It's hard to put into words all there is to say about season two of Squid Game. If I had to put it as briefly as possible, it's that season two of Squid Game is just fine. It's not too outrageously bad, but it clearly lacks the magnetism that made season one such a global phenomenon. That is to say - most of what makes season two good is already what made season one good; it doesn't add almost anything. Essentially, you can tell that there was never a plan for a second season of the show to be made, and that it was tacked on afterwards following it's smash success.

There is still a lot to be liked about the second season, although a large part of it (the games themselves, the violence etc..) was already done in season one. If I had to pick unique additions in this season that I think made it more interesting without delving into spoilers it would be 1) the inclusion of a pink solider in the main cast and 2) actually getting to see the the front man as a character. It is always intriguing to get more of a look into the other side of the games and to see who we typically see as minor antagonists as actual characters.

The new set of characters are also quite interesting, although I find that is more for the actors and less the characters themselves. We get to see new people, with new purposes, but a lot of them do not have the draw that the characters in season one did. Maybe it is because there are far more characters that are focused on, but they aren't as interesting for the most part. Likewise, a lot of the extras were way too over the top which broke reality a lot (but we will get to that more later). The acting from the main characters is fantastic, which you would expect of such a star cast. Lee Byung Hun, Park Sung Hoon, Im Si Wan, and Gong Yoo were particular stand outs I felt did an amazing job, especially in playing their characters with nuance and dimension.

That being said, season two has a lot of faults, which I think is largely because it was such a commercial production. Yes, this comes with some benefits like a large budget to hire renowned actors, and fun the technical side of things, but it has no soul. It feels like it was made to make money and to appeal to a large amount of people. There is a *major* tonal shift in this season, to the point that I actually double checked that there was not comedy tag written, which is kinda insane considering this show is about a death game. But a lot of it is played for dramatic and comedic effect. The extras act over the top, TOPs character is 2D and flat (especially in comparison to the 'bad guy player' last season), and the music choices are terrible.

It completely changes the emotion of the show. Things don't feel life or death, the stakes don't feel high. It's hard to care about the characters when the show is portraying things as outright goofy. You could really feel the tension and fear of all the characters in season one, you don't get that here.

Speaking of, I had a major issue with the sound design. Like a large part of the technical elements it is disingenuous . There is the use of what really feels like copyright free music, including canned dramatic stings and boom sound effects you could find on garage band, and a misuse of the music. It feels out of place, and there were many instances where music was used when it shouldn't have been, which really took away form the scenes. Same with some of the sound effects that sounded really out of place (like the applause which was clearly overlaid). It really shows the different between season one and two. In season one the sound design was genius, it made the experience so much more impactful. Here it is generic, like any other Netflix show.

The same can be said of the visuals, which were such a highlight of the first season. The cinematography really lacks this season, and there was only one original scene in this show I felt mimicked the iconic imagery of the first. But again, it's just bland and uninspired. There is also a bit of that in the writing, you don't get the psychological aspect, like slow wear down of morals like you do in season one. (And I won't even go into how this one hardly speaks to what the first one did allegorically or symbolically).

At the end of the day, we never needed a second season, and you can tell the only people who wanted one were executives and not anyone with a creative drive, especially not the writer/director. The things that made season two good are things we already enjoyed in season one, and there is a lot in season two that is downgraded from season one. It feels like a flanderization of itself, where the people who made the show didn't understand what made the first season so good. They thought the audience was there for the action and violence and nothing else, which is of course not true at all.

Overall the season is, as I said, just fine. It's nice to watch just once to get a little more of a look at the other side of the games, but it's not spectacular. It lacks the draw of season one, and practically everything else that made season one good. You are far better off re-watching season one than watching season two, as it's a much better experience. I can't necessarily say I'm disappointed, but you can really tell the commercialization got to the show.