Netflix’s Squid Game Season 2 Episode 1 Features A Major Character Death

Major spoilers for “Squid Game” season 2 follow.

Trigger warning: This post contains mention of suicide.

When it comes to “Squid Game,” death is inevitable. Part of what made the first season of the hit Netflix series so memorable was the way in which it ruthlessly killed off characters from one episode to the next. Seemingly no one was safe as they played a series of kids games with deadly twists. While main character Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) survived the games and won the prize money, literally every other person he played alongside died a horrible death. 

So it’s probably not a big surprise to say that some characters will meet their end in “Squid Game” season 2. In fact, in the first episode alone, a returning character from season 1 ends up kicking the bucket in a typically gruesome fashion. The character in question is the mysterious Recruiter, played by Gong Yoo (I’ve seen some online sources refer to this character as the Salesman, but the subtitles for the show call him the Recruiter, so that’s what we’re calling him here). In case you need a memory refresher, the Recruiter is the mysterious well-dressed man who finds players for the deadly games. He hangs out in the subway system and challenges strangers to a game of ddakji. The players have to try to flip over a leather envelope with another envelope. If they win, the Recruiter gives them 100,000 won. If they lose, they have to give him 100,000 won. And if they don’t have that (and they usually don’t), he gets to slap them across the face. Eventually, if the player wins a few rounds, the Recruiter extends them an invite to play the secretive, deadly games that could net them a huge prize (or cost them their lives, although he conveniently avoids telling them this). 

The Recruiter returns in the first episode of season 2, titled “Bread and Lottery.” By the time the episode comes to an end, he’s met a violent demise. 

As “Squid Game” season 2 begins, we learn that Gi-hun has spent the last two years (and some of his prize money) trying to find the Recruiter, all in the name of getting to the people who run the games and shutting them down for good. Gi-hun even has an entire team of guys working for him, patrolling the subway systems day in and day out. Somehow, the Recruiter has avoided detection all this time, but he eventually resurfaces in the premiere episode. He’s still up to his old tricks, playing ddakji. We also see him playing a different, twisted game: he offers homeless people an option of either a bread roll or a lottery ticket. They can have one or the other, not both. Most people choose the lottery ticket and lose. When they then try to take the roll as compensation, the Recruiter denies them the option and eventually stomps the remaining rolls into mush.

Two of the men working for Gi-hun follow the Recruiter, but he eventually gets the drop on them, capturing them both and forcing them to play “Rock-Paper-Scissors Minus One,” which is a combination of Rock-Paper-Scissors and Russian Roulette. One of the men is killed in the process. This is all building towards a climactic scene where Gi-hun comes face to face with the Recruiter in a room of the motel that Gi-hun now owns and uses as his base of operations. 

After a back-and-forth conversation in which the Recruiter reveals his own dark and twisted backstory, he asks Gi-hun to play a game of Russian Roulette with him (“You’ve probably seen this in the movies,” the Recruiter says, likely referring to “The Deer Hunter”). He lays out the rules: you take a six-shot revolver (which the Recruiter has), load one bullet and spin the cylinder. You then place the gun to your head and pull the trigger. The odds are one in six that you’ll shoot yourself. But this isn’t going to be a normal Russian Roulette game (not that playing Russian Roulette is “normal” to begin with, obviously). 

The Recruiter suggests “raising the stakes” of the game. Instead of spinning the cylinder after each round, the players will just keep going back and forth, pulling the trigger. With this approach, it’s dead-certain that the one bullet in the gun will be fired at round six at the latest. Surprisingly, Gi-hun agrees to these terms, and the game begins (all while the opera song “Con te partirò,” aka “Time to Say Goodbye,” plays on the Recruiter’s phone). 

Each man places the gun to their own heads and pulls the trigger. Again and again, the round is empty. Eventually, the Recruiter starts putting the gun in his mouth instead of up to the side of his head. All of this is highly disturbing and anxiety-inducing, as the tension mounts with each trigger pull. Soon, the moment arrives where there are only two rounds left, and one of those two trigger-pulls will discharge the bullet. Gi-hun has the gun at this moment, and the Recruiter points out that the Gi-hun can simply say to hell with the game, point the gun at the Recruiter, and pull the trigger until the gun fires. The Recruiter even adds that the “key” to getting to the people who run the games is located in the pocket of his suit coat — Gi-hun simply has to kill him and reach inside and retrieve it. The Recruiter than adds that if Gi-hun does that, though, he’ll have to admit one thing: “You’re trash and just as worthless as everyone else.” Ouch. Harsh, Mr. Recruiter. 

Gi-hun doesn’t take the bait, though. He plays by the rules, puts the barrel of the gun against his temple, and squeezes the trigger. CLICK. This round is empty. That means the last round is the one with the bullet in it, which means that if the Recruiter takes the gun and plays fair, he’ll end up shooting himself. Gi-hun hands the gun over, and points out that they’re now in a similar situation: the Recruiter can either follow the rules, or he can shoot Gi-hun to death. Gi-hun mocks the Recruiter, telling him he’s nothing more than a lapdog for the people who run the games (side-note: mocking a guy with a loaded gun probably isn’t the best strategy, Gi-hun). The Recruiter lets a sly smile creep across his face, then puts the gun under his chin and pulls the trigger. This time, the gun goes off — killing the Recruiter as the episode cuts to black and the credits roll. It’s a shocking conclusion, and we’re only on the first episode. Who knows how many more twisted surprises await us as season 2 continues?

“Squid Game” season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.