14: "Bread and Lottery" (Squid Game S2E1)

[00:00:00] 14,000, Squid Game Cast, Podcastica

[00:00:05] 14,000, Squid Game Cast, Podcastica

[00:00:09] 그럼 이제 확률을 뒤집어 볼까요?

[00:00:11] 살 확률은 6분의 1

[00:00:15] 죽을 확률은?

[00:00:17] 6분의 5

[00:00:20] 자 다시 시작하겠습니다

[00:00:26] 속도를 높여 볼까요?

[00:00:28] 가위발 볼! 하나 빼기!

[00:00:31] 가위발 볼! 하나 빼기!

[00:00:33] 가위발 볼! 하나 빼기!

[00:00:35] 가위발 볼! 하나 빼기!

[00:00:36] 가위발 볼!

[00:01:06] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. I'm Jason.

[00:01:09] And I'm David.

[00:01:10] And I'm Daphne.

[00:01:12] And this episode, we're getting into Squid Game Season 2

[00:01:16] with Season 2 Episode 1, Bread and Lottery.

[00:01:19] A lovely little game.

[00:01:21] Welcome back guys.

[00:01:22] For Season 2.

[00:01:23] It seemed like it, Season 1 just ended. No, I'm just kidding.

[00:01:28] Actually seems like a long time ago.

[00:01:30] You said you were gonna watch some of Season 1

[00:01:33] to get into the mood. Did you do that?

[00:01:36] I did, although I had good ambitions

[00:01:38] of watching the last several episodes

[00:01:39] and I ended up only watching parts of certain ones

[00:01:42] because I ran out of time. But it did get me

[00:01:44] back into the mood. It doesn't take much

[00:01:45] to really get into

[00:01:48] remembering what it's all about. I watch

[00:01:50] this YouTube channel, Man of Recaps

[00:01:53] who's good at just

[00:01:54] recapping full seasons of shows

[00:01:56] to get me back into it. Plus, Daphne and I,

[00:01:58] of course, if you didn't hear, we did our whole

[00:02:00] recap, Season 1 recap episode

[00:02:02] last week where we spent

[00:02:04] about an hour and a half going over Season 1

[00:02:06] and I listened to that. I really enjoyed

[00:02:07] listening to it as a fan. So, I recommend it

[00:02:09] if you guys want a reminder.

[00:02:11] Yeah, I feel like we got right back into it

[00:02:14] and now

[00:02:16] we're ready for Season 2.

[00:02:17] I'm excited.

[00:02:18] We're ready for Season 2.

[00:02:20] So, Squid Game Season 2 Episode 1,

[00:02:21] Bread and Lottery. I'm gonna read a plot

[00:02:23] summary and then we'll get into what we thought.

[00:02:25] So, it says,

[00:02:27] Song Gi-hun leaves the terminal

[00:02:28] vowing to find the game's originators.

[00:02:31] He realizes they know where he is

[00:02:33] and cuts a tracker out from behind his ear.

[00:02:36] Hwang Joon-ho survives

[00:02:37] his fall from the cliff and wakes up

[00:02:39] in a hospital. Two years later,

[00:02:41] Gi-hun, working with Kim,

[00:02:43] the loan shark, and his team,

[00:02:44] search for the recruiter throughout Seoul.

[00:02:47] Kim and his employee,

[00:02:49] Choi Woo-suk,

[00:02:52] eventually find the recruiter

[00:02:53] and watch him offer homeless people

[00:02:55] bread or a lottery ticket.

[00:02:57] Most choose the lottery ticket

[00:02:59] and the recruiter destroys the rejected bread

[00:03:01] in front of them.

[00:03:03] The recruiter catches Kim and Choi

[00:03:05] and forces them to play rock,

[00:03:07] paper, scissors combined with Russian roulette

[00:03:09] where Kim is killed.

[00:03:11] Jun-ho investigates Gi-hun

[00:03:13] and finds his base of operations.

[00:03:15] The recruiter finds Gi-hun

[00:03:17] at his base and tells him

[00:03:18] that he was a soldier in the game

[00:03:21] and killed his father, who was a player.

[00:03:23] I would say worker, not soldier.

[00:03:25] Saying that such people are scum.

[00:03:27] Gi-hun and the recruiter

[00:03:29] play Russian roulette

[00:03:30] and the recruiter dies after losing

[00:03:32] and Gi-hun collects a card from his jacket

[00:03:35] that is a lead to the front man.

[00:03:37] We didn't see that, did we?

[00:03:38] We did not see that.

[00:03:40] Yeah, somebody is watching ahead.

[00:03:43] Sorry about that.

[00:03:45] Well, he said there's a card in my pocket.

[00:03:48] Yes, he did.

[00:03:49] Yeah.

[00:03:49] Yeah.

[00:03:51] Yeah.

[00:03:51] One of my questions was going to be,

[00:03:53] is there really something in his pocket

[00:03:55] that he's going to be able to use

[00:03:56] to get to the organizers?

[00:03:59] I've heard out.

[00:04:00] Yeah.

[00:04:01] So what did you guys think about this one in general?

[00:04:05] I liked it.

[00:04:06] I'm okay with us not jumping right into the game.

[00:04:09] I know some people might not be happy about it

[00:04:11] because getting into the actual squid game itself

[00:04:15] gets you into the action right away,

[00:04:18] but I'm okay with us catching up with these characters,

[00:04:21] you know, Jun-ho and Gi-hun

[00:04:24] and figuring out where they are mentally.

[00:04:28] Well, also, I feel like we got insight into the recruiter

[00:04:33] that I wasn't expecting to get.

[00:04:36] And I wondered for a while,

[00:04:39] is he one of those people that is just on the outside doing this role?

[00:04:43] It's no big deal to him.

[00:04:45] But no, he's just as heartless and cutthroat and sadistic

[00:04:49] as the people running the game.

[00:04:53] So, yeah.

[00:04:54] I thought it set up a timeline of where we're at,

[00:04:58] how long it's been.

[00:05:01] And I'm excited after we record this to go watch episode two.

[00:05:05] Cool.

[00:05:06] I am too.

[00:05:07] I was ready to watch the next one.

[00:05:08] What about you, David?

[00:05:09] What did you think of it?

[00:05:10] I definitely enjoyed the episode.

[00:05:12] I mean, this show is great at action and story.

[00:05:15] There's some familiar characters here that we're interested in,

[00:05:18] care about.

[00:05:20] I didn't think it had the heart of any of season one.

[00:05:24] And so to me, the challenge is how do you reboot a story

[00:05:28] in which the characters took such a journey?

[00:05:31] But there's so many characters in season one that were so compelling.

[00:05:36] And Gi-hun, for example, was so, and I know we'll talk about this more,

[00:05:41] but he was so naive and optimistic and yet sort of street smart in a way.

[00:05:47] And such a compelling character.

[00:05:49] And he's in a very different place.

[00:05:51] He's a different character now.

[00:05:52] Mm hmm.

[00:05:53] Uh, so I did not find myself as emotionally, uh, drawn in or attracted to any of the characters

[00:06:00] so far as I was during season one.

[00:06:02] Mm hmm.

[00:06:03] Yeah.

[00:06:04] One thing about his optimism, and I would say almost very fitting for the show, a childlike

[00:06:10] way about him, you know, just kind of reactive to his emotions.

[00:06:15] A lot of the time that helps me make it make sense that he would be the kind of guy who would

[00:06:21] win the squid game and then just go after them.

[00:06:24] Yeah.

[00:06:24] Whereas most people would sit comfortably with their money or, or whatever.

[00:06:28] So it feels like a, something a kid might do, you know, right away.

[00:06:33] I feel like squid game killed his heart.

[00:06:36] Being a part of that.

[00:06:38] It's really interesting, David, that you brought, interesting that you brought up heart because

[00:06:45] I think Gi-hun lost his heart.

[00:06:49] Now he needs to be very careful not to go too far the other way where he's becoming as bad

[00:06:56] as the people that are running the game.

[00:06:58] It's a great point.

[00:07:00] What did he do something?

[00:07:03] I mean, he's obviously not happy, but I can't think of anything he did that would indicate

[00:07:12] that he's sort of heartless.

[00:07:14] Maybe I'm forgetting something.

[00:07:16] Yeah.

[00:07:17] I mean, I would say he's purpose driven at this point, and that's a very different person

[00:07:21] than we knew through the whole iteration.

[00:07:25] And I'm not saying it doesn't track.

[00:07:27] No.

[00:07:28] I'm not saying I found it unbelievable, but I'm, I'm hoping that either the same or other

[00:07:36] characters grow to mean as much to us as they did in season one.

[00:07:41] Yeah.

[00:07:41] And, um, so far I didn't feel that much in the first episode.

[00:07:45] It was interesting.

[00:07:47] There was some fun action.

[00:07:48] Yeah.

[00:07:48] But I didn't care about it the same way I did in the last season.

[00:07:52] Yeah.

[00:07:52] Me neither.

[00:07:53] I gotta say, I found it, like you said, enjoyable for sure.

[00:07:57] And there were certain moments where you can't look away, you know, they have that squid game

[00:08:02] fucked upness to it.

[00:08:04] That's kind of delicious.

[00:08:06] But, um, I felt like I was looking for the meaning that I found in season one.

[00:08:12] There were pockets of it.

[00:08:13] And also I think it felt less tight to me.

[00:08:18] It felt like they could have shortened the episode.

[00:08:20] There was a lot of time spent on things that I didn't think were all that interesting and

[00:08:25] maybe felt repetitive, the whole search and everything.

[00:08:28] So that went on for a long time.

[00:08:30] Yeah.

[00:08:31] And this is one, I think the one of the longer episodes of the entire show so far.

[00:08:34] So, um, I'm not sold yet, but I meant it.

[00:08:39] I really did want to go right into episode two and see what happened next.

[00:08:43] Agreed.

[00:08:43] Yeah.

[00:08:44] What I meant too about Gi-hun is we've seen characters in other shows go from being, you

[00:08:51] know, heart filled or love filled and have a spirit and things that happen to them turn

[00:08:58] them into people that we don't either don't recognize or they go down a dangerous road because

[00:09:05] of what happened to them.

[00:09:07] And I, I guess what I meant is I think Gi-hun could go down that road if he gets.

[00:09:13] Yeah.

[00:09:14] Too deep and driven.

[00:09:16] Yeah.

[00:09:16] I was wondering if he would this season, but that's why when you said that I'm like,

[00:09:20] Oh, was there something in this episode that made us think?

[00:09:22] Yeah.

[00:09:23] I don't know.

[00:09:23] He's taken those steps.

[00:09:24] And I think that it's a very slippery slope once you start going down them.

[00:09:30] So we have a segment, just a real quick one.

[00:09:33] Cause there's a lot to talk about.

[00:09:34] Fucked up moment of the week.

[00:09:36] There was a lot of fucked up-ness in this episode, which is kind of what you want from

[00:09:40] Squid Game, in my opinion.

[00:09:41] And I'm going to pick one that's probably not as fucked up as some of the other ones,

[00:09:46] but I thought it really stuck out to me.

[00:09:48] I knew it was going to happen to that.

[00:09:50] I call him doc G guy.

[00:09:52] He did the whole bread and lottery game.

[00:09:53] And when the homeless guy picked the lottery ticket and he gave him this coin to scratch

[00:10:00] it off and he lost that, he demanded the coin back.

[00:10:05] Asshole.

[00:10:07] Daphne, what about you?

[00:10:10] Well, it could have been the craziest game of rock, paper, scissors that I've ever seen, but it's not.

[00:10:17] It is the recruiter knowing that the bullet was in the gun and actually killing himself in front of Jihoon.

[00:10:26] Like following through with it.

[00:10:28] Yeah.

[00:10:29] I wasn't sure how to feel about that because I, he just seems so savvy.

[00:10:35] Like he would find a way out of it or wouldn't go through with it.

[00:10:39] But then I also thought it was true to his character that he would follow through with it because he's like this game master.

[00:10:48] But I just didn't think we were going to get to that point where he was going to do that.

[00:10:53] Like he pulled the trigger right in front of Jihoon.

[00:10:56] It, yeah, it was a lot to take in for me.

[00:11:01] I thought he would.

[00:11:02] I thought we would see more blood, but I'm not complaining.

[00:11:06] Yeah.

[00:11:07] David.

[00:11:08] I agree with that.

[00:11:10] I mean, the first thing that came to my mind was this girl trying to hit on and take an Instagram photo with the cop who was giving her boyfriend a ticket.

[00:11:21] That was pretty, I love that.

[00:11:23] That was ridiculous.

[00:11:24] That's great.

[00:11:25] That's what happens when you watch too much Squid Game.

[00:11:28] It's these moments that stand out.

[00:11:30] But honestly, I thought it was the recruiter stomping on and destroying all this bread in front of a bunch of hungry homeless people.

[00:11:38] Yeah.

[00:11:39] I was thinking if I was hungry enough, I'd probably eat it anyway.

[00:11:42] Yeah, I was thinking that too.

[00:11:44] I think some people would have, probably did.

[00:11:46] I mean, we didn't see it, but I think there were people that probably did.

[00:11:50] Then again, I remember walking down the street in Boston and I had like half a bag of chips and I had enough and I offered it to someone who looked like they were homeless.

[00:12:00] And she said, oh no, I couldn't eat that honey.

[00:12:04] I was like, all right, sorry.

[00:12:07] All right.

[00:12:07] Let's get into our points.

[00:12:09] Daphne, what do you got first?

[00:12:10] Okay.

[00:12:11] So first, I just want to talk about where we are like time wise with the story.

[00:12:18] Because the way that they ended season one, it had been a year and Gihun was getting ready to get on a plane to fly to be with his daughter.

[00:12:30] And so we know a year had passed at that point.

[00:12:34] And that was after the games because he didn't even touch his money for a year.

[00:12:38] He let it sit, didn't touch it, just lived this broken life.

[00:12:44] And then we know that two years have passed from then.

[00:12:51] So we're three years outside of the squid game that we saw in season one.

[00:12:56] And I think Gihun's, I mean, if you look at how he started season one in his appearance and his demeanor to where he is now, where his hair is cut short, he looks more somber.

[00:13:14] He looks a bit older, obviously.

[00:13:18] And he's at this point of an obsession with finding the people that are running this game.

[00:13:32] And so I thought, you know, the timeline really sets us into, it's been three years.

[00:13:38] We don't know if they've been doing the squid game in between that time at all.

[00:13:45] It was yearly, wasn't it?

[00:13:47] When Jun Ho was looking through the past winners.

[00:13:50] It was.

[00:13:51] So we don't know.

[00:13:52] We don't know.

[00:13:54] Because, what's his name?

[00:13:55] Oh, the nom's dead.

[00:13:56] Yeah.

[00:13:57] Yeah.

[00:13:57] We know the games are probably happening given we see the guy in the subway station with the Dokji game.

[00:14:03] Right.

[00:14:04] So I would assume they have been happening.

[00:14:08] But yeah, we don't know.

[00:14:09] Yeah.

[00:14:10] I don't know.

[00:14:11] I mean, it seems like the one year out that Gi-hun was getting ready to go to the U.S., he saw the recruiter.

[00:14:22] So it must have happened that year.

[00:14:24] But then he kind of disappeared for a year and then was coming around year two.

[00:14:31] It took them a few months of this improved offensive where they're monitoring everything every second of the day, trying to find the recruiter.

[00:14:45] And Gi-hun is incredibly obsessed with this.

[00:14:48] Like, he is driven to end the suffering.

[00:14:54] Because he's seen it.

[00:14:55] He saw firsthand what happened in the first games.

[00:14:59] And I wondered at the end of last season how he, you know, what did other winners do?

[00:15:06] Because we know that Jun-ho's brother became one of the big, you know, people in running the game.

[00:15:16] But we don't know anything about the fates of any of the other winners.

[00:15:20] So we don't know if it's something where you get recruited to be in it.

[00:15:24] Or if you're incredibly, if you showcase sadistic nature in playing the game, maybe they pull you in to be part of the game in a bigger way.

[00:15:38] So I guess I really just wanted to set the stage for, you know, it's been three years since the original events of Squid Game.

[00:15:46] And from what I can see, Gi-hun has just gotten more and more obsessed with shutting this down.

[00:15:53] Or at least finding out where the games are held.

[00:15:57] I'm assuming he wants to shut it down.

[00:16:00] Yeah, he tells Dokji Gai, I want to talk to your bosses.

[00:16:04] I have something to tell them.

[00:16:05] And I presume he wants to kill them.

[00:16:08] Yeah.

[00:16:10] But we don't know.

[00:16:11] No, not yet.

[00:16:12] We'll see.

[00:16:13] And there is one, there's only going to be one more season.

[00:16:17] So that's it.

[00:16:18] They're ending it next season.

[00:16:20] So there's an end game at play with the creators.

[00:16:24] That's good.

[00:16:26] Good.

[00:16:26] Because the writer director said he lost like seven teeth making the first season.

[00:16:31] It was so stressful.

[00:16:33] So he only has so many teeth left.

[00:16:35] Yep.

[00:16:35] Yeah.

[00:16:36] Can imagine that.

[00:16:38] So yeah.

[00:16:38] It sounded really cruel.

[00:16:39] I probably shouldn't joke about it, but it sounds like it was a stressful experience.

[00:16:44] He gave his teeth, but he entertained.

[00:16:46] Yes.

[00:16:48] David, what do you got?

[00:16:49] What do you want to talk about?

[00:16:51] I mean, just following up on that, I was a bit surprised, honestly.

[00:16:56] Disappointed, to be honest.

[00:16:58] So Gi-hun, quite smart, strength of character, has some resources at this point, right?

[00:17:04] He won 30 some million dollars equivalent.

[00:17:07] Excellent.

[00:17:08] Um, I was a little surprised that this sort of brute force search for this one recruiter

[00:17:16] seemed to be the main effort for a long time.

[00:17:20] Mm-hmm.

[00:17:20] Um, like that doesn't seem like the only way you could go about trying to find these people.

[00:17:27] Go to the docks.

[00:17:28] Yeah.

[00:17:28] Where you know the big ship is taking off from, or you know, Oul Nam had business contacts

[00:17:34] in a context of his whole life somewhere.

[00:17:38] Some answers have to be there.

[00:17:41] Or recruit some guys to get recruited into the squid game, uh, rather than, you know, just

[00:17:48] looking for the guy or whatever.

[00:17:49] Yeah.

[00:17:50] I thought we would see some more creative ways about going about this rather than just

[00:17:55] looking for that one guy.

[00:17:56] Yeah.

[00:17:56] Because I, one of the, one of, um, the guys that Gi-hun has hired even says, you know,

[00:18:04] maybe they caught wind that were looking for them and they went somewhere else.

[00:18:08] And that's what I was thinking too.

[00:18:09] Right.

[00:18:10] And so, but if they're employing different methods, like you're saying, looking at Oul

[00:18:14] Nam's business contacts and other things that have a better chance of finding it out rather

[00:18:18] than just think that they're going to keep recruiting the exact same way in the subway

[00:18:22] with the dakshi game.

[00:18:24] And they could go, they could go somewhere else.

[00:18:27] Like it doesn't have to be in Seoul.

[00:18:29] They could go outside that city and go to another city in Korea.

[00:18:33] Or maybe not even in South Korea.

[00:18:35] Right.

[00:18:36] Yeah.

[00:18:36] And I think I understood though, like why they did that story wise.

[00:18:40] Cause it led to the confrontation between Gi-hun and the recruiter, which was the crux of

[00:18:45] this episode.

[00:18:47] Yeah.

[00:18:48] Totally.

[00:18:49] But it felt like there should have been a little bit more to that whole thing.

[00:18:52] And not only that, but it seemed kind of like, okay, they're looking really hard on

[00:18:56] the subway for this guy.

[00:18:59] And, um, then they find him.

[00:19:02] Right.

[00:19:03] All of a sudden he appeared.

[00:19:04] Yeah.

[00:19:04] And it's like, okay, so did they just, were they just unlucky?

[00:19:08] And that's the story of how he evaded them.

[00:19:12] It seems like it.

[00:19:15] Well, that leads into my first point.

[00:19:17] You can kind of feel the tone here.

[00:19:20] The tone is going to change.

[00:19:21] I promise people who really love this, but my first point is called complaints, nitpicks

[00:19:24] and questions.

[00:19:25] So it's not all negative.

[00:19:26] And I do have some things that I was really interested.

[00:19:29] I'm going to talk about later, but for now, I'm just going to go through a few things that

[00:19:31] came up.

[00:19:32] So, and some of them are a bit trivial, but I thought you think kind of interesting.

[00:19:36] Um, at the end of last season, we saw Gi-hun and this doc G guy at the airport.

[00:19:43] Gi-hun saw him and ran to try to catch him.

[00:19:46] But the guy got on the train and got away.

[00:19:49] Um, Gi-hun grabbed the card from the guy.

[00:19:52] He was trying to recruit and called the number and talk to the front man.

[00:19:56] And then, um, he, he said, I'll never forgive you or something like that.

[00:20:01] He was going to get on the plane and you could see he had a change of heart turned around

[00:20:04] and he was putting his phone in his pocket.

[00:20:08] But now we pick up from that moment and he's back on the phone.

[00:20:11] So did he just call the guy back?

[00:20:13] You know, and another thing.

[00:20:16] I got one more thing.

[00:20:17] Or did the guy call him back?

[00:20:19] Call him.

[00:20:20] Maybe.

[00:20:20] Yeah.

[00:20:20] I mean, that's a good point.

[00:20:21] Yeah.

[00:20:22] They seem to really want him to leave.

[00:20:27] Yeah.

[00:20:28] They did not want him to stay.

[00:20:29] They don't want him coming after them.

[00:20:31] No.

[00:20:33] Um, he's had that chip behind his ear for like a year.

[00:20:37] And I guess he chooses now to cut it out because he's decided to actively look for these guys

[00:20:44] and he doesn't want them tracking him.

[00:20:46] But you'd think being that rich that if it was me, I would have just had a surgeon get

[00:20:51] it out, but it's squid game.

[00:20:53] So you have to cut it out in a bathroom.

[00:20:56] I think that to mean that he just now realized that he had the chip because he was kind of

[00:21:01] looking around in the airport.

[00:21:03] Oh, how can they see me?

[00:21:05] Like who's watching me?

[00:21:06] How do they know where I am?

[00:21:08] Hmm.

[00:21:08] Yeah.

[00:21:08] And then I think he kind of figured out, Oh, they have a chip in me.

[00:21:13] Okay.

[00:21:13] Yeah.

[00:21:13] It was very Belko experiment to me.

[00:21:16] Cause I think they chipped all the people in the first season on the ship when they were

[00:21:21] unconscious.

[00:21:22] Yeah.

[00:21:23] I feel like we saw at least one other person cut their chip out last season.

[00:21:27] Did we?

[00:21:27] Can't remember for sure.

[00:21:30] Okay.

[00:21:30] Uh, by the way, he was shirtless in that scene and looking pretty good.

[00:21:35] I feel like he's been prepping for the season.

[00:21:38] Yeah.

[00:21:39] After.

[00:21:39] So now, um, we're two years out as Daphne said, after this airport scene, Gi-hun's back

[00:21:47] to having black hair.

[00:21:48] And I'm sort of like, what was the point of the red hair?

[00:21:50] It seems like a really vivid thing to put in the show and not have some reason for it,

[00:21:56] but maybe in Korea, it's just more common to change up your hair like that every once

[00:22:00] in a while.

[00:22:01] But my bigger question is, so he was on his way to get on a plane to go visit his daughter,

[00:22:07] which was a big point of the season.

[00:22:08] And then he changed his mind to go after squid game.

[00:22:11] And then, um, it's two years later.

[00:22:14] So has he just not visited his daughter at all?

[00:22:16] Can you just go for a visit?

[00:22:18] Right.

[00:22:19] No, he has to be there every minute from his search.

[00:22:20] He's going to be like 30 years old by the time he finally gets over there.

[00:22:24] Which again makes me think he's, this is a slippery slope because he's obsessed.

[00:22:31] Okay.

[00:22:31] Yeah.

[00:22:32] And I feel like he is teetering and could go like full on rabid at some point.

[00:22:38] And that's very different than the, the jokey young acting character we saw last season.

[00:22:47] Yeah.

[00:22:48] I interpreted the red hair to be a symbol that he's decided to live.

[00:22:52] Mm-hmm .

[00:22:53] So like that whole first year, I kind of was living death basically.

[00:22:57] And it didn't last very long because now he's decided not to live anymore.

[00:23:00] Because, well right now he's become obsessed by this thing and he's going back into the other mode.

[00:23:05] Yeah.

[00:23:06] I like that.

[00:23:07] Uh, we see the, this young couple outside this motel fighting about why she knows the

[00:23:16] ins and outs of when motels are open or not.

[00:23:18] And, um, and you see Gi-hun's inside looking at them on all his screens and then he hears

[00:23:25] the door buzzer and it's the front man.

[00:23:28] Uh, actually you see the little squid game card come through the door and then, um, he shoots.

[00:23:33] Oh, he's got, I think, uh, Song Wu and Se-Biok's heads.

[00:23:37] And, uh, he shoots the guy, but it's a dream.

[00:23:40] And so then I was like, so was that couple fighting outside part of Gi-hun's dream?

[00:23:44] Um, and why, like, why would he be, is that just for misdirection for us to make us feel

[00:23:51] like it was real?

[00:23:52] Or is there some thematic thing about jealousy and misrepresentation or something like that?

[00:23:58] You know, cause he was mad at her that she knew about hotels thinking that I guess she's been to lots of hotels with other guys or something like that.

[00:24:05] So I don't know if there was some deeper, but I'm looking for deeper purpose, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

[00:24:10] Um, but for now I just think it was part of his dream to misdirect us to think it was real.

[00:24:16] Uh, we see, there's lots of people hearing about the squid game now, like everyone that Gi-hun hired, you know, there's whole meeting rooms full of people learning about it.

[00:24:26] We know, uh, Jun-ho told the police, um, I don't know how much it registered with them, but he's told them all.

[00:24:33] And we know the games have been going on since at least back to 1988, I think from what we saw in the records.

[00:24:40] So it seems a little bit for me, I have to suspend my disbelief to think that nothing about it ever came out until the season of squid game that we decided to watch where Gi-hun and Jun-ho were involved.

[00:24:53] And then they were the first ones to ever start to spread the knowledge of it.

[00:24:58] Yeah.

[00:24:59] Hard to know.

[00:25:00] Like if any knowledge had been spread.

[00:25:03] But just never really went viral.

[00:25:05] That didn't lead anywhere.

[00:25:07] Yeah.

[00:25:07] And, and I did find it very believable that, um, Jun-ho's superiors didn't believe him.

[00:25:14] I mean, you know, Hey, let's go try to track down a bunch of rich, powerful people.

[00:25:19] Like that doesn't sound too great.

[00:25:22] I know.

[00:25:23] Yeah.

[00:25:23] With very little to go on, they might think, well, maybe there's something there, but we can't help you.

[00:25:27] Sorry.

[00:25:27] Yeah.

[00:25:29] Uh, so I thought it was kind of funny when Jun-ho, he, he's this captain found him in the ocean, apparently drifting out in the middle of the ocean after he got shot.

[00:25:39] Cause the current swept him out and then, um, the boat captain saying, where, what Island should we try next?

[00:25:45] Cause they're out searching for the Island.

[00:25:46] He said, I was going to go over the map again.

[00:25:49] There's a few places we haven't checked because of weather or tide conditions.

[00:25:52] I've narrowed them down.

[00:25:54] And then he pulls out a map showing like 12 islands with all, but two crossed out.

[00:25:58] And he circles those two.

[00:25:59] And I'm like, I don't think that dialogue goes with that image.

[00:26:04] He circled two islands and the rest are crossed out.

[00:26:07] So that took me at little things like that.

[00:26:09] Take me out of it.

[00:26:10] Um, Jun-ho's having lunch with the police chief and he's the chief is just going through everything that happened with Jun-ho after the squid game in a way.

[00:26:17] That doesn't sound like people really talk because we don't sit here with each other and repeat everything that's happened over the last two years.

[00:26:24] And it was clearly a utilitarian scene, a conspicuous way to get information to us, but it took me out of it a little bit, you know?

[00:26:32] And I also feel like there was something lost in translation there because Jun-ho was asking him which vegetables he puts vinegar on.

[00:26:39] And he seemed to take that to mean, all right, all right.

[00:26:41] I know the police didn't do what you wanted them to do.

[00:26:43] And I'm like, what?

[00:26:45] How does that connect to that?

[00:26:47] Unless I missed something, but I think it's because I think it's because they used to work together.

[00:26:52] And I think Jun-ho was just trying to show that he kind of remembers what it was like to, you know, be with him, but doesn't quite remember.

[00:27:02] And so he's just trying to be funny.

[00:27:05] Okay.

[00:27:06] Because he, the guy wants him to work with him.

[00:27:09] Yeah.

[00:27:10] There's some very naked, um, just sort of plot exposition in this episode, especially with Jun-ho.

[00:27:16] So, because the boat captain's kind of the same thing.

[00:27:18] Yeah.

[00:27:19] He kind of narrates everything they've done together over the last two years.

[00:27:23] Mm-hmm.

[00:27:23] In a way you wouldn't really properly do in a conversation.

[00:27:26] Absolutely.

[00:27:27] Last one is, um, I, this is more of a question than anything.

[00:27:32] I'm, I'm confused.

[00:27:32] So when the two guys that Gi-hun hired finally find the Dak-ji guy in the subway and, um, the young guy who was playing Dak-ji, he's looking at the squid game card he got.

[00:27:49] And he gets a call from his either girlfriend or wife, presumably.

[00:27:54] And then we see her in the obstetrics department and she has a squid game card too.

[00:27:59] So when she, when I saw that, I'm like, wait, is this a different person unrelated?

[00:28:03] But watch it again.

[00:28:04] No, it's clearly the one who's calling him and he's not answering the phone call.

[00:28:08] And then she leaves the hospital before her name is called, which is, uh, Kim June-hee, by the way.

[00:28:16] And I'm like, what, what is going on here?

[00:28:19] Is she pregnant?

[00:28:19] Why did she leave?

[00:28:20] Was she getting an abortion?

[00:28:22] Why does she, why do they both have cards?

[00:28:25] I think that the recruiter recruited both of them at different times.

[00:28:32] And she's at that clinic maybe to get an abortion, maybe.

[00:28:37] And then decides not to because she has that card and she wants to call and see if she can make some money.

[00:28:43] I also think it's squid games way of introducing us to a couple of game participants before we actually get into the game.

[00:28:53] Oh, that's smart.

[00:28:55] I bet you're right about that.

[00:28:56] Yeah.

[00:28:56] Yeah.

[00:28:57] Yeah.

[00:28:57] So she's maybe considering an abortion because she, they don't have enough money.

[00:29:01] Right.

[00:29:02] But they're both thinking, oh, maybe this is a way we can keep this baby.

[00:29:05] Yep.

[00:29:06] And then they'll both end up in the games together.

[00:29:08] Or maybe they just don't have enough money.

[00:29:10] Yeah.

[00:29:10] To be raising a baby aside from a potential abortion.

[00:29:14] Yeah.

[00:29:14] Right.

[00:29:14] And then there, but I do think it's an abortion and I think that's why she looked at her card and then left.

[00:29:19] Mm-hmm.

[00:29:20] She's looking at.

[00:29:21] No, no, no.

[00:29:22] Maybe I can.

[00:29:23] Yeah.

[00:29:23] Maybe there's something I can do because they don't know.

[00:29:25] We have to remember.

[00:29:26] They don't know that going into this game may or is likely going to cause their death.

[00:29:34] Right.

[00:29:34] They think they're just going to a competition.

[00:29:36] To win money.

[00:29:37] To win money.

[00:29:38] They have no idea what's going on there.

[00:29:42] It's very much like Gi-Hun last time, last season when he went in, he had no idea until they get there and play red light, green light.

[00:29:52] And the shit hits the fan that this is the situation that they're in.

[00:30:00] Daphne, what's your second point?

[00:30:03] Okay.

[00:30:03] Okay.

[00:30:04] So, I want to talk about the recruiter.

[00:30:06] I want to talk about what we see from him.

[00:30:09] And I mentioned it a little bit in what I said at the top about he was someone that was kind of an enigma to me when we saw him last season.

[00:30:22] And not understanding why he's in this role.

[00:30:26] And possibly is he as sadistic as the people that are running the game or the guards or whatever.

[00:30:34] And I think that was really showcased in this episode.

[00:30:39] I feel like this was his episode more than anyone else's.

[00:30:41] I agree.

[00:30:43] And the way that it ended, it was kind of like, okay, so we've had a whole episode on this recruiter and he's dead.

[00:30:49] Okay.

[00:30:50] Fine.

[00:30:51] Whatever.

[00:30:52] But what I took from it is he is incredibly brutal in the things that he does.

[00:30:58] I think Gi-Hun tried to tell Mr. Kim and Choi and all of them to stay away from him and not to approach him and to leave it to him.

[00:31:10] Unfortunately, Kim and Choi did not listen.

[00:31:15] I think the recruiter has an obsession with Italian music because he played Ness and Dorma, which is a song from a Puccini opera from 1925 called Toronto.

[00:31:29] When he was playing the game, the Rock, Paper, Scissors game, that's the record he was playing.

[00:31:37] And then when he was doing Russian Roulette with Gi-Hun, he was playing Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, another Italian piece.

[00:31:51] So he obviously has a cultured taste in music, I would say.

[00:32:01] He seemed to really get off on playing these games with people, giving them choices and following the Squid Game way where it's make it as fair as possible, present the two things, a piece of bread or a lottery ticket.

[00:32:17] And we see in that game that only one person, at least, that they showed us took the bread.

[00:32:23] Everyone else took the lottery ticket, which is why he had so much bread left.

[00:32:28] But he seemed to take joy in that.

[00:32:30] I think he took joy in punishing other people.

[00:32:34] And really, truly the most sadistic thing.

[00:32:40] Not necessarily fucked up because I think this game, Squid Game as a whole is a fucked up experience.

[00:32:47] But to see them, to see Kim and Choi sitting across from each other, playing Rock, Paper, Scissors, not able to communicate really.

[00:32:58] And then see that final sacrifice that basically Kim made.

[00:33:05] He didn't bring a hand back.

[00:33:09] He left both of his hands there, which meant he forfeited and allowed Choi to live.

[00:33:15] It was so intense.

[00:33:17] And that was the thing in the episode where I might, it kind of took my breath away for a minute because I wasn't sure how serious he was going to be with it.

[00:33:28] Like, was he really going to go through with it?

[00:33:30] And to see him do it, my opinion is he's been involved in this for a really long time.

[00:33:37] And I think that was kind of confirmed by some of his conversations with Gi-hun.

[00:33:43] And he even talks about, he started out being one of the workers, shooting people, disposing of bodies.

[00:33:53] He had a mask.

[00:33:54] And then explains that he shot his own father in the head, talking about how he was just basically a piece of crap.

[00:34:03] And then realizing in that minute that he was really cut out for this job.

[00:34:07] And I think that says a lot for the recruiter and then many of the other people that are working on this game.

[00:34:15] Like, they all must have a similar mindset when it comes to this.

[00:34:19] And then it also made me think about Jun-ho's brother and his, how, what his process must be or how he came to be this lead man in the game.

[00:34:32] And how he must be of a similar mindset to what the recruiter is in order to, to be part of this.

[00:34:40] I don't know if he is, he talked a lot about fairness.

[00:34:45] Like you mentioned, you know, uh, Poing In-ho, Jun-ho's brother.

[00:34:51] And, uh, I feel like this other guy might be coming from, well, maybe it is sort of a similar place.

[00:34:59] Um, anyway, I have a whole point going into what I think is psychology, but it's not my turn.

[00:35:06] David?

[00:35:07] Uh, I'll, I'll follow on the recruiter.

[00:35:09] So we're never far from social commentary in this show, uh, which is part of what makes it compelling and meaningful.

[00:35:16] I think you have to tell a great story also for that to hit home.

[00:35:19] So we'll see if this season does that.

[00:35:23] Um, but to me, the recruiter is putting a particular face on this ongoing commentary about rapacious capitalism.

[00:35:32] Um, so when we first knew this character in season one, he has this attractive, calm, sort of sangphroid exterior.

[00:35:44] Um, and that proves to be a facade as we get to know him in this episode.

[00:35:50] So to me, the allegory there is that is just as the smooth, classy face of wealthy capitalism.

[00:36:00] Uh, writ large is a facade for the rapacity, the savagery, and the contempt for human beings that lies underneath that facade of wealth and culture.

[00:36:12] Mm-hmm.

[00:36:13] Especially people who can't make it in the system because they're worthless.

[00:36:17] Right.

[00:36:17] So, um, so we, we get, you know, this is made very obvious in the, the bread and laundry game, but I think we also, um, you know, he doesn't talk directly about this, but I think where some symbolism is working is his father begs him for his life.

[00:36:38] And he said, I basically, I shot him in the head without a second thought.

[00:36:42] And I think the commentary we're getting there is the loss of respect for elders, for the older generation, for tradition, um, for the older traditions of society in this new modern rapacious capitalism Korea, I think is what that story is about.

[00:37:04] I mean, there's also, it's his own father.

[00:37:08] So it's like whatever is driving him to have this attitude about, you know, he calls people worthless trash a lot.

[00:37:22] And so that's more, um, that's a stronger force for him than his familial relationships, you know?

[00:37:30] Yeah. And we got this whole theme of the elders with oil nom in the first season with Gihun and they had this warm relationship at least up until the point it was life and death for Gihun, which was one of the most heartbreaking and morally questionable things that happens in that whole first season.

[00:37:48] Um, but oil nom points out to Gihun at the end of that season that his, you know, his, he didn't follow through on that respect, that love, that protection or an older person symbolizing those societal traditions.

[00:38:06] And I think in this story of killing his own dad, we get that into more unadulterated form.

[00:38:12] He just has contempt for his own father and for the older generation that gave birth to him.

[00:38:19] There's a connection there with season one where, um, Gihun was trying to help his own mother and failed.

[00:38:27] And so was Sangwoo.

[00:38:30] So that's a contrast between their two characters and this guy.

[00:38:35] Yeah.

[00:38:36] And then the last thing I would say about him is I don't think Gihun is quite right where he characterizes him and he keeps coming back to this.

[00:38:44] You're just a paid dog for these masters.

[00:38:47] They're yanking your chain like everybody else.

[00:38:50] Um, and I, I don't think that's completely true.

[00:38:53] I think as Daphne said, he's into it, you know, he's got his own reasons for being into it and maybe he's not the person in charge.

[00:39:01] Um, but he's an active and willing participant in that system.

[00:39:05] Yeah.

[00:39:05] He's like someone who, uh, becomes a crewman on a cruise ship because he wants to see the world and this is going to let him do it.

[00:39:14] Yeah.

[00:39:15] There you go.

[00:39:16] Uh, okay.

[00:39:17] I'm going to go through a little bit with this guy, the bread lottery game.

[00:39:20] And then just some of his, what I think is his psychology.

[00:39:24] So when he first approached this homeless guy, I thought the scenes with him were probably the most interesting.

[00:39:33] And like you said, Daphne, I felt like this episode is more about him than anyone.

[00:39:37] Um, when he approaches the homeless guy offers him a bread roll or a lot of scratcher.

[00:39:42] Uh, I knew he would pick the lottery ticket, of course.

[00:39:45] And, um, only one guy picked the bread.

[00:39:49] As you said, Daphne, this reminds me of this game I've been playing lately called Bellatro, which set the world on fire this year.

[00:39:57] One person made this game and it's on all these game of the year lists.

[00:40:01] And it's a card game where you build up a deck and every round you have to try to get more points to stay in the game.

[00:40:08] And if you can't build up a strong deck, you lose the game.

[00:40:11] And so at first you have minimal resources and it's hard to build up your deck.

[00:40:16] It's easy to lose at the beginning, but if you get on a good run, you can build a powerful deck and then keep winning.

[00:40:21] And so you get offered resources at, at the beginning and you can choose one or the other kind of like choosing this lottery ticket or the bread.

[00:40:30] You can try, for example, you can take this card that will give you a one in four chance of upgrading one of your cards to be, you know, a really good upgrade.

[00:40:41] Or you can take a sure thing that will give you a minor upgrade.

[00:40:45] And I learned by playing this a lot that in the beginning, when you have very few resources and you have to spend them wisely, it's better to take the sure thing with a minor upgrade.

[00:40:55] If you go for the gamble and you lose, then you have no more money to spend on better cards and you're, you die, you know?

[00:41:04] And that's what this kind of reminds me.

[00:41:05] But I wanted to, like when I first started playing, I wanted to take the gamble most of the time because you're hopeful and you realize that power is alluring.

[00:41:14] What you could get from it.

[00:41:15] And when you do get it, then you do, you do pretty well in the game.

[00:41:18] But anyway, um, that's kind of, I think that that's a commentary too about life.

[00:41:24] Like when you don't have much, you probably shouldn't be gambling.

[00:41:28] You should never gamble money that you can't afford to lose, but that's what squid game is.

[00:41:33] There's a lot of gambling, especially with Gi-Hoon in the first season.

[00:41:36] And, but then when you get a lot of resources, it's easier to get more, you know, in a capitalistic society.

[00:41:43] So I just think that this whole bread lottery thing can be scaled up to apply to all of capitalistic society.

[00:41:51] I would argue with you a little bit about the meaning of the bread and lottery game.

[00:41:55] Okay.

[00:41:56] Um, you know, what I took out of that is that for these people who are literally unhoused living in a park is what I think we believe.

[00:42:07] Yeah, I think so.

[00:42:09] Neither choice does them any good.

[00:42:11] Of course they take a lottery scratcher because if they win the lottery scratcher, let's say they won a hundred dollars or something that might actually make their life better for a day or two.

[00:42:20] Yeah.

[00:42:21] How much better is a one piece of bread going to make their life?

[00:42:25] Um, so it's not like they're making the unsensible gambly choice instead of the sensible sustainable choice.

[00:42:34] It's that neither choice does them any good whatsoever.

[00:42:38] And they're going to make a choice because they have nothing.

[00:42:42] Um, to translate it into American, I'd say it's the increasing illusion of the American dream in an ever more unequal society.

[00:42:52] The fact is, um, economic mobility is out of reach to almost everyone.

[00:42:58] Now it's like a lottery ticket.

[00:43:01] If you don't already have resources now, it is almost impossible to ascend the economic ladder or much less possible than used to be.

[00:43:09] So that's what I took out of the game.

[00:43:11] You're a loser either way.

[00:43:13] Yeah.

[00:43:13] I think I, I, yeah, you got me thinking about it and I think you definitely have a point there.

[00:43:18] I mean, they're both, what we're saying is kind of both related, but we've gotten to an extreme where what you're saying implies more than what I'm saying.

[00:43:24] But yeah.

[00:43:25] And, uh, I do think that doc G guy judged the people who, which was pretty much everyone took the lottery tickets more poorly than the ones who took the bread.

[00:43:37] So there was some judgment, at least on his part about that.

[00:43:40] You're sure there was.

[00:43:41] Yeah.

[00:43:41] And he, he said, you guys wasted all this and stomped it out with such zeal.

[00:43:46] So that was like the most excited.

[00:43:48] We've actually almost bordering on out of control.

[00:43:51] We've seen him.

[00:43:51] Um, I was wondering why the recruitment games like doc G.

[00:43:56] Well, I guess doc G is the only recruitment game we've seen because I thought this was a recruitment game too.

[00:44:01] But by the end of it, I was just wondering if this is this guy's side hobby when he's not working.

[00:44:07] You know, that's what I thought.

[00:44:09] I think so.

[00:44:10] I think this had nothing.

[00:44:12] I think his whole bread and, um, lottery thing.

[00:44:16] That's his way.

[00:44:18] I mean, him going there with the bread and the lottery tickets, I don't think had anything to do with recruiting anyone for squid game.

[00:44:26] I think this is his way of going and having some sort of fun at the expense of all these people.

[00:44:34] Yeah.

[00:44:35] He was just having a few lives.

[00:44:36] He shows his sensibilities are aligned with the ethos of the squid game.

[00:44:41] Absolutely.

[00:44:42] And shows how he got promoted, you know, because they could sense that in him probably.

[00:44:48] And with the doc G games, I think you do need to have the same kind of, uh, cruelty as the squid game because you need to find the people who are desperate enough to stay there in the face of that indignity.

[00:45:01] Because they're the kind of people who will do the squid game.

[00:45:03] Yeah.

[00:45:04] And I think the people that he was targeting in the park are people who five or ten dollars are a big deal to them.

[00:45:12] Like not, you could say, well, come and get all of this money and play this game.

[00:45:17] They're not.

[00:45:18] I don't think they're at that point where they would be thinking like that.

[00:45:22] I think they're thinking day to day survival where the others are in dire straits and in a different place.

[00:45:32] Then.

[00:45:33] I mean, I think these folks living in the park are a step below the squid game.

[00:45:38] Yeah.

[00:45:38] Yeah.

[00:45:40] Participants like they have less wherewithal.

[00:45:42] They don't have the same hope that would drive you to take this desperate chance.

[00:45:46] I think, I think you're right.

[00:45:48] I think the word hope is a really big part of that.

[00:45:50] I think they probably lost all hope.

[00:45:52] And this is his way of taking something out on them.

[00:45:58] When he mentioned that he had shot his father, I mean, that showed you a big part of who he is.

[00:46:05] Like, he's not a good person.

[00:46:07] Whereas last year when we, or last season when we met him, we didn't have all this info.

[00:46:13] He just seemed like, okay, he's very suave and he does his thing with the doc G game.

[00:46:19] And I mean, we did know he enjoyed slapping and humiliating.

[00:46:23] He did.

[00:46:23] He did.

[00:46:24] You're right.

[00:46:25] So to get an idea of how he feels about people, I was just looking at some of the things he said, you know, to the, to the homeless guy, the unhoused.

[00:46:35] He said, hello, sir.

[00:46:37] You seem to be struggling, living a life with no hope of a future.

[00:46:41] And then later he yelled at them all.

[00:46:43] I'm not the one here who wasted this.

[00:46:45] That was you people.

[00:46:46] And then at the end, when he's talking to Gihun, he says, I used to work at the games, you know, clearing and incinerating the bodies of countless people like you.

[00:46:54] These things aren't human.

[00:46:56] They're just trash, useless.

[00:46:58] They have no purpose in this world.

[00:47:00] That's what I kept telling myself for years.

[00:47:02] And I worked hard.

[00:47:03] So there's a clear judgment about people who don't have much and that they're useless and trash and no purpose.

[00:47:12] And I'm trying to pinpoint exactly where that comes from.

[00:47:17] Is it about people who aren't disciplined enough to build wealth through skill and applying themselves?

[00:47:24] Because he, he said to Gihun, you're trash and just as worthless as everyone else.

[00:47:29] And you only made it out of the dumpster because you got lucky.

[00:47:31] So to me, that sort of signifies that he has more respect for people who don't take the shortcut, you know?

[00:47:39] So when he's offering the bread and the lottery ticket and they take the lottery ticket, that just confirms his own misanthropy, his hatred of these kinds of people.

[00:47:50] So that's why I feel like wealth and power tied to ability are something that he more admires.

[00:47:59] And if you're taking a shortcut or you just haven't been able to get your act together and get stuff, then you're worthless trash, subhuman trash.

[00:48:10] Okay, David, tell me the actual truth now.

[00:48:14] No, I'm on board with that.

[00:48:16] Oh, and one other thing when, so when Gihun's digging at him saying, uh, you know, you're just a lapdog that does whatever your, your boss says.

[00:48:25] I do think there's something about he disrespects people who can be bought, but Gihun is saying to him, you can be bought too.

[00:48:33] And you have been whether that's, I think you're right that he's getting something out of the arrangement too.

[00:48:39] But it did, I think, get to him when Gihun said that.

[00:48:42] Yeah, I felt there was some self-hatred in that whole speech from, um, from the recruiter.

[00:48:49] Um, you know, when he says they put a gun in my hand and that was the first time I, anybody had ever noticed or respected me or my place in the world.

[00:48:57] He said something like that.

[00:48:58] Um, I think he was counting himself among the worthless in the, where he came from.

[00:49:03] Hmm.

[00:49:04] And I, another, one other point I was thinking about.

[00:49:07] So with all these VIPs, these rich quote unquote, these rich people who fund and watch the games, I just get the sense that they think people are subhuman because they have so much wealth and power, which are basically the same thing that they can treat people like play things.

[00:49:25] And they just start to think of them as objects.

[00:49:28] Right.

[00:49:29] But for this guy, he, he can't easily control people with money, but he sees them as trash anyway.

[00:49:37] And I just think he, it's more of a judgment on his part and on the wealthy people's part.

[00:49:44] It's almost like a thoughtless thing, you know, but for him, it's an active hatred.

[00:49:49] I buy that.

[00:49:52] Okay.

[00:49:52] Okay.

[00:49:53] Let's move on to something else.

[00:49:54] Daphne, what else?

[00:49:57] Okay.

[00:49:58] So I think I want to just continue the conversation just a little bit about the Russian roulette game between Gi-Hoon and other recruiter.

[00:50:12] Watching the recruiter's face as Gi-Hoon pulls the trigger and the gun goes off, but it doesn't go off.

[00:50:20] Basically, there was no bullet.

[00:50:23] And knowing that that was empty and the last bullet he's going to have to, like, is going to be meant for him.

[00:50:32] That was the first time that I saw the, like, any chink in his strength, really.

[00:50:41] Because even when he was talking about shooting his father and all the different little statements he was making, he didn't look vulnerable at any time or like there was anything that was going to take away that facade of strength.

[00:50:59] And when he heard the click, the color drained from his face.

[00:51:06] And I thought that was interesting.

[00:51:10] I still wasn't sure he was going to go through with it.

[00:51:13] I didn't know if he would really pull the trigger or come up with some other ridiculous game.

[00:51:17] Because you just, you really don't know.

[00:51:20] But on the flip side of that, Gi-Hoon, he didn't show that he had any fucks left to give.

[00:51:29] When they were sitting there doing Russian roulette, he, I mean, of course, I don't believe he wanted to shoot himself, but I also think that he had nothing left.

[00:51:42] Like, he just didn't give a shit.

[00:51:44] He was going to sit here and play this game and show the recruiter how strong and tough that he is.

[00:51:51] Yeah.

[00:51:53] I thought it was a little silly.

[00:51:55] Like when the guy says, I, oh, I bet you're thinking, you know, there's a bullet left and two, you know, with two shots, you could kill me.

[00:52:05] I was thinking any reasonable person would say, you know what?

[00:52:09] You're right.

[00:52:10] Yeah.

[00:52:10] And not necessarily shoot him even, but just say, hands up, buddy.

[00:52:14] Yeah.

[00:52:15] And then if the guy says, but you have to admit you're trash.

[00:52:18] He'd be like, okay, whatever, fool.

[00:52:19] Yeah.

[00:52:20] I don't have to admit that.

[00:52:21] Okay, I admit it.

[00:52:22] I'm the one with the gun.

[00:52:25] Like, I don't have to admit anything.

[00:52:26] Like, I'm going to just stand here and say whatever I want or think what I want because I'm the one in control of the situation.

[00:52:34] And then same thing on the reverse when it was the other guy's turn, you know, and he just had one bullet left and Gi-Hoon gave him almost the same speech back.

[00:52:42] Yeah.

[00:52:43] And the guy, being a psycho, you'd think he would have just shot Gi-Hoon.

[00:52:47] But there's this code at play or something.

[00:52:50] Their egos, you know.

[00:52:51] There seems to be some sort of code.

[00:52:53] I don't know exactly what it is.

[00:52:57] But I think that for Gi-Hoon to dish the same shit back to the recruiter was interesting.

[00:53:08] Mm-hmm.

[00:53:09] Pretty satisfying.

[00:53:11] Yeah.

[00:53:11] It shows how far he's come from when we first met him.

[00:53:16] Like, I could not imagine the guy that we met betting on horses and running around was going to be saying these things to someone because he just didn't seem to have it in him.

[00:53:32] Mm-hmm.

[00:53:32] And so what we ended up seeing in this scene, it was just kind of like, okay, so this is where we're at.

[00:53:39] And again, I think it still makes me think he could easily go in a bad direction.

[00:53:46] I mean, he's kind of, quote, our hero or supposed to be a hero in this.

[00:53:52] But sometimes that isn't how it ends up working out.

[00:53:57] See, Breaking Bad.

[00:54:02] Yeah.

[00:54:04] David?

[00:54:06] Just to follow up on Yoon-ho a little bit.

[00:54:09] So we've talked about some pretty open plot exposition around him.

[00:54:14] He grabbed a buoy.

[00:54:16] He floated.

[00:54:17] I had actually forgotten until re-watching part of season one that he had swum to another island.

[00:54:22] Yeah.

[00:54:23] And that the island he got shot on was not the island.

[00:54:27] Oh, I forgot about that too.

[00:54:28] Yeah.

[00:54:28] Okay.

[00:54:28] Makes a little more sense that it would be harder to find that.

[00:54:31] Yeah.

[00:54:31] So they talk about that.

[00:54:32] Their search has been going on unsuccessfully for two years.

[00:54:39] A couple of questions I had here.

[00:54:42] Excuse me.

[00:54:44] Again, the operation is so large.

[00:54:46] Huge numbers of employees, vans, this giant ship, whatever.

[00:54:50] You'd think there might be some ways to investigate besides just randomly sailing around the ocean.

[00:54:55] So I thought that was a little disappointing.

[00:54:57] But he's also kind of a conflict.

[00:55:00] One half of him has accepted, okay, nobody's going to believe me.

[00:55:06] Maybe the police are corrupt.

[00:55:07] I'm just going to do my most menial, imaginable cop job where one can be a straight up police officer and just hand out speeding tickets or what have you.

[00:55:21] Yet another half of him is still completely motivated and focused on finding the game.

[00:55:26] And I'm not quite sure what his motivation is.

[00:55:30] Is it to find his brother and get him out?

[00:55:32] I don't think his brother wants to be out.

[00:55:34] Is it to find his brother and get revenge?

[00:55:38] Or is it to shut down the game on behalf of the participants?

[00:55:43] I think it's not quite clear what's driving him.

[00:55:47] Yeah, we know he didn't turn his brother in.

[00:55:50] He didn't mention his brother.

[00:55:52] Right.

[00:55:53] But I could see it being any one of those things or a combination of them, you know.

[00:55:59] So interested to see where his story goes, but I think it's not quite clear what's motivating him at this point.

[00:56:05] I can't remember when.

[00:56:07] So he stowed away to get to the island, but was he also unconscious like everyone else?

[00:56:16] He wasn't because don't they put gas?

[00:56:19] No, he impersonated one of the workers.

[00:56:21] Yeah.

[00:56:22] Oh, yeah.

[00:56:22] One of the workers actually.

[00:56:24] Yeah.

[00:56:25] Okay.

[00:56:25] The workers aren't unconscious.

[00:56:27] Only the.

[00:56:27] Yeah.

[00:56:28] He killed one of the workers and took his place.

[00:56:30] Yeah.

[00:56:31] For some reason I had it in my head that they just gassed all the workers too, but I guess not.

[00:56:35] So, yeah, he knows about the ship and the island and I mean the whole operation.

[00:56:39] You're right.

[00:56:40] But he can't seem to find it.

[00:56:43] That's for sure.

[00:56:46] So, Jun-ho, he's in the hospital unconscious.

[00:56:51] Looks like he grew.

[00:56:52] I thought it was funny.

[00:56:53] A little peach fuzz mustache while he was apparently unconscious for a year.

[00:56:58] So I guess the hospital staff just decided to trim it up for us.

[00:57:04] Yeah.

[00:57:05] Doing this lower level traffic cop job because he knows he wants a job where there's clear evidence.

[00:57:14] Um, I thought it was interesting and fun that they acknowledged this guy's a hottie through that girl that you said had the most fucked up moment of the week.

[00:57:25] Um, cause Jennifer McGinley, one of our listeners always comments on that.

[00:57:30] So I thought it was great that it was actually in the show.

[00:57:33] And nice to see him smile too, by the way.

[00:57:35] I don't know if we ever saw him smile in season one, just shows that he's got some remove from the situation at least where he can feel okay about life, even though he still wants to take care of the situation.

[00:57:48] Unlike Gi-hun.

[00:57:50] He was such a serious detective in the first season.

[00:57:53] Like he was so focused the entire time.

[00:57:56] He was worried about his-

[00:57:57] Well, he had a clear motivation.

[00:57:59] He did.

[00:57:59] He was worried about his brother.

[00:58:00] He couldn't find him.

[00:58:02] Like he was really concerned.

[00:58:04] Maybe that's, yeah.

[00:58:05] Maybe that's why he's not quite as bothered by all this as Gi-hun because he knows his brother seemingly chose to be a part of it.

[00:58:14] So he doesn't have as much of a connection.

[00:58:17] He wants to, you know, prevent it because it's a bad thing, but there's not that immediacy there.

[00:58:22] Whereas Gi-hun saw people die close up and that he cared about.

[00:58:27] So he's just pissed.

[00:58:29] But I think Jun-ho covers it all up well, but I think he is much more invested than what we have seen.

[00:58:37] He's ready to give up though.

[00:58:39] It seems that way until he realizes who they pulled over in the speeding traffic stop.

[00:58:47] And then he's right back into it again.

[00:58:50] And he's right back there.

[00:58:52] Like when he goes to Gi-hun's operational facility, whatever base.

[00:58:58] And then he's hiding when someone walks in.

[00:59:00] I'm like, this always happens to him.

[00:59:03] Sunshine capital.

[00:59:04] Yeah.

[00:59:04] And then the guy conveniently says on the phone where they are.

[00:59:09] And I'm like, man, he's a lucky guy.

[00:59:11] I mean, I always said, you know, Jun-ho, his luck was incredible in season one.

[00:59:15] And it was here too, but he can't find that island.

[00:59:17] So he's not always lucky, I guess.

[00:59:19] So then what else?

[00:59:24] He's with his boat captain who looking for the island.

[00:59:29] And that guy says there are hundreds of islands within a 10 mile radius of where he found Jun-ho.

[00:59:36] And I wondered if that's true.

[00:59:38] And chat GBT says, yes, the area around South Korea's southwest coast contains hundreds of small islands clustered together.

[00:59:44] The most notable cluster is around Mokpo and Wando in South Jaola province where there are approximately 1,700 islands.

[00:59:52] So I'm glad I read that because that made it more believable that they would have a hard time finding this place.

[00:59:59] Well, Jun-ho doesn't need luck to find this island.

[01:00:01] He needs some sort of GPS.

[01:00:03] Yes.

[01:00:03] Like, it's not going to be luck that helps him find the island.

[01:00:08] I thought it was cute that the captain invited him to go catch squid.

[01:00:15] Maybe he'll end up there at the end.

[01:00:19] And I liked the scene where Gi-hun finally got a message that they found this guy that they've been looking for.

[01:00:27] So he's racing to get to him.

[01:00:29] And Jun-ho, the traffic cop, pulls him over.

[01:00:32] I thought that's an unlikely thing, but I just like the symmetry of it.

[01:00:38] And I want these two.

[01:00:39] I thought they hadn't met yet, but then we see this flashback.

[01:00:43] And that actually happened in season one.

[01:00:46] Is that right?

[01:00:46] They met in season one.

[01:00:49] That was before Jun-ho went to the island, right?

[01:00:53] Yeah.

[01:00:53] He went and asked about his brother.

[01:00:55] I think it was between the two games.

[01:00:59] And remember, they went and started the game.

[01:01:01] Oh, and came back.

[01:01:02] Yeah.

[01:01:02] They came back and then went back.

[01:01:06] So anyway, I'm really glad that the, because they didn't have much screen time together at all.

[01:01:12] Just that one moment.

[01:01:14] And, uh, I was excited to see Jun-ho pull Gi-hun over and then he sent his rookie cop after him.

[01:01:22] Like, oh man.

[01:01:23] But then he seems on his trail now.

[01:01:25] He's been to Gi-hun's office.

[01:01:26] He knows his address.

[01:01:28] So I just hope there's more interaction between them this season.

[01:01:33] Seems likely.

[01:01:34] To them.

[01:01:35] Yeah.

[01:01:36] They may do a, like, cat and mouse thing all season.

[01:01:38] Who knows?

[01:01:40] Okay, Daphne.

[01:01:40] You got any more?

[01:01:41] Yeah.

[01:01:42] I just want, um, I want to mention that, um, just a couple of things to do with Mr. Kim and Choi.

[01:01:50] Um, Mr. Kim actually, I think was part of season one, um, because he's the loan shark.

[01:01:58] He's a loan, one of the loan sharks that Gi-hun had been owing money to.

[01:02:04] Oh, no, he's his employee.

[01:02:07] I like that.

[01:02:08] I found it interesting that Gi-hun actually did pay him off and now he's kind of working for him.

[01:02:15] Um, and he even mentions in the car, you know, we wouldn't have even have any business if it wasn't for this.

[01:02:23] Like, this is how they've been paying the bills because some people-

[01:02:26] Because all the people who owe them money are mysteriously disappeared.

[01:02:30] Exactly.

[01:02:31] And I thought that was interesting.

[01:02:32] It kind of shows that the game is continuing.

[01:02:35] They're going after the same type of people.

[01:02:38] And over time, if that's what you did, the number of people that would be needing loans in this situation would, you know, continue to be reduced every year.

[01:02:49] And I don't know if Choi has a relationship.

[01:02:55] Like, it seemed to me like for Kim to basically sacrifice himself for Choi, I'm just wondering if there was something more there.

[01:03:08] If maybe Choi married his daughter or if he looked at him as kind of like a surrogate son, because why would you-

[01:03:20] Because he deliberately did it.

[01:03:22] Like, he deliberately did it.

[01:03:23] I'm not sure.

[01:03:24] I think you're probably right.

[01:03:26] But there's some question there because-

[01:03:28] So, just in case people aren't clear, they're playing rock, scissor, paper, but this new version where you have to put two hands out and then you pull one back at the same time and then see who wins.

[01:03:39] And Choi had put two rocks, which is really dumb because then you have way more chance of losing if the other guy has scissors at all.

[01:03:49] You know, there's a two-thirds chance of losing because the other guy's going to put out two things.

[01:03:53] And if either one of those is scissors, then you lose.

[01:03:56] Which is what happened.

[01:03:56] The other guy put out-

[01:03:57] Oh, I'm sorry, paper.

[01:03:59] I forgot.

[01:03:59] I know how to play rock, paper, scissors.

[01:04:01] Jason, you'd be in trouble with this.

[01:04:02] Yes, you would.

[01:04:02] I really would.

[01:04:03] I want to play it, but rock, paper, scissors is already kind of a mindfuck game.

[01:04:08] It is.

[01:04:08] Which I love about it.

[01:04:09] And this would make it more stressful because you're like, oh my God, which ones do I put down?

[01:04:12] Which one do I take away?

[01:04:13] And I could totally see a situation where you have the right one, but you take it away by accident, you know?

[01:04:19] Damn it.

[01:04:20] But anyway, so yes.

[01:04:21] Because you're under duress.

[01:04:23] I mean, imagine the duress that they were under.

[01:04:24] Yeah, you're about to die.

[01:04:25] But Mr. Kim, the older guy, had scissors and paper and Choi had two rocks.

[01:04:34] So no matter which one Choi pulled away, all Mr. Kim had to do was pull away the scissors and leave the paper and he won.

[01:04:41] But I thought, okay, if it was a deliberate choice to let him win, he could have left the scissors there instead.

[01:04:53] So maybe it was either that he was paralyzed with indecision.

[01:04:57] He was like, do I let him live or do I live?

[01:05:00] Or just paralyzed with fear.

[01:05:02] You know, it could have been either one of those two things too, rather than a deliberate choice to let him win.

[01:05:06] I think Daphne's right.

[01:05:08] I think it was implied in their earlier conversation that he was either a son-in-law or cousin or nephew or something.

[01:05:16] See, I disagree with that.

[01:05:17] He said, oh, what do you think?

[01:05:20] I would betray you and take the money because I officiated your wedding.

[01:05:25] But I think that was like a lot of times in Squid Game.

[01:05:28] You establish this connection, then you test it, right?

[01:05:32] And so I don't think necessarily just because they had that connection means that the guy deliberately saved him.

[01:05:39] I see.

[01:05:40] I think he did.

[01:05:42] Because Doc G Guy had a connection with his own father and he didn't save him.

[01:05:45] And there's lots of times where people have to wait for people in the show and they don't save them.

[01:05:49] But the way this scene played out made it feel like that was the case.

[01:05:53] And we know that Doc G Guy is kind of a psychopath.

[01:05:58] So, yeah.

[01:05:59] I'm saying there's lots of situations where people are forced to decide whether they want to help someone else or save themselves.

[01:06:07] And so I just, I mean, we've all said what we think.

[01:06:12] Yeah.

[01:06:12] So here's the thing.

[01:06:13] The two problems with this scene to me is the whole drama of the scene was did the one guy save the other and which one of them was it going to be?

[01:06:22] But I think we have a pretty good idea.

[01:06:24] They both ended up dead.

[01:06:25] I don't think so.

[01:06:26] I don't think so.

[01:06:27] You think he let the other guy go?

[01:06:29] I do.

[01:06:30] I do.

[01:06:31] I think we're going to see him in the squid game.

[01:06:32] I don't know about that.

[01:06:34] He said, can we have a chat?

[01:06:36] And then we never saw him again.

[01:06:38] Yeah.

[01:06:38] So I feel like that.

[01:06:40] Well, the chat was what led him to Gi-hun's letter.

[01:06:43] Yes.

[01:06:43] Yes.

[01:06:45] Okay.

[01:06:45] You're right.

[01:06:46] You're probably right.

[01:06:47] Yeah.

[01:06:47] Yeah.

[01:06:47] And I think because we didn't see additional blood on him on the recruiter.

[01:06:54] Because I actually went back and watched because I was concerned.

[01:06:57] So I scaled it back and watched when the recruiter shot Kim, the same amount of blood is on him when he goes to see Cahoon.

[01:07:09] So I think.

[01:07:10] We'll find out on that point.

[01:07:12] Yeah.

[01:07:12] We'll find out.

[01:07:13] I think Choi's still alive.

[01:07:15] To me, the bigger flaw of this whole scene was I didn't really care about these two guys.

[01:07:24] It's not like some of the deaths during the squid game that we've seen of people we've come to really be interested and care about.

[01:07:31] Ali Abdul.

[01:07:32] Why do I care about these guys?

[01:07:34] Yeah.

[01:07:34] But that's how squid game season one started out too.

[01:07:37] Yeah.

[01:07:38] Like you need some time to get to know and care about people, but they're going to be killing people from the start.

[01:07:43] Yeah.

[01:07:44] If we see Choi after this, we may get to know him.

[01:07:49] I guess what I'm saying is the drama of this whole choice of one guy giving his life for the other guy and which one is it going to be.

[01:07:57] Yeah.

[01:07:58] Which is all very dramatic if you cared about them.

[01:08:01] Right.

[01:08:02] But since I didn't, it was like, okay, it's one of these guys or the other.

[01:08:06] And the, in the first episode of this whole series back in season one where the shock was red light, green light, you didn't really need to care about this whole mass of people to just be shocked by seeing many of them get shot.

[01:08:19] Yeah.

[01:08:19] Yes, absolutely.

[01:08:21] Yeah.

[01:08:21] I see what you're saying.

[01:08:24] Okay.

[01:08:25] I think it's your turn, David.

[01:08:27] Got any more?

[01:08:27] Just, um, they did make a focus in the story of Russian roulette and, uh, Russian roulette is really a movie and TV trope.

[01:08:36] It shows up in a lot of movies and TV shows for obvious reasons.

[01:08:40] It's a very dramatic plot device.

[01:08:42] It's life and death and has this random element of chance.

[01:08:46] Uh, but I think it was really made famous by the deer hunter.

[01:08:49] Um, that's sort of the be all end all of all Russian roulette scenes in the movies.

[01:08:56] Absolutely.

[01:08:57] Yeah.

[01:08:58] It's a very famous and compelling and very disturbing film.

[01:09:02] Um, but it's really used in a similar way.

[01:09:05] So the, um, Russian roulette and the deer hunter is about these traumatized characters who are P to P O Ws in Vietnam who have basically become addicted to the adrenaline of that life and death game.

[01:09:20] And they can't leave it behind.

[01:09:22] Um, they're drawn back to it against all rationality and sense, uh, even after they've escaped the war physically.

[01:09:33] Um, and that, I think that's very analogous to what's going on here in the squid game.

[01:09:38] These characters of Gi-hun and, and Yun-ho are, are drawn back to this thing that they actually might be smarter to just stay away from, uh, that they can't escape that, that adrenaline, that competition's pull.

[01:09:51] Even the, the recruiter guy, I mean, one of the best part of him explaining this rock paper scissors minus one plus Russian roulette to these two guys was when he explained the Russian roulette part.

[01:10:08] He put the gun up to his head and pulled the trigger.

[01:10:10] I was like, Jesus.

[01:10:12] Yeah.

[01:10:13] This guy needs some juice.

[01:10:14] Yeah.

[01:10:15] That's what he lives for.

[01:10:16] Yes.

[01:10:16] And he, he got a, um, adrenaline rush when he was playing it with Gi-hun later, every time he, especially the first time he pulled the trigger and it didn't go off.

[01:10:25] He could see just, he was more alive in that moment than any other time, except when he was stomping bread in the park, you know?

[01:10:31] Right.

[01:10:32] Um, yeah.

[01:10:33] So I think he has, he has that too.

[01:10:37] The guy who wrote the deer hunter, I can't remember his name, but he was my, um, creative writing teacher in junior college for one quarter intense guy.

[01:10:47] Yeah.

[01:10:48] I would think.

[01:10:51] Okay.

[01:10:51] That's about, uh, the deer hunter.

[01:10:53] Um, a lot of it takes place in the Pittsburgh area where Karen and I are moving to.

[01:10:56] So I'm not going to let her watch that movie.

[01:10:58] No, probably not.

[01:11:00] Try to make her feel comfortable.

[01:11:01] Yeah.

[01:11:02] Okay.

[01:11:03] So let's move on to notes.

[01:11:05] Daphne.

[01:11:06] All right.

[01:11:07] Um, because this puzzled me at the end of season one and it's gonna puzzle me now.

[01:11:13] Um, so Junho's brother revealed his face to him at the end of season one when they were standing on the cliff.

[01:11:21] And I thought that the rule was you don't reveal your identity to anyone at any time.

[01:11:27] Do we think that anything happened to him?

[01:11:29] I'm guessing no, probably not.

[01:11:31] No, but it's something that they made a point of showing us earlier in the season when the guy was shot because he revealed his face.

[01:11:40] So I guess it's going to depend on how high up he is in the ladder of things.

[01:11:47] But I mean, he did reveal his face.

[01:11:51] I think, I don't know for sure, but maybe it was intention, his intention to reveal his face before he killed his brother.

[01:12:00] Well, he didn't want to kill him.

[01:12:01] No.

[01:12:02] No.

[01:12:02] He just shot him in the shoulder.

[01:12:03] I mean, he first said, come with me.

[01:12:04] Yeah.

[01:12:04] And then he shot him in the shoulder.

[01:12:06] Right.

[01:12:07] That's true.

[01:12:07] Yeah.

[01:12:07] I mean, he wanted to at least give him a chance.

[01:12:09] Yeah.

[01:12:10] Yeah.

[01:12:10] Yeah.

[01:12:11] And then he took his mask off and that was, I mean, the rule is you don't.

[01:12:14] No one knows though.

[01:12:15] No one knows.

[01:12:17] So.

[01:12:18] No one else saw his face.

[01:12:20] He was the one enforcing that rule too.

[01:12:21] His men were behind him.

[01:12:22] That is true.

[01:12:23] Yeah.

[01:12:23] That's the technicality.

[01:12:24] That's the technicality that can get him.

[01:12:26] I think we're headed for a Gi-hun versus In-ho confrontation.

[01:12:30] Me too.

[01:12:32] Yeah.

[01:12:32] Me too.

[01:12:33] For sure.

[01:12:34] Yeah.

[01:12:36] David?

[01:12:37] No notes.

[01:12:39] The only one I had is, even though we didn't get to see the squid game in this episode,

[01:12:44] there are actually a bunch of games.

[01:12:46] There's Doc G happening in the background a few times.

[01:12:49] There's, it really felt like find the recruiter for a billion won was a game, especially seeing

[01:12:56] the guys like accosting people on the subway and stuff, you know, the whole bread or lottery

[01:13:03] thing, the rock, paper, scissors, minus one combined with Russian roulette and then straight

[01:13:09] up Russian roulette with Gi-hun and the recruiter guy.

[01:13:13] So actually I think there was more games in this episode than in most episodes of squid

[01:13:18] game.

[01:13:19] I think there's a lot of tributes in this, um, in a lot of shows, but this is one of them.

[01:13:26] And there's a scene in North by Northwest where Cary Grant is hiding dressed as a porter

[01:13:31] in the train station and all the cops keep running up to people and turning them around.

[01:13:35] And then it looks like him from behind, but it's not him.

[01:13:39] I felt like there was a little homage to that scene and the way they were accosting people

[01:13:43] on the train.

[01:13:45] I just thought it was, it was interesting because they're just saying what like official business,

[01:13:51] I need to inspect your bag or whatever, and just ripping it away from them.

[01:13:55] And you felt that same kind of desperation that is, that permeates the show, you know,

[01:14:03] even in this little aspect of it.

[01:14:07] Depravity.

[01:14:59] All right, we're back.

[01:15:01] It's time for a little bit of listener feedback.

[01:15:03] I don't know if we'll get more this season.

[01:15:05] Uh, we're recording this the day the series came out, so we didn't really give a lot of

[01:15:10] people time, but if you're listening to us and you want to comment on this episode, go

[01:15:14] ahead and send it in and we'll, we'll talk about it next time.

[01:15:17] Um, we will also put up posts each week for, uh, on our podcast, a Facebook page.

[01:15:25] So just search for podcast.

[01:15:26] If you want, you can comment on the post and we'll put most of that stuff in the episodes

[01:15:30] too.

[01:15:30] Or you can always send a message, either an email or a voice message, just squid game

[01:15:35] at podcast.com.

[01:15:39] So I'll read the first one.

[01:15:40] Jenny Ryan says, Oh no, I found the first episode so boring.

[01:15:43] Like I stopped watching so many times because I didn't care.

[01:15:48] Well, my hope is that the rest of the season makes it worthwhile to go back and watch it

[01:15:53] and pay more attention.

[01:15:54] But I kind of get where you're coming from.

[01:15:56] I, like I said, I'm not totally sold.

[01:15:58] There were some things in this episode that I thought were really interesting, but, um,

[01:16:02] I'm hoping to get more pulled in as we go along.

[01:16:05] Yeah.

[01:16:06] I hope it, it was a setup that ends up paying off.

[01:16:09] And I would say for my part, I hold the show to a very high standard.

[01:16:14] I think the first season of squid game was as good as anything I've ever watched.

[01:16:19] Like breaking bad season one, a Westworld, like that top level.

[01:16:23] It was a really well crafted show.

[01:16:26] So they have a lot to live up to.

[01:16:27] I mean, if it's going to be in that realm again.

[01:16:30] Yeah.

[01:16:30] And the second season is always, or it seems like it's always up for higher scrutiny too,

[01:16:37] because you're expecting it to be as good as the first.

[01:16:43] And I'm, I'm with you, David.

[01:16:45] I hold the first season to a very high standard.

[01:16:47] So I'm hoping that the table setting episodes will help pay off later.

[01:16:55] And personally, I also felt like maybe the show said what it needed to say in season one.

[01:17:04] And there wasn't a necessity for a season two.

[01:17:07] The guy who made it said he didn't intend on having a season two,

[01:17:10] but it's Netflix's most popular show ever.

[01:17:13] So there was a lot of financial incentive to make a season two.

[01:17:16] So, you know, maybe, maybe it's not necessary.

[01:17:19] We'll find out on the other hand, on the bright side, he clearly left a cliffhanger,

[01:17:24] you know, not a cliffhanger, but an open ended thing with Gi-hun vowing to go back.

[01:17:30] And with Jun-ho, you know, not clearly not being dead.

[01:17:35] So he left these strands where even though he says he wasn't intending on making a season two,

[01:17:40] clearly he built it in so that he could.

[01:17:42] So that's a good sign.

[01:17:43] I asked Karen what was her favorite thing about this episode,

[01:17:47] and she said, just the fact that I was right that Jun-ho was alive.

[01:17:52] I'm glad they revealed that quickly, too.

[01:17:55] She called that at the time.

[01:17:56] So shout out to Karen.

[01:17:58] I think there's a lot of people happy that Jun-ho is alive.

[01:18:01] I think.

[01:18:02] I am.

[01:18:02] Yeah.

[01:18:03] Yeah.

[01:18:04] So I'll read the next one.

[01:18:06] Erica Land says, just finished the first episode.

[01:18:09] Let's just say that was the most intense game of rock, paper, scissors that I've ever witnessed.

[01:18:16] Yep.

[01:18:17] And let's hope it stays.

[01:18:18] Yeah.

[01:18:18] I mean, those games get pretty intense, but yeah.

[01:18:21] They do.

[01:18:23] Jennifer McGinley says, me and one of the kids watched the last two episodes of season one last night for prep.

[01:18:29] Couple of things I'd forgotten, so it was good.

[01:18:31] I paid close attention, but still do not understand the rules of actual squid game.

[01:18:38] Great seeing the detective character again.

[01:18:40] He's freaking gorgeous.

[01:18:42] Hoping to see him soon.

[01:18:43] As pitch meeting said, he gets shot and falls off a giant cliff.

[01:18:47] Where does he fall to?

[01:18:48] All the way to season two, if necessary.

[01:18:51] Cool.

[01:18:52] I can dig it.

[01:18:53] Agreed.

[01:18:55] I don't remember the rules of actual squid game because it's been a while, but I felt like we got a, much like studying for a test in college, I got a pretty good handle of it right before we podcasted on it.

[01:19:07] Did the podcast, then forgot everything.

[01:19:09] Yeah.

[01:19:09] They did a good job explaining it in the moment, I thought.

[01:19:12] Yeah.

[01:19:13] Okay.

[01:19:24] All right.

[01:19:25] That is our show.

[01:19:26] Thanks for listening to everybody.

[01:19:27] We're actually going to be back for squid game season two, episode two, Halloween party, which I think is such a great title.

[01:19:34] On Tuesday, we're recording on Tuesday.

[01:19:36] So, you know, just a few days in between recordings here and then we'll be weekly Tuesdays after that.

[01:19:43] If you want to write in or send us a voice message about it, you can find all our contact information at podcastica.com.

[01:19:51] And while you're there, be sure to check out our other shows.

[01:19:55] Yeah.

[01:19:56] Yeah.

[01:19:56] Like on Star Wars TV cast right now, Daphne and Paik are covering the new Star Wars show with Jude Law and a bunch of kids called Skeleton Crew, which I've been watching with Bodhi.

[01:20:08] And it's really fun.

[01:20:10] It's so fun.

[01:20:11] And I'm not a big Star Wars nerd.

[01:20:13] Paik is the one that brings all of that to the table.

[01:20:17] And we're having a ton of fun covering it.

[01:20:19] It's the first time that we've ever covered a show together, like a week to week thing.

[01:20:25] So it's been a ton of fun and the show is just great.

[01:20:29] David, why don't you tell people what you'd been working on for a little while?

[01:20:32] Well, I had been with a couple of friends producing a sports related podcast on this network called Sports Castica.

[01:20:41] Great fun.

[01:20:42] We really enjoyed our first several episodes.

[01:20:45] Then two of the three of us suddenly got real jobs and have had to take a step back.

[01:20:51] But we're hoping to be able to resume soon.

[01:20:54] But just kicking around various topics that we enjoy about the sports we love and bringing in some guests that we've come across in our professional lives in sports.

[01:21:06] So it's actually really been a lot of fun to do.

[01:21:08] And I hope we get to pick it up soon.

[01:21:09] Yeah.

[01:21:10] And even if they don't end up picking it up for a while, I recommend going back and listening to those if you're into sports because it's a different take than you might have heard on other podcasts.

[01:21:19] And not timely pegged to any current events.

[01:21:22] They're pretty timeless in terms of the topics they cover.

[01:21:25] And it's all different sports.

[01:21:26] Like it's not focused on basketball or hockey or baseball just though.

[01:21:32] Like it's each episode is something different, which is great.

[01:21:35] Thanks.

[01:21:36] And yeah, we're trying to take a little bit from all the different sports we love.

[01:21:42] We are kind of somewhat baseball hockey focused guys.

[01:21:45] So we'll probably do more of that than anything else.

[01:21:50] But whatever strikes our fancy that's interesting that we want to know about, we'll try to find out about it and tell you about it too.

[01:21:56] All right.

[01:21:57] That's our show.

[01:21:58] Thanks for listening.

[01:21:59] Rock.

[01:22:00] Paper.

[01:22:01] Scissors.

[01:22:02] Shoot.

[01:22:05] It gives all new meaning to that phrase.

[01:22:08] It really does.

[01:22:09] thoroughly.

[01:22:10] Good?

[01:22:10] Hi.

[01:22:10] Hi.

[01:22:11] Hi.

[01:22:11] Hi.

[01:22:11] Hi.