[Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for “Squid Game” Season 3, Episode 6, “Humans Are…”]
Not like a special present that additionally occurred to premiere this week, “Squid Recreation” didn’t return from its breakout first season with a slew of well-known new visitor stars. Author and director Hwang Dong-hyak had ample alternative to solid nearly anybody he needed in Seasons 2 and three, contemplating the seemingly limitless attain of Squid Recreation’s organizers and the a whole lot of recent contestants introduced in for the thirty fourth competitors (in addition to the off-screen funds improve given to Netflix‘s world smash hit). However, regardless of enlisting loads of Korean stars for the ultimate episodes, “Squid Recreation” by no means became a celebrity-spotting sport of its personal; it wasn’t inviting audiences to level at their televisions each couple of minutes, just like the Leonardo DiCaprio meme from “As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood,” as loads of different blockbuster sequels do. (Hwang did have his eye on Leo, although.)
In order the sequence finale ticked down towards its closing credit, there was no purpose for followers to count on a cameo — particularly from two-time Academy Award-winning actor, Cate Blanchett. However there she is, enjoying ddakji in a Los Angeles alley towards a dude who’s clearly down on his luck, since she’s busy slapping absolutely the shit out of him.
What offers? Properly, even with correct context, the that means behind Blanchett’s look is a matter of minor debate. To set the stage, “Squid Recreation” Season 3 ends with the Entrance Man, Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), touring to Los Angeles to ship Seong Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) private results to his daughter (together with Gi-hun’s remaining winnings, which In-ho took from their lodge hiding place and loaded onto a financial institution card). After dropping off the cash and sport uniform, the conflicted Entrance Man drives away.
Then, stopped at a crimson gentle, he hears a well-known sound. In-ho rolls down his window and appears into the alley, the place a person in ragged garments is enjoying ddakji with a girl (Blanchett) in a pristine grey swimsuit. To followers, it’s instantly clear what’s occurring: The girl is a Squid Recreation recruiter, and she or he’s obtained a possible new participant on the hook.
The mark loses the spherical, she appears to be like at him, shrugs, after which slaps him throughout the face. Whereas he’s doubled over from the blow, the girl appears to be like towards the road and sees In-ho watching her. His expression is static — ambiguous — however she acknowledges him (or, at the very least, one thing about him) and smiles. Then the person challenges her to a different spherical, she says, “As you would like,” and goes again to her sport.
In-ho lastly reacts, however he doesn’t give away a lot. He appears to be like down, both in contemplation, disgust, or a mix of each. Then the window rolls again up, and he drives off. The digicam swings away from his automotive and again to Blanchett, as she wins one other sport. One final slap lands proper as scene cuts to black.
To some viewers, the cameo hints at how Netflix might select to proceed “Squid Recreation.” Maybe a brand new season or spinoff sequence will concentrate on an American model of the video games, with Blanchett’s character enjoying the a part of a pivotal recruiter. To date, the narrative has solely acknowledged the South Korean version, however now we’re left to surprise what number of there are and who else is working them. In principle, Netflix might greenlight a brand new “Squid Recreation” spinoff primarily based in numerous territories across the globe.
However Hwang Dong-hyak (by way of Netflix) has solely spoken about Blanchett’s cameo as an ending to the unique sequence.
“We thought having a girl as a recruiter can be extra dramatic and intriguing,” Hwang stated to Tudum, the Netflix-owned weblog. “And as for why Cate Blanchett, she’s simply the perfect, with unmatched charisma. Who doesn’t love her? So we have been very glad to have her seem. We would have liked somebody who might dominate the display with only one or two phrases, which is strictly what she did.”
Hwang added that Blanchett was “superb at enjoying ddakji” and “efficiently flipped the ddakji on her first strive.” However concerning its that means past the sequence finale, properly, he doesn’t go there. (One can assume the Netflix-run web site in all probability isn’t pushing the director to offer a agency reply on future plans, however he additionally advised The Hollywood Reporter, “I believe the story resulted in a fashion the place it doesn’t want an additional story to be advised.”)
“Personally, I interpret it as, regardless of all the noble efforts of so many individuals, the world nonetheless continues because it was earlier than,” Hwang stated to Tudum, including it’s “really an ending that matches the [show’s] identify.”
On this level, I’ve to agree. A part of “Squid Recreation’s” broad enchantment is that its anti-capitalist message is so broadly relevant. Previous to the cameo, its ending is rooted in the concept that the wealthy and highly effective (wherever they dwell) deal with the proletariat as expendable items of leisure, and so they’ll hold doing precisely that till their energy construction falls aside. Gi-hun’s final phrases, proper earlier than he sacrifices himself to avoid wasting an harmless child, embrace, “We’re not horses” — a direct tackle to the billionaires who’ve been betting on the Squid Video games, demanding they acknowledge their shared humanity with the gamers. Despite the fact that he can’t full his last sentence — declaring, earlier than he dies, whether or not people are good or evil — his demise speaks to the hope Gi-hun maintains for the longer term.
Naturally, the continued existence of the Squid Video games, regardless of our hero’s excessive efforts to finish them, is a extra cynical tackle what’s subsequent, and seeing the disillusioned Entrance Man come head to head with an enlargement of the video games — proper right here in America, the bastion of unchecked commercialism — solely doubles down on the sequence’ downer outlook. However there’s no purpose to assume the video games will likely be completely different — or that they’ll finish in a different way — simply because they’re being held some place else. Till capitalism’s oppressive grip on society ends, the Squid Video games can’t both.
That’s the ending Hwang got here to, that’s the lesson he desires to go away us with, in order that’s how we must always bear in mind it. Somewhat than faux Blanchett’s cameo opens the door for a special, extra hopeful conclusion — persevering with a narrative, by way of Season 4 or an American spinoff, that’s meant to be seen as a vicious cycle — let’s see the epilogue for what it’s: a punctuation mark, not a tease.
“Squid Recreation” is offered on Netflix.