows someone to freely choose to be part of a deadly game is nothing but a facade: a freedom that is, in reality, just another tool of control.

In the context of Squid Game 2, "democratic freedom" is exposed as a well-designed trap. It is no longer a society offering opportunities for all, but a system promoting the illusion of participation and choice, the freedom to vote. The rules of the game are never questioned, because the participants are chained to a fate they have no power to change, except to leave the game, just like most people in modern capitalist societies.

Capitalism as Spectacle

Another crucial aspect of Squid Game 2 is the way capitalism is portrayed as a spectacle, where entertainment and profit mix in a disturbing blend. The wealth accumulated by the powerful behind the scenes of the games is not just symbolic, but becomes a reflection of how capitalist society exploits and consumes the pain and suffering of others for its own gain. In this sense, violence and death become commodities, and the "false freedom" of choosing to participate in the games is just another form of exploitation.

And when one observes Gi-hun’s journey, it becomes clear how every effort to stop the game is thwarted by the rigidity of the system. His first attempt, to hire mercenaries and place a locator, fails; the second, where he tries to persuade others to vote to leave the competition, fails again; and finally, his last, most desperate attempt to unite others and spark a rebellion, leads to nothing.

In these failures, there is a bitter reflection on the nature of resistance in a system that seems to leave no escape, where every act of rebellion is suffocated before it can take root. His path, marked by futile attempts, highlights how in a system that is called "democratic" yet is so totalitarian and controlled, every gesture of opposition is doomed to shatter against the wall of indifference and power that governs reality. The revolution, here, is not just impossible: it is an illusion that vanishes before the impotence of those who try to change a system that offers neither hope nor change.

The technique, the system, has created a mechanism that absorbs every form of resistance, making itself impervious to radical critique and transforming every opposition into another product to consume.

The lack of collective awareness and the prevailing individualism make revolution, understood as profound change in the social structure, an unrealistic goal. For the final chapter of Squid Game 2, the illusion of a participatory democracy is actually a sophisticated control mechanism; revolution is no longer possible because resistance is swallowed by the same forces one would seek to fight against.

Revolution is not an extraordinary event, but a constant resistance to the system of domination that knows how to adapt and resist. If change does not come, it is because the system has been able to reorganize itself continuously.

(Herbert Marcuse)

02-Jan-2025 by Beatrice