The Reel Rejects - SQUID GAME 2x07 Breakdown & Review!!!

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

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Let's do this. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I was saying. in the review for the last episode that I was getting an inkling like this feels like a part one of a season

not a full season sure yeah definitely and it is more that than I even thought it was like oh I this is like definitely that this is not even this is like a it's like when the Hobbit has a clip hanger like oh okay there's no way definitely just cut it in half

it doesn't even feel like the end of a season It literally feels like we got to the middle part of the bigger story of this two-part season. It's literally the infinity war. Yeah, yeah, it is. Like we literally get to the point where we lost and now we have to, yeah, do the saga. Tongue and cheek moment, yeah, 100%. The nice cheek is going to reverse it all. That's right.

And then he's going to get them all back in the next season. I am, Gihon. Yeah. It brings half the people back. Yeah. And half the money. Whoa. Whoa.

Okay. Well, ladies. gentlemen that is the finale of squid game season dose um hmm i was first off like it if you could pass me that laptop yes of course anything i can do to help thank you that's the rules well what did you think, John? Oh, I mean, that was very gripping. And certainly, uh, it's very satisfying to at least watch. I mean, you know, you're spending the time waiting for the shoe to drop and waiting for, um, in Ho to reveal himself truly. Sure. Which, you know, he hasn't to, obviously, but he has to us. And, uh, and yeah, I mean, you know, it's one of those things

where now you're like, well, you know, any thoughts I form will only be partial because the story's not done yet but um i thought there's a really thrilling gripping you know episode certainly and and i do appreciate i don't know just what they've done so far feels like they really thought out you know logically what we could do and they justified a lot of things i think nicely with the earlier details in the season and yeah like even though you you get the sense and especially as it becomes clearer toward the end of the episode that this will not conclude really like yeah yeah i found it very thrilling and cathartic in ways and also very tragic and upsetting in other ways and uh i don't know is again another very physical and very you know action oriented episode even though

the action is all a part of this big debate and uh there's action in the way of like uh how heat has their action sure it's not like hyper style i like john wikian but it's kind of a blend of like how Michael Mann's Heat had action with with some camera choices that were more video game ask and some like mission stuff like grab the ammo Yeah yeah yeah

Fetch quests and things like that and like oh we need to find An alternate route yeah Yeah absolutely I mean I thought the way that they handled this and the way they used the setting That we know you know so well from you know Traveling through this big colorful you know Atrium of sorts I thought that was really Just nicely used

And yeah, watching the array of psychologies happen as they form their little unit. And I did appreciate that, yeah, it's not like they have an army. It's like most people don't get on board with this. Most people just wait and stand by because I think as a cross-section of society and as a debate about whether or not you can change a system from the inside of that poison system, you know, you'll have a certain contingency of people who are going to choose like, Well, maybe if I don't join in with this and I don't rebel against the rules, maybe they'll take mercy on me. I think that's conscientious that, like, a lot of the contests, the players still chose that, essentially.

We're just going to wait here and see those pans out. But, yeah, I mean, as like a little mini-raid or mini-dread or mini-dread or something like that, this was pretty compelling, pretty gripping in a very physical way. I don't know, like, what the Junho stuff is going to conclude into. I know, you know, we basically led up to that one reveal that, you know, is seemed inevitable with the ship captain and all that. But, yeah, I mean, like, as one big, nasty means of proving a point to Gihun, I think it's, you know, it certainly makes your blood run cold by the end. And now I am just curious, yeah, as to, like, how many more episodes they'll have. And, you know, it seems like at least to some degree the game is going to continue.

or are they going to force gui hun to keep going because that's clearly the greater torture than just killing him obviously on top of what they already did to his friend there um i keep wanting to commit people's names to memory but either way uh yeah what did you think i i i i overall i liked it i did there was there was plenty of moments i really really enjoyed it is probably um I just got to, okay, look, I know the rule of thumb that every YouTuber tells you when you're reviewing, especially to keep the audience on board with you when you're watching is you want to say the positives first. And then if there's like conflicting feelings or some negatives, you know, let it like put it on after. That's usually what they say as the representative advice. I am, I am a little bit conflicted about how we got to this big shift in the episode. obviously for gie hun this is what he wanted the whole time i feel like we needed one more episode

before this one to really establish getting to that point with them of having a revolution against them because it didn't really feel like it built up to this team this this this group of people being like you know what no it's these guys up above they're treating us like the horror like like basically every belief that gui hun has of them getting on because that's what that turns into it in that moment even for um what's the sergeant character trans woman forget her name you know she was she was hitting the oh train you know she needed the money yeah like there's there's these qualities to what led to this uh part that i was like i just i'm not i'm not fully there with the whole group suddenly being like no we need to take out the bad we need to

take out the people at the top this is who this is our real enemy right here and instead of like just focusing on the i thought it was actually stronger when they were just focusing on the on the exes and just trying to survive that and get out of that and it was that motivation to get them all on board to fight for that that i was a little lost while because i don't feel like the season was doing anything that was of of like um you know the characters that we were watching go up against the people in charge of the squid games of of them feeling like they're trapped here because of them and please let there's like one character who who got killed off in the last episode who was very much like no please let me leave i want to get out of here i don't want to be here anymore

um but really it was the people on the on the oh side who they were that really felt like those were the real enemies here. And even though Gihon had a speech that was kind of moving by a little bit fast in terms of editing and cutting around timeline, I just didn't really get the time to, as an audience member, to like sit grounded in it to understand why the whole group was, even in Gihun's friend who voted O for, you know, against everyone. So they kind of just negated everything. And I feel like maybe if they even brought that up, I would have been more on board of like, but we need the money. that's why we're here what are we going to do about the money even though guihan i know in an earlier episode did say i will pay i could help you settle your debts that wasn't good enough for

them before so yeah i do do you think that there's there was some missing beats there i eventually just was like pushed out to the side to just get on board with like okay well the choices happen that's what's happening right now so let me just like ride the train with what's occurred i don't know if you understand where i'm coming from on that because i don't really feel I personally just don't feel like we really got a true motivation for them to go up against the team there. Outside of our information of what we know about the dudes behind the scenes. I get what you're saying. I'm not as bothered by it partly because so many people do not join with him.

And there are certain people who from the very beginning have sort of... But why did the people who did join join? What in the moment at least kept me from being too hung up or questionable about that is the debate from earlier about like should we listen to this guy who says he's been here before or is this dude crazy?

And like even though certain things, they've done certain things obviously to discredit him higher ups have. I mean, I feel like your point is fair and I can see why you would be feeling that. I guess what I guess what my justification is, for that is like

if I was in that position I wouldn't really think it was an option and especially with no perspective from before I wouldn't really assume that there would be a strategy to overpowering the guards anyway and like here at least in the drawing of events I was like you know what

as much as it would be nice to have more time and as the writer you can find a way to do it so like I can't really discredit the point there in the unfolding of action I did believe it in the terms of like this is the opportunity as it has presented itself and we're just going to have to take it and anyone who's with me is with me and anyone who's not with me is not with me and uh and yeah

I mean like for the other people I feel like sometimes you're just not entertaining the other option and so it's like well we're stuck here anyway and we have to play for this money and they are clearly strict about the rules on that so I imagine a lot of people aren't even thinking on that level of like could we get a gun could we overpower them and Gihon has the the perspective to suggest such a thing. So, I don't know. All those things kept me from getting too hung up on it or kept it from bothering me.

But I also wouldn't mind another episode to really interrogate that. Like, I'm not sitting here going like, I think you're wrong. But it didn't detract or feel like it was missing in my experience of it. That's good, I guess. Yeah, I think it really means.

especially for Hunju, who that is the character's name, look it up. Hun Jew, I think that's how you say her name? She was very clear of why she voted O prior, you know? And no one was ever debating about these people are trapping us here

and they're the ones we've got to take out. And I think their solution would have been fine with getting out outside of Gihon's own personal motivation. Because they don't have any of these. I never saw anything with those characters that was like, look what these guys are doing to us. In order that I see them be motivated by Gihon to feel what Gihon was saying about,

look what these higher-ups, these people are doing to us. I never saw anyone get moved by that motivation. There are two beats that I think for me did speak to that, which was Inho pointing out they are going to choose two for the merry-go-round game because they want us to not have enough. It's not even just about us being able to find the right amount. amount of people. They are making sure that there won't be enough so that at least at maximum, only 100

of us survive. And so I feel like that plan's part of that seed. And then there's also the debate of, well, now they want us to kill each other, but also they're going to stop us from killing too many of each other because they want the games to continue. And so that at least spoke to like the, it's actually... Wait, well, without that

latter part. Where was that? It's in, it's, oh, it's tied up in the bathroom thing. Because they send the folks in and there's, it's in, when they come back to the barracks and they put the lights out and they're like okay, we've got to strategize because they're going to try and kill us when the lights go out.

And I think inho or somebody says something about like, you know, they're going to send people in eventually because they can't just have us all kill each other to the point where the games can continue because that's not allowable. But they will allow us to kill enough of each other and plant these incentives for us to

do so enough that it will happen and that's part of it. And that comes from the game masters you know okay um but so the money doesn't matter to the people where the money mattered up anymore that's a part of it where i think you're absolutely right like there should have at least been like some lip service paid to the whole like what happens to the money because if we manage this mutiny but we don't get any we walk out of here with nothing and now we have to go back to life i guess when you get to that point in the in a show where they're fighting

back i i want to be there feeling and maybe you were and um i'm not okay with that we're feeling something that i'm not feeling what i really hate if we uh are not a hundred percent the same human being well and i would fully admit that there are elements i didn't feel like i'm saying i didn't feel like a catharsis of of you know you when you are finding the that that moment i'm like i'm glad i'm getting what he wants but like everyone else i'm like i don't really feel that as like a collective Well, I think, yeah, I think for me there could be, I will readily admit that, like, being caught up in the... And I feel like I've gotten so hung up on this one thing.

But it's important. And it's completely negating the fact that, like, there's so much about this episode that I really did love it. And I'm like, oh, but I'm totally getting so good on this one thing. But it's such a pivotal moment that I am. I feel like that's the core motivation of this entire episode. 100%. And I think it is an under-recognized nuance of taking in... any art that

sometimes you can watch something that has so many qualities, but the couple things that maybe let it down or could have been a couple important elements that are crucial, not quite hitting, can be the taste left in your mouth on top of so many

other things that are great. And I think that's, like, I would readily admit that, like, I you know, you want to see them take down the system somehow, and I got very caught up in like the immediate emotion of just that, like watching, I could see how in my mind it would be easy maybe to get caught up more in the feeling. And I'm, you know, it's more interesting to me is like what kept you from being as catharsed by just seeing it, which is not, you know, a wrong thing either.

I'm like, I could imagine that just seeing it happen, you know, worked on me in some way. But again, I don't think your criticisms are wrong in the actual philosophy of how we get here. and how we get the other people on board, you know? Because, like, there's been, there are seeds enough that I could at least be, like, shadow of a doubt, or, like, well, if you take this one detail and run with it yourself, but it's also up to the show to not have to necessitate

that you do that, you know? Very kind, John. Yeah, that's my main, that's my main qualm with it, is that. So I don't feel like we really had a proper build to what that ultimately was. I feel like the characters in season one would be more justified than what happened here, honestly. Yeah.

Especially because it was such a constant democratic voting process. And I feel like there ought to have been more of a moment paid to that. And like I said, it's kind of like how I felt with House of the Dragon season, too. Like, I made one more episode, might as have helped flesh this final episode out a bit more, you know? But as it stands, I mean, there's still plenty of things I like. I did like the action. And I thought the visuals of that were cool. And the,

the game, I actually really respect the shit out of the ending. I think the ending is awesome. Because I like an ending where you go, well, you can't just do the squid games again. What the hell is going to happen this time around? It kind of reminds me of like the ending of Hunger Games part two. because in a lot of ways I think you could liken this to the Hunger Games story.

Hunger Games won. All right. You're thrust in the world. Get it. Rich people watching, paying. That it. Now it's like a lot of Hunger Games thing. It's a hung game. So you're like, okay, we're doing the Hunger Games again, but there's some twists happening here. It's not exactly how we think it's going to go. And then it ends in a way. We're like, well, you can't just do the Hunger Games again. Now something different's going to happen. Now there is some type of like a revolution here happening. And the cliffhanger of putting

Gihon in this position, I think, is a very strong one. And to kill off the best friend like that was a smart maneuver too. And I didn't actually see that one coming as well. And I like the track because you're like, I have no idea what's going to happen with any of them. The mystery of Inho, like we don't really know why he was doing what he was doing other than to obviously drive home a fucking point. hit the most protracted way possible sacrifice everyone who works for us and that means so deep to just saying I am right you're wrong I'm going to take this to the extreme some hero you are yeah

yeah it's like I must justify my philosophical stance to the extreme and I don't know maybe there's some way he's also trying to convert him it seems like he wants to convert him out of respect for the games, you know, because he is ultimately the winner of the last game that he maybe does want him to get on board. See as I see. As a respectful way of

respecting the game. But in terms of respecting the game, I'm like, you kind of disrespected the entire game which is like it's really thwarted to me what he did. But I like that though. I like the discussion if the show decides to discuss it. I like the discussion around that because

he wasn't, to my understanding, he wasn't part of red light green light unless we just didn't see him there but i remember in the first he was watching he was watching yeah and it doesn't seem like anybody else wears that you know his replacement is a square guy so he was watching yeah so he wasn't part of the first round he just inserted himself to throw some wrenches in here after seeing what gihon was doing by letting giehan in here i think that's messing with the purity of the game sure um someone has a advantage based on prior knowledge yeah yeah no it's it's not fair at all like it i think that alone messes with the game it's like he all these people are here all to what feels like i don't even feel like you keep asking

about the vipes i'm like i don't think the vipes are i feel like this they don't feel like this is one big orchestra just this is all for you just to be like see yeah yeah and but and it's like maybe he is the guy in charge of all of it now now that i i feel like it's ill seems like the one who ran it and then now that Ilanam's dead maybe he is the one who actually runs it now like inherited it yeah yeah uh smart maneuver i like that they don't tell you who the captain is on the on the ship yeah that they just leave that even though it was obvious that he was really not a good guy i like the i like how they leave that to theorize and to be like who is this guy forever you know so there's a lot of smart things that were going to went on and I think it's cool to have I don't know a pronounce her name Hunju

Hunju It's really cool to get a badass trans character Yeah It is really cool to get like a Like if you're going to have a trans character in here And have some of your commentary about what it means to be trans Sure Like I'm totally fine with that

Totally cool and I think it's just really refreshing to be like Oh thank God you made her like actually like badass in the end You know and she was like kind of badass the whole time you know she was always that that leadership side always was demonstrated uh even in the first mini games round it's always there but i think to really like hammer at home like that that also doesn't feel like you're throwing it in my face sure like no one was like well the trans person was it yeah yeah it was really cool uh curious about the actor too i don't you know obviously we're we don't say played by a cisgender actor park sung whom intro okay interesting yeah i'm very i'm very

very, I mean, I'm sure there is going to be every possible opinion on that choice there. That's interesting. I mean, I think it's a terrific performance regardless. I know there's a whole other conversation to have about casting, you know, cis people to play trans people and all that. That's above my, you know, philosophical pay rate, you know, or at least I am still in a position to be kind of learning in terms of that conversation. But I do, at least in isolation of the context of the show, I've loved that character. and really enjoyed that performance quite a bit and yeah like the fact that you get a lot of very sympathetic and a lot of very sort of uh apparently it is a big controversy i was looking at google right i was going to say the second the second that info dropped in i was like oh fun interesting yeah because i mean obviously i guess in an ideal world you would want to cast somebody who has lived that experience and then you open up the conversation about like well anybody should be able to play anybody but what are the lines uh and we're not here to solve that problem right now uh and i you know like in some ways like it is a let me it's it's an interesting wrinkle to add to all this

i'm suddenly not connected to this character i mean i'm i'm still very again in isolation of the show and i don't want to hijack the video because if anybody gets to this point and hears us even acknowledging this there's going to be a whole like oh woke in the comments and and you know i don't want that to overshadow this video but it is a fascinating wrinkle i think it's annoying i think it's really annoying that people that people respond that way yeah I'm like, we're just talking about it. It's like any time you talk about it, you're going to get any can, no matter what opinion we form, you know, if we're going to get crap from some camp.

And you can hold two ideas. I'm not here to, like, defend myself against anything. Bottom line, it's like, I'm not, well, I'm not strong enough versed in the subject of it to begin with. Yeah, we're not the right people to tell you whether that was the right choice or not. And, yeah, it's a great performance and a well-written character. And in an ideal world, yes, an actual trans person would play this part. And it's hard to maybe believe that no trans women out there could have done it. And I don't know if that's what the excuse is for that.

But yeah, either way, the handling of the theme, I think, has been a nice thing to introduce. And the compassionate window you get into who the character is and then the reveal of, oh, I was ex-military. Oh, I was a sergeant. We still don't know what specifically the trans community is like in. in Korea? Also that. When it comes to that stuff, you know? Yeah, because I've got to imagine every country has its own iteration of this conversation.

And I mean, and they touch on at least briefly the whole thing about like, oh, in Thailand, this is much more common, which I don't know if that's true. I imagine it's based on a true perspective that's possibly out there. But yeah, I mean, it's interesting, no less. And I guess it's better to broach the conversation than to avoid it entirely, especially in a show that one. to draw again across section their main character you got to talk about them yeah you got to talk about yeah and as a character as a character i think it's a very strong character so i'll just keep the conversation of that uh very very strong character and uh who else was in this episode john this might have been my least favorite of the seven honestly in in in ways i could see why i could see why i think there there are

there are aspects of it that are really strong and for the Infinity War quality of how it comes to a head. But there's the most, I think, you can debate, and I can absolutely see why this wouldn't necessarily, because it's got to function in two ways. You know, it's got to

keep you hooked and not give you so much that you're not ready and anxious for season three. But it's also got to conclude, in a well-rounded fashion, for the chapter break that it is. I think first season, I know. First season, was nine episodes this is seven and I understand deleting two one episode you know the choice to

bring it down to seven is kind of peculiar to me um in retrospect now and yeah I do think in terms of like a whole season you know a lot of people walk into this I've been so unclear this whole time if they shot season two and three back to back and so unclear on that and they don't say that at the top of this show yeah that hey this is just part one you will get season season three soon you know they don't they don't make that clear up front and i think that what they did with uh john ho was uh maybe they'll completely make up for it in season three i do find it a bit of a letdown of how uh that side of the story was handled one and compare i think even if you compare it to season one it gets a little worse without that i do think like this is really

engaging now this is not really engaging it's kind of just every time we cut back to them we don't know where we are we're just on a big red herring hunt yeah this is it you just keep coming back to them when it started off on the first couple of episodes as this is the main character and especially when you end the season with the big reveal that they are brothers to have a little bit of that be kind of lost in the background again i imagine they're going to like really hammer that shit home in the following season i wonder if if maybe the second season will take a shift to where not that Guy-Hun isn't going to be still a main driving force

but I could see from the position that we leave him in how he might be quite discouraged even and we might get Junho taking a greater driving force of the plot and then screen time and all that stuff maybe. Yeah. Could be.

You know, I could see how it almost might split. Half, first half, is really driven by Gihun, second half, much more driven by Junho. Remains to be seen, but I could imagine. it but it doesn't yeah quite fix because in this moment like I wouldn't have known if you if we hadn't looked at anything after the fact and we were just here with no knowledge of like back to back shooting I would just be like so what is it it seems like it's got to continue but what's

I don't know like what what is happening here and so without that certainty it does feel like oh man Junho starred off like you said in a very active role in the first couple episodes and it looks like oh man he and ghee hunner are going to be aligned and then yeah like when i wasn't it was joking but i wasn't really joking each time we would cut back to them in the later episodes i was like oh yeah you guys you guys are in the show i forget about them yeah every time they come back to the ship i'm like that's right you know which is not exactly ideal yeah especially on the heels of how distinct and and yeah how much tension they drew out of him in the first season yeah yeah come play cool this is a very

straight this was very straightforward in how it was done these last two episodes especially very very to the point very physical you you still have the looming debate of the of the you know the conversation the subtext all that stuff but it's much more immediate and much more action oriented than some of the balance that they had struck in episodes one through five anyway yeah yeah do yeah i'm really i'm really i'm really hung up on that i know i know i'm annoying everyone who loves this with all their heart and purity as if this was some fandom that existed prior to this Netflix show ever existing um but yeah i'm a little hung up on it because

i do like so much of the driving i feel like they that's why i think it actually bothers me i think it dropped the theme um in order to get to this ending point that obviously Obviously, the writer-director wanted to get to, which was, we got to get to this cliffhanger. We got to get to this moment. So it has to end on this episode. We have to get to this. This has to be the final episode, not saying, like, when he was writing, like, oh, this has to be a final episode. I'm saying, like, you probably have that in mind as an outline, and then we have to get there to end it.

The whole season was about, you know, the conversation is very clear with Gihon being like, no, we have to stop the games. it's cruel what you guys are doing yada yada yada captain saying this is about the games will continue as long as people stay the same and then watching like a microcosm of society within how they are forming that whenever they have the opportunity to leave there's still a fight for it even when all this death is happening gui hun's point of view keeps getting kind of shattered what he's fighting for keeps getting shattered because people still keep staying, you know, keep choosing to stick around and kick it at the money thing is just such the greed is such a driving forward and that conversation just totally gets canned out of nowhere to me. And I think that's why it bothered me the most. It's like the populist debate, yeah, loses some efficacy when you break away from the population, you know, and go on a separate side quest. I think that's why I think it was so important to acknowledge that. even if the other side was like

do you know what you guys are robbing us of right now unless they're under the assumption that they can kill all these people and they can just walk away with the big piggy denk yeah yeah then we'll all kill each other to get more money instead of dividing it up equally yeah yeah yeah because that's been

kind of like the center point of the debate of everything right is wow we have an opportunity to get out of here and someone can educate us like this is what this can do to us and I think that that kind of gets dropped And I think even Gihon as a character sometimes just sort of feels like this one simple constant at a certain point. He's very compelling to watch.

And I, and I. Because he's, because he's him. Yeah. Yeah, he's a great actor. And, you know, you're with him on his mission. But, but, but yeah, there's. Way more straightforward. There's less dimension for him to traverse, you know, he is a very.

And like, it's cool in a way to see him so determined, so resolved, so intense. and so yeah steadfast but but yeah i mean the first season you have a whole journey of emotions with him and a wholly other way and he's transforming as a different guy whereas like the arc here for him is more about holding the line rather than changing you know i feel like there's just one more in the actual episode that occurred and i just can't remember what it is that was so that really stood out to me the death of thanos the lack of 11 yeah yeah yeah that too um that felt yes yes thank you um i still feel like if you do like i compared the cliffhanger to this to the hobbit and not lord of

the rings intentionally sure sure sure because that movie those movies the one and two just feel like oh shit it's over yeah whereas it's feeling like a complete chapter of a larger story like this does not feel like a complete chapter to a larger story and partly with with shit like that that just kind of dangling the guy with the daughter maybe he's not actually dead and he was just shot like my theory is he was shot to be put into the box but he's still alive because she knows they do that yeah right otherwise he would just be executed because everyone else is being executed so i believe she still shot him yeah and the guy's not unceremoniously dead after all that yeah

that's what i think happened sure um because yeah he didn't cut to her at all So I feel like next season, you're going to be like, oh, shit. Yeah. You're still alive. Yeah. Well, and, too, what is all this mutiny? We still don't know really where she stands and all this, because in one breath, you could argue, it seems like she's trying to preserve the purity of the game. She's just like, I'm here to do my job, and that guy should have died, so that's my job.

And I don't care what other operation you guys have going on. But I don't know if the mutiny attempt will affect her in any way, you know. And I mean, they've made such a point about, like, you escaped North Korea, like, on your own, you know, overpowering soldiers to get out of there. So, like, certainly that sets up the idea that if she had to escape from here in some way violently, she probably could, or at least has the experience to inform that attempt. But it is interesting. Yeah, it definitely started to feel like this was the first chunk of. something which i guess softens some of the blow it's weird it's like there's i'm trying to isolate the exact point where i stopped expecting this to wrap up in a like a fully rounded way

uh because yeah like there is dangling stuff like that and on the one hand my brain goes well that's an interesting mystery because i know now that this isn't done and this is the first half of something but if you know just in isolation you know if this was arcane season two and we're just done now i would be like oh that's weird why why didn't we sure yeah why didn't we at least touch on that i have way bigger problems with the finale of arcane season 2 but yeah the the in terms of this season finale yeah it does just feel like it's episode 7 and then we'll continue with episode 8 later uh that that's just how it sort of concludes yeah the death of thanos in here was a smart death yeah i i wish the one guy did not die no no no i wish the i'm glad the one

guy did not die the boyfriend right the the youtube guy 3333 and 2 2 2 2 2 seem okay right now he seemed incredibly unlikable in the beginning but he's really actually like rather grown on me as time has progressed it's been a nice arc I really think next season needs to fully flesh out whatever the hell and his motives are very fascinated by it

yeah I thought there was a lot of great action shots that they got to do it seemed like sometimes where I think the writer the creator of the show he wanted to do some cool visual he he said in the first episode I remember remember saying like this feels like an action show now yeah and then it concludes this way i was like okay yeah he's got a bit of a michael manflare where it's going to be mainly drama and then even with the way the games are done the games are a lot more like it's very physical of the games

there's nothing like you know like the game of like fucking like carve something out is a really not an action type of a thing yeah or we're going to play some marble game together you know yes exactly yeah overall i do feel like season one is undoubtedly a lot lot stronger um but as a season two i thought this was a really fun season and i i've loved the journey all the way and i the only time i really felt conflicted about a choice was the final episode but it also ended in a way where it got me really excited for how season three will progress i know most people who have listened to this have not made it to that point they're probably like greg just hates everything and is negative and john likes everything is the best person ever well and that's

what i will say is it always takes time too because like certainly at the end of arcane for example like you know I think you were much more quick on the draw of like oh yeah there's some things about this that are a bit off and in the moment I was like definitely can acknowledge that but I'm still like chuffed on the experience and then as the days went by I was like as much as I think there's tons of great work in every episode of that

season I am like damn though if they had not rushed this this could have been much better and I think this is on the whole stronger in those terms in the sense that this has felt very thought out, very pounded and folded and pounded again, but being that it has to live up to something that did feel quite well-rounded the first time, it is interesting to note.

And it's like, you know, something like an Infinity War and an end game, they need each other but have to be able to stand on their own. I think this does a pretty good job of standing on its own, but not all the way. And I wonder if in the coming day, you know like I said early on in this review that initial rush of like yeah I want to see them take it to the upper guys and I want to see them mount this offensive maybe the the rush of that will wear off and I will be like ah yeah but some of those thematic elements could have been better and maybe that aftertaste will get stronger in my mouth you make a really good point though with with a consistent comparison on the infinity war side of it is because what a lot of people have said about infinity war is And this is what I believe the Russo brothers and the writers did say is that that is Thanos's movie.

That's Thanos's perspective and a lot more. And I really thought this was Inho's season. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So to have it be like this is more his season because everything is still circled around him the whole time, right? The brother's trying to get to the games. Stop him.

Yeah. Uh, um, oh my God. Um, sorry. Yeah. He's, he's on his. He's trying to get to the games to stop him. He's trying to get to him. Everything's about getting him.

And then he's so involved in this season. His face is shown through so much of this season. He's such a prevalent character. And in the same way, we never really go through his perspective. We're still always called to focus and observe him. Yeah, yeah. So I think that might be the perfect comparison. And he might have been inspired by it.

I mean, like they really draw attention to the Thanos thing. it's like and again like the self-awareness probably goes really hand in hand with it so yeah I'm so excited for season three I'm very very excited for season three yeah and I think that it's a lot of pressure to live up to that yeah I hope though that there's such great character arc and character struggles to mine and that's the only thing I hope they don't drop the ball on because I find this show the most that that's the the thing too about a big shootout is I feel like in the games as like entertaining and exciting they are you're watching kind of like a character internal turmoil constantly going on and trying

to figure it out and like even them in the second game with the mini games which I'm probably to be the best one of all the games in this season yeah like they're learning to work as a team and understand each other and respect all these different elements coming out of that even the cowardly guy who's really good at the one game where you have to catch it all and like getting the backgrounds on that. Yeah, catch the infinity stone. All that stuff, I think is so, you get real character stuff

still happening. And in a shootout, you don't really get that as much. Don't die and hit your target. You get the one Marine guy who panics and falls apart and I like that touch. But yeah, it is,

it is very just, like, so straightforward because you're just watching a shootout. And, and, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and these last two episodes. I'm just so racing right now. No, for sure. The last... You get you something.

Yeah. The last two episodes definitely skew more physical than, yeah, it's like spending time in all these other more... Either spending time between games or spending time in a game that forces teamwork and various other, like, qualities to be called upon. Yeah, you get more revealed there, and that's more interesting overall. But shit, man, I thought that was a great time. True. I thought it was a great time. Really thrilling.

Easy to binge. But also not in the way we're like... like oh yeah the beginning and ending is always good like it's always compelling throughout every episode yeah and there were highlights in this season that i feel like they outdid themselves in certain moments you know um like the exploration of the salesman to in ho i thought was so good that was so good like god damn what a what an amazing way to start the season that feels so thematically tied in for how the even though he's in that only that one episode he dies in that one episode i love that it like thematically stays on like that ending conversation kind of dictates the entire theme of it you know

god how how long ago that feels now yeah and and to end on this moment for a heartbreaking moment for him which is kind of a cool thing to do to bring back uh it's like he it feels like he recruited He had to know that was he young's like best friend right because the whole thing with like monitoring the horse racing and all that stuff They were all doing that his friend was there. So they brought him over just to drive this point out and that's why he kept him alive Yeah, I think that's such a smart move because you're like I don't know why he's keeping him alive. Yeah, I don't know why he like fought so hard to keep him alive You guys like oh my God, he did that just to kill him in front of him like brilliant like they set him up as a as a as a villain who you actually don't really want to watch die because it weirdly gives you as someone's even though he's manipulating i'm kind of there being like i have a little bit of hope you might be an all right guy yeah maybe it's more than i realized it's probably because

you're such a damn good liar yeah it's actually because you're so committed yeah yeah i think that's great there's that jigsaw twisted thing yeah i think it's great i think what they did with them as characters there is so good um so yeah i overall i would say overall i would say i love the season i wouldn't even be like hey i really liked it a lot i loved the season yeah i just my biggest conflicts came in the form of a massive plot decision that didn't feel as imbued in character as everything else has been. And that's why I was bothered by it. I should have just found that thought at the very beginning of this. Sometimes it takes an hour to find that nugget.

I'm not going to say any final thoughts. We got to end it, John. Yeah, let's go. All right, John, I'm done. See it's season three. We see season three, guys. Happy New Year, bye. Thank you.