‘Squid Sport’ Season 3 Lastly Jumped the Shark. This is When It Occurred

Squid Sport, Netflix’s international phenomenon, premiered its third and closing season practically two weeks in the past. You most likely know this. Heck, you have most likely watched all six episodes already (and perhaps you are feeling that is the way it ought to’ve ended). I admit I’ve dropped the ball on staying updated on the streamer’s dystopian juggernaut. Some large twists, bloody kills and story reveals have already hit the web. 

My excuse? Fatherhood. Yeah, I do know that feels like I am utilizing my daughter as a scapegoat right here, however I can’t watch Participant 456/Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and the gang partake on this loss of life gauntlet whereas my 6-year-old is within the room. So, it was on the again burner for a bit there.

The final time I wrote about Squid Sport in any actual depth, the second season’s cliffhanger was nonetheless on each fan’s thoughts. Questions concerning what the brand new video games would appear to be, who will survive, how the climactic confrontation between the Entrance Man (Lee Byung-hun) and Gi-hun will happen, and if those conserving Squid Sport up and operating can be delivered to justice by Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) and his staff have been actively swirling.

One factor I wasn’t anticipating, although, was the inclusion of a new child child into the combination. It was already established in season 2 that Participant 222 was pregnant. However contemplating the present’s sharp writing and unrelenting story stakes, I figured sequence creator Hwang Dong-hyuk was conserving some formidable story selections up his sleeve for the ultimate season. 

Boy, was I fallacious.

Spoiler warning: Earlier than I proceed, please know there are main story spoilers featured under for season 3 of Squid Sport. Should you’re studying this and have but to complete the episodes, flip again now. Or, you recognize, do not. It is your selection. You do you, boo.

Learn extra: Netflix Evaluate: Our Prime Decide in a Sea of Streaming Selections

The primary episode of season 3, Keys and Knives, does not waste any time, throwing viewers again into the bloody madness of the Squid Sport world. Conceal-and-seek is the primary new sport. Gamers in purple vests have to search out and homicide those in blue inside half-hour or be eradicated. The gamers in blue need to both conceal or discover the exit earlier than the time is up. 

As it is best to count on, the sport was crammed with copious quantities of bloodshed, back-stabbing and drama. And amid all of it, as the sport progressed in episode 2, The Starry Evening, Participant 222 goes into labor. 

Earlier than I get into all of my points with this story selection and what comes subsequent, I want to provide you some backstory about myself. 

Assuming you learn all the things above, you already know I’m a dad. Within the 12 months main as much as my daughter’s beginning, my spouse and I took birthing lessons. I realized that America’s medical system is missing in empathy or understanding on this enviornment and, not like what’s portrayed within the films, when a girl’s water breaks, it might take hours, and even days, earlier than the infant is born. 

Additionally, as you could know, a new child must be fed frequently — like, each two hours, or so — and it’ll scream and cry and allow you to know in the event you’re not punctual. And as you’ll be able to most likely think about, all these feedings result in frequent diaper modifications, too. As a lot as I confirmed as much as provide assist, there have been simply sure issues my spouse needed to put her physique by in an effort to look after our daughter. Suffice it to say, this complete expertise gave me clearer eyes concerning the methods by which childbirth and child-rearing are depicted in leisure. 

Now that we’re on top of things, let me get again to Squid Sport. Inside one thing like 10 minutes of getting her water break, Participant 222 gave beginning to a child woman who did not set free that signature first scream upon taking her first few breaths. It cried, do not get me fallacious; I suppose it was the perfect sort of cry a CGI child may accomplish. Nonetheless, that was the primary signal that I could also be watching a present that is aware of nothing about this material. 

It acquired worse from there. Except for the truth that energetic trauma could cause a girl’s physique to enter fight-or-flight mode, and make an energetic (and pure, for that matter) childbirth a extra time-consuming and difficult course of — my spouse, as an example, was in labor for 4 days — I used to be all of a sudden watching characters reconcile the fixed concern of being killed with the truth that they’ve new life on their fingers. 

I get it. The infant is a logo: Humanity’s beacon of hope amid the present’s grasping, classist themes. You have to give the viewers some gentle on the finish of the tunnel. 

However, very like when The Strolling Useless launched child Judith to the combination, I used to be instantly taken out of issues. My funding within the sequence took a nostril dive. Instantly, it was clear to me that the infant would survive all of it and, contemplating how artful Dong-hyuk has proven himself to be with the present’s large story twists, I started to have a sneaking suspicion that the new child would find yourself profitable the sport… one way or the other.

It introduced me a bizarre combine of delight and disappointment to study my prediction was proper. However actually, I now not cared. Because the season progressed, I watched because the new child had no diaper modifications, how Participant 222 and her barely-day-old daughter slept peacefully all through the night time, and the way it was not ate up an everyday schedule. 

I sat again and laughed on the sheer notion that Participant 222 may stand up and stroll after giving beginning, the way it was acceptable for Gi-hun to strap the toddler to his chest as he hustled by the present’s unbelievable model of soar rope. Shaken child syndrome or not, that was a baffling selection. And, after Participant 222 determined to finish her life and throw herself off a ledge, I threw my fingers up in disbelief that the present was doubling down on this story selection.

I get it, it is a fictional sequence. A social satire. A bloody little bit of escapism that took the world by storm. Nonetheless, if you wish to hold issues grounded and plausible, perhaps do a little bit of analysis earlier than you flip a CGI child right into a handy and misinformed story instrument. A scapegoat, even. Sorta like I did with my very own daughter earlier on this article. Only a thought. 

Now, David Fincher’s US spin-off is on the docket to maintain this world alive. My recommendation? Please do not put child within the Squid Sport. That is all I ask.

Squid Sport is now streaming in its entirety on Netflix.