How Did “Squid Game” Season 2 End? The Biggest Bombshells Explained

The highly anticipated second season debuted on Dec. 26 with a bloody splash

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 2.

Squid Game season 2 is finally here!

On Dec. 26, Netflix released the highly anticipated second season of Squid Game — more than three years after season 1 premiered. Its return brought a new cast of characters competing against one another in the deadly games with a big cash prize and brutal twists.

Squid Game's first season followed Seong Gi-hun [Lee Jung-jae] as he sought to win the high-stakes competition filled with deadly versions of Korean children's games. Out of 456 contestants that started in the competition, Gi-hun was the last one standing.

After attempting to put the harrowing events of the games behind him and meet his daughter in America, Gi-hun cancels his plans when he encounters a representative from the games as he's about to board a plane. Instead, he decides to go after the Front Man and the people behind the games to put an end to them for good.

In season 2, Gi-hun hatches a plot to return to the games to save a new batch of players. But does he succeed?

Read on to learn more about the season's biggest bombshells.

The Death of a Salesman

The first episode of the second season started with a bang and gave more insight into the mysterious life of The Salesman, played by Gong Yoo, one of the recruiters responsible for bringing new players into the games.

After months of searching, the loan shark (Kim Pub-lae) and his accomplice, Woo-seok, finally find the salesman in a train station, playing another round of ddakji with a potential player. They choose to follow him until Gi-hun can arrive on the scene.

The chase leads them to a bakery where The Salesman buys 100 pieces of bread and a convenience store where he purchases 100 lottery scratchers to offer the unhoused people residing in a park. He makes his rounds and most people chose lottery scratchers. Eventually he throws down the pieces of bread, smashing them under his feet after announcing there would be no reneging on the deal.

When Gi-hun runs late, the loan shark and Woo-seok are inevitably captured by The Salesman. After a harrowing game of Russian roulette involving rock, paper, scissors minus one, the loan shark sacrifices his life to save Woo-seok.

Eventually, Gi-hun finds The Salesman and the two play another deadly game of Russian roulette, leading the salesman to take his own life.

Related: Squid Game Season 2 Review: Less Bold, Still Brutal

Player 001

In a shocking plot twist, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) enters the games as player 001 with a false identity as In-ho. After Gi-hun asks the Front Man to allow him to reenter the games, he wakes up back in his uniform as player 456 alongside a brand new group of hopefuls.

The Front Man reveals himself after the first and iconic Red Light, Green Light game. When it comes time to vote to either stay or go, the process begins with Gi-hun, who is the last player at 456. Eventually, the Xs and Os are tied at exactly 182 votes each, when player 001 gets his turn to vote.

After much suspense, player 001 votes to keep everyone in the games and the cameras finally reveal his identity. With a plan to earn Gi-hun's trust and derail his mission to end the game, In-ho befriends Gi-hun and his friend Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) and plays a double persona.

The Six Legged Race

Game number two was one of the most nail biting games of the season and involved the players forming groups of five. Each group tied their legs together and participated in a six-legged pentathlon.

Each contestant had to win one of five games at the 10 meter mark: Ddakji, Flying Stone, Gong-gi, Spinning Top and Jegi. If the players failed to win all five mini games and cross the finish line in five minutes, they were eliminated on the spot.

Finally, Gi-hun's group, which consisted of friends In-ho, Jung-bae aka Player 390, Dae-ho aka Player 380 and Jun-hee aka Player 222, were one of the last two groups of five to compete in the race. After wishing the other team good luck, the five took off and flew through the first three games before they approached the third trial where In-ho would be competing in spinning top.

In-ho began fumbling, accidentally letting go of the top and even flinging it backwards. With great effort, the group of six had to work together to retrieve the top and as In-ho bent down to pick it up, he couldn't help but grin as the rest of the group began to panic.

With 54 seconds left on the clock, In-ho finally threw the top with an excellent maneuver and the team advanced to the next round. It came time for Gi-hun to play Jegi, a game where players must kick a shuttlecock with their foot five times in a row.

Despite nailing the first four, Gi-hun's last kick threw the shuttlecock in an odd direction. With In-ho's quick thinking, he raised their connected feet at the last minute to make the fifth kick.

The group made their way to the finish line and celebrated as the clock struck zero. Their joy was cut short when the other team failed to cross and died in gunfire.

Related: Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae Opens Up About Gi-hun's Season 2 Transformation and Why It Made 'My Heart Heavy' (Exclusive)

A Surprise Voting...

After finishing the second game, the players voted on whether they wanted to continue playing or leave the game. This round of voting began with In-ho, player 001 and ended with Gi-hun, player 456.

While In-ho voted to leave the game, others chose to stay. In a surprising twist, Yong-sik aka Player 007 switched sides and voted to stay in the game despite his mother's, Geum-ja aka Player 149 (Kang Ae-sim), pleas take the money and return home.

When it was Jung-bae's turn to cast his vote, he also pressed "O" to the shock and disappointment of Gi-hun and Dae-ho.

Eventually, it came time for Hyun-ju aka Player 120 (Park Sung-hoon), the series' first transgender character to vote. Despite making close bonds with Geum-ja and Young-mi aka Player 095, who have shared desires to leave, Hyun-ju voted to play.

When the number of "O" votes rise, Gi-hun got anxious but In-ho was first to reprimand the players and attempt to convince them to choose "X." As the crowd went back and forth, Young-mi began crying and pleaded for the other players to let her go home.

The final results were 139 for "O" and 116 for "X."

... And a Heartbreaking Death

With the majority choosing to stay, the remaining players moved on to the third game. As they made their way to the arena, Hyun-ju apologized to Young-mi for voting to keep her in the games despite her fears. She accepted her apology and said she was looking forward to meeting up with Hyun-ju in the outside world.

The players were ushered into a room with a spinning platform and the game makers announced that they would be playing Mingle. Once the platform stops spinning, an announcer calls a number and each player must form a group with consisting of that number. They must then run into a room and lock the door to move on to the next round. Any players left outside the doors are eliminated and killed.

When the announcer calls groups of three, Yong-sik and his mother scramble to find one more person to join them. But when two men try to carry him away, he initially fights but gives up before leaving his mother to fend for herself. Luckily, she's swept up by In-ho and Gi-hun before the clock runs out.

Back outside, Young-sik breaks down and weeps with guilt. Geum-ja immediately forgives her son and the two tightly hold hands as they move on to the next round. This time, the announcer calls out groups of six.

Young-sik, Geum-ja, Hyun-ju, Young-mi, Dae-ho and Jun-hee run for a spare room, but on the way, another player accidentally knocks Young-mi down to the ground and Myung-gi aka Player 333, slides in the door, locking her out of the room.

Hyun-ju rushed to the door and struggled to get the lock open. With tears in her eyes, Young-mi called out for Hyun-ju before a gun shot rang, her eyes turned lifeless and she slid down the door.

The Search Goes Overboard

While Gi-hun is in the games, Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) and Woo-seok attempt to track his location to rescue him with the team of professionals. They get aboard a boat and sail to several islands along the Korean peninsula to find where the games are being held.

After months of searching together, Jun-ho hired the boat captain who rescued him after he washed away at sea after confronting the Front Man, his older brother, at the end of season 1.

One night, a drone pilot on the team wakes up and goes on deck to help his sea-sickness when he finds the captain tampering with the equipment he's using for the search. After he's caught red-handed, the pilot goes to confront him when the captain stabs him before throwing him overboard.

When Woo-seok wakes from the commotion, the captain assures him that he couldn't sleep and chalks up the noise to the waves hitting the deck.

The Players Rebel

In final episode of season 2, Gi-hun and a small group of his fellow "X" team members hatched a plot to get to the game's control room and confront the Front Man. After the vote to go home or play one more game breaks even, they took advantage of the inevitable fight that would breakout in their quarters.

When the lights went out, the killing spree began. Gi-hun and his team wait for the masked men to enter the quarters to ambush them, take their guns and fight their way up to the control room. Eventually they ran into an onslaught of masked soldiers in the colorful stairwells.

Gi-hun and Jung-bae chose to continue on and a group of fighters including In-ho, Na-yeon's father aka Player 246, Hyun-ju aka Player 120 (Park Sung-hoon) and Dae-ho stayed behind to fight the masked people.

Despite their best efforts and ammunition low, In-ho took two other men to meet up with Gi-hun and Jung-bae with more rounds. Without any rounds to spare, Dae-ho volunteered to search for more ammunition but his fears got the best of him and he never returned. When Hyun-ju goes looking for him, she finds him hiding in the players' quarters. Before she can return to the fight, the room fills with armed masked soldiers and Geum-ja urges her not to go out in hailing gun fire.

With no one coming to help, Na-yeon's father and the remaining men surrender, but are killed by advancing masked soldiers.

Back towards the control room, In-ho finally reveals his true nature and double crosses the players who followed him to battle. Gi-hun and Jung-bae run out of hope and ammunition, and surrender the fight.

How Did It End?

With Gi-hun and Jung-bae on their knees and hand behind their heads, In-ho resumed his position as the game's Front Man. He donned his mask and signature black coat before approaching the duo.

"Player 456," he said, addressing Gi-hun before putting up a gun towards his head. "Did you have fun playing the hero?"

"Look closely, at the consequences of your little hero game," he continued as he quickly moved the gun over to Jung-bae before shooting him in the chest.

In rage and disbelief, Gi-hun mourned the death of his friend and wailed with grief as masked soldiers apprehended him.

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Squid Game season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.