17: "Six Legs" (Squid Game S2E4)

[00:00:00] Hmm? Ah! Hmm. Let's get it! Let's get it! Let's get it! Let's get it! Let's get it! Let's get it! Let's get it!

[00:00:20] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast, I'm Jason.

[00:01:00] And I'm Veronica. In this episode we're covering Squid Game Season 2, Episode 4, Six Legs. Which I had to think about it. I mean... Yeah, there's five people. And there's one leg on each outside. And then two tied together. So I guess that adds up to six. I had to do the same thing too. I wanted to mention, I don't really talk about it that much on this podcast, but I have a Patreon.

[00:01:28] And if you sign up for that you get ad-free episodes, among other things. And it's been pretty important to me, if not for the Patreon. You probably wouldn't be hearing this podcast right now. It's because this is like the only thing I do for money. And so I couldn't keep doing all of it, if not for the Patreon.

[00:01:50] So if you are enjoying this podcast or any of the other ones and you want to help support and get ad-free episodes, check out patreon.com slash Jason Cabassi. We also have monthly exclusive podcasts on there. We do call-in shows sometimes and some other extras. We have a group, a private Facebook group. Yeah, it's a good bang for your buck. I did it just because I had listened to the podcast for a long time and just was like, oh, I want to support this creator that has been in my ears.

[00:02:19] And I discovered through doing that not only did I feel good to support an artist who was providing lots of listening hours for me, but also gained this whole community of other people that nerd out about the same things that I do. So that's been like this bonus. So come join our nerd group and talk about all of our favorite shows with us. Well, none of us. All right. We can all have six legs together. No, we don't do that.

[00:02:48] So Squid Game season two, episode four, six legs. You want to read the plot summary? Sure. So player 001 feigns an alliance with Gi-hoon. Gi-hoon or Ji-hoon? I think it's Gi-hoon. I think that's how they say it in the show. Okay. Just making sure I'm terrible with names. Okay. So player 001 feigns an alliance with Gi-hoon and fabricates a story based in truth about his reason for joining the game.

[00:03:15] Player 333 named Myung-gi is attacked by Thanos and player 124 named Nam-gyu. Player 001 intervenes and stops the altercation easily. Player 222 named Kim Joon-hee and Myung-gi's pregnant ex-girlfriend reveals herself to him. Meanwhile, a group of soldiers led by the officer began harvesting organs to sell in the black market.

[00:03:42] The officer orders No-ul to ignore the activities, but she refuses. Jun-ho attempts to enlist police assistance, but is unsuccessful. To Gi-hoon's surprise, the second game requires players to form teams of five for a six-legged pentathlon consisting of five children's games. Dog-ji, Bisyak-chiggy, Gong-ji, Che-gi, and Spinning Top to be completed under a five-minute time limit.

[00:04:12] Bravo. No-ul continues her sabotage of the soldiers' organ trade by shooting live eliminated players dead. And now I need to offer an apology because I have probably mispronounced say nine out of ten of the words that I just tried to say. I'm so, so sorry. Yeah. If anybody's Korean, write in and help us please or call in actually. I promise I care. Like I listen. I go online and sometimes like look up the pronunciation and listen. And then I get on here and it goes completely out of my head. And I'm so sorry.

[00:04:42] I promise I'm trying. And we're not going to get them all right. But yeah, we do apologize. All right. In general, what did you think of it? Oh, I liked it. Even on second watch, I feel like maybe even more on second watch, I was just on the edge of my seat, even knowing what was coming. It really got my adrenaline up and the tension up. I thought the character developments were interesting. The game was interesting. The place it stopped was terrible, but also exciting.

[00:05:12] So yeah, I really liked this episode a whole lot. It's like the almost, well, maybe worse than the tug of war episode. This is like the second cliffhanger, mid game cliffhanger. I liked it, but I'm going to go into it more, but the goofy tone kind of distracted me. And I can't, I can't, I don't know. I'm not digging that so much. But there were things about it that I liked a lot.

[00:05:41] I especially loved how Inho conducted himself in the game and in the episode. I thought that was really cool. That was my favorite part. So I liked it overall, but from either jury's still out on how they're sort of acting like it's a comedy at times. It makes sense. I think I actually disliked that more last season. And now I was just sort of like, okay, like it annoys me, but I just expected it, I guess. But yeah, I definitely hear what you're saying.

[00:06:09] If it's more of the same next time, I'm going to have to just be like, okay, I better just try not to worry about it too much. Fucked up moment of the week? I was struggling with this one and I just decided to choose what made me the most upset and felt the most fucked up to me, which is just anytime someone releases their bladder out of fear, for some reason to me creates the most guttural response. Like I feel their fear in that moment.

[00:06:36] Like I feel so, it's so upsetting to me, even though like it's just pissed, like it's not the absolute worst thing that could happen, but just the representation of the level of fear that person has. Like just talking about it right now, I feel a pit in my stomach for it. So that for me was the moment when he kept missing the flying stone and the guy, I think it was 198 or 196, peed his pants. Yeah.

[00:07:04] And I mean, that's one reason why I especially wasn't digging what I thought was a goofy tone in the six-legged game because I felt like it took away from the tension. And then a moment like that where somebody pees himself, it felt like, well, they're sort of playing this for comedy, so it doesn't hit as hard. But, you know, it's also a really serious situation. And so I could take it either way. It's like some weird middle ground.

[00:07:32] But anyway, I agree. Like, yeah, he is definitely in like comedy is usually low stakes and this is high stakes. So he's definitely in a situation where this would happen and it's believable and it's upsetting. I've never, I don't think I've ever been in that situation where I was so scared. Maybe when I was a little kid. I don't think so though. I don't think so either. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:00] For me, I mean, this episode had the typical fucked upness of organ harvesting, witnessing that, you know, and just the fact of the games where if you don't win, you get shot. But we've seen all of that before. Or so for this week, I thought I'll just add something new. I thought it was fucked up that people didn't want Hyun Joo on their team just because she's trans. Yeah. Absolutely. Whatever.

[00:08:27] Especially when you see what a fantastic teammate, team leader she appears like she's about to be. Absolutely. Yeah. She seemed like had her shit together more than most people, if not all of them. But we'll see how she is in the game. All right. What do you got? Number one. I was really excited that we got more about Noel's story. Noel. Noel. So guard number 11.

[00:08:55] Because I think, you know, the last couple episodes we've been trying to place who she is, what her motivations are, and, you know, why she's gone back into the games to be a guard. And sort of what appeared to be a lot of coldness last episode. Now I think we got some new light on that.

[00:09:19] And so, you know, she killed some of the players during the red light, green light who had just been like shot in the leg or something and who were going to be eliminated. But she made sure that she killed them. And so it was sort of like, okay, did she just, is she just like cold and wanted to kill them? Or was there a reason for that? Because she said, I'm just, I'm simply eliminating a loser or something like that. Yeah.

[00:09:48] And so it turns out this episode that the organ harvesting operation is still in full swing. This time they have a doctor as part of one of the guards. So they're no longer pulling a player out to be helping with the organ harvesting. Seems like a better idea. Yeah. Like why wasn't that the plan all along? Yeah. And also seems like maybe that would be easier to recruit for because you're not, just all around this is better.

[00:10:19] And so basically we see her get called in to talk to a square manager guard who is obviously kind of the head of this organ operation thing and has been informed by the guard who suspected it was her who took that guy out during red light, green light. Um, he said, you know, I think it was guard 11 who took that guy out and kind of messed up the ability to harvest the organs from him because he's been dead too long.

[00:10:44] And so the square manager calls her in and he takes his mask off, which we know first and foremost is kind of like their role that they don't take the masks off. So, you know, she probably already knows him. And indeed he said he does know her. He recruited her seven years ago, um, which I thought was interesting. So he recruited her seven years ago.

[00:11:08] It sounds like right after she escaped North Korea on her own, he was impressed with her marksmanship in eliminating a North Korean guard during her escape and then just in being able to get across his own. Which he recounted in some very explanatory dialogue awkwardly that we all do when we first, when we see our friends, we tell them exactly how we met, how long ago and what the circumstances were.

[00:12:03] Exactly. I was a little confused because I thought in the first or second episode, I guess the second episode when we met her, um, when she was going to the, uh, the guy that like she was paying to try to get help to get her child back from North Korea. I felt like the timeline was much shorter. Yeah. Yeah. They said about the child being one, but maybe they meant that's how old the child was seven years ago.

[00:12:32] And now the child is eight. For some reason, I thought it had just been like two or three years since then. So now we know it's been at least seven years ago that she escaped. So he's a bit of an older child. Um, and so the manager basically thinks she's sort of sabotaging their operation because she's scared they're going to get caught. And that's when he's like, well, we're smarter this time. It's a guard. We're not going to get caught by the front man.

[00:13:01] And we realized like her motivations are actually a lot more complex and what I guess, tell me if you disagree, but what I think is going on from what she said and what we saw is that when he recruited her, he kind of had her thinking she'd be helping hopeless people and their misery. And so even though she was killing people and probably if she'd sat and thought about that a little more as she was working seven years ago, she probably could have convinced herself otherwise.

[00:13:30] But she was also in the desperation of, um, wanting to get her child back. And so she probably wanted to believe this sort of thing. He told her that she is just ending people who are already in complete misery. And what's changed this time is that the father of that child is in the game and we see her sort of like seeing him again, um, when she first goes back to her room, sort of reliving, seeing him, um, and his daughter.

[00:13:59] And so, you know, she realizes he's not hopeless. This is just his last hope to save his daughter. And I think that probably also makes her realize that she can't categorize every single player in the game into that same box because many of them probably aren't hopeless. They're grasping at any hope to get them out of a desperate situation.

[00:14:20] And it may not always be people who have just made bad financial choices for the sake of, you know, gambling or something like we saw Gi-hoon in season one. And that it might be people who are trying to, to risk everything to save someone else. And so I think that recategorized the players in her head and she's already here. She probably can't just walk away in the middle with the people she's dealing with, with the squid game.

[00:14:46] Um, but she can, I guess, end people suffering immediately when they lose as opposed to allowing them to sit there and, and suffer while they're being transported in a coffin. And then, um, be violated in a way that they haven't really agreed to with their organs being removed. And so I guess that's what I took from that. I'm curious if that's the same conclusion you arrived to on, on sort of her position with this, or if you thought maybe something a little different.

[00:15:17] I think so. I mean, the question I have, cause the talk of, you know, putting hopeless people out of their misery. Well, you know that everybody's there because they want to win this money. And I think you probably know as a worker that they're all desperate, but maybe you just don't think much beyond that.

[00:15:37] And it, it makes me wonder, you know, we saw the, um, recruiter guy, doc, she guy, he talked about people as basically poor people as being worthless, you know, and no purpose on the earth. And we speculated whether they hire people who have similar attitudes. And so it does make me wonder if she had kind of a similar attitude to that, where people who are desperate, whether they actually want to die or not, they are just miserable.

[00:16:06] So they may as well die, which isn't a good attitude, you know? And so I, I don't want to, um, just say, um, oh yeah, she misunderstood things and she, she was coming from a good place. I, I think there's still a possibility that she was not coming from a great place, but maybe now, yeah, seeing this guy who is an artist, right? He's a, um, let's caricature artist or something at the amusement park.

[00:16:30] And he has this daughter and just maybe sort of coming to realize, okay, he's doing an on it. He's making an honest living. He's, he's working, but it's just with a job like that, he doesn't make enough to help his daughter.

[00:16:46] And I'll say with, that's the social commentary of squid game saying that we need a society that can support those kinds of occupations that aren't high profit occupations, but you could still make an honest living and be able to take care of your medical needs and things like that. You know, we need, we need a society that can, that's the message of the show that can help people who, you know, they can get their, um, healthcare and all that kind of stuff.

[00:17:12] So, but anyway, um, and then, uh, yeah, I think you're right. Like, well, she said, you know, Hey, you told me my job would be helping those who feel hopeless by putting them out of their misery. I'm still here for that. You're the one who changed. And so I was wondering, well, how, how is it a change from that to also harvest their organs? And I think, yeah, the conclusion I came with is the same thing as you, that they're suffering more.

[00:17:38] If you let them sit there in pain for hours or whatever it is. And so I think she just, and I didn't even consider the other thing you said that they didn't consent to this. So she's just putting them out of their misery before, uh, before they have to sit there and suffer or be subjected to that. Yeah. So in short, my short answer is yes, I agree. No, I mean, I agree too. Like, I think, I don't think on any level that it's right.

[00:18:05] And I don't even know that she ever truly believed it, but I think we, I think just we as human beings can sell ourselves on lies that make the actions we're doing feel easier. Right. And I think that's what she was doing.

[00:18:19] And I think seeing that father in there sort of, I'm sure even beyond the organ harvesting that seeing him in there is making her have to reevaluate her role in the game and, and kind of have, have to face that. She's been sort of ignoring the reality of what this job is. And she did leave this job for some reason at some point. Well, they only have the games once a year.

[00:18:48] So I don't know if they like re-recruit everybody every year or what, you know? Oh, that's true. But she did, it's been, it's been a while since she's seen the manager though. So a couple of years since she's been out. So there is some reason that she left before. I would see on one hand, I would think if you're going to take a job where you're killing people, you would want to think really hard about the morality of it.

[00:19:14] But on the other hand, maybe those are the kind of jobs that some people try really hard not to think about. There's probably a split, right? The people who need to really think hard about it and really justify it on some internal ethical level. And then there are probably the people who are like, well, if I'm going to do this, I've got to compartmentalize it and not think too hard about it. So I don't hate myself for it. Any assassins listening, call in and let us know what it's like. Yeah, please.

[00:19:44] We'll muffle your voice for you. Yeah, we promise. So one notable thing is she has this whole encounter with her boss who's not happy with her. And then she just keeps on going with it in the last game, right? She kills the guy who they had marked as being a good candidate. And I'm like, wow, you must really feel strongly about this because it seems to me that if you go against the grain, you are riskier life here. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[00:20:11] One thing I thought about when she did that is I know nobody knows that 001 is the front man, but that's who supposedly should know that they're doing this whole operation. And it seems like he might clock something either. Why were some of the guards so bad that they didn't notice the body they'd already put into a coffin wasn't dead? And why did this one guard step in?

[00:20:40] So I do wonder if some point during this season the front man, Inho, is going to actually clock a little bit more of what's going on with the guards or if that's not something they'll go down. But it seems like it would be impossible for him not to have been like, what's going on here? I mean, I wonder if they're sort of turning a blind eye to it, or maybe not. Maybe it'll be an issue. Yeah. You know? Okay. Good. Next, Inho toying with Gihoon.

[00:21:10] Yeah. It actually didn't occur to me last week. The big moment at the end was seeing that Inho was player number one. And it didn't occur to me that Gihoon doesn't know what Inho looks like. I don't know why. That's dumb. But to me, I was thinking he was like, it's the front man when he turned around. No, no, he doesn't know.

[00:21:33] And the fact that he doesn't know makes this really interesting because Inho can kind of play games with him or do things to undermine and dig at him but make it look innocent, which is a fun dynamic. Like when Inho tells Gihoon, I pressed the O button because of you. And everybody else is like, yeah, me too. Honestly, I was scared. I wanted to leave, but you made me think maybe I could just play one more game. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:22:00] Yeah, and I think Inho knows very well that Gihoon's goal is to end the game and get as many people out alive. So he knows that telling this will shake him up. Yeah. Hey, last season was player one also the deciding factor when they voted to go home, but he chose to let them to go home. Okay. Yeah. Which I thought was interesting. And we, yeah, we talked about why would O'Il Nam do that.

[00:22:29] And the only thing I could think of is because he thought maybe based on experience that people would end up choosing to come back. And then they would be more invested in it. And he wants them to have chosen it, you know. And in that case, everyone chose it. In this case, only half, like one more than half. So anyway. Yeah.

[00:22:54] So then Gihoon tells everyone about the Dalgona game and they say, what shape is the hardest? Umbrella. And Inho goes, someone chose the umbrella? Like, what a fucking idiot. Yeah. That was awesome. Because he knows Gihoon chose the umbrella. And then I think he, I don't know. I wonder if he's also in there. I mean, he felt like he had to jump in to sort of, as Daphne put it, play chess with Gihoon.

[00:23:21] But I feel like he's also sort of trying to have the argument with Gihoon about why the games are okay, you know. And also because the games are a microcosm of people and society in general and sort of philosophy of the world that he's arguing that too. So first he tells a version of his true story that his wife is sick with cirrhosis, needs a liver transplant. We presume that probably is what happened to his wife, but he's framing it as if she's still alive and that's why he's in the squid game.

[00:23:50] But as far as we know, he didn't have the money to help her and she died. And so he says while going through treatment, she found out she was pregnant. I assume that's also true that he borrowed money from, he says a vendor. So somebody that he like worked with or something and people saw it as a bribe and he got fired. And so I, it makes me wonder what really did happen to prompt in how to join the squid game because you presume his wife died before he joined, right?

[00:24:21] No, I thought this was what really happened. But based on the story with, well, isn't that consistent with Junho and the mom? Junho and mom. I thought, okay, maybe I'm confused. But what I thought is they said that his wife got sick and they didn't have the money to help her.

[00:24:44] And Junho or Inho had already given his kidney to Junho so he could not sell his own kidney to help her. Is she still alive? No, they, Junho went and put flowers on her grave. Yeah, yeah, that's right. So to me, that means it was before the squid game because it was after he would have won and gotten her treatment. I thought she died while he's in the games. Oh, okay.

[00:25:09] And so he went to the games to try to, that's what I was guessing. And like, I don't think we know for sure. So that probably makes more sense. I don't think it's for sure, for sure. Yeah, but if she already died before the game. To me, that would be his villain origin story. Yeah. He wins the games, comes out with the money, and she's dead. Okay. Because if she had died before the game, then you'd have to wonder why he joined the game then.

[00:25:37] And I came up with this thing that her death just changed his feelings about the world, that he thought you can't count on anyone, not even your family. And that everyone has needs in this world, but it's kill or be killed, and you got to go out and fend for yourself or whatever like that. So it could still be that, even if he did, like you said, join the games, and then she died while he was in it. Yeah.

[00:26:05] And the other thing, it could be that she died before and that he got in trouble trying to take money to try to get treatment, and then he won the Squid Games because he was so in debt. But to me— I hope we find out.

[00:26:20] I think it's a more interesting sort of villain origin story that it's almost like, I don't know, a twisted gift of the Magi almost, where he gets the money, he could actually get out, help her, have his wife and child, and she's already dead while he went to go do it. And he should have been there by her bedside, right? But he wasn't. Yeah. And so that money would be meaningless then. You're right. That is more interesting.

[00:26:47] And I wonder if part of his role as the front man, how much he really hates the players versus how much he hates himself and he projects that onto the players. And that's why he hates them, because he hates himself, because he is them. But I don't know. So I'm really hoping we get all of this by the end, or at least by the end of next season. Because I'm still—I feel like he's still—because he's arguing.

[00:27:13] You know, he's saying—they ask Gi-hun, did you spend all your winnings, and that's why you're back here? And he says, the money doesn't belong to me. It's blood money. He did spend some of it to help the families of Sebiak and Sang-woo, I think, and also in his operation to take down the squid game. But maybe that doesn't count. But anyway, arguing against it being blood money, Inho says, it's not like you kill those people. And saving that money—he did kill some of them, sort of. But—and saving that money won't bring them back to life.

[00:27:41] And I think that's a stand-in for this larger argument about society, whether it's okay if a system is set up so many people have to suffer and sacrifice and just a few reap most of the rewards. You know, it feels like he's arguing that. And he also says, you know, half these people voted to stay. So he's saying they know this system and they still chose it. And Gi-hun is saying almost half wanted to leave, and now they're in danger of dying.

[00:28:08] And that is—I mean, it's like our society where majority rules and the minority has to live with the results. That's a democracy. But many would argue, as Gi-hun tries to, that those voting for this kind of system are voting against their own interests. And he knows that most of them are likely to die here. But they see this golden—this carrot, and they're like, no, I can be the one to make it, you know? And just—so then they help bring about this system where most people don't make it. There's no safety net in the squid game. Yeah.

[00:28:38] I feel like especially these early votes, when the amount of money they could take home won't really cover anyone's debts, is the most parallel to the bread and lottery ticket game that we saw in episode one, where it's almost a false choice because neither thing—like, it's a very low chance that if they stay in the game that they will actually win.

[00:29:03] They're more likely to die, but they have the chance of actually getting enough money to be able to go on and live their life in a way that feels doable. But if they vote to leave, for many of them, it's still a death sentence because someone might come kill them because of the debts they owe. So I feel like for some reason it blew my mind, I guess.

[00:29:26] I think David brought the point up, but maybe he said Karen was the one who noted that it wasn't a real choice between the bread and the lottery ticket because that bread wasn't really going to extend anyone's life. It was too small of an amount of food to really make a big difference. And I didn't pick that up the first time. I saw it as a cruel game, but I didn't really think about it, and that sort of jolted me. And then that's really the choice they're being given in the Squid Games.

[00:29:53] That will change, I think, as the amount of money does become enough to cover the majority of their debts. And then it's that conversation that you guys talked about, about greed and sort of cutthroat capitalism. But right now it's not a real choice. When they get to the point where it is enough to cover all their debts and even give them a very good life,

[00:30:19] and they still want to stay in it, kill more people so they can get more money. That's very much that whole capitalist... I mean, I hope people don't think I'm anti-capitalism, but I'm anti-extreme. That's what it can lead to. Yeah, I definitely. Yeah, I don't want that to be. And I also am not saying it's not as direct a relationship.

[00:30:45] Even if you are extremely pro-capitalism, it doesn't necessarily mean you're okay with everyone dying for you to get to the top. I know those can be trickle-down repercussions, and I'm not saying that that doesn't happen, but I don't want this to come across as I'm saying that all capitalists are okay with just killing people to get ahead, because I'm not saying that about everyone. The thing is, capitalism rewards really selfish people who amass large amounts at the expense of others.

[00:31:14] They put people out of business, all that kind of stuff. So I think you need capitalism that has checks on the abusers. Because if you don't, they're going to get so fat and everybody else is going to suffer. And that's what I see happening. And we've seen time and time and time again throughout human history that that is in our human nature to hoard and to amass that wealth and to become selfish. Some more than others. Yeah.

[00:31:43] But I think there is a large risk of that happening with humans. And so without those checks and balances, it's impossible for that system not to keep going back to the same thing. Right. And some of us even think, you know, I might take advantage of something if I had the opportunity, but I would appreciate that check so that I don't even have to think about it.

[00:32:05] You know, and everybody can be, you know, there can be less disparity of wealth so that it's not like there's no disparity. That's communism. And we know that doesn't work. But just less so that people can, everybody can be healthy enough, you know, can have the base necessities of life. So that they can actually like, you know, have some time to love their friends and family and not just be focused on survival. Be great.

[00:32:35] Okay. What do you got next? I had just sort of like a series of notes on some of the player dynamics that I felt like were set really during the time where they were in the locker or the main bunk room. So like not so much the team setup dynamics, but just what we started to learn more about some of the players again.

[00:32:59] And so the first thing that I noticed was beginning to see how the marking with the X and the O and their vote is playing a bit into those dynamics between players and the tensions that you see. Because now you have this very prominent marking so that if you wanted to leave and you're upset about your situation, you can blame it on someone else who voted to stay.

[00:33:25] And the ones who stay, I mean, I think they perceive it probably the ones who voted to leave as possibly weaker. And so you start to see this sort of splitting out, which I think is interesting. I was thinking too, the O's might see the X's as like, you don't deserve to win because you voted to go home. So one of us O's should win, you know? Yeah, yeah, for sure.

[00:33:50] The O's like along those lines, that was really an interesting interaction is we're seeing player 100. I don't remember his name, but he's the older gentleman who I think is one of the ones who owed like the most money of any of the players. We got to see his really cold and like calculated response after Gi-Hoon gave the advice about Daogana. Him being like, well, we can't tell anyone else because we need people to die so that we can get more money.

[00:34:18] And Gi-Hoon's like, no, I'm going to announce this to everybody. It was a very cold. He's not wrong. Like he's not wrong. Like if you voted to stay, you voted to stay because you want to make more money. But like for him to like people were probably going to die whether they have the tip or not. So to want more people to drop out very quickly, I still think is definitely cold.

[00:34:39] I think if you're in the game and you've accepted that this is the game we're all in, then that seems like the logical and totally reasonable thing to think. It's the same reason why I was arguing for Sang-woo a little bit last season because I'm like, if you're playing the squid game, the game is that everyone else dies and then one person wins. Or we didn't know that for sure, which is why I was a little wiggly about Sang-woo.

[00:35:07] But because if you think that some people can still live, then it's really bad to just try to kill everybody. But if you think only one can, then you have to. You have to do that. And at least everyone who agreed to stay agreed that they wanted to stay because they wanted to get more money. And the only way to do that is for more people to die. But it is fucked up when you know that half the people wanted to go home and then you're still going to try to kill them anyway to get money. That's not cool. Yeah.

[00:35:36] And then, like, it surprised me that no one even thought, like, that it might be a different game, that it would be the same game. I know. And so he walks in there and he's so pissed, that same player 100 is so pissed at Gi-hoon. Yeah. And, like, blames him for them being there. And I'm like, bro, like, you voted to stay. Gi-hoon tried to, like, in passion speech, tried to talk everyone out of staying.

[00:36:02] And just because you interpreted that as, ooh, he won, I can win, it's not mean it's Gi-hoon's fault. Like, you need to calm down. Yeah. Again. But that's, like, we're learning about who player 100 is, I guess. He's cut for it. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. We got the, I think, what you were referencing earlier as some of the cheesiest interactions in this episode were Jungbae.

[00:36:31] So that's player 390, who was Gi-hoon's old friend. And then his new marine buddy, Dae-ho, player 388, who's constantly yelling, sir, sir. Yeah. I did laugh at that, but it was so goofy. It was funny, but it was so over the top. And they just kept doing it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:37:00] Gi-hoon, he's got this tin of food. He opens it up. He's all excited because it's this little tin of, like, delicious rice and a fried egg and stuff. And looks at Gi-hoon's like, what's wrong? Not hungry? And Gi-hoon's sitting there completely shell-shocked. Someone else's blood splattered across his face. It was just like, of course he's not hungry. What do you think is wrong right now? Like, you just watched people gun down and you still have their blood splatter. And then half the people decided they wanted to stay and keep going through these blood games.

[00:37:30] And you're wondering why he didn't want to eat. So it was another one that was like, sort of silly. I didn't hate that one as much. It did make me laugh. He's trying to feed him like a baby. Yeah. We got some of the more backstory on Jun-hee and Myung-gi. So 222 and 333. The pregnant girl and the Bitcoin guy.

[00:37:57] I thought it was interesting that they gave them those numbers that somewhat coordinated. And like, obviously the squid game people are all knowing. And so it's like, did they do that on purpose? Because they knew that they had previously been together. But so we learn a few things about, we knew that Jun-hee is pregnant. But we learn a little bit more. Like she's actually quite far along in her pregnancy. So Goom-ja.

[00:38:27] So this is the older lady, number 149. The mom. The mom comes up to player 222 during the meal. And basically calls out her pregnancy. Tells her, I know you're quite far along. I think it's really dangerous that you're binding yourself. And she also reveals that she has experience as a midwife from helping deliver babies in her neighborhood. Which I'm assuming is probably going to be relevant at some point later in the season.

[00:38:57] That we have a midwife on hand. That was probably why they had that scene. Because otherwise I didn't really get it. Yeah. It was in there. But it did also, like, I thought she was earlier on in her pregnancy. But both we have. Yeah. It's late. That lady called out. And then when she goes, or like when 333 finally realizes that she's there and comes up to her and is like, why the hell are you here? Or he says he didn't know she was still pregnant.

[00:39:25] He thought that she was planning to get an abortion. He wanted her to, yeah. Yeah. And he didn't answer her calls for six months. So he already knew she was pregnant. So she's got to be at least, like, what, a month or six weeks pregnant at that point. And then six months post that they haven't talked. So she's got to be in her late third trimester at this point. So probably seven or eight months. So she really is getting quite close. Yeah. To delivery.

[00:39:54] I bet you it's, like, two, three days away. Yeah. Yeah, maybe, like, two, three episodes away. Is that how you meant? Something like that. And, like, he does try to appall it. Like, he offers some excuses at first for not talking to her. Like, one, he didn't know she was still pregnant. Two, he, you know, was obviously, like, said all these people were after him because of the Bitcoin thing.

[00:40:21] And then later when the team start forming up, he does try to go to apologize to her weekly, I think. And by telling her she can't possibly win on her own. And she says he's dead to her and walks away. So I thought that was interesting. I love that. Yeah. She said, I don't trust you. She looked right at him. Yeah. Intensely. I don't like you. I don't trust you.

[00:40:50] Or whatever she said. And, you know, hopefully it's not too much information. But my mom had me when she was 18. And it was with her high school boyfriend. And he abandoned her, you know. And so it made me think of that. And I was like, way to go, girl. Yeah. Yeah. She definitely has established herself as strong and independent. And she's not going to accept someone's bad behavior.

[00:41:20] She could do it. She'd rather do it her own. And she said, you know, her goal is to get enough money to pay off her debt because she also invested in that Bitcoin thing that he had. Yeah. She wants enough to pay off her debt and buy a house and take care of her child. Yeah. That's why she's there. She was also mad at him for having to be there because she voted to go and he voted to stay. Yeah.

[00:41:44] And I also thought that made the dynamic between the X's and O's interesting because you think of the last guy in Ho as the one people would blame. But, you know, he even said himself, hey, I was just one of many who voted to stay. And because it was only one vote, then any of the X's could just be mad at any of the O's thinking each of you had an opportunity to change this. Just would have taken one of you. So you're all culpable here. For sure. For sure. That's all I had.

[00:42:14] Like I have another point or maybe you do, but I'm sure we'll talk about the actual formation of the teams. So I didn't want to get into that stuff yet. So that was just sort of the things that I felt like were important that we learned about players while they were in the locker. Cool. All right. Yeah. Well, I do have a point about that. So I'll go right into that. Cool. So, yeah, I thought the X and O patches last time were just, I mean, I was going back and forth on it, but by the end, I thought maybe it was just so that they could.

[00:42:44] I don't know. I don't know if they were just like, you know, I was going back and forth on it. I don't know if they were just like, you know, I was going back and forth on it. But then in the six-legged game, we see every team has, well, there's only two teams. Oh, no, there's a few teams.

[00:43:12] Most of them are sitting there, but every team we could see had a mix of X's and O's. I didn't even clock that. But yeah, that's interesting. I was looking at it, and I think, you know, that could mean that the players who were more desirable or for whatever reason, that it was more important for people to try to get them on their team because it's life or death than worrying about who voted what, you know?

[00:44:01] Mm-hmm. Because we don't get to see them play. We did find out like what each of them are planning, like which game they're planning to do. Yeah, because they each have to do a different game. They can't have one person use a ringer, do all the games. Be cool if they could. Mm-hmm.

[00:44:19] The other thing, I watched it twice, and it looked like we see 222 walk up and use her pregnancy as their, you know, like, hey, help me, I'm pregnant, basically. Yeah. And I'm assuming that, I mean, it could have been any of them softening towards that, but I would assume it hit, we see Inho's face sort of flash because obviously, you know, he just told that emotional story about his wife being pregnant. Oh, yeah. Maybe he did.

[00:44:48] But they don't show us like the discussion of how they decide to take her and what they do with the other Marine kind of thing. And I was so curious who made the decision, you know? Because they pretty much let him in and then they had to say, I mean, that's kind of cruel. Yeah. Hopefully he got a better team. I don't know. Yeah. Then the crypto guy, yeah, as you said, wanted to team up with Joonhee. She says, fuck you, dude, basically.

[00:45:17] People rejected Hyunju, number 120, who's an O, the trans woman. She voted to stay because she's trans. And they also were rejecting the mother and son, who I think are both exes, right? Yeah. He was kind of on the fence, but voted ex because they didn't want an older woman. And I thought it was really touching when she told her son, join the team of those guys and I'll find another team. And that he refused. Yeah. Both of those were touching.

[00:45:48] For sure. Then she starts to cry and he goes, oh no, mom, keep your head up. Let me see that fire in your eyes. Just be yourself when you're letting me have it. And she goes, you little brat. How do you take that toe with me? You got some nerve. And he's like, there you go. That's my mom. I know. And I thought that was goofy, but I loved it still. Yeah. I like them. That was awesome. So it's them two, Hyunju, this meek-seeming woman who we don't know why, but asked Hyunju to team up with her.

[00:46:16] She's number 95 and she was an ex. And the sea shaman, Sonyeo, who's an O. So Thanos, who's of course an O, as are his two minions, two O's. He gets a team and I thought was his usual charming way. I find him fun. I enjoy his character. He's terrible, but I love to watch him. Terrible, yeah. And this one, I liked him.

[00:46:45] Like if I hadn't seen him do that really fucked up thing last week where he pushed people and they got killed and then he winked. So now I think he's evil. If I hadn't seen that, I would be going like, maybe he's a good guy. Because here he asked this attractive girl, number 380. I think she's an O. I think she voted to stay. I didn't clock it like I said. I think I saw the color. But anyway, you know, you want to come with us? I'm Thanos. And Thanos, do you have the Infinity Stones?

[00:47:12] And without missing a beat, he throws up his hands with his fingernails painted the colors of the stone. Of course. I'm going to destroy anyone who gets in my way. Just stick with me and you'll be safe. I love it because he knows what he's saying is ridiculous. But if he breaks it, then that's when the sham is over. But if he just stays firm in his reality, then people are going to go for it. Just like we do as the audience, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's great. It's funny.

[00:47:41] And then she said, well, I already have this teammate and he's this meek guy who is an ex. I think he's the only ex on their team. I thought I was calling him Hey Cutie. Yeah. What's your name? Min Su. He goes, the other guy's like, he looks like a freaking dork. He's like, what's up? Nice to meet you, my brother. Welcome to the Thanos world. You're cute. Come on. Did you notice, was he an ex then? Probably? 25? Yes. He was an ex. Oh, wait. He was 150.

[00:48:12] I think. Okay, okay. I don't know. But anyway, the meek guy, yeah, he was an ex. He was the only ex on the team, I think. Okay. On their team. And that was all the team ups, I think. But I also thought, just as far as teams go, that then Thanos' team, this junkie guy and the girl with the lip ring getting to the spat where she calls him, you're a prick. You had to pop a pill through your nerves. And he's like, fucking bitch. And I'm like, oh, man, you don't want to be on that team because you got to be in sync for the six-legged pentathlon.

[00:48:42] So I'm wondering if they'll survive. I know. They better because I think we need Thanos around still, I hope. We did also get insight that this is an ecstasy. It's some new party drug. And so that makes more sense in how fast it's acting and the way he's acting. I'm okay. I'll roll my eyes in Department of Suspension of Disbelief it because it's fun to watch. Okay, yeah. Me too.

[00:49:08] I didn't think that Claire124, so Nemsu, his little lackey, I didn't think his advice that she got so upset when she told him to shut up was that bad. He said, go in like you're going to die anyway. So I was like, when you're literally freaking out and seeing this terrifying game go down and everyone's nervous, I didn't think that was the worst advice. Yeah, I think you're right, honestly. I can understand not wanting someone to give me advice in that moment, but I was like,

[00:49:37] hey, he's annoying. I don't like him. And that wasn't the worst thing to say in that moment. Because the other guy needed something that he was talking to. He looked like a nervous wreck. For sure. I think you're right. Yeah, honestly. I think I was just not really hearing him and I was just responding to his vibe, which isn't good. For sure, because he's so annoying. That the girl is coming from the same place.

[00:50:02] I thought, like I said, that Yeonju, so player 120, we see these other groups snub her and like, screw them, bad decision. Like, it was that pretty woman moment of like, big mistake, huge. Because here she comes, like, she puts together this amazing team, like, underdog team. But she then like, talks them all up and brings the best out in everyone in that moment.

[00:50:29] Like, she turns to 095, who's standing there terrified and tells her, I know you're brave. And like, that was exactly what that girl needed to hear in that moment to just believe that she was brave. Like, she's not brave. She's terrified right then. But unlike the junkie kid guy who had a bad vibes, she had the best vibe. Yeah. Like, yeah, I want to follow her. Yeah. As she, you know, she's decided to give everyone the chance to share their name.

[00:50:56] So they become real people to each other and become a bit of a team. And everyone shares their name. We hear Gumja, the older mother, talk about being a survivor of the Korean War. And is it the Korean War? I think she said the Korean Civil War. Yes, Korean War. And her son introduced himself first as his mother's son, as something, you know, he's so proud of and proud of his mom. And then he introduces his name.

[00:51:26] And then even, you know, we hear Player 44 introduce herself as the Shaman of the Sea, which is hilarious. And she's terrified. And the episode ends on that moment of her scared. But, you know, Hyunju has empowered the rest of the teammates that they can literally carry the scared teammate. They pick her up. David was talking about not feeling connected to the characters this season.

[00:51:55] In this moment where this team is all talking each other up, I found myself very invested. Like, oh, man, I hope they make it. You know, I'm pretty sure they will. I hope so. Because if they don't, it's going to suck. And it's a team of at least four lovable characters and a fifth interesting and weird character. Right? Yeah. So I thought that was really cool. And it was I live for like the sort of cheesy pep talk moments. Like every time before someone goes off into war and they have it like that's what I live for.

[00:52:24] And this was one of those moments. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I really just appreciated that. And especially sort of seeing Hyunju have the moment of shining when she was dismissed by people, which I thought was pretty great. I bet she shines. Yeah. In the next episode. Oh, I'm sure. But as far as the shame and one thing with her, I was a little, well, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. But for a person who talks about like, oh, the gods always have a plan for me.

[00:52:54] And, you know, it's all set. She was really nervous. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, hmm. Okay. So I'll go into the six-legged pentathlon. I'll talk about the rules and maybe as I mentioned, each mini game, you can tell us which one of Gihoon's team is doing that part. So first off, each of the five team members starts with their legs tied together. They have to walk in step together.

[00:53:23] Each member takes turns playing a mini game at every 10 meter mark. And no one player, as I said before, can play more than one mini game. Each of the five has to choose one. And if they win the mini game, they can then move on to the next one. The first mini game that mentioned was Doc G, which we all know, but we didn't see anyone play. But I bet we will next episode. Who is that going to be? That's going to be Junhee.

[00:53:53] So player 222. Oh, yeah. That's right. And she said that she's really good at it and that she actually won previously more times than the recruiter did when she met him in the subway. That means she gets to slap him? I forget. I don't think so. I think you just get money. Oh, right. And don't get slapped. Man, that would have been cool if you got to slap the recruiter. Slap that guy. Number two, flying stone.

[00:54:19] You stand behind a line, throw a stone to knock over another stone. And if you miss, your team has to walk over together and get the stone and try again. Yeah. And this is going to be player number 390, Jungbae. Because he says he used to pitch in a baseball league for the place he worked or something. So he thinks he can do that pretty accurately. Yeah.

[00:54:48] I mean, you got to think either they will make it through or something will disrupt the games altogether because they're not going to die. I didn't even think about the game somehow could get disrupted. I doubt it. I mean, we're coming up on episode 5 of a seven-episode season and we're only one and a half games in. But I think that probably means – I think you might have even said this in an earlier episode that season 3 will be the second half of these. Yeah.

[00:55:18] Like a bit of a cliffhanger. Yeah, yeah. Or things get disrupted, like you said. I mean, it could be a different – yeah. I think it would be cool if just the show totally got turned on its head somehow and next season was something almost completely different. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Like what if they like flipped back and we saw an old version of the games, like either in Ho's version or like the beginning of the games, like that would be kind of cool too. It would, yeah.

[00:55:48] Something different. Number three, Gonji, which is kind of like Jax except – I'm not exactly clear, but you throw – like you start with one stone, throw it up in the air, pick up the others, and then grab the one in the air. And then you do like two and three or something like that. And then at the end, you have to throw them all up and catch them on the back of your hand and then throw and catch them in your hand again.

[00:56:15] And I got really anxious watching this because I would be dead. I'd just be like, kill me now. Same. Yeah. I looked the rules up. Like I copied them down. Even reading them multiple times, I'm not sure without playing it that I could fully understand. But it's basically like an iterative thing of like you said, like first it's ones and then twos and then threes and having to catch them.

[00:56:41] So this one – so this is traditionally like more of a girls game. Yeah. But on this team, player 2-2-2 is like, no, I've never played that. I can't play that. And that's why she – when she said she was going to be strong at Doc G. Ju-hi, yeah. But Dae-ho, so player 3-8-8, the young Marine, says actually he played it a lot growing up because he had like three or four older sisters.

[00:57:11] So he's going to do the Gang-ji game. And that seemed – I feel like there's maybe a theme about gender roles, stereotypical gender roles, because he almost seemed like he didn't want to admit that he played it. Or at least the other guy, Jung-bae, seemed judgmental at first. Yeah. He played that, but then he turned into a Marine thing. Marines can do anything.

[00:57:35] But I feel like, yeah, that combined with just any issues around this trans character and people not wanting her on their team and stuff, I wonder if that's related, all this gender stereotyping stuff. I don't know. Yeah. I do think it's interesting and not something – even though we had like male and female characters, I don't feel like we really talked about that as much with last season. No. But now there's more of that.

[00:58:00] Like we have a pregnant girl who is, you know, basically just stood up for herself against the guy who was ignoring her for six months. And I don't know. We're just seeing some – the mother who is so strong, like the son is – yeah. And I think, Noel, I mean, at this point, it's getting sort of – well, maybe I'm wrong, but it used to be really rare when a female character wasn't there to serve someone else's story. And the story is love interest or whatever.

[00:58:30] And Noel doesn't seem to be that. She's got her own story going on, you know? Yeah, yeah. School. Number four, spinning top, which just seemed like you wrap a little string or rope around the top and you have to fling it so that it spins when it lands, right? I don't know if there's time that it has to be spinning. It just seemed like as soon as it started spinning, they were like, yes. This one is actually going to be Inho.

[00:58:56] And Inho, basically, his choice taking spinning top was because he allowed everyone else to choose their game first. Yeah. Coming down to Gi-hun and spinning top was what was left. Which makes you wonder, with Inho, if his team loses, has he instructed them to make it look like he's dead and not kill him? Or is he actually in it, you know? I know. Is he risking himself?

[00:59:22] Like, I continue to think about his character as someone who's played the games before. And if there's some level of him that, like, is there any part of him that has a desire to, like, get back in there and play for real and, like, show he could do it again? Or is he completely protected? Yeah. Like, I just want to, like, hear his internal thoughts, like, throughout this whole thing.

[00:59:49] You would think, because it seemed like he didn't decide to go in until Gi-hun started disrupting things, that he wouldn't have made that snap decision to risk his life, you know? I mean, who knows? We'll see. Yeah. But that maybe he's got, like, he's going to be taken care of. Like, if he loses, they'll pretend to shoot him like they did with O-N-N-N-F or something. Yeah. And then the last one's called Jeggy. We also didn't see that yet.

[01:00:19] Chat GPT says, a traditional Korean outdoor game where players kick a paper shuttlecock into the air and try to keep it aloft. It's hacky sack. Yeah. Except, like, a different shape. It's like a shuttlecock, like you said. With the little streamers on it. So this is what Gi-hun chose. And so we're going to get to see him basically play hacky sack. Like, I was a little excited about that. That's so funny. And the goal is to win all the mini games and cross the finish line in five minutes, which sounds so hard. Oh, my God.

[01:00:48] One minute per game. Makes me sick. In my experience, walking in step like that isn't easy and takes practice. We used to have corporate games when I worked at Apple every year, every summer. And one of the games, we had these two long wooden planks in parallel, like skis. And five people standing single file, each holding a rope in each hand attached to each ski.

[01:01:13] And we debated amongst ourselves whether we should try to go slow and that would be easier or just get a good fast rhythm going. And I voted for fast because I was a drummer. You know, I'm like, if you get in a rhythm together. But as we were practicing, you know, it would be easy to get out of step. One person's not quite with the tempo. And then it just all you fall over or you pause and you have to try to get it going again. It's frustrating. You get frustrated with each other. But when we were in sync, it was pretty awesome.

[01:01:43] You know, it felt great. We got to be in sync with each other. So, this episode brought up a childhood memory for me. I actually used to be quite good at a three-legged race. I grew up very religious since I was involved in this program called Awanas, which is just sort of like a church program for – I was Baptist.

[01:02:10] I think it's like, I don't know, Baptist and similar type churches that participate in Awanas. And part of it was like learning Bible verses and repeating them. But then we also had like a section of each meeting where we would play games, like structured games. And once a year, there were the Awana Olympics. And my best friend and I were really good at the three-legged race. But we would practice like all year. Oh, wow. We could like run the three-legged race.

[01:02:39] It's like we were about the same height and size. But it's not easy. Like it took a lot of practice. And just like you said, I mean, even just with two people, getting out of sync was really easy. And like when you first start, it's a lot of falling until you figure out the right rhythm. There's no way they could be as good as they were without any practice like that. Impossible. No. And they're all different, like different heights. It makes it really difficult. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. That's like total dramatic license there.

[01:03:09] Yeah. So, did you guys have any competition? I mean, I don't remember. I know we definitely medaled a few times in the three-legged race. Were there other year-long practices? But definitely, yeah. I mean, there were good, good athletic kids who were fast. And it was not easy. But they had a good time. Yeah. What else on this?

[01:03:33] I just had noted down here that these mini games kind of reminded me of the corporate games we played at Apple. We had one where we had these slingshots and there'd be like three of us out in this field and the slingshotter would shoot water balloons and we had to catch as many as we could on our T-shirts without them falling. You know, that was my favorite one. We also did Tug of War, which was so straining, you know, and we just pulled with all our might. It was in the sand and we'd be sore for a week afterwards.

[01:04:04] But I started thinking about those games like, and what if we all got shot afterwards if we lost? Oh my God. It changed how I thought about it. I just got back from a staff retreat this last weekend and just thinking about, I don't know, at some points maybe I wouldn't mind being shot after some of the activities we have to do, but not really, not really. Oh my gosh, that's crazy. So, I mean, the games themselves, I don't know how much you want to talk about that,

[01:04:32] but just at the end, they both lose and the Squid Game workers kill them all and the mood is so anxious, of course, among everybody else. And I think I would just be like, well, it's been a good life. Like, that's it. Yeah. Five minutes just seems impossible. Yeah. I just had like a few other small notes about the games, like what we sort of learned from them. And I mean, our characters were noting it out loud themselves too.

[01:05:01] I don't think we really necessarily needed that, but like Doc G seemed pretty fast for both teams, but we saw particularly from player 198 how detrimental it is both in Flying Stone, but then we also saw in Spinning Top when you miss. Yeah.

[01:05:22] Because you're in the six-legged formation, having to reset those is pretty devastating to the time management. And so the rest of the teams, I don't know how helpful it is to know that other than to make you feel more stressed that you've really got to do it the first time. But I think it's helpful to be ready for it and not have to sit there and ask the guard for another stone or whatever.

[01:05:46] But my favorite one of those is when the top went away and they all just kind of fell and he was like trying to crawl towards it. And like grab it. It was terrible. Yeah. Oh, God. And then just like staying calm, I think, while you're doing the Jackson Stones or the Ganji. And like I loved that moment where the woman yelled, I need quiet because everyone was sort of saying stuff to her.

[01:06:15] And she was on like the very last row. And it was just like shut up. Like she shouldn't have even needed to say that. Like why would you be harassing your teammate when you know like the pressure they're already under? Yeah. It's like screaming at a golfer who's like trying to putt. Come on. You can make it. Terrible. She ended up dying apparently. So that's too bad. Yeah. God. Even though she came through. Yeah.

[01:06:42] Before we move on, I just wanted to mention that like Gi-hun is an interesting position here. As we've said, like he's sort of against in opposition to half the people because they want more people to die. And he's trying to save everyone. But the worst for him is he's just stuck in this hellscape again. And just to imagine when all these people were getting mowed down by these guns, I was thinking about Gi-hun like, oh, Jesus Christ. Like this is not what I wanted. You know?

[01:07:12] Back in this again. No. And just the PTSD he must have. We're already seeing him get the flashbacks and he had the nightmare about the, what's the honeycomb? Dalgona. Yeah. That was awesome. Dalgona. He had the like repeating triangle Dalgona and just like the things his poor psyche must be enduring right now is so much. Okay. You want to do one? And I have one more after that. Yeah.

[01:07:42] So I just had a few notes about the boat captain and I know this has come up previously sort of this questioning of is the boat captain good, bad? Is he in the know with the squid game people?

[01:07:57] And I had been curious because I think some of the coincidences with him felt too coincidental like that he just happened to be, you know, come across Jun-ho's body as he was floating out. Um, the fact that Jun-ho was going out with him to search all these islands and as much as we know the front man. And not finding anything. Yeah. Not finding anything.

[01:08:25] And as much we know, as much as we know that the front man was aware of everything that was going on with Gi-hoon, it's hard for me to think that he would not have had tabs on Jun-ho, his brother, who was not in hiding, who was still working for the police department. Like that he wouldn't have known he was going out in all his free time on a boat is hard for me to believe. That's a good point. Yes. And so we see him talking to. Choi. Choi. Thanks.

[01:08:55] Choi. So we see Choi sitting there talking to the boat captain and their sort of hired crew of assassins is at a table behind them. And looking and starts to open up too much to the boat captain. And somehow the boat captain already knows about Mr. Song. So Gi-hoon. And I was thinking, and he quickly makes it seem like Jun-ho has told him about this. Which is plausible, I would say.

[01:09:24] It's possible. It's suspicious, but I don't think it's impossible. But Jun-ho did not know Gi-hoon had won the games. Oh. Until he ran back into him. That's true. Jun-ho did not. I don't think Jun-ho even remembered Gi-hoon's name until he came across his photo from the traffic stop. So I could be wrong.

[01:09:51] And there is a small amount of time where Jun-ho could have told him, but I don't think he could have known. And so that in combination with the other things that already made him seem a little suspicious, I think the captain is definitely. Yeah. Is there a possibility that he now does have some caring for Jun-ho? Totally possible.

[01:10:14] But he is definitely employed by, I think, the front man in-ho. Another suspicious thing is he, this show isn't very subtle. And what Choi was talking to him, I wonder who the leak could have been. So you're like, well, it's him, clearly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think. Yeah. I think so, too. I thought so last episode.

[01:10:42] I was highly doubtful. But, you know, as Dwight Schrute says, it's sometimes the person you most medium suspect. And so I was suspecting him too much. I thought it could have been misdirection. But I think as of this episode, it's definitely he's not who we think he is. I don't remember that quote, but I love it. It's so funny. Okay. My last point, amping up the goofiness. Mm-hmm.

[01:11:10] Because in season one, I felt like it was a little tonally inconsistent with Minyao mostly. She was so over the top and playing it so broad. You know, but it was like, okay, there's this quirky element. That's cool. And there were maybe a couple other little things. But this season, I think they're really leaning into that stuff.

[01:11:33] And to me, it's totally weird, especially to have the games presented in such a goofy way, the whole six-legged thing. And then you see these characters get mowed down with a machine gun right afterwards. It's like, I don't know if I really don't know if it works artistically. I don't know. But I have just some examples of some of the goofy stuff. I also found some of it funny, some of it not. But all tonally weird.

[01:12:05] So, Deho, the ex-Marine. We already talked about it. Just screaming out, victory at Alcázar! With a goofy military music with like a tuba and a snare drum or something. Oh, yeah. It's kind of funny, but it shifts the tone. When even just a little thing like this, like they had the conversation about the Dalgona and Inho kind of scoffs that anyone would choose the umbrella. That was kind of funny. And then they go away.

[01:12:35] So, it's just Gi-hun and Jung-bei there. And he goes, so what shape did you pick? And Gi-hun has like this kind of look on a dirty look on his face. And it feels like the end of a sitcom where they'd start playing the end music. Yeah. A little bit, you know. I mean, it's cute and everything. But it's just, it's weird in this show to me. Choi and the boat captain comparing notes about the squid game that we were just talking about. And then at the end, Choi says, anyway, you're now in the same boat as us, okay? We live or die together.

[01:13:03] And the boat captain says, nobody's going to die. I've been sailing that boat for 10 years. Never seen any trouble. No one's even tripped once. I guess that could just be kind of a fun thing to say. But it seemed like a sitcom-y quip. Maybe I'm reading it wrong. No, but I mean, even like the pun of we're all in the same boat together. Literally in the boat. You know, like.

[01:13:28] And it felt weird, especially in this moment where you basically have just revealed that this guy is a little bit sinister. Yes. Like a weird juxtaposition again. That's true. Gi-hun's dream I really liked. But I thought it was kind of funny to me that.

[01:13:51] Well, what I thought was kind of clever about it is it played into the patterns of the show so far where people are depending on Gi-hun, which makes sense because he's dreaming about it because he's worried about it.

[01:14:33] But anyway, I liked it. But it makes, I mean, it makes In-Ho almost like more of a puppet master in that like not only is he manipulating him in his waking moments, but he's literally infiltrated his dreams, you know? Maybe Gi-hun's subconscious knows there's something else. But it too, in the dream, you had that older guy yelling at him, this is your responsibility. You told us, you know?

[01:15:02] And I thought, oh, that feels a little over the top, but it makes sense because it's a dream. And then he did the exact same thing in real life. Yeah. Which is kind of funny. The shaman just altogether, she says things like, you insolent fools. You made me come to you when you should have come to me. I should just slay you with my knife, which is so over the top. Oh, I have more quotes from her, but I won't bother.

[01:15:24] And then the most like goofiest, I had to get a clip just because the whole, all the games, the six-legged thing, the music made it seem even goofier than it already was. It took the tension out of it to me. And I don't know if it added enough in return for that or, you know, as a cost, as a payment for that. Like it's supposed to be fun, I guess, and funny.

[01:15:52] But anyway, so here's the starter gun and the music that comes in. Let's get it! Woo! It's like watching a... It's carnival game. It's like some like Laurel and Hardy skit or something. Yeah. You know, I like really, it's hard for me to notice music.

[01:16:19] Like I really have to go back and be like, I'm going to watch the episode and listen to music this time. And even then by the end, I'm usually like, I don't hear it. And so I didn't even fully clock that. Once you played it, it does sound familiar. But I was so into what was happening that like that faded so far into the background for me. But now that you pointed out, it is just such a...

[01:16:44] Like they always have a juxtaposition of music, but it's usually like calm, upbeat, like classical music. It's not usually that cheesy carnival or like that kind of thing. So that is an interesting change. It's still that harsh juxtaposition of like carnival music and a massacre, but... You know, that might actually be a good point. I hadn't thought about that way because I'm always talking about how this shows juxtaposition between the childlike and the adult or the beautiful and the horrific.

[01:17:13] But maybe it can be the goofy and the intense as well. I don't know if that really works, but... I think it's... I was very annoyed with the Marines. Thanos, I can give a pass because... It fits his shtick as like a... You know, he was a like... That's who he was outside the games. Like as a public personality. And it's like he's buying into a bit, like you said.

[01:17:41] So that one I could excuse because it fit like a character narrative. But like having also the shaman and it is too much, I think, for me. And it is the juxtaposition, but it's too... It's not just funny. It's cheesy. Yeah. I wonder if it might be a bit of a cultural thing. You know? Maybe. Yeah. This tone in Korea is more like people think it's great and funny.

[01:18:11] But here it seems a little silly. Or I don't know. I do think we just have to like... You have to let it go, I guess. They're doing it. They're doing it. Yeah, except... I don't disagree with you. But if I want to like the rest of the show, I almost just have to be like... It doesn't make me hate it. And set it aside. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't make me hate it, but it makes me... It takes me out of it a little bit. So that does lower it for me. But I'm still open to coming to appreciate it. So we'll see.

[01:18:40] Because last season we had Min Yao, like you said. I do think Gi-hun was goofier last season and some of the comic relief himself. And now it's like his buddy has almost taken that role. But then we have all these additional sort of characters also doing it that are above and beyond what we had. Yeah. And it's just like you said, like it suddenly turns into a carnival. And the way they're all flailing around. And now...

[01:19:10] I mean, it's gone from the drama to being kind of a farce, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Notes. Yeah. I don't think we talked about this already. Do we really think Gi-hun would not all suspect Player 001 who is... I mean, after Player 1 being... Il-Nam. Oh, Il-Nam last season.

[01:19:40] And now here's this other Player 1 who's suddenly coming and saying all these things to him. Very, very well-spoken. Very thoughtful. People shares a sad, tragic story. Then goes and like calmly and confidently kicks two people's asses. Like, I'm just questioning... Do we really believe Gi-hun wouldn't have at least thought like, huh, who is this guy? Yeah. At all after that?

[01:20:09] Or is he under so much stress and so distracted and distraught by the rest of the situation that it's believable that he doesn't suspect at least something being off about Ian Ho? I mean, with everybody saying they're there, they stayed because he knows about the games and then giving him shit when it doesn't go the way he said his games did. I feel like right off the bat, I would have just said, okay, here's the six games I played

[01:20:39] and here's how they went and told about all of them and said, I have no clue if we'll do any of those. So just so you know. I mean, I would have said that. I would have made... Because you got to set expectations when it comes to life or death, you know? But it's a drama. So you have to give it to my class. Same thing, yes, I would have said to Player One. You know, last time I did this, Player One turned out to be the owner of this whole thing. I don't know if I'd say that to him, but I'd at least be thinking about it. Yeah. And it doesn't seem like Ian is.

[01:21:08] He just doesn't seem like suspicious at all of him. Right. True. Yeah. But his character, I mean, he's so much more interesting to me this season. He's one of my favorite parts of it too. I really like... I'm curious to go back and watch what we do see of him in season one, knowing so much more now and see if there's any of that sort of layered into his character yet or... Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah.

[01:21:38] Because I didn't pay that much attention to him. He has his mask on most of the time and you didn't really get a feel for him. Yeah. You just knew what he represented to Jun-ho. Yeah. Yeah. Any other notes? No, I think I've talked about everything else that I had. Okay. I guess we should mention that Jun-ho got fired from his job. They kind of... Right, right. ...rushed through that, but I don't know what to make of it other than they just didn't

[01:22:07] want him to be a cop anymore. I don't know. Have nothing to fall back on. Yeah. He got fired. Yeah, I guess. Thanos and the crypto guy fight and then Jun-ho comes in and stops it and Thanos steps up to him and Jun-ho handles him super easily, which makes you think... I don't think we know what he did for a living. I don't... He was a cop. Oh, he was a cop too. Okay. That's why Jun-ho became a cop was because of him. Yeah. Well, then it makes sense. Yeah.

[01:22:35] And then another thing interesting there, he totally took Thanos down and everybody cheered. So, I guess they don't like him. Or I don't know why. Maybe they just like to see somebody win. I don't know. But then he seemed to like it when they cheered. And I wonder if that's part of his story somehow wanting to be admired or something. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just excited to keep learning more about him. It's very curious.

[01:23:07] Thanos is... I don't... What's the guy that's Thanos' right-hand guy? He's a junkie. I haven't written down. Junkie. Namsu? No. Namsu. Is it? Okay. I think... Maybe I'm wrong. Yeah. I'll just keep saying junkie. Okay. Well, I don't like that. He was a promoter. He was a club promoter. He's a slaggy. A club promoter. Yeah. And he... But here... Really, what I'm talking about is he's an addict. Like, he's begging for drugs. Yeah.

[01:23:35] And I just thought the actor played that really well. His vibe came off perfect to me. That kind of desperation and need. And then when he got it, that feeling of dopamine hits, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

[01:24:09] Okay. We're back. It's time for listener feedback. So we have a comment from Jenny Ryan. I find this show so intense. It's hard to really come up with things to say about it. It's almost too much that I can't unpack my thoughts and feelings. I will say, however, that I love Gi-hun bought a hotel called Just Pink. And all the stuff in it is pink. And then you get to the games. And there's so much pink. According to various online sources, pink means...

[01:24:39] Or is associated with innocence and femininity. And the symbolism is that pink is associated with innocence, femininity, femininity, and young love. It is a common choice for young girls and is often worn during celebrations like Doel Jeon-chi, a traditional Korean first birthday celebration. Chew on that, podcast hosts.

[01:25:00] So yeah, I mean, just more of that extreme juxtaposition of childlike feminine against aggressive, violent. Mm-hmm. And yeah, maybe it plays into the... Maybe there's a burgeoning theme of gender stereotypes. Yeah. Because we were talking about that a little bit earlier. Maybe the aesthetics key into that a little bit. I don't know. Yeah.

[01:25:25] One other thing I forgot to mention and this made me think of like thinking about the sets and the colors and things is that I noticed again this episode when the manager called Newell in to talk that there was a very old like retro orange phone. And they've done that a lot with phones. Mm-hmm. And it's strange because they have both this like high tech, like all these video monitoring things and all this stuff. The tooth GPS.

[01:25:53] And then these very old, you know, corded phones. It's just... Because on this show, visuals are so important. So they will... Yeah. Yeah. Put items that might not be there just for the look. Yeah. I think. Yeah. Okay. Becky Anderson says, Noel continues to fascinate me. She's one I'm enjoying trying to figure out and she steals every scene she's in. Yeah, I agree.

[01:26:21] Very interesting new game thrown into the mix because they obviously wouldn't keep it all the same since Gi-hun was using his past experience to try and protect the players. Well, I feel like they wouldn't... Would they have time to change it up? Maybe. But Gi-hun became a factor not too long before this. So they already, you would think, had the games set up before he became involved. But I don't know.

[01:26:49] I would guess just for entertainment factors, since that's the whole point of the games is to entertain the VIPs, that they would want to change up. I would say they revisit some of the same games over the years. Like any reality show. Yeah. But that they want a rotating thing to keep it exciting. But maybe they always or often have red light, green light first since it's a good way to take out half the players. Oh, God. Anyway, that's so nice to think about.

[01:27:19] Becky continues, his dream got me, though. I thought that was real. Me too. I liked all the team pairings and each player having to pick a game. It really was all for one and one for all here. They did a phenomenal job showing the emotional drama, especially for those realizing they're about to die. Yeah. Also, for those sitting and waiting, watching group after group get taken out and then having to play in their competitor's blood. Harsh. Well, they clean it up. Not completely.

[01:27:49] They were going to have to walk through it in the next game for sure. She's had another great episode. Thanks, Becky. That was great. I feel like I wrote that. I agree with all that. Catherine Peters says, I never considered that some players would vote to stay because of Gi-hun's help. Maybe they thought if they could survive one more game, then they'd vote to end it with a larger cash out.

[01:28:13] But the first episode showed they targeted hungry people that chose to gamble over eating, so they likely would have just found another reason to stay. The conversations with the front man were very interesting. I still wonder if he wasn't a previous winner or participant. I think we know he was, right? From Jun-ho's record. Yes. He was a winner. Yeah.

[01:28:36] I thought the organ harvesting in season one was a smaller operation, but it looks to be much bigger with the officer involved. I'm worried how Noul can possibly survive with the target on her back now. I think that's a good point. Yeah. I wonder. The triangle nightmare got me, and now the memes make sense. I love the initial happy music that somehow made the minigames more intense. That cliffhanger. I watched on Friday and haven't watched ahead yet. There are too many characters I like in this next round.

[01:29:05] Most of them are on the same team. Or two teams. I can't believe you were able to stop watching. As soon as we're done podcasting tonight, I am going to go watch the next episode. It's dying. Yeah. Yeah. I saw the meme too, and I thought it was a joke that wasn't real. Same. Same.

[01:29:24] Madeline Jo says, I love things that present a simple question about human psychology, especially in a group situation, and explore it empathetically without trying to overcomplicate. This episode, the thing that stuck with me most was teams choosing to celebrate a success before moving on to the next minigame. Part of me was watching the clock thinking, Jesus Christ, move. I was totally thinking that. Like, come on. You don't have a second to spare.

[01:29:51] On the other hand, the choice to pause for celebration may have been an essential ingredient to each player being able to tackle the next obstacle efficiently. I don't care. And I think it's part of the tone, in my opinion. The tone with this segment lent itself to goofy celebrating. That's what I think it was about. I think I could imagine, like, celebrating, though. Like, oh, my God, we just made it. Celebrate on the way. Still wanting to keep going.

[01:30:17] But I could imagine people, like, unintentionally making the choice to do it. Because you just got that closer to being able to live. So you're celebrating being alive. A little. Not being dead. She said, it's pretty obvious that being dicks to each other is extremely unhelpful. But I think the choice to actively pause for joy is one we don't always prioritize, especially in dire straits. It can make all the difference.

[01:30:43] Also, I went in my backyard to collect some pebbles after this one because Ganji looked so fun. Yeah, I would argue if it makes a difference in inspiring you to win when you otherwise wouldn't, then, yeah, celebrating is great. Otherwise, when I'm in a situation that's life or death, maybe that's a little overdramatic. But I used to ride a motorcycle. And I had a few pretty close calls, like two or three.

[01:31:12] And every time I felt, like, completely unemotional, just totally, like, what do I need to do to live here? Let me focus on that and do it. You know, no other thought or emotion or anything. But I don't know. Same. Not until after I've been out of the situation and everything's safe. And then I have the emotion. Like, then the emotions all hit. But, yeah. I've also never been. It's a personal thing. Who knows? In a six-legged pentathlon. You were in a three-legged race, though.

[01:31:41] Where death is on the line. But they weren't. They didn't shoot us at the end. It was a church event. If it was, like, a relay thing where you had to do a three-legged race and then something else and you won the race, would you celebrate for how long? No. We were so serious. But we were, like, practicing for years to win this thing. Like, we would have never. Celebrated the middle. Because we would have been focused. But these people didn't get to practice, right? Yeah.

[01:32:10] Like, this is all just, like, in-the-moment behavior. I don't know. This is a very interesting. I like this. Yeah, I like this medal. Yeah. All right. What's next? Okay. Maria Lawson. Hi, Jason and Veronica. Well, that ending certainly made watching week-to-week with you all way harder. This episode had so much, I'm sure I'll forget something, but here goes. I have really high hopes for Gi-hun's team and the one we ended the cliffhanger with, too.

[01:32:38] 001 didn't waste much time coming in to get close to Gi-hun, and the story he told of his wife was a good explanation of how he ended up in his iteration of the games. Mm-hmm. I wonder if she died after he won or while he was there. Also, where did he learn to fight like that? I'm really curious to see how Jun-hee's story will play out. We know she's at least six months pregnant from her conversation with Bitcoin baby daddy. I love that, Bitcoin baby daddy. But is it more?

[01:33:06] I think it's at least a little bit more. With that bit dropped in, how the mom, Guam-ha, Guam-ha? Mm-hmm. Guam-ha, I would say. Guam-ha has helped women give birth before. Will there be a squid game baby born this season? I think so, or else will I mention that? Yeah, I think so. Ugh, we're still harvesting organs without consent. Gross. And who is the new square mask guy subbing in for the front man? He sucks.

[01:33:36] I don't disagree. This episode left me with more questions than answers, but not in a bad way. Looking forward to your thoughts on this one. Before I go, I just wanted to say that I hope all of the Podcastica crew are safe from the devastating fires in California. I'm on the opposite coast, but I have a few friends in the LA area, and what they've been sharing of the disaster is heartbreaking. Take care of y'all. Maria. Yeah.

[01:34:00] Yeah, one of my coworkers lives in the LA area, and she's been, thankfully her house and family have been spared, but just the devastation and the things they're seeing has been just terrifying. Terrifying. Yeah, it's horrible. Like, all these places being destroyed. People have asked me about it because they know I'm in California, but I'm just like very, very far away, like hours and hours away from there.

[01:34:26] But we have a couple of friends who lost their homes. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I know. I'll put a couple of links in the show notes if people want to donate to causes. One of our sometime guests hosts, Karen Shee's down there in an area that's not evacuated yet, but might be. And she gave me a couple of like the LA Fire Department and Red Cross links.

[01:34:55] So I'll put those in the show notes. I should have mentioned, too, when the previous commenter, Madeline Jo, the one who asked about celebrating, I just did a Patreon-exclusive listener chit-chat with her. So I interviewed her for an hour, and she talked about she's an artist. So that's pretty interesting. That'll be up pretty soon. All right. We got a couple of calls. Here's one from Jessica. Hey there.

[01:35:25] I'm a big fan of the show. I listen to every episode in like a week. Sending a lot of love from Switzerland, because I'm from there. And Squid Game Season 2 is amazing so far. I'm a fan of myself.

[01:35:44] And it's really cool to see some trans representation in a worldwide popular show like Hyunju. And it's been really happy to see that we're getting represented in one of the biggest shows in the world. I love Squid Game. I'm loving it at the moment.

[01:36:10] I binged the first season in like two days. Again, I like rewatched the first season in like a weekend. It was really fun. Yeah. And wow, it's crazy that I could get on your podcast, because I'm just such a fan, you know. So, a lot of love from Switzerland. Yeah, I'm out. Bye. Thank you. Yeah, that was awesome.

[01:36:40] I have a caller from Switzerland. And I really loved that you shared your perspective, that it's been powerful for you to see trans representation. I know I've been really excited about this character, too. I know there was some sort of questions that Daphne brought up that she'd seen in the media that because they'd had to or that because they decided to go with a male actor to play this part.

[01:37:07] And I was very curious how, you know, someone who is trans, if they felt still that this was representative of them. And so, it's nice to hear that, at least for you, Jessica, that this still feels really positive to you. And I'm enjoying this character and that at least we're getting the focus on it. Yeah.

[01:37:27] And just, I love, so people, like when I was younger and I, you know, just loved movies and TV and I'd see something, the rare thing that the focus was on somebody other than a white male. And without thinking about it, I'd be like, why is that character the center? You know, I just got this feeling like that's wrong. It should always be someone just like me.

[01:37:56] And then when I started actually thinking about things and realizing, wow, that's so selfish. Imagine all those people, women mostly, like, or just any marginalized person or minority and they never get it. Yeah. They never get someone that's like them. And I'm like, no, that's not fair. We should have more representation. So, this message made me really happy. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:38:20] I mean, it's helpful, I think, especially for young people when you see someone who looks or acts or has some characteristic that you identify with doing something, you can suddenly envision yourself doing that or at least envision the possibilities that are available to you. But when you only, you know, as a young girl, when you only see men in a certain profession, it's hard to envision that that's a possibility for you.

[01:38:49] And that's, I'm saying that as a woman because I'm a woman, but I think that's for everyone, right? If there's no one who looks like you or that you identify with being portrayed, it's harder to imagine yourself in those roles. I think especially when you're young. But I also think with groups, you know, like gay people who are persecuted and then and seen as not normal.

[01:39:17] And then something like Will and Grace comes on and people get used to it. And then they think, oh, they're just people like anyone. And so I think representation can help with that kind of thing, too. It's a lot of things that it's good for, but those are just a couple. Yeah. And just think already in this episode, this character became so much more than just, you know, a trans woman in the show.

[01:39:44] She became a strong leader and someone that I am now going to be sad to lose. And she's more than just, oh, that's someone who's trans. It's just that's a piece of her. But now I care about her because she's this leader who's trying to build connection between other characters.

[01:40:02] And like, I think that helps hopefully in your day to day life, you know, remembering that we're all just people and that, you know, what you first noticed about them doesn't define them. Right. Unless you're the sea shaman, then you're a one note character. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Here's one more message from Sam. Okay. Hey, guys, it's Sam. Episode four. I'm loving the podcast so much.

[01:40:32] Thank you. I am liking these episodes a lot and hearing the pod just makes me so much more invested in it. And here we are. Episode four. Going right back into the games. And I got to hand it to the cast and crew of Squid Games. I did not want to like any of these characters. And I do. I do. I do. I mean, Dae-ho is adorable with his half pony and positivity.

[01:41:01] He reminds me a lot of Ji-hun in season one, which makes me a little concerned for him. And his dynamic with Jung-bae is great. I think it's so funny. Also, as a little aside, I think this is just more of that like cartoonish dramatics that the show can have. Military people don't greet each other that way in civilian life. They don't yell at each other like that. That's not really a thing. But it did make me laugh. And they just did great with the casting.

[01:41:31] I mean, they picked a great actor to play the half-brother of Hottie Cop from seasons one. Yes. The actor who plays In-ho is DILF material. Well done, casting agents. I mean, Player 380, Dae-ho, so many attractive people on this show. The whole spectrum of sexiness is there. So now we get to watch them suffer and cry.

[01:41:56] And I mean, just speaking of the casting, like why is the character of Thanos and the actor who plays him getting so much heat? I found his character entertaining at least. I mean, I wasn't bored whenever he was on screen. That's the character that gets the hate? What about Crypto Guy who talked like that to the mother of his child? Or the dude whose mom had to enter the games to pay his debt? He was even waking her up in the middle of the night.

[01:42:26] How are those characters not getting hated on by fans? I don't know. Thanos was just goofy and I found him at least entertaining. In-ho is an interesting character and I like that this was the way that the creator upped it for a savvy audience for season two. Like how do we get invested in this? Oh, have a twist in there that only we know about that the players don't. On top of everything else.

[01:42:56] It's a little funny because I'm like 90% certain they didn't do this on purpose. But In-ho is like mad staring at Jun. Like the entire episode. Like he stares at Jun the way I stare at a Hemsworth. Like not just at Lansing. Like he's full on staring at him. I mean, I get it. In-ho wants to be Jun's friend in the games for some reason. But it kind of gives the impression of more.

[01:43:25] And I really don't think it was intentional. But it just makes me laugh. I mean, come on. The staring. Their late night intimate talk together. In-ho showing off for Jun by beating up Thanos. To get Jun's attention. To show off his moves. He's also standing up for Jun. Saying, I'll play whatever game you want, Jun. I was like, okay. This is starting to get a little heavy handed here. And a little queer coded.

[01:43:55] Hey, I'm happy for it. I just, I would love if that's where they're going. I just don't think they meant to do that on purpose. And yeah. Watching the six leg game was brutal. I mean, something about adults being so scared that they lose control of their bladders is such a visceral image for me. And it gets me every time in my gut. And poor Jun and his shaking.

[01:44:23] Ugh, the PTSD of it all. I am very concerned about him. Just as a side note, I'm glad that pregnant woman said she was better at Dakji than the recruiter was. Thank God. Because I hadn't thought about it until that moment. That the recruiter was probably slapping this pregnant woman when she lost. Which is just gross. And also, that means the recruiter slapped the older woman. Ugh, these games are so brutal. And, I don't know.

[01:44:53] I do love that these squid games stress me out and also remind me of how far I'd fare in the games. I mean, come on. I wouldn't have made it past Red Light, Green Light. But if I had, by some June miracle, made it to the Rainbow Circle of Death, I would probably have picked Dakji. Because I'm good at throwing things onto the ground or dropping things. Which game of six legs would each of you have been missed at?

[01:45:23] Well, we haven't seen them all yet. Hacky sack, man. I used to hacky in high school. Ooh, cool. All right. And I think I haven't hackied in a long time. But I would go for... So, Sam's on the Dakji. You're on the hacky. I would probably throw a rock at another rock. Because that seems the easiest. Also, I'd be making sure we're moving on our six-legged part of it all. I used to keep tempo for my marching band. Oh, perfect. All right.

[01:45:52] Well, we need two more people. That'll be David and Daphne. We'll have to find... Yeah. They'll be stuck with the other games. One of them is going to top. I hope they're going to top. That one game is going to be stuck in the last person with the stones. That seems terrifying. Guess what, Daphne? What would these games be? Like, I want the American version of these. So, like, what would be Pogs? We'd have Marbles and Jacks. We'd have Hacky Sack instead of that one.

[01:46:20] Like, the Bucket Toss. Or, what's it called? The Beanback Cornhole. Like, Cornhole Toss instead of the Flying Stone. That's right. They'll probably do that at some point. American version of the Squid Game. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

[01:46:49] That is our show. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. That was a good one. I had fun. That was fun. It's... Sometimes I like listening as a fan afterwards. And I'm already looking forward to getting to hear this one again. If I do say so myself. Next up will be Squid Game Season 2, Episode 5. One more game. What? One more game? What does that mean? David and Karen are scheduled to be hosting with me on that one. So, that would probably be the three of us.

[01:47:18] That would be fun. And it is fun to actually get to listen as a fan and not have to record every episode. I get, like, a little break. Plus, I'm going to go watch two episodes in a row right now. So, if you want to write in or send us a voice message about Season 2, Episode 5, One More Game, you can find all of our contact information at podcastica.com. Yeah. Go to podcastica.com.

[01:47:45] And while you're there, you can check out some of our other shows, like Star Wars TV cast, where they're covering Skeleton Crew. Daphne's on that one with Paik. And we've covered Ahsoka, Andor, and The Mandalorian. Those two shows, I feel like, are the best two Star Wars TV shows. Andor, man. Yeah. I'm in love with Andor. It's so good. So good. Can't wait for more. All right. That's our show. Thanks for listening.

[01:48:13] Just stick with us and you'll be safe, yo. Welcome to Podcastica World.