The Prestige TV Podcast - Squid Game, Season 2 (Part 2)

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Rob and Joanna are back from break to discuss what they’ve been watching over the holidays (2:50), and give a quick Golden Globes recap (11:03). Then, it’s time to hop back into ‘Squid Game’ to discuss the rest of Season 2 (14:23), which games were most diabolical (40:20), and a few predictions for Season 3 (58:20). Hosts: Joanna Robinson and Rob Mahoney Producer: Donnie Beacham Jr. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to the PrestiHTV podcast feed. I'm Jonah Robinson. I'm Rob Mahoney. Happy New Year, Rob. Happy New Year to you, Joe. How are you doing? I'm doing great. How are you?

Well, we're moving. We're getting after it. Are you ready to get after it, Rob? I'm ready to get after it. Listeners will be delighted to know. I just explained the context of Joe of what it means to check ball up top because we're checking ball up top in 2025. At least hopefully, that's the goal. We do our best here at the Presti's TV podcast feed.

I just want to let folks know if you sort of program. vague details to tell you, first of all, first and foremost. This is you checking ball up top right here. We're getting into the pit. Are we not? Rob Mahoney. We're getting so into it. We got one of those very famous Bill Simmons text that said, hey, what about the pit?

And we're going to do some pit coverage. So the pit is an HBO Max show. So if you want to watch along with us, we'll have a check-in on, I believe it's a double premiere somewhere in the middle of this week. We will be checking in on that, which is a sort of like spiritual ER sequel from some of the same creative minds and also Noah Wiley of ER fame is here. And it's 15 episodes, which what seasons of television are 15 episodes these days? The pit is 15 episodes, 15 hours in the night of a shift in the pit in a hospital. So we will be checking in with that.

we also are very excited to be checking in on severance a show i love that aired a hundred million years ago season one and we're here for season two um rob what are your like what's your severance season two level of hype where are you on that level of hype quite high level of familiarity with the exact events of season one quite low so i'm gonna i'm gonna need the refresher course before we officially jump back into it classic rewatch time for us because it's been been a long time. Okay. And then last but not least, we will certainly be checking in with the agency for its finale.

So that is what's going on with us. I think severance our plan, our hope, our dream is to cover that week to week. So if you're looking for the more regular Rob and Joanna week by week coverage, look to severance for that. Anything else? And sort of big, big ideas for the prestige feed sort of stuff? Well, actually, I have an answer to that. Which is two things we're going to do up top before we get into the back half of Squid game, which is allegedly the reason we are gathered here today on this podcast feed.

Rob and I are going to do a sort of what we watched over the holiday break, other than Rob watching a lot of basketball for his job. And then also we're just going to do the briefest of glancing blows at the Golden Globes just to talk about some of the TV stuff that happened there. And whether or not it means anything. for the larger TV landscape. And then we will talk about our... Well, let me preempt you right there.

Like, Tadano Bu Asano winning does mean something for the larger TV landscape, which is that we all win. It means something for us personally. Do you want to start with the globe? Let's start with the globe. I just want to cede it and then we'll come back to it. Okay. Rob Mahoney, what did you watch over your negligible holiday break that you had between basketball

coverage? Well, how deep do you want to get into this? Like, are we just going TV offering? Do film offerings count? Am I going through like everything I watched on YouTube? Like where does the line end? Okay. We will not pull Chris Ryan.

So we're going to take YouTube off the plate. This is the Prestige TV podcast feed, not the big pick. So we're going to take films unless there's a film you specifically want to mention and you're excited to talk about. We can do that. Is there a film you want to talk about pretty good? No, we can save those for later. I think on the TV side, I mostly watched one thing that is near,

and dear to both of our hearts, Joe, which is Landman. Would you like to tell the people how you're feeling about Landman these days? Well, if they want to tune into House of Ar, they'll hear me talk to Mallory about Landman for a long time. Actually, I kind of wanted to, so how much of Landman did you wind up getting through? Just a couple of us. I think I've only seen four episodes. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen all nine that are available, I believe it is. There's still the finale yet to air. I will be talking about my landman feelings with Mallory on House of Ar. Mallory is the reason I watched Landman. I did not enjoy Landman personally, but I'm a good friend.

Rob, before I started watching, Rob's like, I'm pretty sure you're going to hate it. And Rob, you know me pretty well. As a Texan, is there anything specifically you want to say about Landman, Rob Mahoney? I think there's some good Texas stuff in it overall. I am not immune to the charms of a wide, long-horisand Texan, vista. Yeah. You know, maybe some oil derricks in the distance, maybe just some like, honestly,

even like phone poles against a sunset. Like, I'm not immune to the charms of these things. What I am immune to, Joe, is someone who clearly has never lived in Texas before and certainly never been to a Whataburger before. Telling me that you can go to a Whataburger and order an animal style, literally anything, I am insulted. My people are insulted. That's an in and out feature.

You can't do that at a Waterburger. Absolutely not. And I understand that part of the conceit of this gag is perhaps that this young woman is so alluring. She's getting Waterburger employees to break code and go into In-N-Out territory. But it simply cannot and would not happen. The thing that I could tell you about Waterburger is having only had it a few times in Texas is that I can't remember what I ordered. But it was that classic Texas thing where whatever it is I ordered, I don't think it was a burger, but whatever it is I ordered came with just like, an extra piece of white bread, which is just often the case with like a Texas meal. It's just an extra piece of white bread in the box. So the idea, the very idea that there would be less bread than, I don't know, no, extra bread is what you get at a water burger.

That's not what we do here. It's not what we do. On the sort of like watching things to get along with the office culture of the ringer, I will tell you that the there's basically two things, two teams. things I got into or tried to get into over the holiday break. The one that I was more successful for me is in order to, as you know, I don't watch sports. It can sometimes be a barrier when trying, as we discovered right before we started recording, try to relate to my ringer pals and cherish colleagues. I think you do a good job of faking it for the record, you know. You name some guys, you name some teams, you get through it.

So I smile and nod. I have a basic understanding of sports And I don't have it's not like I don't like sports I just am not invested anyway point being Another sort of sports adjase Property that a lot of people ringer people are into is Survivor So I watched a bunch of seasons of Survivor randomly Over holiday break

I was never a survivor person but I just like once and it felt like a very Turn Your Brain Off for the Holiday sort of thing to watch So I just like got into some seasons of Survivor and had a really good time with it. So, you know, not not breaking any territory here to say Survivor, it is sometimes good, but Survivor. It's sometimes good. Let me ask you this about your approach because you have the benefit in jumping into Survivor now. Picking and choosing between, I would guess, no fewer than 134 seasons of television. 47, but very close.

So did you go with a very curated like, okay, I'm going to season 47, then I'm going to season 62? Like, did you jump to the greatest hit specifically? Or did you just pick a spot in the middle and run with it? No, I went to, you know, I consulted many curated lists of like what the best seasons are, what the best order to watch in. One of the Survivor alums, Stephen Fishback, who is, I believe, like a ringer listener, uh, sent me like a spreadsheet, a very complicated spreadsheet he had of like, this is, if you were interested in this, these are the seasons you should watch. And if you're interested in this, this is a new season you should watch. That's incredible. So that was, and then Mallory had her own sort of ideas about which seasons I should watch.

I had watched a few sort of around White Lotus season one because of Mike White. And Mike White is really into Survivor and like Survivor is partially inspirational for White Lotus. And so Mike White was literally on Survivor as a contestant that season rules. So yeah, I just kind of wanted to understand the lore. And then outside of Survivor, I was like, let's let's, let's, let's, really try to take to heart the message that we got from our listeners about sort of what we missed. And is there something I can sort of give the old college try to say, I hear you, I respect your opinion. So I really tried with Shrinking Season 2. And I see what people see in it. I think my

problem with shrinking. And it's not, I don't think it's a bad show. I think it's a good show. And Harrison Ford is delightful and there's a lot to love. Jason Siegel is not, I think I am not as charmed and won over by him as other people. And I think without that, then what are we even doing here? You know what I mean? And so I'm just like, I think I'm ready to say it's just simply not for me, but I understand it's appeal. Does that make sense?

Just to drill down on that, is that a broader Jason Segal issue for you? Or is it most, or is it him in this particular show? I wouldn't say I'm like put off by him. I think he's better in smaller doses is what I think. More of a freaks and geeks prescription. Yeah. He's a great, like, supporting player. And there was an era of, you know, in the film realm where he was allegedly a leading man.

And I'm like, I'm not, I'm not sure I'm ready to forget Sarah Marshall that way. Do you know what I mean? So that's, that sort of right. You've forgotten forget Sarah Marshall. I have. I've done my best. It's a bad Muppet movie. What can I say?

So this is just a me problem. And I understand the appeal of shrinking. It's just, I think, not for me. But I did try based on our listeners' recommendations. All right, anything else you want to say about your activities over the break? I mean, is there a YouTube moment that you need to talk about, Rob Mahoney? Oh, honestly, nothing in particular. It's been a lot of, honestly, like, press junket stuff lately.

There's a lot of good press tours happening. The Nosferatu tour. You know, the Nosferatu one is great. Timmy's been out there doing great work. Doing everything. Clearly, the wicked one will live in infamy for as long as human beings are doing these things. I've been enjoying living vicariously through the various press tours. Speaking of wicked and among other things, let's talk about the Golden Globes really quickly.

So, yes, Tadenovo Asano, who played Yabushige on Shogun, who like cruelly snubbed at the Emmys, but won his Golden Globe. And it was you and Kai and I just lost our collective minds about this. We were so excited. This is our guy. Anyone. What a fucking triumph. I personally have never doubted the credibility of the Golden Globes. They get everything right as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah. They always know what they're doing. They really do. They really do. They really do. Yeah, exactly. Shogun showed up, did really well. Colin Farrell won for the penguin.

Exciting, genuinely. Shocking, perhaps. I don't know what they said. They love Colin Farrell at the Globes. We all love Colin Farrell. Yes, but if they can find an excuse to give Colin Farrell a golden globes, they're going to do it. So do what they did. So Colin Farrell and then Jody Foster, which we have some maybe questions, mixed feelings about?

How do we feel about that? not my favorite category for this particular field, right? Like, I honestly thought it would just go to Kate Blanchett based on star power, based on the overall imprint of disclaimer, which ended up being kind of a big deal, even if it wasn't our favorite show. But when you look at the field for, like, performance in an anthology series or limited series,

I just wasn't that moved by a lot of the actresses this year. I know you're a Christy-Milliattie fan, so I feel like if you watched The Penguin, when you would be into it. No? No, I'm sure I would. It's no slight. But, like, I also thought of the things that happened in True Detective Night Country,

I did like Jody Foster's performance quite a bit. And I thought she was rock solid throughout, if not over-the-top exemplary in a way that you may want to, like, for the winners that we champion, you know, the Yabushige types. It's not that kind of character, per se. Anything else on the TV front? I mean, it was a lot of repeats from the Emmys, like nothing breaking terribly new ground, even though there were some new things nominated, they didn't really stand a chance up against your hacks,

your show guns, your baby reindeer, et cetera. Anything else? I think that might have been the only surprise for me was baby reindeer showing up the way that it did. It's a phenomenon that similar to Jason Seagull, I don't understand, but here we are. People love that show.

Just slot over slot baby reindeer over Ripley is not something that I can realistically support. But at least you got to gaze upon your, guy in a powder blue suit, like looking phenomenal at the globe. Always does. Always does. All right. Anything else I want to say about the globes or anything else before we get into

ostensibly the actual reason we're here today? Just that, again, they're always right, as we know. No comment on many of the film selections. But on TV, you know, they really nailed it. Okay. Was there, like, a film win that you were most excited about? I think to me, honestly, to me getting it for the substance, I am of the camp that is quietly sitting in the corner making offerings to our substance gods that she may get the Oscar nomination.

I have no. I mean, she's definitely getting nominated at this point. Look, I don't take anything for granted, especially when it comes to a movie like that. I think after that speech, she's definitely getting nominated and might even win. She's really, like, created a moment for herself at the Globes and good for her. From your lips to the Academy voters' years, Joe. This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce and some very tasty,

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So, Skud game season two. We covered the first few episodes. So this is spoiler warning for Squid Game season two. We're going all the way through to the end. If you want to call it the end of a season, because I would not. And that's where I want to start, which is I sort of floated this to you. Because I had already finished the episodes when we covered the first few episodes that, like, my biggest complaint about the season, which I liked better than I feared I would. I was worried

I wasn't going to like it at all, and I did like it, is that it feels like a pretty shameless half a season. Just for people listening, you know, I'm sure a lot of people listening already know this, but just in case you don't. Netflix, among the streamers, is one of the most shameless in terms of juicing content in order to maintain subscribers, so that you've been seeing it over the past few years with big shows like Stranger Things. or Ozark or whatever where they will split a season or Bridgerton and they will split the season across financial quarters. Again, this is not like a TV business podcast necessarily.

That's not usually what we do here. But if you ever heard people talk about like Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, when they report to their investors, they want to show high subscription numbers. And if you subscribe just to watch Squid Game and then unsubscribe, then they don't get to count your numbers in the other three cues of the year. What they've done here is actually somewhat diabolical because we were all like a little curious about why they were dropping Squid Game so late in December. Like surely people will be, I mean, maybe Home for the Hollis is a good time to binge a popular

show. They dropped it so closely in the year that the numbers, the juicy numbers that they're getting from Squid Game and it is a very popular show, Squid Game Season 2 for them, is going to count for Q4 and Q1, right? It's going to bleed over into the beginning of Q1, which is January, February, March. And then season three, which is already done, because it's basically season two part two, is dropping at the end of June, which is the end of Q2. So they're going to get those numbers for Q2 and Q3. So they're juicing the end of good game for four full quarters of subscription numbers for the years. I'm sorry, that was like way too much data and TV business for this podcast,

usually, but I think it's worth observing because it dramatically affects, I think, the storytelling of this season. What do you want to say about that, Rob? Yeah, at the point where the finances are driving creative decisions, that's when it is incumbent upon us to talk about it. And there is just no excuse from a storytelling perspective to stop the season here. No. And also I would argue, I wouldn't say the season felt like overly patted out. Um, but it felt a little padded out in order to call it a full season of television. Like you really could have condenses down to the first half of a single season and given us the full story. Or more, honestly, I would have been fined in either direction, either give us significantly more investment in these characters, including some that I think it killed off in some cases very dramatic fashion in ways that just didn't land for me.

And it's like, why is that happening if you're going to break this up into two seasons? That feels inexplicable. Right. Like you didn't give us enough time to really feel for this character before you, let's say, killed her while a carousel was going full tilt outside of a door. Is that what you're talking about? I would actually go in the opposite direction. I thought that was one of the more impactful deaths for me.

For me, it's like if you're going to build up to this dramatic finish of part one of this season effectively with Jungbe's death, I just, don't really have a relationship to that character that makes that feel like a gut punch to me. And if you want to end this in a powerful gut punchy way, power to you, and that may make more sense in like a to be continued sort of season setup, I just, it didn't really land for me at all. That's so interesting. I would say that I don't know that the death itself landed for me, but the death as representative of, uh, we are doing our best to pronounce things. We got some pronunciation corrections that Rob and I actually don't think are quite correct, but I will acknowledge that my

Western tongue is not like nailing this pronunciation. Anyway, that our main character, that his rebellion has failed utterly. And this is what happens when you play hero. So we don't get a dramatic reveal, you know, of the front man, you know, like revealing himself or anything like that. But the death means you have failed so utterly. You have even gotten your longtime friend here killed. And also as a payoff for Zheng Bei being the only character to have seen, you know, the frontman like do something horrible and not say anything about it. True.

That sort of paid off for me as well as something that felt kind of weighty. But as a person, I would agree. I'm not emotionally invested in him the way. I am actually a number of other characters that we met the season. I want to ask you, unless there's more you want to say about that specifically, I want to ask you if you had a character either new or returning that at the end of these episodes, I'm not even to call it a season. At the end of these episodes, you're like.

This collection of the smattering of episodes. Assemblage of storylines that you're going to say was your favorite that you felt most invested in. Oh man. I actually think it's pretty competitive. I think a lot of the new characters they introduced are quite good. And to what we we talked about on the part one version of this podcast, like the existing relationships between some of these people coming in. I think really juice some of the storylines. Like I was really invested in Junhi and Myeonggi's like baby drama slash more importantly her kind of constant reevaluation of like, can I literally trust this guy to do anything or with anything? And the kind of sort of. slow turns of his manipulations of her as the story kind of progresses. Like I was really into everything that was happening with them. I was really into everything that was happening with Yongxik and Gumja, like the father-son dynamic there, like them getting torn apart and, uh, him trying to join the strike team and her like pulling him back. Like all that stuff really worked for me. But if you're going to pick an MVP, I think Junju's arc overall, uh, in, in basically

becoming the de facto captain of this operation in a lot of ways. by the end. And for me, more importantly and emotionally, to what you tipped off earlier about the carousel, like, Hjuj and Yung Mi's relationship actually really, really worked on me. And that was where I felt like my heartstrings were maybe pulled the most. I love that. I think for me, Yung Zik's mother and Hnjou, like that relationship going from his mother saying, like, who is that?

what is, is that a man? Is that a one? Like sort of, and then their connection, that really worked for me. And, like, Hujun you as a character, as a character is the most appealing and, and I feel the most invested in relationship or sort of just sort of like captivating, captivation wise. I would say in Hoh, the frontman, like in his sort of undercover guys was, and, and, you. the relationship that is developing between him and Gihun is, I think, my favorite thing that I watched this season. And then I would say, you know, to your point, Jung-Six, as a character on an arc, as a character that I am rooting to make better decisions, like, his is the arc that I am

most, his is the like sort of moral improvement I am most invested in. Yeah. You know, because like, Hianju doesn't have, like, is a rock solid person from the moment we meet her. And then, Inho, it's... Well, let me stop you there. I would say yes and no. Like, rock solid in some aspects. But as far as the overall tribalism of the game, is someone who votes a couple of times to continue playing, even though it's going to mean other people are going to die?

She does vote. I think she votes the wrong way. Only once. It could be wrong. But I think it's only the first time. You think it's, is it multiple times? I think it's the second one, because you get that sort of moment where her her whole team has decided that they're going to stop after the second game.

And she votes to continue. And they have to kind of confront that as a team. You're right. You're right. But she is the person who helps Giehun save someone during red light, green light, which is sort of our indication from the beginning that this is a person like who could step into a heroic leader role. But you're right. You're right. The vote is part of it.

And then I wanted to. So character wise. And I kind of want to come back to Inho, the front man, and sort of what moments are real for him and what moments are performance for him, because I think there's some ambiguity there, which I love. And I really think that Li Bionghen is wonderful. Did you see the Magnificent Seven remake that came out? I actually did not. No, was he in that? He's in it.

I hadn't realized that he was in it. And he's done like several American movies and like, and obviously a shit ton of stuff in Korea. But he has this like, I was like, he's got this interesting relationship. His character in that movie is Billy Rock's and Ethan Hawke's character is called Good Night. And they have this like very, very close relationship. And I was like, I wonder if the internet cared enough about the film The Magnificent Seven that there are shipping videos for Ethan Hawke. and Li Bung-Hun in Magnificent Seven. And they're absolutely are.

They're everywhere because it is a very, like, close relationship that they have that movie. And I feel similar vibes. There's just vibes coming off of Gihun and the frontman. So what do you, how did all of that play out for you? Yeah, at the risk of dating myself, Joe. I thought less like fan video or like shipping video. and I thought like this is very fan-fit coded to me. This is very like, I can absolutely see people spiraling off in all kinds of directions with every little glance, with every sort of interaction.

And I think some of it speaks to the overall question of like, what is the front man after? And it's clear he wants to not just be in the game, but to instigate and manipulate and maybe drive wedges between certain people or protect certain people for the sake of like a larger conflict. There's a lot of stuff that he's involved in. But overall, the first part of his mission is like winning Gihun's trust, basically. And so there's a lot of kind of fast-forwarded almost intimacy that has to happen between them. And the game facilitates that. The danger facilitates that. But like, these are two people who are building bonds in close proximity under very intense circumstances very, very quickly.

And there's always going to be a read on that. That reads as something more than just like two bros who are grabbing each other's hands and helping each other through the game. I found his character so fascinating because to me and it feels very clear in a scene that happens towards the end of this collection of episodes when Gihun gets his crew together and says this is the plan, the lights will go off, we will hide. And then Inho is like, so you're going to sacrifice some of our own people for this? And he was like, yeah, for the greater good. And then this look comes over his face like. The greater good. The greater good.

Yeah, thank you. But like that he is like I Correct. You're a bad person. This is, you're pitching yourself as a hero and you're about to sacrifice a bunch of people on your own side for the quote unquote greater good. But this is the kind of depravity in humanity that like the people who run this game believe is just inherently true. I was reading some sort of, you know, obviously this good game is like such a could not be a clear commentary on the class system, etc. or obviously it's not even, it's just the text of the show, right?

But this idea that the privileged class inside of this world and maybe in our world as well needs to prove the moral bankruptcy of the lower class in order to not seed any of the moral high ground to, you know, the people that they're subjugating. Like, not only are you, have you failed in life for some reason or another, the desperation that brings everyone to the school,

good game, but in the first place. But you're an inherently bad person. So it's okay that we're bad people too. Everyone's bad and we're just more successful at being bad than you are. It's not a moral triumph for you that you are struggling in life. You're, you still are, are, you know, have moral feelings. And so needing to prove that feels like his main like crushing again spirit, not killing him, but proving something to him.

And feels like he won a minor victory here in the middle of the final arc of episodes. And I presume that's not where we're going to land. I don't know. If we're going to land on a cynical note or not inside of this game, does Gihun become the new frontman or something like that at the end of all things? I feel like it could go either way. This could have a super dark ending or not. I don't know. And from that perspective, I think Gihun's overall trajectory and development as a character does grab me.

Because this is someone who has softened in so many ways, who has become more empathetic in so many ways versus the character we saw at the start of season one, who's come into this game to save people and to end the game. Like that is his professed goal. At the same time, he is willing to sacrifice everybody when it comes time to execute his plan. And I think that that plan is worthy of some examination because I would say it's like pretty effective in terms of getting the guns. And everything after getting the guns is a total shit show and was going to be a total shit show. It's not good. But for the sake of executing what he believes to be the plan, he's willing to sacrifice all these people. And these are people who have basically, they trusted in him.

I would say in some ways this is even more cynical than what many of the players are doing within the game. which is they may play the game in their little silo, win or lose, and they don't really care if anybody else survives or not, and they want to see the piggy bank fill up. Geun is choosing, we are not going to tell these people what we're doing. We are going to hide, and they are going to die, and we are going to be opportunistic and kind of channeling this towards something that to him feels progressive toward a cause.

But it's just leading to so many of the characters that, at least some of the characters you've seen, many of the people who die are red shirts. And if I had an argument about this particular portion of the story, it would be maybe have more characters dying who we actually have some kind of investment in to make that sting a little bit more. I'm certain that's coming in the actual back half of this season, which we'll get in June. Yes, one would hope. I would say the one death along those lines that I thought was pretty effective was semi.

And Min Su was like the kind of younger kind of like nerdy guy who had latched onto her and betrayed her. And ultimately found himself like could not help her in her time of like desperation and need. Try as hard as he could have, but tried a little bit. He dropped something from the top bunk. But it was glass. It was glass. It was breakable. It was theoretically sharp.

Like, I don't know what he hoped to accomplish, but it wasn't going to be anything. I just wanted more characters like that to underscore the point that we're talking about here, which is this is a ruthless plan in action. And for fucking what? For what, exactly? I agree with you entirely. I would now like to read for you an assemblage of fan fiction titles that I just looked up based on Gihun and Inho from Squid Game. Keep Me Warm is one. Okay.

Down Bad is another. Who knew is another? The front men. Oh. I like it. I like it. Oh. Fixations in Tigers Club.

laws. That's a really fun one, I think. I don't know that we're seeing our best work, but I haven't, I haven't gone all the way in deep, but I just want to let you know that is well represented. There are at least 449 works based on a cursory search on AO3. So if you want some fan fiction. If you have a theoretical fan fiction title for these two, please email us at prestige TV at Spotify.com. I would love your fake fan fiction titles. But I think the development of that relationship, which was so key to, you know, tracking what's going on in this season or this part of a season, it works so much better than some of the other things that are clearly seeds that they're planting for the upcoming season. Like the plot with, you know, not fully killing people and, you know, selling their organs on the black market. What is happening with that? Well, I have to imagine, on the one hand, I have to imagine that Junho, and again, the whole Junho plot also feels very much like spinning and spinning and spinning and waiting to actually enter. I'm snoozing during every one of those sequences. To enter the main plot.

They're just like really, they're circling, literally circling the island and also the drain of our interests. But like, I have to imagine that the group of pink boiler suited baddies who are going to be smuggling. bodies out will encounter the Junho contingent. But isn't that how he got in in the first place? Is that too similar to how he got in in season one? I don't know. But it feels like the group that is like we need to meet with the boat, which is the baddies with the body parts.

And our backup heroes who are out in the bay on a boat feels like those are headed for a collision course in season three. But without that, we're just biding our times. And similarly with Noel, the new guard who we are tracking, that also feels just like a pretty minor, like, level setup for something that will come to ahead in the final stretch of episodes. But the balance just feels off because of that, because it just feels like this, you know, cut. off abortive sort of half of a season, then I'm just sort of like, why did I bother investing in those things if I'm now going to have to wait? I mean, I could wait six months. I waited several years for this, but be more honest with what this is. I don't know. It just feels a little funky

to me. It does feel a little craven in that way, which I guess mission accomplished. Like, if your point is to prove the evil of human existence, it even applies to quarterly reports, it turns out. I just wish that, I wish that that balance is a little bit better because I do really, still enjoy the actual games themselves and the human dynamics within them. It's like it's it's great like television. It's a great product. It's really fun to watch. It's really dangerous. It's really heartbreaking in some spots. It's just all of the side stuff that is not working. And as you're saying, like you're just juggling it to juggle so that eventually we can catch it. And that doesn't work. If this is the the length of time and the overall stretch of episodes you want to make over this many

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So when we recorded the first part of our coverage of Squid game, they had really just done red, light, green light. And the question was, are they just going to do the same games over again? You know, Gheon certainly thought so on was incorrect. So the two game set pieces we get afterwards are what they call the six-legged pentathlon and then the mingle game, which is the carousel set piece. So let's talk about the pentathlon for a second, which there's a great sort of behind the scenes feature out on YouTube about how they built the set and how they came up with the games

and how they came up with the length of it and all the things that they had in mind. Basically they were based on traditional Korean games and traditional sort of like sports day school sports day games. And so the set is meant to look very like an elementary school almost, which is a lot of the vibes we got off like the Squid game itself in season one, etc. So meant to invoke this sinister like childhood, innocence, except we're just shooting people in the

middle of the room. I thought this was so effective in terms of how they calibrated, how many teens were losing, going with, yes, a team of red shirts, but a team of red shirts that we were like, we had been invested with them for so many of these little games inside of this big game. and then their abruptive end was horrifying to get to our various characters that were following and their personalities on their individual teams. And then the genuine thrill and celebration from, I think genuine from Gihun when the other team that he's not on wins right at the end at the last second. And in, in Ho as well. Like it seems to me, like he has genuinely swept up.

up in this like ecstatic celebration while the blood is still pooled all over the floor from all the people who have died playing this game. And the urine. Don't forget the urine. I never could, Rob. I never could. But thank you. Thank you for reminding me. Yeah. So how did all of this work for you? Yeah. I think the overall like spin on the squid game camaraderie was really effective of your eye. Like when they're in the room together, they're all cheering each other on. And then when you get a glimpse of back in kind of the bunk room as people are streaming in, it's like, they hate everyone who passes through that door. Yeah.

And that stuff is really effective. And overall, just the, the way that these games are composed. And I think you nailed it as far as like lead us through these with the red shirt teams first. And you see how difficult they are. You see the stakes of them. You see what it costs you if you get stuck on one of these games and you're just like fetching a rock over and over and over. I thought all that stuff was really good.

Yeah. And then the, I think the score is. so fun and it's this like big synthy triumphant like it reminded me a lot of uh you're the best from the karate kid this like any kind of like big montage moment music is a lot of what you're seeing as they go through these games which of course screeches to a halt when the front man is just like tanking this thing spectacularly when it comes to the spinning top okay that's a follow question I have for you which is you do you feel like he was taking it uh intentionally a hundred percent. Okay. It's interesting. That seems to be the prevailing wisdom. That seems to be what most people think. And it has, and it comes down to also he's left-handed, because we saw him use his left hand to shoot the gun in season one and probably presumably at the end of season two. But he's trying to spend the top right-handed. And the actor himself was talking about that. So I'm sure you're all right. There were just moments where he looked genuinely scared to me.

He's quite a good actor even within an actor. Yeah, so maybe it's that. Someone also pointed out, I think, on the subreddit that I thought was interesting, is like, unlike some of the games we got in season one, all of these games end with people being shot rather than like falling from something or something else that might happen during the game. And is that a failsafe that the frontman put into like even if my team loses? I can't control this even if my team loses or I somehow get locked down. out of a room in the carousel mingle game. We can fake shoot me. You know, I'm not going to like for real die.

I don't know. I thought that was an interesting observation. I think that's a good question, though, because I was kind of operating for much of this part of the season in particular with the assumption that the guards knew that the front man was in the game. That was just kind of like my baseline assumption based on nothing at all, just like I am assuming that. Yeah.

And then over the course of it, you see a couple of guards, especially towards the end, clock him. Like very consciously clock him being like what the fuck is that guy doing here?

Which makes me think that basically no one I would assume other than I believe his his code name is like the officer

or something the guy who's now running the front man side man is now I think the only guy who actually knows.

Maybe that's possible there's definitely a hierarchy that I'm not sure I fully have a grasp on but there's like the squares

versus the circles versus the triangles. So I feel like there's like you don't even no squares versus circles versus triangles Joe come on do you even um I think there's a level that knows but not everyone knows was sort of mine but it's possible it was just that one guy

yeah but I feel like you've got to inform some people in order to like in order to avoid even more of what we saw which was like where are you doing here uh nearly blowing the operation to a certain degree um but yeah sorry what anything else you want to say about the pentathlon Was it the spinning top? Which is the one that you felt was the most diabolical? The spinning top is absolutely diabolical. I will say the game that was almost like Jacks adjacent. I think Gonghi is the name of the game.

That seems really hard. I couldn't. I couldn't do it. Simply couldn't. With shaky hands, I will say this, one reason that I really had a lot of admiration for the setup here. And I think, you know, you think about this a lot with any kind of game show construction, but especially these ones that are meant to be diabolical. In some ways, the team that goes first is uniquely disadvantaged.

Right. We see kind of our core characters as we kind of have split up into our, I would say, like, three point of view teams primarily, watching the games unfold. They're going, okay, like, we should do this. We should practice this. When this comes, like, walk backwards to save time. And so you would think the first team is uniquely disadvantaged, but the overall, like, anxiety bomb of watching all of these people die round after round after round and then having to successfully execute like five rounds of jacks in a row is ridiculous. And I don't know how any human being would do it.

But our guy Dejo steps in and absolutely crushes it. Like he is a savant, clearly. I think that like what I, you know, it's, it's surface level. It's not profoundly deep. But what has been enjoyable in both seasons for me is the moments when you have to pick teams and the inherent value we place on certain people and as has been. the case both seasons, like the older people are not, people don't want the older people or people don't want women on their team or, you know, whatever the case may be. And then they're often

twist to the game of like, actually, if you're a woman or if you're older, you might have, you know, institutional knowledge of an older game. There is, there is value in you that sort of the pack might have disregarded. And so, you know, that was true in season one and it is true here and with a young six mom and I just yeah the games work they really do

I thought the mingle game I would say the mingle game the carousel game sequence was by far my favorite of the whole season the absolute drama that they milked out of it just takes like almost a mathematical

a mathematical mind and then like a diabolical heart to what are the numbers configurations that we can put together to cause maximum drama or maximum disappointment in us, the viewers and certain people and the choices that they make or terror for certain people. I just thought that was perfectly done. I loved that whole thing. Masterful stuff.

And I think overall the sort of you construct people into these initial teams from the first game. Yeah. And they're building really strong alliances from making it through that pentathlon alive. And I would say this is one of those things, too, that if that strains, like, credulity for you at all, I would really recommend people who love Squid Game to watch this other Korean competition show on Netflix, Devil's Plan. Are you filming with Devil's Plan, Joe? What is it? Phenomenal show. It's just like a game, like mental logic game competitive show. And everyone

is competing for themselves ostensibly, but this is a light spoiler for that show if you're really sensitive to those things. The first game they play is like basically a game of mafia. And it's amazing how, the entire season, all of the alliances basically stem back to like what their teams were in mafia. Like the fact that they have to lie to each other out of the gate puts people into two very distinct camps and they almost never leave those camps. And like the way you can be bonded together with someone so quickly on something, just just even a little bit manipulative, much less life or death manipulative as it is in the case of squid game, I think is really, really profound. And so you start from that place and then you say, okay, now split your team

in half. Okay, now take one person out of your team of three. Like the numbers game of mingle is so, so good. And then once you start incorporating the element of, okay, now even if you can successfully and quickly figure out who you want to bring into the room with you, can you beat these other people to the room in time? Can you make it to the room or will someone throw you down and try to take your place? I just think it's, it's so well conceived, it's so well executed. It makes me feel terrible watching it, which is, I think, the point of much of Squid game. And it just like, it rung me out. And visually looks amazing. Like, again, both of all of the set pieces for the games, as was the case of season one, just like look incredible.

I think, because there's like a few overhead shots of them scattering. And, you know, the director's commentary was something like we wanted them to look like, I think it was like organisms in a cell or something like that. Like they're a cohesive group and then they're just like dissonable. spread and this idea of like, yeah, when are you with the team? When are you with a group? When is that going to help you? And when is every man for himself going to help you make it through? And to be honest with you to go back to a segment at the beginning of this podcast, me watching Survivor helped me understand a lot of this better in terms of like, honestly, alliances and when the game is a group game and when the game transmutes into a every man for

themselves kind of game, you can't get through the game without alliances, but also you can't get through the game without betraying those alliances at some point. And so in 47 seasons of Survivor, that's just a truth of the game. And so that has to be a truth of human existence to a certain degree in these extreme circumstances, let's say. Well, life imitates Survivor, as we know. As we know. We're always just playing for another bag of rice.

And so, yeah, I just found all of that really, really incredibly emotional and, incredible to watch. The fact that Jung-Sik betrays his mother and then she refuses to like throw him under the bus that she covers for him in a similar way that Zheng Bei like does not rat out inho for different reasons. But like what are the reasons that we sort of cover for people and is it again self-interest or genuine like you know heartfelt empathy for them or or desire

that they'll be better next time. Or we get something like Young Sick who throws someone out to protect his partner, who is or is not his partner at the time. But like, I don't know. What would you do in that scenario? I know. It's a horrible thing he does. But.

Oh, you're talking about Myeonggi when he like pulls. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. When he jumps in at the last second. Yeah. And it's just sort of like it's, what, yeah, what would you do? do? Like, I don't know. What would you do, Rob? It's one of those where, like, he's, I think ultimately, he is right. As, as June he even says, like, she doesn't want him to be right.

She basically wants nothing to do with this guy anymore who ghosted her after she got pregnant for it sounds like months, if not year. Like, I guess it's months. It can be years. Six, it sounded like six months. Yes, six months. Yeah. Cold, cold, no contact from this guy. He shows up. She does not want to play with him. She does not want to trust him. But in that moment, he is, it seems like he's right that their last person was not going to make it into the room. Yeah. And I think the young sick one is tough with his mom because it's like he does fight pretty hard to try to get back to her for like three seconds.

For a bit. And then he just kind of like goes with the tide. And then he does it. And it's it's so hard to watch because you can see the shame on his face as he does it. And again, it's like the way this stuff is captured and shot I think is just really affecting. And then the shame compounded when she covers for him. Oh, my God.

So I want to follow from that sequence, following with Thanos, a character we haven't talked about yet in this iteration, into the bathroom, like the riot in the bathroom, which was another sequence I thought was incredible in terms of like, you know, check off fork. But also just like it was, it's what they wanted. It's what the game run, you know, the people running the game wanted, obviously, by giving them. these utensils, etc. But it's just like the specific, again, moral twists of like who's going to break and for what reason to cause absolute bloody pandemonium and then them having to walk back in just like covered in blood from from this slaughter in the bathroom. I thought was really well done.

I loved it. I mean, I didn't love it. People died, but I loved it also. We kind of love it when people die on these things sometimes. It's part of the package. But yeah, I think overall, like, Myeonggi as a character is someone who at, from the outset, you are conditioned and basically taught to hate and taught to think that this guy is just a scammer, that he is this person who took advantage of so many people by, like, recommending this bum crypto. And yet, like, I don't, I don't think he's a good person. And maybe this is where his arc so far and his story so far is maybe even more interesting than Junjus, who, like, Hjou is interesting and compelling in part because, like, you, you get a sense of decent.

there. And you get a sense of like sticking up for other people and protecting the members of her team and like the overall rise to prominence and like military efficacy is like a really satisfying thing to watch. Myeongki is someone I don't like. I don't like that character. And if anything, most of the time, he's being like really manipulative and really cruel. Like specifically to Juni in a way that it's just like you can't do that and be a good person on TV. But I love watching him. I love watching him weasel through things. Actually, I mean, my, my characterization of him is like a little, maybe naively a bit more generous than that in that like he, he isn't someone I like. Yeah. But I don't know that he's always manipulating. And I think there is like genuine desire to be better, but then there is like the nature inside of him of like what's my next gambit. You know, that so disappoints her, obviously as well. you know and she's convinced that the reason he wants to like sort of pair up with her is because

he needs their combined money and I think it's like not not that but not the oh see I read that is like being that okay I feel like it's not only that but again maybe I'm giving him too much credit and sometimes I do that in shows but I think that like I think it's more interesting if it's kind of both yeah no I I agree with you that I think there are times where that character isn't exactly sure. I just think when it comes to push and shove, for him, it's usually like, how do I get myself out of this thing? Sure.

And so, but watching this character on an arc, presumably, we don't have to spend too much time theorizing about what's going to happen in season three. But if I had to bet anything in the world, it would be that Yungi is going to sacrifice himself for her at some point. You don't think so sure. I wouldn't be so sure. But there is a larger question.

That's where he's headed, his like slow incremental growth towards something, you know? If you believe this to be a show that's about that. You know, I think there are obviously different paths for people within the game once they get there. There are the people who become better people and they're the people who become so much worse by virtue of like being in this environment. Yeah. And he's someone who, to our point, like, has kind of straddled that line. I do think for a show where the conceit is that anyone can die at any time, I'm pretty kind of. convinced that Gihun is not going to die until at least the very, very, very end of this season,

if that, it just doesn't narratively make sense for him to die. Like, if everything to this point is based off of the front man's, like, fixation on him, basically, in terms of the way the season has evolved, he can't die. The other person who feels like they might have plot armor is Juni, and that's because I'm just wondering, like, does this show have the guts to kill a pregnant woman in these games? Yeah, it's a great question. I'm not suggesting they should. I just, I feel like generally speaking, she seems pretty safe.

On the like sort of Inho fascination AO3 archive of our own fan fiction front, we did get an email from Chrissy who wanted to yes and me sort of calling Lee Bionh of the sort of Korean Mads-Mickleson because she was invoking Hannibal. in which Mads is famously... The ship that launched a thousand fanfix. Exactly. One of the most popular ships of all time. So I like thinking about that. Then we also got an email from a listener about... We had sort of touched on this a little bit. This idea that the actor, the performer playing Thanos is a real-life musician

who had some controversies, what I said. And then has since been clarified to me that controversy in Korea is different controversy in America. Controversy in K-pop specifically is also an entirely different threshold. But that he was a member of the K-pop group, Bang Bang, and he was either sort of pushed out or phased out or quit or whatever. But the main source of the scandal seems to be a light dabbling in drugs, the lightest of dabbling in drugs, which is just like there's a zero-tolerance policy. in Korea about this. And so to Westerners, it seems like, what?

Why are we stressed about this? That is not the case necessarily back home. And so I think it's interesting to have him come in as like the drug addicted singer. So funny. And I thought he worked really well like throughout. I thought he was always fun. And, you know, it's right that he didn't make it much further than he made it. But I thought I had a great time watching him while he was here.

So, you know. Yeah. He's a great act one villain. Yeah. And then at some point the bigger, you know, the real big bads kind of take their cloaks and take center stage. And we're in that transition point now. But I really enjoyed him. I enjoyed him and his henchmen kind of doce doing on the carousel. Like they're given big hammy stuff to do, especially when they're high. Yeah. But also like stealth MVP moment for me is when, uh, semi who's like the, the girl with the nose ring is asking him if he still has his infinity stones. And he does because it's his nails. incredible shit. Like just the mani on this guy is off the charts and I just have to salute him. To circle back to Inho for a second, the front man as he is diabolically infiltrating

and tried to get Gihun's affections. Someone pointed out on the subreddit that he has styled his hair like Sangwu, Gihun's friend from season one. And it is like identical. And that is nasty. That's some nasty. That's nasty.

That's nasty stuff. We can't support it. No. But to go back to, and we talked about this a little bit in the first half of the season, but to watch it flourish in the back off was so satisfying is the difference between having Inho, the front man, in the game, and we know who he is versus player number one in season one, which was supposed to be this big shocking twist and surprise. So it's that old.

And we've talked about this in the context of other shows. because one of my favorite things to talk about, this idea of suspense versus surprise. And I always pick suspense over surprise. And that was what was delivered here because the, quote, unquote, surprise to a player, number one, being who he is in season one, whether or not it was something I saw coming, which I did a little early on. But, like, even if you didn't, as a surprise, it's sort of like, okay, whatever. but full on knowing and watching Gihun fall for Inho's stuff throughout this episode and watch the slow corrosion and the manipulation was so fun for me in these episodes. I just thought it was an incredible choice.

Well, and it's something that I think in terms of the momentum of the show and the energy of the show works in a totally opposite way. I mentioned this on the last part, but I would go as far as to say that that reveal in season one wasn't just a whatever plot turn for me or whatever surprise. I actively disrupted my enjoyment of the show because I felt like some of the biggest emotional punches had now been pulled and didn't actually mean anything, which, look, in a show that can be as nihilistic as this one,

maybe that's part of the intent. Maybe they're trying to discourage us from caring about other human beings or their fates. Fair enough. But in this case, especially with this split season construction, we have yet to see Gihou learn this information. And so, yeah, we've gotten to live with all the suspense so far, but now we're building forward with something rather than retroactively taking the legs out from under the show.

Like there's more to look forward to in some ways knowing that that reveal hasn't happened yet. I know exactly. And like, I, you know, again, once again, perusing the subreddit as I was, as I want to do with the show like Sweet Game. There was this whole threat about like how cool would it have been if we had never seen the front man's face in season one. So we were surprised blah, blah. I was like, no, no, I really disagree. I just really disagree with that. I think it is so much better that we know exactly who he is and what game he's running here.

And watching him, again, I think have genuine moments of camarader with these people, even as he's actively trying to destroy them from inside. I think that is a brilliant storytelling device. And I'm really excited for season two part two that we're getting in June because I'm excited. Coming at the end of Q2, 2025. Straddling Q2, Q3 in 2025. because I think that I think this

I'm curious if you're going back in the game it seems like we might be I'm curious if we're going to get a flashback backstory to Inho in season three or do we already know enough from the biographical data that we got and we can sort of connect the dots on our own and I'm really emotionally invested in a lot of the characters

that are still around so like as as frustrated as I am with this with yeah this I yeah craving in a sort of packaging of this as a season two when it's really just a season two part one, I am more excited for season three, especially knowing it's coming at least kind of soon, than I was for season two. How do you feel about that? Like, you know? I would agree with that.

I think it is the level of investment in so many of these new characters. There are parts of the show that as we mentioned, I just don't really care about right now. And I'm sure we will be told to care about whether we like it or not by the end of things. That's all well and good. I would love to see some of these, you know, there's a lot of loose ends right now. It's not just like who lived and who died and whether they continue the games or not. But like, Noel is a great example of a character who she's like called into the principal's office basically for killing people too well. And but there's hints that like she and this officer have known each other for years in some capacity, which we don't really know yet. I also don't really understand like what her goals are in being here.

Is it more money to be able to put more resources towards finding her kid? That would make sense, but obviously her path has been kind of complicated by running into the father of the sick girl here. I think we should note among the many loose sense, I'll say this. From the point at which they get the guns and then mount the assault on Squid Game HQ, basically none of it works for me. I don't think it's very good. I agree. There's a point at which it's basically like Gihun playing time crisis, like duck behind a wall in an arcade, pop out, shoot, shoot, shoot, duck behind the wall.

It's like, I can only watch this for so long. I'm sorry, this is very inert. I think it's like 45 minutes. Like it's so long. It's not interesting. Okay, go ahead. There was enough time for two separate people to do full-on sprints to go get the clips. That's too much time to be doing a shootout in the fake stairs.

But one of the people we see in that little like strike team is the. The sick girl's dad, aka Prince Charming, as he's referred to earlier in the season, I guess, just because he's hot. Again, power to him. I kind of like, they did a weird slow build with him where he wasn't like he was in the game, but not part of our core lines until a little later on. I actually kind of liked that. That actually kind of worked for me. I do too. And I think the ways in which those sorts of characterizations can be really effective in a show like this, I felt like should have paid off more in the big, like, ambush.

Everyone is dying in the bunk room at night. Like I would have loved a couple of more of those characters. But we see him get shot and we see basically everyone else on that little strike team get executed. But he's not like fatally shot, I don't think. I think it's like a shoulder. I think it's probably Noel like dragging him into a hallway somewhere. Something will happen between the two of them. Yeah.

What I don't really know. Well, I think that's, okay. So here's, here's my assessment of that character as I understand it so far, which is like she's taken this heinous job. but she has drawn her moral line somewhere where she's like everyone is here has elected to be here everyone who is here is deciding every game

whether or not to stay in the game so I am going to adhere by the rules and give them sort of like the death that they have signed up for and for some reason that's where her moral line is drawn that's a weird line I'm going to say and anything beyond that is somehow in Innoble and then she's just sort of like you know

using them for spare parts, you know, using their organs or whatever is morally bankrupt. And so I think that like is sort of my take on her. And so my understanding is sort of like where the rubber is going to meet the road is going to be obviously with this guy.

And the little girl with a strawberry hat. Who's taking care of her while her dad's in the game? I don't know how she's doing. Not enough people. Is she okay? She needs to be cared for at all costs. Is she okay? But yeah,

that's a clear. Well, but it takes the tension out of that because I was like, well, he's got to survive because he's key to like her. So I have a feeling that she's going to turn and then they're going to have like someone on the inside that's on the team good guy, whatever we want to qualify as good guy, right? Does that not seem like where that's going? It does seem very possible. I got to say, I guess we tease out some of the possibilities for the back half of the season. So many of the answers, at least at this point, point to the phenomena we discussed in part. one of oh everything is an incredible cosmic coincidence because there's only like six people

and three different objectives and if you go fast enough everything aligns very quickly yeah yeah um anything else you want to say about squid game or season three or um cue one through four or anything else they have very extensive thoughts on overall netflix's business strategy um i feel like yeah here's here's what they've done right squid game is going to straddled Q4 and Q1, it's going to straddle Q2 and Q3, and then Q4, the following Q4, they have stranger things. So that's what they've done. Yadzee.

I should know not to expect better than that, but. It's art and storytelling. I'm going to wash my hands of it. I feel dirty or talking about that than what's going on on screen in Squid Game. All right. So that has been our coverage of Skid Game. and we will probably be back in gym to talk to you more about the game, I'm sure. Parts three and four of this season coming soon.

Yeah, coming soon. And like we said, we'll be back to cover the pit a little bit later on this week. We're gearing up for severance. Prestige TV at Spotify.com is how you can reach us. We've been getting your emails over the holiday break. Thank you so much for sending them. If you have severance theories or questions, that's going to be a big email show, I think. If you have Pitt thoughts or questions, I don't know if that's going to be as much of a theory show,

but we'll all tune in and find out. Well, maybe this is just me being pit brain, Joe, but you know, you illuminated to me the existence of the Squid Game, you will log. And of course, Netflix is no stranger to any spin-off they can get their hands on. Can we not get Squid Game Med? Can we not follow one of these organs from the boat to a hospital? And I get to see, okay, look, this was, these are the eyes of a character I cared about, but they just went to go benefit this poor person who lost their vision. Like, let's complete the circle.

Here's my question. You're asking for Chicago med, but make it good gay med is what you're saying. Yeah, I want the full Chicago suite of shows. Squig and fire. Okay. Okay. Okay. Great.

Squid Game Med also star Noah Wiley is my question. Of course it does. Great. Who else would be in it? There's no other doctor on TV. All right. So we'll be back for that. We'll be back for severance.

We will be keeping our eccentric email addresses. They'll just all forward to PrestigeTV at Gmilla. Or at Spotify.com. So if you have ideas for severance emails and that one, I mean like waffle party at gmail.com, there's a lot of good. Like this is maybe the most opportunity for an interesting email. It's an entire show made of ephemera. Exactly.

You can send those suggestions to us and we will see you soon. Thank you so much to Donnie Beach him for producing both of our squid game episodes. Donnie's the best. And I have on a whim decided to support the Detroit Lions for Donnie because I heard that all the Bay Area teams are out of contention. so why not? I mean, it's a good time. Mallory asked me to support the Ravens, but I don't know.

I feel like why not support the Lions for Donnie, who's done as a solid over the holidays? So thanks, Donnie. And we'll be back probably with some more high-grady goodness in the future, and we'll see you then. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Netflix's remarkably bright creatures.

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