14 Things You Might Have Missed

Netflix has finally dropped the long-awaited second season of Squid Game—its most watched show ever—and the action certainly doesn’t disappoint! Driven largely by a tight storyline, its iconic costumes and candy-colored set design, and compelling acting performances from both new and returning cast members, the series immediately shot to No. 1 in the U.S. on Netflix’s daily ranking of the top 10 TV shows.

Season 2 sees Lee Jung-jae reprising his role as Seong Gi-hun, the sole winner of last season’s Squid Game who decides to reenter the deadly survival competition in order to shut it down for good. Lee Byung-hun and Wi Ha-jun return as the Front Man/Hwang In-ho and Hwang Jun-ho respectively, while Gong Yoo steals the show in the first episode as the recruiter (as a side note, who knew that a psychopathic Gong Yoo could be so hot?!). They’re joined by newcomers that include some of South Korea’s most recognizable K-drama actors (and even K-pop stars) like Yim Si-wan, Park Sung-hoon, Lee Jin-uk, Park Gyu-young, Kang Ha-neul, Park Hee-soon, Jo Yuri, T.O.P and more.

Though thankfully the script is pretty straightforward and the show’s English subtitles are clear enough that most of the scenes don’t require additional context, there were a few instances in the first five episodes that might have left some viewers a bit confused.

So here’s a breakdown of some of those scenes, along with explanations for certain Korean cultural references and nuances that might be unfamiliar to many viewers. (Note that this piece assumes that the viewer will have watched the show in its original Korean audio with English subtitles.)

Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

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Episode 1: Bread and Lottery

1. Many K-drama fans will already know this one: When police officer Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) stops a couple on a scooter, the female passenger first addresses him as ajusshi (아저씨), a Korean term generally reserved for middle-aged men, and asks him if he can just let it slide.

When Jun-ho refuses, she suddenly tries to butter him up by complimenting his looks and calling him oppa (오빠), a word used by Korean women to address an older brother. However, since the 1990s many Korean women have also used it as a term of endearment for male friends or romantic partners who are older than them.

Oppa usually implies that the man is only slightly older than the woman and also has a connotation of closeness/familiarity, which the word ajusshi doesn’t have in this case. The Dramabeans site has a great explainer on the meaning of oppa, which is frequently heard in K-dramas.

Episode 2: Halloween Party

2. It’s worth noting that the North Korean broker speaks in a North Korean accent, but No-eul (Park Gyu-young), a North Korean defector who was a soldier in her home country, doesn’t. (Note that Sae-byeok from Season 1 also didn’t speak with a North Korean accent except when talking to her brother. Many North Korean defectors who live in South Korea deliberately hide their accent in order to blend in and avoid potential discrimination.)

Episode 3: 001

3. Player 044 (portrayed by Chae Gook-hee) is a Korean shaman (often called a mudang “무당” in Korean, though the term also has derogatory connotations) who offers to perform a ritual (called a gut “굿”) for Gi-hun. Korean shamanism is an indigenous spiritual tradition that has existed in Korea since ancient times, and although very few Koreans practice it today, many view shamans as fortunetellers and might still consult one for serious health issues or thorny personal or professional problems. Korean shamans—the majority of whom are women—perform a gut ceremony to communicate with spirits, often to ask for their assistance.

4. It seems only natural that a character like Myung-gi (played by Yim Si-wan of Run On and Misaeng: Incomplete Life) would be included in this show, as cryptocurrency scams are a huge problem in South Korea, with some of them involving popular YouTubers helping to promote these scams. Just last month, South Korean police arrested 215 people in connection with the largest crypto scam in Korean history.

5. It’s a bit ironic that Thanos (the retired rapper with purple hair) is played by none other than T.O.P, who has a few things in common with his character. T.O.P (real name Choi Seung-hyun) is a former member and rapper of the iconic K-pop boy band BIGBANG. In 2017 he was handed a 10-month suspended prison sentence with two years probation for smoking marijuana several times (drug abuse of any kind in South Korea comes with serious consequences). Due to the public backlash he received over his marijuana scandal, he announced his retirement from the entertainment industry but later reversed course by appearing in Season 2 of Squid Game. His casting came as a shock to many Koreans and incited a lot of controversy in South Korea.

6. As University of Toronto professor Michelle Cho recently shared on the CBC podcast Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, transgender participant Hyun-ju (wonderfully portrayed by Park Sung-hoon of The Glory and Queen of Tears), who reveals herself to be a former soldier, is likely inspired by the real-life Korean transgender soldier and activist Byun Hee-soo, who tragically passed away in an apparent suicide in 2021.

The decision to have Park, a cis man, play a transgender woman sparked criticism from many international fans. Squid Game writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk told TV Guide that although he’d wanted to cast a trans actor in the role, he and his crew found that there were “close to no actors that are openly trans, let alone openly gay” due to the ongoing marginalization of the LGBTQ+ community in South Korea.

Episode 4: Six Legs

7. When the players file into a vast indoor track to participate in the “Six-Legged Pentathlon,” the entrance is inscribed with the three words “힘차게 씩씩하게 굳세게,” which can be loosely translated to mean “strongly, energetically, firmly.” Such words were historically used in South Korean schools to encourage kids at sports events or during P.E. class, though here they strike a more ominous tone.

8. In the past, ddakji (딱지) was usually played by boys, while gonggi (공기) is traditionally considered to be a game for girls. This is why it’s a bit hilarious when Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul) says he can play gonggi, while Jun-hee (Jo Yuri) says she’s never played the game before but is good at playing ddakji.

Episode 5: One More Game

9. When it comes time for Gi-hun’s team to attempt the “Six-Legged Pentathlon,” the song played in the background is “To You (그대에게),” one of the most beloved and recognizable songs to ever come out of South Korea since the 1980s. Written, composed and performed by the legendary Korean musician Shin Hae-chul, “To You” was the debut song of Shin’s college band Infinite Track, who won the grand prize at the 1988 MBC Campus Song Festival, a once popular annual music competition that launched the careers of countless Korean artists.

Shin would go on to form the rock band N.EX.T and launch a successful solo career, earning the nickname “The Devil” or “Demon Lord” for his electrifying performances and lyrics that often contained sharp social commentary. He tragically passed away in 2014 due to surgical malpractice.

To this day, “To You” is considered Shin’s most iconic song and is often used to cheer on teams at school festivals and sports events, making this the perfect soundtrack for this scene.

10. Thanos tells Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won) to call Se-mi “noona” (누나), a Korean term used by men to address an older sister, but the word can also be used by men to refer to a female friend or even a romantic partner who’s older (but not too much older) than them (similar to how many Korean women use the word oppa for an older man that they’re close with).

11. Unnie (or unni) (언니) is how a Korean woman addresses an older sister, or an older female friend. Either way, the term is reserved for women, which is why Hyun-ju looks a bit surprised and touched when Young-mi (Kim Si-eun) calls her “unnie,” essentially acknowledging Hyun-ju’s gender identity.

12. In this scene where two male pink guards threaten No-eul, they say the phrase 남남북녀 (pronounced like “nahm-nahm buk-nyuh”), which literally translates to “south-man-north-woman.” It’s an old saying that predates the division of Korea and is often taken to mean that men from the southern part of the Korean peninsula are traditionally thought to be more handsome and successful, while women from the northern part are believed to be more naturally beautiful.

Also, because most North Korean defectors who settle in South Korea are women, there are a number of matchmaking agencies that specialize in pairing South Korean men with North Korean women. The sign in the broker’s office, for instance, reads “marriage between a South Korean man and a North Korean woman.”

13. The Front Man (played by veteran actor Lee Byung-hun) disguises himself as Player 001 and introduces himself with the pseudonym “Young-il.” While the name “Young-il” itself would likely have a different meaning, its first syllable “young” sounds like a Korean word for “zero,” while “il” sounds like “one”—just like his player number.

Gi-hun’s last name “Seong” also sounds like the Korean word for “last name” (they’re also both written the same way in Korean—성). Young-il laughingly points out this pun but is met with awkward silence from other members in his group.

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14. Okay, can I just say that “둥글게 둥글게” (“Round and round”)—which is the song played during the last game, Mingle—is a classic Korean children’s song that my mom used to play for me on a cassette when I was a child so that I could learn Korean? When I was young, I’d picture happy Korean kids dancing, clapping and singing this tune with smiles on their faces, something similar to this:

But from now on, every time I hear this song, I’ll just think of adults getting brutally murdered. (Thanks, Director Hwang, for totally ruining this song for me lol…)

Squid Game Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

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Update: This article, originally published at 3:07 p.m. EST, was updated with a correction about T.O.P’s prison sentence at 9:33 p.m. EST. The article previously stated that T.O.P had been sentenced to 10 months in prison, but it was actually a suspended 10-month jail term with a two-year probationary period.

The article was updated again at 11:32 p.m. EST with a video clip that provides a glimpse into Shin Hae-chul’s illustrious music career.