Warning! Spoilers ahead for Squid Game.

Squid Game episodes are typically around one hour long, so why does the penultimate episode 8 only run for 32 minutes? The Korean Netflix series was an instant hit when it was released in September 2021, and its popularity has only continued to rise as new adopters spread the word. Watched by more than 110 million viewers in its first 28 days streaming, Squid Game has become Netflix's most popular show seemingly overnight.

Squid Game episode 8, entitled “Front Man”, picks up immediately after the fifth challenge, which sees all but 3 of the competitors fall to their death during a morbid take on the children’s game hopscotch. The remaining finalists—protagonist Seong Gi-hun, his childhood friend Cho Sang-Woo, and the badly injured Kang Sae-byeok—are treated to a feast for their so-called accomplishments. The dinner is a vehicle that ultimately leads to Sang-Woo murdering Sae-byeok in order to secure a one-on-one challenge in the final round. 

Related: Squid Game's Front Man Twist Creates A Timeline Plot Hole

For the most part, Squid Game’s episodic runtimes are consistent. Each one lasts about one hour, with the longest outing being episode 2, “Hell”, which clocks in at just over 62 minutes. Why then, does episode 8 get to the point so quickly? There are a couple of factors in play—mainly, that the episode reaches its natural ending point and accomplishes what it set out to, setting the stage for the final game between Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo. Sae-byeok’s tragic death is a pivotal moment for the show as well as both characters left alive. The episode is able to focus on telling that story properly without shoehorning in an unnecessary extra game, and knows when to get out of the way heading into the show’s heavily anticipated season finale and the actual Squid Game. 

The Front Man wearing his mask and jacket as he walks through a hallway in Squid Game.

As the title suggests, Squid Game episode 8 also dives into the competition’s Front Man, finally providing the audience with a name and a face behind the character’s mysterious mask. The man pulling the strings is revealed to be none other than former contest winner Hwang In-ho, the older brother of police officer Hwang Jun-ho, who earlier in the season infiltrated the island disguised as a guard in order to search for his missing brother. 

The confrontation between the two siblings takes place very early in the episode, quickly accomplishing what it set out to do—reveal the identity of the Front Man. Later on while tending to his own bullet wound, In-Ho is visibly shaken, haunted by what he had just done to his younger brother. This would've been the perfect opportunity to finally reveal how In-ho became the Front Man through a series of flashbacks, but obviously that wasn’t in the show’s plans. Perhaps it is something that was purposefully saved for a potential season 2, but in any case, tackling this particular narrative element would have been the only organic way to stretch out the episode. 

While Squid Game episode 8 is disappointingly short, it makes sense to end it where it did. There wasn't anything else left to do for Gi-hun and Sang-woo aside from competing in the final game, which played out fully in the season finale. Meanwhile, the show didn't seem to have any plans of exploring the Front Man's past any further—at least not in season 1, so it was best to wrap things up in the way that they did. 

More: Who Plays The Front Man? Why Squid Game Hides Its Biggest Star