Summary: Gi Hun and Sang Woo fight in squid game for the final game. Gi Hun wins and chooses to spare Sang Woo, deciding he wants to quit. However, Sang Woo kills himself so Gi Hun gets the prize money. Gi Hun goes home but finds that his mother has died. 1 year later, Gi Hun is back to his old life and hasn’t spent the prize money. He is invited to a meeting where he finds Il Nam, who is actually the creator of the game. Il Nam reveals that he made the games because he is rich and bored and wanted to have fun. He also wanted to participate once before dying. Il Nam passes away. Gi Hun gives a sizable chunk of his money to Sang Woo’s mother, and Sae Byeok’s brother who he entrusts to Sang Woo’s mother. Gi Hun prepares to see his daughter in America, but turns back, deciding to stop the games.
The Good: The final game is suitably tense and climactic. It’s shot well and is thrilling to watch. Sang Woo opting to kill himself instead of going back with nothing is sadly a fitting end for him, one that makes sense for the character. The ending after that was very well done. Gi Hun felt too much guilt and misery after winning the game that he had no motivation to do anything with the money he had. All he wanted was to go back to the way things were before, which was very real. To top it all off, his mother tragically died before he returned, leaving Gi Hun with nothing but 45 billion won of blood money. The sequence immediately after he completed the game was miserable and difficult to watch in a perfect way. Devastating television. The Bad: The Il Nam twist is terrible. It feels so unnecessary, adds nothing to the show, and retroactively ruins one of the most poignant moments of the whole show back in “Gganbu”. Furthermore, his motivations as the bad guy really suck. It’s another case of someone being rich and bored, so they do something sadistic. That’s unbelievably uncreative and it’s a completely unsatisfying motive. Gi Hun’s emotions during the final game are tough to relate with. I’m not sure when he became so purely compassionate, but it’s hard to buy into the level of tears he sheds for Sae Byeok and Sang Woo. Especially when he was trying to murder Sang Woo moments before his death. Similarly, his emotions 1 year after the game are tough to connect with. I’m not sure why he didn’t keep his promises and take care of Sang Woo’s mother and Sae Byeok’s brother. His meeting with Il Nam being a turning point for him doesn’t work and the character’s story gets muddled by this reveal. I’m not sure what it was about this moment that made him change his mind and decide to spend his prize money. The final moment of the show was also poor. I want to see Gi Hun be a good father and visit his daughter. Having him turn around to stop the game made me shake my head because it doesn’t close out the season on a satisfying note. Gi Hun’s development in this final episode is so messy and unsatisfying. It should have been better. The Unknown: What is Gi Hun planning to do next? Will we get another season? Best Moment: Gi Hun returns home and finds his mother dead on the floor, and weeps next to her. A harrowing and powerful moment showing that the prize money is far from enough to fix Gi Hun’s life. Character of the Episode: Gi Hun. Conclusion: The first 20 minutes of this finale were excellent and suitably depressing and miserable. But everything after the ill-conceived twist was very poor and left me feeling unsatisfied and disappointed. A truly mixed finale episode. For my thoughts on season 1 as a whole, click here to read my review of it. Score: 56
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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