Squid Game: Season 3

I have always been fascinated by Squid Game. For me, it is the scenography, combined with the almost caricatured malice that sets in when greed is allowed to consume all other immediate instincts. It is a downward spiral into hell, where even the best people allow themselves to be corrupted for monetary gain.

But at the same time, the whole premise has always had an expiry date. The rather obvious symbolism and singular framework are so obvious that even though the second season expanded a bit, we have gradually seen what Hwang Dong-hyuk's universe has to offer.

That's why it's so refreshing that even though Squid Game remains Netflix's biggest success ever in terms of a number of parameters, this is the end, if nothing else, of the main series. This shorter season of just six episodes wraps up Seong Gi-hun's story. And luckily, we end with an emotional, intense, and well-constructed bang.

The third season picks up where the second season left off. Seong Gi-hun's rebellion has failed, The Front Man has revealed himself, and the games continue. At the same time, police officer Hwang Jun-ho intensifies his search for the island where the games take place, and North Korean Kang No-eul could end up throwing a spanner in the works - the three individual threads slowly come together in two particularly explosive final episodes.

It is difficult to describe the plot or character development without approaching potential spoilers, so let's just say that the entire broad South Korean cast still delivers brilliant performances that balance on a knife edge between the emotionally hard-hitting and the implausibly caricatured, as if it were all some kind of parody.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Western "VIPs" who, as in the first season, check in to watch the deadly games. It is completely unbelievable that such talented filmmakers, both South Koreans and Netflix's international team, have approved everything from the script to the delivery here, and it almost feels as if the lines were not only written by an AI, but also performed by one. In fact, the difference between the credible performances delivered by the South Korean actors and the rubbish coming out of the mouths of these VIPs is so striking that I suspect it is somehow part of the parody. Maybe that's how they see us? Either way, it's unacceptably poor.

Other than that, the set design, music, and pacing are spot on, creating a bang of an ending that, while not exactly reinventing the wheel, delivers a memorable conclusion to a series that will go down in history for many - and that's also because it knows when to call it a day.