Photo: No Ju-han/Netflix
Look, as a former baby myself, I have nothing against babies. I just didn’t expect that by the penultimate episode of this season, a newborn infant would be so central to the plot. Jun-hee’s CGI (?) baby feels more like a stand-in for the concept of innocence and the next generation than a real person. She looks uncanny, still doesn’t have a name, and understandably can’t do much beyond cry and sleep. It’s very disturbing to see adults jump at the chance to commit infanticide, but ultimately, I’m struggling to feel as emotionally attached to this baby as the show seems to want us to be.
That certainly doesn’t seem to be an issue for Gi-hun, though. He has given up on his previous mission to stop the games, even walking away last episode from the Front Man he pursued for so long. While he may no longer be directly trying to take on the system, he’s determined to protect Jun-hee’s daughter within it. It’s a full-circle moment for him, considering that he’s readily admitted that he was never the best father to his own daughter.
When Gi-hun returns to the dorm with In-ho’s knife, he looks at Jun-hee’s baby before walking over to a sleeping Jeong-dae and placing the blade on his neck. We learn that Oh Il-nam once handed the same knife to In-ho when he was a player, similarly instructing him to kill the “trash” that would otherwise kill him. I do feel like the presence of a baby changes the situation significantly, but the show cuts between In-ho and Gi-hun in a way that suggests that they are undergoing the same test. A younger In-ho chooses to stab an entire row of people. But as Gi-hun hovers over Jeong-dae, he remembers when Sae-byeok stopped him from killing Sang-woo in season one by asserting that he was “not that kind of person” — and just like he did that time, he backs away. If In-ho was hoping to validate his own actions by getting Gi-hun to lose faith in people and abandon his morals, he’s instead gotten proof that it’s possible to make different choices.
This means that eight players and the baby are all participating in the final game, Sky Squid Game, which takes place on three tall pillars in the shape of a circle, square, and triangle. The players are informed that on each pillar, they must push at least one player off within 15 minutes, though the clock won’t start until they press a button on the tower.
The voting component of the past two seasons has built Squid Game’s argument that majority rule is not always the best or most just option. Naturally, Jeong-dae and the other Os propose that the group decide who to eliminate with a democratic vote. Several players present their case for killing the baby. They argue that it’s not fair that she’s here and that killing her might actually be kind since she doesn’t have parents to take care of her. (They’ve already formed an alliance that they know has the majority, so this is all political theater.)
But Myung-gi starts to make his own power plays, breaking from the established plan and subtly taking control of the group’s decisions. He argues that the group will have to take out an extra person if Gi-hun defends the baby and is eliminated with her. Instead, he redirects their attention to an easier first target: Min-su, who has been kicking the air because he’s convinced that Thanos and Nam-gyu are holding onto his feet. Myung-gi suggests that Min-su may be dangerous as a drug addict seemingly going through withdrawals, and the group votes to take him out first. Still, Min-su doesn’t want to jump, and no one wants to risk getting close enough to the edge to push him off. Myung-gi ultimately grabs a pole from the pillar that Min-su mistakes for Se-mi’s outstretched hand. “I’m sorry,” Myung-gi says. “I didn’t want to do this.” Min-su apologizes to Se-mi, takes what he believes to be her hand, and is pushed to his death.
The players cross a bridge to the next tower, where Myung-gi tells Jeong-dae not to start the countdown until they separate Gi-hun from the baby. The group again tries to rationalize the morality of killing the baby. Addressing Gi-hun respectfully, Player 353 even suggests that Gi-hun simply hang the baby on the pole and look away as she’s sent “to a better place.” Otherwise, Player 353 warns he may use the pole to push both of them off. Gi-hun hits a nerve when he questions how they’ll decide who to kill in the next round if that happens. “What are you going to do, draw lots?” he asks. “Or will you pick the easiest target?”
Player 203, the one who kicked another player to her death during the jump rope game, starts the countdown timer because he’s tired of waiting. Gi-hun warns Player 353 that it could be his turn to die next, pointing out that the other players are already whispering behind his back. The words from the dorm walls — Hodie Mihi, Cras Tibi (me today, you tomorrow) — have never felt more relevant.
When Player 203 and Player 353 start fighting, Myung-gi swoops in with a different idea. After several rounds of rock-paper-scissors, it’s determined that Player 336 will approach Gi-hun while supported by the rest of the Os via a rope made from all of their jackets. The group tells Gi-hun that they’ve decided to draw lots. He doesn’t trust them enough to come to the center, and his instincts are correct because the actual plan is for Player 336 to lunge at him. Gi-hun pulls out his knife, cutting the jacket lifeline. As Gi-hun holds Player 336 at knifepoint, Myung-gi advances from behind with the pole. At the last second, however, he yells for Gi-hun to move and pushes Player 336 off instead.
Myung-gi announces that he’s on Gi-hun’s side and reveals that the baby is his. No one knows whether to believe him, although Gi-hun does remember seeing Myung-gi approach Jun-hee during the jump rope game. The other players still have the majority and vote in favor of drawing lots in the next round. Myung-gi rejects the idea because he doesn’t trust them. As a last resort, the O group sacrifices their majority by turning on one of their own, brutally beating Player 39 up so that he can be a “lunch box” they pack to throw off at the next pillar. “This isn’t the solution,” Gi-hun says, and suggests that they draw lots and leave the baby out. At this point, Player 203 attacks Gi-hun and Player 353 attacks Myung-gi. Gi-hun’s scuffle brings the knife worryingly close to the crying baby. Although Myung-gi dangles near the edge and Gi-hun is choked, they both ultimately manage to kill their attackers.
Jeong-dae suggests that they still bring Player 39 as their lunch box to the next round. He only has 10 billion won of debt and claims that he’ll split his extra 1.4 billion won with Myung-gi and Gi-hun. “We’ll get 15.2 billion each with you gone,” Myung-gi says and uses the pole to push him off. Oh, wow. His greed has gotten the best of him again, hasn’t it? This is such an odd move for someone who has been so calculated with his gameplay on the towers so far. I’m as much of a Jeong-dae hater as anyone else, but he had no weapons and no majority vote. If Myung-gi’s main priority was truly to ensure that his baby survives, then from a purely strategic perspective, it’s disadvantageous to eliminate more people than necessary before the next round because it means there will be fewer other options to choose from instead of the child. To make the stakes even higher, Player 39 crawls to the edge after the round ends. “I’m sorry,” he says, “but I don’t want to be your lunch box.” Myung-gi tries to calm him down, but a sobbing Player 39 has already made up his mind and throws himself off the edge. Myung-gi turns to look at Gi-hun, who clutches the baby a little closer to his chest.
As the pool of players has been dwindling to the final three, No-eul has been busy risking her life for a different child: Gyeong-seok’s daughter. She breaks into the officer’s room and holds him at gunpoint until he deletes all records of Gyeong-seok on the computer. There’s also a hard copy in the top-floor archives that only he and the captain have access to, so she directs him into the elevator. He fights back, and they leave her gun behind as their combat brings them back into the room. When the officer finds out that No-eul is doing this because of Gyeong-seok’s daughter, he questions whether this is her way of assuaging her guilt over abandoning her child. No-eul just asks him to spare the father and daughter.
Although No-eul and the officer both stab and hit each other, her injuries are more severe than his. She eventually loses her knife and gets a glass smashed over her head. The officer is also a North Korean defector, and this organ-trafficking scheme seems to hold weight for him as someone who lost a loved one who needed a kidney. She’s crossed a line in undermining his operation, so he’s going to kill her. No-eul somehow finds the strength to drag herself to the elevator. The officer only remembers the gun inside seconds before she grabs it and shoots him. Just a few minutes ago, it seemed painful for her just to crawl, yet she’s now able to stand and drag the officer’s corpse to hold the elevator door open as she searches for the archives and ultimately finds Gyeong-seok’s file.
Speaking of Gyeong-seok, he’s been trying to fight off the pink soldiers who have begun opening fire on his boat. He runs out of ammo, but the soldier who is about to shoot him is killed first — Jun-ho’s ship has arrived. Seeing Gyeong-seok and all the other people in these pink soldier costumes is confirmation that he’s headed in the right direction, but he already knew that. Earlier in the episode, In-ho called Jun-ho to tell him to give up, warning his brother that he would die if he digs any further into the game. In-ho hung up when Jun-ho replied, “You’ll have to kill me.” That does seem to be the one thing that In-ho hasn’t been able to do yet, and we’ll have to wait until the finale to see whether that changes. Will Jun-ho be able to interrupt the game before Gi-hun, Myung-gi, or the baby has to die?
Parting Shots
• At one point, Jeong-dae randomly wonders if Gi-hun is so attached to the baby because he’s actually the father. The masked officer also questions if No-eul is risking her life because she has feelings for Gyeong-seok. Why do these people jump to assume that romantic relationships are the motivation? I know there are No-eul and Gyeong-seok shippers out there, but Gi-hun has always come across as more of a father figure to Jun-hee. It feels gross to suggest otherwise.
• The VIPs seem shocked when they hear that Myung-gi is the father of Jun-hee’s baby, so does that mean they didn’t get translations of the conversations that happened in the dorm and in the waiting area before the hide-and-seek game? They’ve been missing out on a lot of context! I also would’ve assumed that it was the type information that the game would’ve collected in one of those extensive player files, but maybe the VIPs prefer to go in blind … or maybe Jun-hee was so upset at Myung-gi that she ensured that there was no medical record of the paternity.
• Oh Il-nam being in that closet that No-eul opened up was a bit of a jumpscare. That’s gotta be some sort of latex recreation or Madame Tussauds wax figure, right? For one wild, horrifying second, I thought he had gotten himself taxidermied. And you know what? He was a strange enough guy that I honestly still haven’t ruled it out.