Nothing But Netflix: Squid Game Season 2 Premiere

I was slipping through the channels the other day but there was nothing good on I had nothing to play So I went to my computer and realized that there was so much content before my eyes There's nothing Netflix

All right, nothing but Netflix. A special Squid Game series to Rob Sistrino so excited to get going here in Squid Game season two. It's dropped on Netflix and I'm very excited for a nothing but Netflix series accompanying all of Squid Game season two. And of course, back with me, my co-host, Chappelle Chaval, how are you?

Rob, Merry Christmas, we're back. We're back, yes, is this Boxing Day?

Yeah. Yeah. I guess so. It's a Christmas miracle here on the Netflix because we have a special gift for the listeners and for all these people on YouTube. Oh, oh, yeah. These days of squid game coverage. Yeah. What? The eight days of squid game? How are we doing this? The eight days or so of squid game? Season two. Yes. Jun Ho Ho Ho. Yes. All right. So we're ready to go and hear with us for this amazing ride.

This is a real treat. Give it up for Mike Bloom. Yes. Happy to play a game of Russian Bloomlet, where I'm going to have one dirty thing that I will say in this podcast. Oh, no. Oh, no. Figure out who's going to be said towards. Yeah, but one out of six chance.

Mike has six things loaded up. One of them will get him canceled. Okay. All right. Put on, put them all in the ball. I will say if, uh, you who had been part of survivor 47, when he had given up his shot, the one out of six chance is pretty comfortable to rush. We'll let know. All right. Well, this is, let's just set this up. Okay. We're going to talk spoilers for episode one of season two and all season one.

of a squid game season two. And then every day we are going to have a new podcast, talking about the next episode with Mike Bloom and Chappelle. Hey, this is wild. This is incredible. Yeah. This is, this is, suffice it to say, despite the fact that, you know, Chappelle has very lovingly been brought into this network for nearly five years at this point, this will be the first time that Chappelle and I are exclusively collaborating.

Yeah. So it's the first time we get the podcast. Let me ask you about this, because what's part time that you were asked, who's your hero? You said Mike Bloom, right? Yeah, but I was a liar back then. I was going to say I was saying whenever I was casting idol and mentor,

Yeah, no, I love Mike Bloom and somehow just somehow over the last four ish years going into five years now. Mike Bloom and I have only podcasted together to just like by ourselves, I think twice or something, just the two of us, which is crazy considering he does a billion podcasts. I do a billion podcasts, but now it's like these two balls of energy are just about to clash. And it's a lot. It's a lot. And I'm ready. I'm ready for the clash. I'm ready for all of it. Yeah, let's do it.

Okay. So this is very, very fun. Okay. I'm going to get you guys off to the races and then every day you two will come back with the next episode of squid game season two. So if people would like to watch along, we have a dedicated podcast for each and every episode of a squid game season two. Now Mike, you've gone back and you've watched all of squid game season one to get ready for this event.

Yes, which listen might not be the experience for everybody. So I do think there's going to have to be a little bit of hand holding him previously on explaining because season two clearly picks up from the moment season one ended. And so it's very understandable. If look, a lot has changed since September of 2021, when it's good game season one, it came out. And of course, just took the world by.

season one exactly. And the lot was won. In fact, 4.9 billion won was won at the end of the day, 14, I should say. And so 41, actually. And so it's interesting to see, you know, how they immediately pick up from this and how they go from this. It's always interesting whenever you have like a hit one season series,

If the creator was intending to pick it up for a second season, if not, how do they sort of build the plane as it's flying in that regard? We also do know that Squid Game will be coming back for a third and final season next year. So it's going to be a very quick turnaround. So this will be a bit of a shorter season. This is actually only several seven episodes, seven, the nine of season one. And I wonder if

by the end of or even the midpoint of 2025. We'll wonder if in typical Netflix fashion, this was more so like one big second season broke up into two parts. Right now it's being billed as season two and it's still a lot to get into with seven episodes. Yes. And in the meantime, since the last squiggings, Chappelle and I have also podcast about the real squid games, the reality TV squid games, which I think is going to be back for a second season.

We've done a lot of podcasting here on Nothing But Netflix. And it's crazy because Squid Game, our original coverage with Josh Wigler as our guest was our second episode of Nothing But Netflix. And since then, if I'm not mistaken, I think we're up to episode 146 canonical episodes. And that does not count the, you know, the little subgroups that we've done for like Squid Game, the challenge and other shows as well. So yeah, we've come a very long way in such a short amount of time.

Should we tie it all back to Squid Game? Episode 4.56 is the nothing but Netflix finale. I mean, listen, at this point, I think we might need to talk about it. You know, like, I think by that time, season three will probably be out and then we can knock it out. Maybe that'll be our finale. Who knows? Season nine of Squid Games, the challenge will be out by then. Yeah, probably. How many more of these can we do? I don't know. We haven't talked about it yet, but we're about to get into spoilers for season one. I mean, for season two, episode one and

I'm I'm kind of interested. We don't we haven't we didn't get into any of the games of it all and so I think they're like That was one of my mild disappoint. Yeah, so what I know we have to set the stage, but yeah, ready to find out what the game looks like. Yeah, exactly Well, then that's and that's a fun thing as well was getting to realize that while obviously putting squid games on Netflix had a big boon and

Right. Not only the property, I'm making it this huge, you know, Emmy winning success. At the same time, maybe Netflix didn't necessarily realize the messaging of squid cave considering that about a year later, it produces a show where it's like, yeah, our inherently anti-capitalistic show truly inspired us to just make this in real life and have actual living, breathing people who will pretend that they will die in the game. Skid games to the quest for more money. Yeah, we're back.

Now, I'm starting to get a little nervous. Okay. So episode one was fun. Okay. But we didn't squid game at all. She felt are we headed towards like a hunger games, catching fire situation where are we going to not squid game?

Well, you know, I think that, I mean, we learned anything from season one that, you know, these people should not actively be doing this. And we should be trying to shut this down like our protagonist is trying to do. And so it would not be a shock to me if we don't find ourselves following the path of one person going through each of the game, trying to survive.

Um, especially because we know who our main person is, you know, uh, and so I would hope that he avoids it. But at the same time, that's the joy of the Squid Game to me. I said it back then and I'll say it today. Watching the Squid Game was really just like, Oh, these childhood games are killing people. Let's see what that's like. And so I'm really hoping that we get some more deaths by childhood games.

Okay. Hold on. I'm, uh, Chappelle hold on a second. I've been that they're issuing a retraction. Uh, so, uh, just a fact check, uh, this be a hunger games mocking J situation, uh, not there was a hunger games in hunger games, catching fire and also the department of corrections, uh, wants me to call it G hunger games.

Okay. Well, look, I will never know what cactus evergreen was doing in those movies. I didn't watch them. So if you say there was no hunger game, it's not for me. Not for me. It's too much. It's only one piece of post-apocalyptic fiction for me. And it is it is squid games. Those are the only games I can get interested in. I'm a purist. Yeah, that's it.

All right. So Mike, why don't you lead us through the discussion here? Since you're the person who has gone back and rewatched season one and have the, the, the most correct information about the squid game. You say as I did get the amount of winnings wrong, it was 44, 45.6 billion won. It was 1 billion per contestant. Uh, that, of course, Guy, uh, Guy, who was able to take away in season one, but at point six.

billion one. Yes. And you know, we might see that we got to meet the boss last season, but maybe there's another doctor evil behind it all. Those are all were all little doctor evil. Isn't that sort of the message of squid game as well of what people might resort to for the idea, even of making more money down the line. So just to reset the stage a little bit, because again, we really pick right up from season two without

any sort of recompense or summary. Well, I get a couple of like, oh, here's what happened to June Ho because he was a little out of the picture in the final episode. But Guihun was our protagonist of Squid Game season, won a very indebted gambler bit of a low life.

Down bad and down bad with his bedding as well. And also even just from a personal standpoint was living at home with his mother really had no job prospects was divorced with a daughter but then found out, you know, he

does get into the squid game the first time is part of the group that votes by majority to end the game and then going back to his life realizes that you know the the most loving thing he has within his immediate view is now going to be much further away she is moving to the United States and so he decides among many people to throw himself back into the games again he does with

an incredibly bloody outcome, but he does emerge as quite literally the sole survivor with more money than he could possibly know what to do with. But for the past year since doing that, he has become quite literally a shell of himself. His mother passed away while he was gone. This childhood friend Song Wu ended up becoming like

This big prod prodigious business man only could turn out that he ended up kind of like frauding his clients. And so it was also in the squid game. He faced off with him at the end, and Song Lu ends up killing himself in order for Guihun to win the money. But it's clear that money does not necessarily make one happy in this regard. However, Guihun is eventually able to sort of turn his life around when he does end up coming face to face with fan favorite character, the old man, Il Nam.

Number one, quite literally in the numbers and in our hearts, as he reveals that actually he was the boss behind everything. And as he passes away, he gets a little bit of a lesson here as to there is some good in the world. And so Guy Hoon is able to turn his life around. He dies his hair to a nice, vibrant red, even though his bank account is far from being. That kind of went nowhere at all, right?

I mean, he's going to immediately change it as maybe it changes. Try it and stick. Yeah. Listen, who among us? That's what happens when you get a lot of money in your life. You're like, I'm going to try all these new things. And so, which is new Luke, he's heading off. Maybe even, you know, maybe it was like, listen, America's the country of red, white and blue. So let me dress up as, you know, one third of its of its colors there. But

He gets stopped and starts seeing red and not just in the mirror as he observes a familiar sight, what got him into this entire situation to begin in the first place and really the main focus of this first episode, this mysterious man in a business suit, stopping people in a train station, asking to play a game of a congee, which is the throwing the envelopes on the ground, trying to flip it. Not dandy.

not Don D exactly. But I mean, probably of just as luck basis, Don D. Let's be completely honest here and tempting them with a mysterious shape laden business card. And in that moment, he's able to come and dear, you know, the phone number and basically put in like a Liam Neeson-esque taken call to the front man saying, I don't know who you are, but I'm coming for you. Yeah. Well done, Mike. Now, Chappelle, if you had escaped the first squid game,

I feel like that you would have not been trying to get back in, right? You're gonna walk away with that money and protect your peace, right?

will go take care of my daughter, right? You know, like, that's the thing. This man was like, I'll do anything but raise that child. I'm not moving to America to go take care of her. Anything, anything except going to therapy, they say about us. And sometimes I'm like, they might be right. Because yeah, this man could definitely go use his money to go and live a life. He risked it all to do this.

He risked it all literally to get out of the hole. He was so much in debt. All these people are. They're all so down bad that they are willing to put their lives at danger and put other people's lives in danger as well in order to get this money. He does it. And then he's like, nani revenge because I've seen some things now.

You know, the things we saw in season one were so traumatic. Playing red light, green light, and watching people getting shot around you, the bridge, all the despicable things that happened, he saw it and he can't, he can't unsee it now. So he's like, I gotta tear the machine down. I gotta break everything apart so that we can't keep doing this. And so now he's dedicated his life to not raising his child.

but to being a vigilante for justice and taking down this squid game machine that's made him the way he is. He's rich, but he's also very, very broken in a way that he wasn't broken before.

Yeah, I do wonder obviously I think the impetus for next episode and hopefully that's it. I totally agree with you both that like I want to see Guihoon back in that familiar green and white track suit sooner rather than later. That is one of the it's odd to say appeals of the show because there is of course like this perverse enjoyment that comes out of it. But I also wonder

Is there another way in? Obviously, we'll talk about In Ho, which is the frontman who turned out, as was revealed in the first season, to be one of the previous winners of the Squid Game. Could he just come in as one of those morally depraved masked men that we saw in season one of these VIPs and instead try to take it down from there?

Yeah, but they know him. That's the, I guess that's his real issue, right? Is it he won? So he's like a celebrity in the Squid Game Streets. You know, I don't think, I think people are still talking about the lore. They're trying to repeat his game. It's a repeatable. We're ranking him in our winter rankings. Him or Inho, who do you put it at the top? You know, so he shows up and he's like, I just want to apply to work on staff. They're like, Hey, I'm not going to hire you. You're.

You're the guy. You're the guy who did the thing. So he can't come in covertly, especially when he's been trying to take everybody down. Maybe they could bring him in as like one of the coaches. Like could they have like an island of the idols type season? Or maybe maybe Gihum could be like a Dan Giesling where he starts as a coach. Oh, and then he has to reset the game.

Yeah. I mean, way better than him trying to like openly attack the actual game, you know, and I think that's the problem. If he came in, maybe if he came, hadn't had like, Hey, I won, but I got to get back in. Like, I got, I got to get my fist. Bring me back for all stars. Yeah. Maybe they would trust him and let him play. But it's very clear that he has a vendetta and an extra round of all these people.

Well, Mike, I don't know if it comes up, but I did hear rumors that they're saying that Squid Game 50 is going to be all returning players. So there's a lot of jockeying in the Squid Game community right now for people desperate to get back in.

Well, Rob, you're putting the car before the horse. I have to announce my daily podcaster. He's following this other daily podcaster is where I go through every single squid game and talk about what are the chances of each one coming back. Yeah. Also, if they bring a key on Dan Geethon back for a BP 14 type coaching, if he has a Guihun's funeral, I think also, I think that that's a good spot to do it on the squid game. People will buy that of like, well, I'm dying tonight. This is my funeral, everybody.

No one will push back. Yeah, exactly. Danielle, you're dead to me. Literally you did die during that game.

It's fine. Bring him back. Let him play. Because again, Mike's right. The jumpsuit, the games, it's why we signed up for this. And so to see him kind of in this detective role, you know, it's fun because we know we were there. We saw the amount of trauma that he went through. We know the things that they took from this man. We seen the scene that he's seen. So we get why he would want to come in and destroy it. But part of the joy in watching the show is like, all right, but like,

Well, you know, why are you going to make it across the bridge again? Can you do it twice? You know, that that's kind of what I got to get back. Mike, I don't remember them putting a transmitter in his ear with that. Was that part of season one? He didn't. Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, he just happened to conveniently realize. And now I mean, they do gas them profusely, knock them out enough that they're able to put them on a vote boat. And then they're like,

Because we follow Junho as he like tails along sideshow bob style and they like strip everyone's bodies and they put them in these suits. So I would imagine that was a part of it. I mean, they seem to have some sort of access to probably some sort of government insiders because they have dossier's on everybody personal details that they're just able to like rattle off at a moment's notice.

Was I surprised there was a transmitter behind his ear? Absolutely not. But I'm more surprised that, you know, with how bloody this show was and how bloody these contestants can get that they did not try to do this sooner, especially the first time after everybody nopes out of the game between episodes one and two last season, like they should have immediately gone for that. No, just considering the sketchy circumstances the first time they played.

Yeah, you could just let these people go, right? They all have to have some type of transmitter because they can all go and do exactly what this man is saying. If they escape the squid game, why wouldn't they go and try to take everybody down? Like, of course, they have a lot of money and they can live their life. But, you know, this is very much an evil, evil, evil thing that's happening. And so, you know, the person who is morally correct will probably say, all right.

How can I ring the bell? How can I blow the whistle on this whole thing? And so we got to make sure we don't lose sight of him. And so he has a transmitter and he needs to take it out in the bathroom of a convenience store. Yeah, but that's naked. Poor kid walks in, not only seeing the grown man in his underwear in the bathroom, you know, might get on a list for that. And then also on top of that is bleeding. It's like, sorry, kid.

I didn't think I could realize he was in Squid Game. Like once he walked past that TVMA rating, he's like, okay, I know what I signed up for here. I signed the disclaimer. I mean, what's also interesting is despite the fact that again, we're picking up right from where we left off, very noticeable time jump. And it should be noted that there was a time jump at the end of Squid Game season one as well, that Guihoon wins. And then one year later is where the old man dies and Guihoon's able to finally decide to go to the United States.

And so I guess it is three years total. I'm not sure that we missed three seasons of the squid game. That's the thing is I imagine it is an annual thing. You would imagine if I'm Gihoon, I'm going to try to get on this as quickly as possible. Do I guess that is something that's sort of implied here, right? Especially with the number of times he goes to that big wall calendar is like this has been a rather fruitless procedure for a couple of years. I think it's like Univision.

Yeah, exactly. Namely to try to catch the recruiter Red Hand, because that's their only real envoy into Squid Game, right? I would imagine after the first time he called that number, they promptly put him on the block list. And so he has no way of getting in contact with them. And so now he has recruited

A bunch of thugs, for lack of a better term, to do his dirty work. And this is a very fun callback from season one. I'm assuming the first of many. It gets loosely referenced here. But if you recall, in the season one premiere to show how down bad Jihoon was, he gets accosted in a bathroom. This seems to be the place for him to be at this point. By a bunch of like a lone shark and all of his goons,

And Guihun is going to recruit the loan shark and said goons to be the ones to ferret out this recruiter on his behalf. Okay. I had no idea. Yeah. Yeah. So that makes, you know, the climax of it, of course, with the game of rock, paper, scissors, minus one, maybe help the medicine go down a little bit by being like, I mean, it sucks for this guy, but at the same time, he was a predatory loan shark that did threaten to remove one of Guihun's kidneys if he didn't pay his debt in time.

Yeah, they sucked. But I mean, when you stack them next to the recruiter who they're going up against, I'm like, well, they're not that bad. Because the recruiter is insane. I don't think the season one does enough to really outline how crazy that man is. It's like, OK, he's playing this game with people in the subway and he's slapping the shit out of them. OK.

So he is a little loony, but now season two. Oh, the man's got a gun and he is wilding out. He's playing a restaurant roulette. He's like, uh, like throwing, uh, like bread down on the ground and stomping all over it. It's fun. Like if she pelt Rick James on those bread rolls.

Like, yo, Brad, you know, like he's doing all of that in front of all these homeless people. You know, it says, why? Like, who is this man? And so, yeah, you can look at the thugs, but when you look at the recruiter, they pale in comparison. The recruiter really was the star of the episode. We really went all in on the recruiter.

Yeah, I mean, listen, he's, he does a, he's a hard job, you know, much like in reality TV. Some people don't give a lot of credit to the tireless casting agents that work to find these people, bet them through the process and eventually put them in front of our eyes. He's casting my, he's like the Jesse Tannenbaum of Squid Game, the real Squid Game. I mean, it was a good question. I mean, he will be labeled a dog. So I'm not sure if he's taking direct orders from the master or if he's just like randomly walking around subway tunnels, finding these people that clearly looked down on their luck to be like,

Would you like to play a game? You just look like somebody who might be in the mood for you. Hey, you want to be on Squid Game? Does this look like fun to you? Apply. Yeah, exactly. Well, that's a good point because if you apply, you're insane. And that's, and I think that's the thing. We're looking for the person who is crazy enough to risk it all that you just played this game. A man is slapping the hell out of you in front of, in front of people in a subway. And you're just playing a game like, Oh, yeah.

I need to keep gambling. I need to keep going. You know, those are the people that they want from this show. And he knows exactly what to give him. So I don't even know if his job is that hard because he seems to really, really enjoy his job. You mean, look, Chappelle, when you love what you do, you don't work a day in your life. Exactly. It doesn't feel like work, you know? Because he gets to slap people and shoot his dad. What's not to love? Yes. OK. When he's not even on the clock, he's throwing a shot at his people. He's literally shot at his dad. That's how you do it on the squid game.

Yeah. He's going up to homeless people and you're like, you want a lottery ticket or you want some bread and he's just doing this for the love of the game. They're not even getting recruited. Right. I mean, like I'm looking at the survivor rice negotiation in a whole new light of like basically these people that are like, Jeff, I'm here. I got to play in the immunity challenge. I'm not taking the food. I'm not taking. I'm not going to step down for food right now. Like these people are perfect for the squid game.

That's the thing like it's not even a marshmallow test where it's like, okay, gratification now versus something down the line. It's just the remote possibility of something great. And I think that's where the rice negotiation analogy, Rob actually plays out really nicely where it's not even like, okay, you could have rice now or more rice in three days. It's you can have rice now, or you can have a chance at being immune.

And so again, you're able to put yourself in the mind of like shortly on paper, you would go for, especially when you're starving, assuming something that will fill your belly right now. But we have now seen time and time again from many different types of people from all walks of life that for whatever reason, the human brain is wider in a way that they're like, yeah, but a lottery ticket, those winnings could buy you so many bread rolls that you can stomp on in front of other homeless people. Yeah.

Yeah, and I felt like this is unfair because he's going to these people who are very down on their luck. Obviously, they're sleeping in parks and stuff. And so he's like, hey, would you like for me to give you this food? It's so obvious. The bread is right here. Or would you like this chance to change your life? That piece of bread is not going to get them off that, off that park bench. It should have been at least like a burger, like give them a meal, a roll. That's like an appetizer.

The guy is like, people offer me roles all the time. I get like, that's how I'm throwing bread at me. Give me the lotto ticket. Give me the scratch off. Because the lotto ticket could change my life. It'd be different if this person was like, I'm about to die today and I have to eat. But I'm choosing the lottery ticket over my last possible chance to eat food. You know, but the people.

are seemingly eating food on their own. The food is not the problem. I need money. I need to get out of here. I need to get off this bench. So he's really praying on people in a way that isn't fair to them. He's offering them a choice that's not really a choice. Would you teach a man to fish or a man to fish or whatever?

You're giving me a fish, but if you give me a bunch of fish, a bunch of money, I can buy a bunch of fishes. I can say I can sell the fish. You know, I can do something with the money that I can't do with the fish. So yeah, he it's like his mind is almost, you know, like sane, but like he's crazy. This man is nuts. And I was rooting on his downfall from the moment I saw that he was going the extra mile like this because it wasn't necessary.

Well, yeah, and that's the thing is that you imagine in the, the pitch that Guy who kind of gave him was like, you're just a cog in the machine, man. And that's something that we kind of learned a little bit about in season one when Junho went undercover on the production side of things is that, you know, the first chapter of freakinomics talks about a surprisingly similar hierarchy within the structure of the Ku Klux Klan and like major

inner city gangs and it's this idea that like no matter what the the organization that you're a part of there is this idea not only stratification but like trying to put the uh instill hope within those among the lower ranks of like and you can be like us one day you know almost setting up this system where you can rise through the ranks and so you can become as profitable as the big boss at the end of the day and Dihun's trying to come forward like

Yeah, you think that you're, you're doing something really important and, and you know, something that is making a big impact and maybe it is on death certificates, but at the end of the day, you're just serving a master, same as we are. But I think he realized why you don't necessarily try to talk sanity to a crazy man. Cause this guy's like, no, I love it. I'm not just a man in a suit. This is everything I've always wanted to do in my life. And so.

You know, maybe he would have taken the offer and just killed him right there, right? That he does get lucky in that instance. But yeah, it was a really interesting deep dive into a character that obviously is not going to be a part of the show anymore, but is perhaps a bit of a deeper dive as to what kind of people do sign up to not only do this thing, but specifically do this thing behind the scenes and allow and enable all the stuff we see to go down.

Well, Mike, you brought up that last scene. So we got to talk about this because this was quite a morality play in that final scene between the recruiter and Guihun going back and forth on the Russian roulette. And boy, I got us to give both these guys credit because these guys literally and figure really stuck to their guns. Basel steel. Yeah, really both of them.

Yeah, it says a lot about the recruiter, but it also says a lot about Guihan because, uh, yeah, sir, you have the bullet. You could just shoot this man. Matter of fact, you could probably hold the gun to his head and say, tell me where your masters are, you know, or something. There was no audience. Nobody, he wasn't like on a live stream. Nobody was going to the, the people that I think he just shot him anyway.

But no, he's like, no, I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you one other thing. I'm going to make you like acknowledge, acknowledge that you are nothing more than a dog. And I'm going to do that by taking a one and like a 50% chance, right? That I'm going to pull this gun and kill myself or I'm going to watch you do it. And then it's quite literally do or die.

Yeah. Right. And what you're doing at that point. Well, that's the thing. The recruiter could then turn and shoot you. Like, yeah, I don't know why he didn't do that. I mean, why? I mean, that's the thing is that there's like a there's this weird depraved morality and code. Like last season, there was that whole storyline. If you remember, we're like,

a bunch of the people behind the scenes had recruited what the contestants who was a doctor to harvest organs to sell behind the scenes on the black market and like when the front man found that off he killed the guy and all the employees and strung them up to be like let this be a lesson in here we are all equal it doesn't matter what our wealth and financial statuses are we're just

bags of flesh and sinew that are just waiting to die at this point. It's just a matter of how and when. And so, yeah, if you're able to kind of be brainwashed with this odd sense of morality, it does make sense. But it's like, no, we will specifically play in this way. Even if I die, it's fine. It's for the greater good and it's to teach you a lesson. One of the many deaths that you'll have ringing within your prefrontal cortex for the rest of your life

Get off your high horse guys. Right. Yeah. I shot him in the face. It'd be no. Okay. The moment I got the gun. Oh, okay. You got a one in six chance. Okay. Now I got a one. It's okay. I'm just going to keep pulling into you. Like this would have been a very easy conversation. I mean, I would say that I guess we saw this a bit with squid game. The challenge like if they did an American adaptation of squid game, suffice it to say it would be very different.

Yeah, they play one handed rock paper scissors. Yeah. Can we talk about that? I've never seen two handed rock paper scissors. It's good. Honestly, I love it. I mean, listen, Rob, of course, you know, we got to experience a modified version of rock paper scissors at a certain survivor event. I think this is the way you do it, where you do two hands and you throw out whatever combination that you want to. That was the one at six chance. And then you and then you strategically pick one hand to take away. And so it's not only

throwing out a sign, guessing what the other person sign is, but then there's also a different layer on top of that of like, okay, these are the two possible options ahead of me. What am I going to remove knowing what might be on the other end of it? Yeah, I think two-handed rock, paper, scissors, mine is what the name needs some work, but I think it slaps, Chappelle.

Yeah, like the negotiator in the subway. Well, that's the thing, not to spoil Squid Game, the challenge, but it kind of ended the rock purpose. And it was one hand rock purpose and it sucked. So, so this was way better because we see the moment.

but these two thugs are looking at each other. They're trying to opt out, you know, they're at a gunpoint, but they're like, okay, maybe if I don't throw a hand in, you know, I don't get shot. No, this man is going to pull the trigger. You're going to get disqualified. You could die. It's Russian Roulette. You have a one to six chance. But now we've up the stakes. Now you have a one to six chance of surviving, you know, like your odds are way worse. And you've now looking at one thug who's thrown out two rocks.

And the other guy has thrown out one. Which is like terrible move, by the way. Why would you throw out two rocks? Why would you throw out two paper?

Right. Well, the other guy throughout paper and scissors was that it was up to this loan shark to basically determine the fate of his grown. Right. And so it's like, yeah, if he pulls back the scissor, his paper will be both the rocks. There's no guy. There's no way this other guy can win. But at the same time, if, uh, but he would be killing him. He would be murdering him in that sense. It is wedding. He wouldn't want to do that.

He wouldn't want to do that. And so he struggles with that. And he actually freezes up. He doesn't make a decision. And he's the one who ends up dying. And so yeah, it's very squid game. It really is to where your success is somebody else's death in a lot of ways. Because, you know, for the bridge and for even the cookie challenge and stuff like that, other people dying is good for you.

You know what I'm saying? Like, let them die because then you could potentially survive and go on to fight another day. This guy made a choice and I mean, it was an honorable choice, but he's dead now. So it really doesn't matter. I mean, the more I thought about this one, though, Chappelle Tierpoint, this felt less like a squid game to be in more like a saw trap.

I'm like, you must make this altruistic decision. Either someone's blood is on your hands or you die. That doesn't usually happen in something like Squid Game, which maybe it does happen when stuff like The Bridge, but at least in the beginning, it's almost always like, you know, watching the others fall like cattle around you.

No, we didn't get to see, unless I missed it, what happened? We saw the recruiter say, okay, all right, now that we're alone, now we can talk. Let's talk. Did the other guy get away? Because it feels like a scenario where they're both done for.

I mean, there could be a case where that guy was recruited. He's probably looking for a job anyway. I got a news flash for you that, you know, you're one four hundred fifty six people in the squid game. You're probably on notice also. So I think it's, you know,

Maybe that's how you become one of the red jumpsuit guys, like the staffers. You know, I was like, I'm one of the guards now because I survived, but dear God, what did I give up to do that? I don't know, like I did say at one point as he was sitting there with his boss like, hey, those games sounded interesting. My wife said why don't I just go into games and get the money at the end? Maybe we'll see him later on in the season.

That'd be cool. Definitely better than thinking that, you know, there was nothing he could have done to survive that interaction. Because then again, what's the point of the game, right? And I don't think that's the case, right? I definitely think that if this man is willing to play Russian roulette to where he knows there's one bullet and one chance that he's going to shoot that one bullet into his face and he still pulls the trigger, he's probably more honorable than, you know, in that way than we would expect. So I'm assuming this, this thug is alive. Now, whether or not we see him again, that's probably, you know, a different question. Or could the recruiter

just be recruiting. You know, this, this loan shark did leave behind seemingly a nice web of thugs that were, he had enough manpower to go to every train station every minute of every day to look for this guy.

I mean, this recruiter had he survived. He could have retired if he wanted to. Like he doesn't need to be now putting boots on the ground, having to sweat it out every day in mangy train stations, playing games with people. He could have been able to now enlist that work to a bunch of other people to do it.

That's a good point because I mean, as far as we know, he's the recruiter. He's a recruiter of like, he's one of one. So, and there's 456 people he has to get for each of these games. He, this is, man, this is a lot of work for one guy. You know, like he's doing this all the time. He's probably like a little like, delulu of like, no, only I have the eye for the good. I'm the only one that can do it. I know what it takes.

Okay, right now we get it. Yeah, I can see that. But Mike's right now he has a particular network of people who could go and do this thing. And they're their own sharks and thugs. So they know exactly who owes them the money, you know, so they could just like give them the book. Hey, here's our ledger. Yeah, that's fine. Well, that's the reason why the guy signs up in the first place. He kind of quits and only points out like, yeah, Guihum is not the first guy who owed me money who suddenly disappeared for a significant portion of time.

So maybe, and that's the other thing as well, that I would imagine one of the upsides of letting somebody go is that this whole thing is a bit of a Bill Murray story where it's like, no one's going to believe you if you get out of here and talk about all these ridiculous circumstances. They're so absolutely OTT that they don't seem realistic. That's why I'm with Guy Hoon the first time where he quite literally goes to the police, talks through everything that happened in episode one. They're like, hmm.

Okay, I'll prescribe you some medication for that. So I think that it also helps that even if he did just let this go and go back into the public eye, there's gonna be a lot of scrutiny given his way.

Mike, a lot of this episode is about, not only is a Guihoon got everybody looking for the recruiter, but also we separately see a John Ho and his search to get back to find out what's going on, find the island, find his brother. He has to go back. We got to go back. There we go. Get the references between swift game season. Chappell has watched all of loss. That's how long it's been.

Yeah, it's been a long time, you know, but yeah, you got to go back to the island. He just can't find it. And so he's recruited to help us. Because it keeps moving around the time. Exactly. They don't know about the the donkey wheel. That's the lowest of the triangle people are the donkeys. They have to move it. But yeah, so for those that might not remember the other characters

that is the mainstay between these two seasons of Squid Game, one of the rare main characters left alive at the end of season one. But we didn't know at the time was June Ho. June Ho, so I talked about how Gihun goes to this police station. It just so happens that Gihun walks in and sees the shape-filled card that Gihun had left behind. And it turns out that June Ho

is missing a brother, Inho. And when he goes into Inho's apartment, he happens to find a card with the same shapes on it. And so when everyone else goes back into the Squid Game, Junho joins them. And he is able through almost like a Scooby-Doo-esque series of knocking out various thugs and taking their masks and identities. He's able to really plant himself within the behind the scenes operation. We find out a lot about all the stuff that goes on.

It goes on with the goings-on, I should say, of the Squid Game. We find out more about the VIPs. As an example, this weird Bakanalian viewing session where all of these people come in and wear these animal masks and just engage in general rich Tom Fuller. It's the champagne room of the Squid Game.

Yeah, I think like having watched succession, like that depravity also makes a lot of sense as well. I don't think it's also coincidental that a lot of these VIPs are American to at least are personified as such. But it all culminates in this outcome where Junho has gotten enough evidence on his phone to feel like he's going to make an escape.

in that moment. He's finally cornered cliffside by the frontman. Again, this guy who has this very unique mask, a big black hood, you know, is able to be sort of the he is working for somebody, but he is sort of the underboss of this entire operation. And June Hope says, I came this all this way looking for my brother and almost Darth Vader style. He says, I am your brother.

Yeah, that Inho was, and he will get justice, hopefully, down the line, is that Inho is Junho's brother, a previous winner of the Squid Game, and basically stuck around for an internal hire, and has become one of the main people running the game. They exchange fire where Junho will shoot Inho in the shoulder, and then Inho will shoot Junho in the shoulder. And not a lethal shot, though. Junho goes off the cliff, and much like a famous June that we know he was a floater. He got caught.

by a fishing boat. And so he ended up getting brought in. And now he's going to wake up from a coma as well a year later. And we see that he has kind of like put all that in the back of his head. He's put that behind him. It's kind of relegated himself to becoming this generic beat traffic cop. But once he happens, stands, pulls over Guihun. It all comes back to him. And we'll see if Curiosity will actually kill the cat this time.

Yeah. I mean, he made the right choice, right? We talked about that, uh, Gihoon had the option to take his money and run and just go and be there, be a family man, you know, but he's like, I know I got to get back in there. I got to, I got to shut this down. This guy's like, Nah, June, June, I was like, Nah, I'm good. I just want to go like, let me just be a traffic cop, but he's still looking. He's still looking for the island. So even either way, they're, they're just like, you can't let it go. What you've seen is too much, you know, you can't just, cause how do you sleep at night?

They literally can't. We're watching them. Like having nightmares about all of these like these past people that have been killed or maybe potential people who are going to die in the future. Yeah, sure. All the squid game competitors have like after parties in Guihun's hotel. Is that the new Todrick's house where he just you rented out this entire space where they could all live it up?

Yeah. Yeah. Why a motel? They got to go somewhere. I don't know. But I mean, speaking of big brother, he did kind of have the full 24 seven surveillance thing up there. He bugged it out to the nines. Mm hmm. Yeah. But don't know. You shouldn't know too much about hotels. We saw this random lady just like kind of getting like accosted by her dude because she's like, yeah, that hotel looks like it's closed. The lights are off. He's like, oh, how do you know so much about hotels? Like, what? Yeah. Why this year? Why is this in the, in the, we saw the couple on the bike and then the girl was like flirting with the cop and then he left her in the street. He was like, go with your new boyfriend now.

Thank you.

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe, I mean, we are going to get introduced to seemingly two of our new players down the line. Maybe it was that set up of like, yeah, I mean, we're going to, we're going to get a bit of a seems like we're going to get a bit of a bit of a blood versus water pairing gentlemen in the future squid game here and that one of the people that, you know, Wendy, the lone shark in his goon are able to catch the recruiter. He's talking to like this guy with a bucket hat on who was holding the card and he declines a call from his girlfriend who is at the OBGYN.

And it's also holding the card. So I would bet you dollars to donuts. Wild place to recruit though. I mean, I'm imagine not there. He had bigger fish to fry. But I would imagine that they're going to go in together, which is not going to end well. Okay. It went in well for both of them. You know, I don't think we have multiple litters of squid game. I just do instant marbles then. Just put them both immediately in marbles and be like, all right, what if he was going to move on? Let's not drag this out.

But it does feel like that we are headed towards where June Ho is looking and that we see where Jehoon gets pulled over and then the partner gives him the ticket that gets June Ho of learning more about Jehoon feels like that. Chappelle, are we getting a team up coming here in Squid Game season two?

Yeah, and we forecasted that last season when we talked about it with Josh that was like, okay, well, they might not be in the squid game, but Guihun and Juho, there's no way that they're not going to kind of cross paths because they have the same goal here, which is to take down this entire ecosystem, which is, you know, this murderous, uh, capitalistic, uh, like, uh, Hunger Games, as you mentioned earlier, you know, uh, and so yeah.

They got, they got a tag team this, you know, cause it's, it's the best way to get this done. Nobody else really believes them. That's the other thing. These are the two people who survived it, lived the tale of the tale. And every time they go to somebody, they're kind of like, what? I guess, I mean, you're paying me a lot of money to help you. So I guess I'll believe you, but I know I really, really believe what you're saying. Like are people really, is there really a giant doll shooting people, you know, when they play really like, I doubt it. So these two people, they have a joint interest and they also have some same lived experience. So they have to team up and it's got to happen.

I mean, I would also imagine it's going to happen pretty soon because even if you think about where we end episode one, like Junho was able to get the location of the company that had rented the car that Guihum was using. And then he basically overhears one of the goons talking about like, oh, he even hold himself up inside Ping's Hotel, which is where we end the episode with Guihum.

I haven't watched any future episodes past this point. That's how we're going to do these podcast moving forward. We won't spoil future episodes. I would bet you dollars to donuts. I bet you a bread roll versus a lottery ticket that the first thing we see next episode is June Ho coming in and the recruiters body is dead on the floor. Is June Ho going to believe that the recruiter took his own life?

Uh, probably not, right? But it doesn't matter. If you come in and you see that man day, you're like, okay, good riddance, because I know that guy since. You're not gonna believe it, okay? So we played Russian roulette, it went back and forth, it was a really close game, it went back and forth, and then the bullet came out to him, and it's like, did you shoot him? No. He ended up, he got the last thing, and then he didn't shoot you? No, no, that's the crazy part.

And Junho was like, sure. Okay, so anyway, let's talk about the Squid Game. Like, you don't want to waste too much time on the recruiter. What does he matter? The fact of the matter is these two people need to team up to take down the big boss. That was just the dog. And now we got bigger fish to fry.

Yeah. So it should be exciting. I mean, it's also interesting in that Junho, for him, it's personal, right? It's not even the fact that he needs to, as a cop, he has this inherent want to bring down this criminal organization, but also like, it's his brother. I do wonder how much we're going to find out more about that background. We really knew nothing about the two of them. We even more knew more about like,

Gihun and Sang Wu as a relationship more than these brothers here. And I imagine bringing it a lot more in-ho as well. And so I think we'll get to know exactly how close the relationship is. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe it isn't. Maybe Junho is trying to make up for a lost time here by trying to get into his brothers' interests, trying to meet him halfway.

Mike, I know you went back to season one. Is there any sort of reasoning for why these murderous games always have to have the score in the background of classical music? Oh, public domain. Yeah, they couldn't afford the rights. They're rich AF.

But I'll help it if you put some Rihanna on, because you'll just be playing out the nose. They're litigious AF. I mean, there's also, I think, this idea of it's a tale as old as time, right? Of like the weird dissonant images of like the beautiful classical music.

to just the most visceral, brutal imagery that you can think of. Though I will say, except for the final shot, they were surprisingly tasteful with the violence in this episode. Usually, they really just outright see people getting shot in the head and getting their throat slit. They usually cut away every time someone got killed in this episode.

Okay. Yeah. All right. I was happy about that. And Chappelle, the Andrea Bocelli was beautiful. You know, it's, look, if it's good enough for Carmella Soprano, it's good enough for me.

That's the thing. The classical music is timeless, right? And it's also universal. So you don't like it's like this is a Korean show, but it's going to very much be sold to an American audience. And a lot of people's cricket was massive on Netflix. And so yeah, if you use somebody localized or like a like a Rihanna or something like that, everybody know them, but everybody don't know them. But some of these songs, they're like, you just, these songs you just know through as most of you heard them over the years.

And so I think, and then although you don't have to have like a name or a title to go with the song, it's just like the elegance that's tied to it makes you feel like, okay, like this is chill, but also there's something nefarious going underneath it. And so I think there's a lot of symbolism as well in the choice for the opera and the classical music that they decide to use. What Rihanna song would they use and why is it bitch better have my money? You know it is. You know it. It's not when they're looking the cookie umbrella.

We could do a whole, we on a soundtrack. Oh, absolutely. With the tempered glass on the bridge diamonds. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's shine bright. You know, I think we could do this forever. But no, great soundtrack, great soundtrack. And just, uh, we don't know none of the songs. We know the songs. But yeah, though we did, I believe we didn't get the most famous squid game song when it actually made its way into Big Brother Canada, right? That no, that one.

I was looking for it. It kind of feels like it was missing because it's like, that's the thing that reminds you that this is squeezing right? You have to wait till they're in like when we get to the squid game. I mean, it's like when the Wizard of Oz, when it goes technical, are ones who actually arrive in Oz, maybe that's going to be the official cue that we're back in. And when it hits, you know, it's going to take us right back to where we were and that just eerie location where you don't know what's coming next, but we know a bunch of people are about to die.

Yeah, it's kind of like the screech and say by the bell new class of like, I remember these old walls. You kids don't realize how good you have it. If he comes back as a returning player. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, that's the thing, so he could remain anonymous, right? This isn't like a Boston Rob scenario where the front man's gonna be like, and Gihoon brings in so much experience, unless he really wants to drive up drama. Yeah, it depends if they like bring him down the steps, like Stephanie and Bobby John in Survivor Guatemala. You get the first photograph after the show, no way you can't. Oh my God. Yeah.

Yeah. The other players won't know him, but don't forget people are watching this and betting. And I think that when they, when they see him come in, they're like, wait a minute. Let me push my chips over there because I don't know how he got there, but I know he won several years ago. And I think being a returning player definitely has its perks and its advantages. Okay. Mike, anything else that you want to flag here after watching all of season one about the season two premiere?

No, I mean, what's interesting is that the difference between this season two as opposed to a usual season two of a series is that just due to the nature of squid game, you know, I think there's going to be a very slim chance that we're going to see a lot of the season one cast because the majority of them died outside.

I mean, like the we got a cameo this episode in Gihoon's weird ass dream of Song Woo and what's your name? Sebiok, which was the other member of the final three who gets killed by Song Woo. Like we got a brief instance of them, but outside of trippy fantasy sequences where Gihoon sees dead people, I don't think we're going to see a lot of them. And that's still something that I think I'm trying to get adjusted to is like,

I wouldn't say this is anthology like, but it is going to be really interesting, especially once we eventually get into Squid Game to see the new crop and like, okay, is it going to be that this person's the new blank, you know, and see if the same sort of this archetype. We need the old man back because the old man have a brother.

Oh, do we have to do that? Do we have to do that? Like maybe like a twin or something like that? Right. Like the legend of Curly's gold, Mike. Yes, exactly. Although I do believe the actor did get like a little canceled in between seasons. So they might want to keep away from them. I want to keep them in that bed. Oh, I think it's a jet.

No, this is like the white lotus, you know, like we bring one character over for this season. And then by season three, who knows who our main character might be? Who's to say Gihan could survive this again? You know, like you did it once, but doing it twice will be wild. And so I wouldn't be shocked if we were looking at the trailer for season three and being like, oh,

They brought back such a sense, you know, you could say on paper, the chances of him winning squid game twice would be one in two. And we just saw what happened with him when he had a one in two chance. So I'm not putting outside the realm of possibility. He's a lucky mofo. They called it. We'll see. Chappelle, was there anything else that you wanted to flag here in the season two premiere?

No, but I'm so excited to watch episode two and to talk about it with Mike Bloom. Again, this will be our first time doing a whole podcast series together. And so this will be very exciting, probably very inappropriate, but I hope that everybody's tuned in for our journey because by the time we finish this, you know, the way, the way.

Squid Game works is that there'll be tons of YouTube videos up and all kinds of people trying to like tell us what we missed and spoilers and all these Easter eggs and stuff. Because what? We're taking it one step at a time, baby. And so we'll have that journey on our own and by the end, we'll be able to put all the pieces together in front of everybody. It'll only be a week. So we're going to finish this thing only a couple days into January.

Okay. Yeah. This is going to be a fun week, a big week of Mike Bloom content here on RHAP. You can hear all of it here, both in our nothing but Netflix feed and at we know scripted TV.com where you can hear about not just squid game, but all sorts of other scripted TV series and even a few movies along the way in our scripted TV podcast feed. We know scripted

TV.com. And I am very much looking forward to hearing wherever you two go on this squid game. Because I'm going to need, I'm going to need the recap. Not going to just absorb it. They were wild for not giving us a previously on squid game, but we'll do it. Michael, Mike is here. He'll handle all the heavy lifting for that. And then I'll be here for the color. Okay. All right. And then of course, Chappelle, what other things are you working on?

I got a lot, I got a lot going on, but you know what, check it all out here on We Know Scripted TV, We Know Reality TV, and on recapkickbed.com, my podcast where I talk about what I want to talk about. It's the holidays, we have a lot of content coming in all of those directions, a lot of finales, mid-season finales have been going on, check it all out, and then follow me on social media at recapkickback on all social media platforms. Okay, and then Mike?

Yeah, you can follow me at a Mike Bloom type. And the big thing I want to plug is at the time this is coming out, Rob, in just a few days, you and I are going to give an overview of not necessarily a squid game, but maybe a similar idea of throwing a bunch of combatants together to do battle with one emerging victory. So it is an annual tradition that you and I have done for, I believe this will be our five year anniversary this year, which is, of course, the stars of the year.

Brent Steel 2024 was a weird ass year to say the least. So I'm very excited to see who is going to be making up this motley crew of players and who will walk away victorious. And hopefully it's Taylor Swift, the Guihoon of the end of the year, Brent Steels. Yeah, you know, keeps having these big. But she never won, but she does keep coming back.

Yes, okay, so luckily it's not a real squid game. So, all right. Anyway, Mike, looking forward to that, of course, hope you're all on board for the rest of our Squid Game Season 2 coverage here on RHAP. Looking forward to what you have to say in the comments here on YouTube. Take care everybody, have a good one. Bye.