Previously on the Netflix series Squid Game, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae) and the players were blindsided by the fact that their second game wasn’t Delgona like he had assumed. All players were tasked with selecting teams of five, all taking turns in rounds of mini-games all in one. On Gi-hun’s team, there’s In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), Dae-Ho (Kang Ha-Neul), and Jun-hee (Jo Yuri). The other team playing included Hyun-Ju (Park Sung-hoon), Geum-Ja (Kang Ae-sim), her son Yong-Sik (Yang Dong-Geun), Seon-Nyeo (Chae Kuk-hee), and Player 095. Meanwhile, Jun-ho (Wi Ha-Joon) and Woo-Seok (Jun Suk-ho) were still on a mission to find the island. They still haven’t made any progress.
This episode begins with the next round of games. Hyun-Ju’s team starts first. They have a rough start, struggling to calm their nerves, but they work well as a team. Seon-Nyeo has a hard time with her turn and begins to have a nervous breakdown. Hyun-Ju smacks her, telling her to focus. As they finish, they make it across the finish line just in time for the buzzer to go off.
Teams are killed until two remain: Gi-hun’s and another team. Gi-hun’s team clears the first three rounds. Now it’s In-ho’s turn. Having to spin the toy top, he fails after three tries, growing upset with himself. After the fourth try, he’s successful, but now it’s up to Gi-hun, with only twenty-five seconds left. Gi-hun successfully kicks the sparkly toy four times, but the fifth time, he kicks it beyond his reach. Luckily, In-ho pulls his leg forward, stopping the toy from landing on the ground. They cross the line with two seconds left, while the other team doesn’t make it.
Once the game is finished, No-Eul (Park Gyu-Young) returns to her room. As she’s walking in, two other guards sneak inside attack, and threaten her to stop shooting all of the players in the head.
The guards come to give the players their results: 110 players were killed and the money amount is now at 20.1 billion won. The voting for continuing to the next game or ending it early begins.
Tension rises as the voting results show that more people want to play. In-ho and Gi-hun try to get everyone to vote no, but they don’t listen to them. They seem to care more about the money than their own lives.
Hyun-Ju tells her team why she voted yes. She says that ever since she began her transition as a woman, her family and friends disowned her, not accepting who she truly is.
Outside the game, Jun-ho and the crew start their search. They split into two groups: one group with Captain and the other with Jun-ho. Both groups plan to search on boats, going on different sides of the ocean.
The squid game players are onto their next game. This one is called Mingle. The game goes like this: all players must stand on a rotating platform in the center of the arena as a number gets called out. The players must form a group matching the number within thirty seconds. They are eliminated if they don’t form the right number of players or get into a room in time.
Overall, this episode wasn’t as action-packed as the previous one. It wasn’t as good as expected. Hopefully, Jun-ho, Woo-Seok, and the crew will be able to find the island in time. It’s good to see Hyun-Ju and Gi-hun’s teams working together. What will happen during the game of Mingle?
Rating: 7.5/10