Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Squid Game season 2!
Squid Game season 2 introduces an all-new voting system to the titular competition, and here is the terrifying reason why Netflix's latest batch of episodes does this. Squid Game has always been horrifying, with the show's deadly take on children's games causing tons of characters to risk their lives for money. While the titular games are mostly the same in Squid Game season 2, the biggest difference has to do with how the competition's voting system works, with this major change being the key to unlocking the new thematic purpose of Squid Game season 2.
In Squid Game season 1, the participants in the games are given the opportunity to leave, with them voting to leave the island. However, Squid Game season 2's voting system has some key differences. Firstly, the characters are allowed to vote on if they want to go home after every game, with them doing so after each of the games in Squid Game season 2. Secondly, if the characters choose to go home before the end of the competition, they are able to divide and keep whatever money has been accumulated so far, whereas in season 1 leaving meant that nobody got the money.
Squid Game Season 2’s Voting System Further Proves The Front Man’s Point
He Knew They Would Never Choose To Leave
Although the leaders of the competition in Squid Game are behind the deaths of tons of people, the Front Man is insistent that the participants are choosing to be there. The Front Man and the other characters who help operate the competition believe that the participants are lesser people, with them being in debt and poverty due to a personal failing rather than a systemic one. The Squid Game villains use the competition to highlight this, with them believing that the participants' pursuit of money with always lead to the destruction of their humanity and their lives.
Although the Front Man is giving the players a chance to leave the island, he knows that they never will, with him believing that their greed will lead them to continue sacrificing each other. After the first three votes of the week, the Front Man has turned out to be right, with the players voting to stay two times and the vote ending in a tie the third time.
With all episodes of Squid Game season 2 available to stream on Netflix, debate has begun about how the new season compares to its predecessor.
Even though the players always say that they will vote to leave after one more game, this never happens, with the continually rising pool of money making them want even more. By the end of Squid Game season 2, the vote is split, although some players who originally wanted to leave have become convinced to stay for one more game. While the people who want to leave are attempting to appeal to the humanity of the people who want to stay, this doesn't work, with them even resorting to killing each other before giving up on the chance for more money.
Gi-hun Failed To Get The Players To Stop The Games Twice (As The Front Man Expected)
But They Do Tie In The Third Vote
At the start of Squid Game season 2, Gi-hun wanted his mercenaries to invade the island that the competition is held on. However, when he discovered that the tracking chip from his dental implant had been removed, he quickly realized that this would not work. Instead, Gi-hun pivoted to a new plan, with him wanting to guide the players through the first game and save as many lives as possible. Gi-hun believed that, after seeing the deaths in the first game, the players would voluntarily choose to leave the island, although this didn't end up happening.
Gi-hun got a second chance after the competition's second game, the six-legged race. Although the number of remaining voters was close to even, Gi-hun believed that attempting to convince the other players to change their vote would be dangerous, with him instead believing that they would naturally change their votes after the game. Again, however, the players chose to stay on the island for one more game.
While only time will how Squid Game season 3 will unfold, season 2's story developments leave enough for viewers to come up with intriguing theories.
This whole time, the Front Man knew that the players would never vote to leave the island, with him disguising himself as Young-il to ensure this. Gi-hun did get close in the third vote, which ended in a tie, although things quickly turned bloody with the players began to murder each other.
Squid Game Season 2 Foreshadowed Its Voting System Twist With “Bread Or Lottery”
Both Moments Are Thematic Parallels
In the Squid Game pilot, Gi-hun hires tons of people to track down the Recruiter, the character who recruits people to participate in Squid Game's competition by playing Ddakji with them. Eventually, two of Gi-hun's men find the Recruiter, with them tracking him around the city. They see the Recruiter buy tons of bread and lottery tickets, with them then following him to a park. The Recruiter approaches homeless people and offers them either a piece of bread or a lottery ticket, with the vast majority of them choosing the lottery ticket and losing.
This scene in Squid Game season 2 foreshadows the season's voting system. In both the lottery ticket and the voting scenario, struggling characters are choosing a slim chance for money over security. Much like the people who failed to choose the bread, the players who failed to vote to go home believe the slim chance at something great is better than the continuation of their normal lives, a belief that leads to most of the players dying.
Squid Game’s O vs. X Voting Was A Metaphor For Season 2’s Story
It Is Key To Understanding Season 2's Themes
Although the voting scenes in Squid Game season 2 only happen a few times, it was the core of the episodes, with it acting as a metaphor for season 2's story. Squid Game season 2 spends a lot more time focusing on the tribalism and factions that form throughout the week, with the characters literally wearing patches on their chest that signal who they voted for. The two teams begin to dehumanize each other, to the point where they actually murder each other in the season finale, showing how the money has turned them against each other.
Squid Game season 2 concluded with many of the show's main characters still alive, raising the question of what’s next for them in season 3.
The players on the O team are hated for gambling the lives of the players on the X team, something that is seen perfectly in the relationship between mother and son Jang Geum-ja and Park Yong-sik. Whereas Squid Game season 1 used the games to critique capitalism, season 2 more specifically used the games and the voting system to highlight tribalism, something that will undoubtedly continue to be explored in Squid Game season 3.
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Three years after his victory, Gi-hun returns to the deadly survival game with a renewed determination. As new participants vie for the massive cash prize, the series delves into their personal motives, testing alliances and moral boundaries in a high-stakes battle for survival and fortune.
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