Squid Game season 2 can leverage Gi-hun's backstory to make the titular games even crueler and more disturbing than before. Not only are the challenges in Squid Game creative methods to weed out the game's participants in the seemingly cruelest way possible, but they're also disturbing takes on classic children's games from Korean culture. All challenges require a fair share of strategy, cooperation, and oftentimes a certain degree of selfishness.
Gi-hun witnessed it all, from Sae-byeok's death at the hands of Sang-woo to Deok-su's self-brought elimination and Oh Il-nam's faked death. Having survived the games and earned the grand prize, Gi-hun had the option to leave it all behind and live the rest of his life peacefully, but the salesman's offer to return suggests that despite winning the first time around, Gi-hun will come back for more. This time, without Oh Il-Nam to pull Squid Game's strings, the games could go through a drastic transformation.
Why Squid Game Season 2 Can Make Gi-Hun's Life Into Games
Both Oh Il-nam and the Squid Game's staff make it clear that they know Gi-hun just as well as he knows himself. Since Gi-hun's desire for revenge makes a strong motivation for his return, they could take advantage of his will to get back at them and continue to mess with his mind by turning his own life experiences into a series of challenges. This kind of psychological torture would keep Gi-hun under their thumb even after he won the first tournament, and it would also make it difficult for him to sabotage the games.
Gi-hun's life provides plenty of material to inspire a new version of the Squid Games' battle royale. The Front Man could organize challenges based on horse racing due to Gi-hun's addiction to horse betting, on driving due to Gi-hun's failed stint as a chauffeur, or on an expanded version of ddakji, which Gi-hun now associates with the salesman and the looming tragedy of Squid Game. Gi-hun's failure to keep custody of his daughter and save his mother, Sae-byeok's murder, Oh Il-nam's betrayal, and Sang-woo's self-inflicted defeat can also serve as sources of inspiration for the Squid Game's staff to torment Gi-hun when he returns on his own volition.
Squid Game Season 2 Has A Clear Plot Reason To Get Scarier
Oh Il-nam genuinely believed that Squid Game provides destitute people with a fair chance to overturn their luck while also helping him feel alive during his last moments. The playground theme of the games was tied to his own experiences, and it gave him a sense of familiarity with the competition that distracted from the anguish of his victims. With him gone, Hwang In-ho, a.k.a. the Front Man, and the Squid Game's staff have all the freedom to revamp the games and increase the violence. The VIPs, who provide the prize money, could also have a bigger say in what the next tournament looks like, and a more cruel set of games is likely to fit their perverted tastes. Perhaps it's this urge for more cruelty that allows Gi-hun — and Hwang Jun-ho, if he survived season 1 — to eventually end the Squid Games once and for all.