‘Squid Game’ Season 3 Review: Thrilling Set-Pieces, Strong Performances – and an Emotionally Numbing Finale (LatestLY Exclusive)

Squid Game Season 3 Review: (SPOILERS AHEAD) So Squid Game, the hit South-Korean series has finally wrapped, and - let me be honest - I’m feeling rather downbeat. Not because it bowed out before overstaying its welcome; even three seasons were enough to stretch the premise. It’s the way it ended. I never expected Squid Game to serve up sunshine and kittens - modern TV is too intent on mirroring our grim reality for that - but I still didn’t foresee quite this level of bleakness. Is BTS’ V in ‘Squid Game Season 3’ on Netflix? Fans Go Wild With Theories, but the Truth Is Different – Know More.

Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game began as a razor-sharp satire on capitalism not-so-thinly disguised as a reality-show thriller. Season 1 delivered taut tension, flawed (by design) but compelling characters and a gut-punch of a final twist. Season 2 felt darker, grimmer - and frankly padded - because Netflix split one story into two halves. Season 3, being that second half, continues that downward spiral of moroseness, ramping up the behavioural sadism until you’re downright wistful for the real world.

'Squid Game' Season 3 Review - The Plot

After the failed revolt and the Front Man’s (Lee Byung-hun) betrayal leave most contestants dead, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is hurled back into the game arena, bruised, physically, and broken, mentally. Some surviving players want out; others still chase a bigger payday. The games grow ever more twisted, casualties soar, and we wonder what the Front Man’s endgame is. Is he merely sadistic, or grooming Gi-hun to succeed him because he’s sick of appeasing bloodthirsty billionaires?

Watch the Trailer of 'Squid Game' Season 3:

Parallel plots also return. Front Man’s brother Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) continues his investigation to find the island, oblivious to mole Captain Park (Oh Dal-su) on his team. Meanwhile, Squid Games guard-turned-defector No-eul (Park Gyu-young) tries to rescue Gyeong-seok (Lee Jin-wook) and reunite him with his cancer-stricken daughter.

'Squid Game' Season 3 Review - Impressive Set-Pieces and Performances

What still captivates about Squid Game, three seasons in? The show looks gorgeous and remains thrilling: razor-sharp cinematography that makes fantastic use of the set design, ingeniously staged games filmed in quasi-real time, and heartbreaks aplenty as the roster thins. The second episode’s hide-and-seek is a pulse-pounder with two gutting deaths (among many others); a later skipping-rope challenge culls the field further. The finale descends into psychological brinkmanship so grim you almost beg the players to stop bargaining over each other’s lives.

To muddy things further, a mid-season childbirth introduces a newborn into the stakes, upping the tension yet acting as narrative armour. Squid Game has no qualms about killing innocents (Ali, rest in peace), but I was certain it would never harm a baby. Spoiler: it doesn’t.

The show's continual apathetic portrayal of human nature - whether demonstrated by the desperate players or the calculating game masters - would have seemed farcical in another era. This grim perspective lands differently today. We now live in an age where segments of the population openly cheer for genocide, where the brutal massacre of children and infants becomes material for callous jokes. The show's dystopian vision no longer feels like exaggeration, but rather like a distorted mirror held up to our world, where news channels have become reality shows for us.

Gi-hun spends this season quieter, bruised by last season’s bloodbath and steeped in guilt over the resultant deaths. Lee Jung-jae’s restrained, anguished turn remains magnetic; the character only regains purpose late on, via the sort of middle-aged-dad mission TV writers currently adore. Guess what it is.

The supporting cast shines: Kang Ae-shim lends warmth and delivers the season’s most moving monologue as matriarch Geum-ja; Im Si-wan is convincing as the opportunist MG Coin (though I was confused about his motivations near the end); Jo Yu-ri breaks hearts as tragic Jun-hee.

'Squid Game' Season 3 Review - The VIPs Return

However, the new season also reintroduces the show’s most insufferable characters - the VIPs; there are some new ones this time that still bring back the same flaws. I’m unsure whether this was intentional, but every time these obnoxious figures speak, they come across as gratingly unnatural - and not simply because they’re meant to be despicable. Whether it’s the clunky English dialogue they’re forced to deliver or their painfully stilted acting, the result is equally jarring. To make matters worse, unlike their brief, single-episode appearance in Season 1, this time they linger across multiple episodes, and their anticlimactic storyline left me thoroughly disappointed.

Before delving into the finale, I should also address the two other parallel narratives. No-eul’s arc held promise in Season 2, offering a fresh perspective as an employee working for Squid Games. Yet, the split-season format leaves her storyline feeling oddly disconnected from the main events, despite unfolding on the same island. ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Review: High-Stakes Thrills, Performances and Gong Yoo’s Standout Cameo Make for a Worthy but Flawed Netflix Sequel.

Jun-ho’s quest to find his brother and Woo-seok’s (Jeon Seok-ho) hunt for the mole prove slightly more engaging-eventually merging with No-eul’s storyline - but even this thread fizzles out with a disappointingly tame conclusion.

'Squid Game' Season 3 Review - A Bleak Finale

This brings me to the final episode, where the tone shifts from grim to downright cold. I'll be sharing some SPOILER-adjacent thoughts here while avoiding actual plot revelations. While the episode manages to tie up most loose ends, including Gi-hun's storyline, many viewers will likely feel emotionally adrift by the conclusion.

There's certainly merit in endings that aren't conventionally happy - the German Netflix series Dark, for instance, avoided a typical happy resolution after three seasons, yet delivered a conclusion that was neither depressing nor unsatisfying, but rather logically coherent and emotionally complete.

By contrast, Squid Game Season 3's ending feels bleak purely for the sake of it. I'm no stranger to downbeat conclusions, but when you're following a protagonist determined to dismantle a system that toys with human lives, only to deny that arc a meaningful resolution, one has to question the narrative purpose.

Yes, Squid Game has become such a cultural phenomenon that it even secures a major Hollywood cameo in the final episode hinting at universe expansion, but if this cold pessimism represents the creative direction, my enthusiasm for returning to this world has significantly waned.

'Squid Game' Season 3 Review - Final Thoughts

The most fascinating aspect of Squid Game Season 3 is how it continues to deliver an immersive narrative packed with thrilling sequences, unpredictable twists, and memorable character arcs and performances. Yet the show's growing cynicism with its own world leaves a bitter aftertaste by the finale, as we search in vain for even a glimmer of hope amidst the unrelenting gloom. Ultimately, Squid Game Season 3 doesn't merely pull the rug from under your feet - it sends you crashing to the cold floor, leaving you with an overwhelming sense of emotional numbness. All three seasons of Squid Game are currently streaming on Netflix.

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 28, 2025 12:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).