Squid Game Recruits Oscar Winner To Bring Series Finale To A Tantalizing Close, Tease Potential U.S. Edition
The following contains spoilers from the series finale — aka Season 3, Episode 6 — of Squid Game, now streaming on Netflix.
Perhaps even Lydia Tár herself could not have orchestrated a more glorious finish to Squid Game's series finale.
The final season's sixth episode, titled "Humans Are...," resumed the final challenge, Sky Squid Game, that began in Episode 5. After Player 039 decided he would be nobody's "lunch box" and instead pitched himself over the edge of the triangle-shaped pillar, that left Gi-hun aka Player 456 (played by Wmmy winner Lee Jung-jae), the late Jun-hee's newborn/Player 222, and Myung-gi/Player 333 (Yim Si-wan) poised to enter the final elimination round before a winner could be crowned.
Our summary of Season 3's brutal game play can be found here. Below, though, is how the three-season hit series actually ended — and the surprise came that closed it all out.
In a 26-minute coda, which opened with a six-month time jump...
▲ Hapless Choi was released from prison after a six-month stint (for breaking into super-sus sea captain Park's home) and reunited with his funny li'l buddy as well as (former) police detective Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun). Jun-ho reported to a disheartened Choi that the mound of cash in Gi-hun's Pink Motel room was mysteriously gone.
● Jun-ho that night came home to find in his apartment a baby (the late Jun-hee's), along with a debit card loaded up with her 45.6 billion Won prize. (Good thing he guessed that the player number, 0222, was the PIN!)
■ No-eul (Park Gyu-young) — who'd broken Gyeong-seok/Player 246 (Lee Jin-wook) out of the Squid Game compound while masked as Guard 011 — paid him a visit at the amusement park where he did paintings, and where she used to work as a costumed bunny. She did not disclose her "guard" identity to him, but used the opportunity to see that his sick daughter, Na-yeon, was now doing much better. Later, No-eul got word from the defection broker she'd retained after defecting to South Korea that, maybe, her missing daughter had been seen in China. No-eul was last seen at an airport, en route to follow up on that lead.
▲ Also at the airport — deep cut alert! — we saw the late Sae-byeok/Season 1 Player 067's mother finally arrive in South Korea, as arranged by the same defection broker, and reunite with her (tall) son Cheol.
● In-ho aka the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), looking especially natty in a suit, was driven in a limo to a home in... Los Angeles, US of A! He rang the doorbell and was greeted by Ga-yeong, as in Gi-hun's daughter. He proffered a black △○□ box containing a gift, from her dad, but she wanted no part of it — until, that is, this man at her door shared that her father has passed away and the box contained his belongings. Moved, she accepted the box, and upon opening it in private, she found Gi-hun's (hopefully cleaned!) tracksuit and a debit card (presumably) loaded with the remainder of his Season 1 winnings, which In-ho (presumably) took from the motel.
■ Last but not least... as he was driven away from Ga-yeong's home and through downtown L.A.... In-ho rolled down his window, while stopped at a light, to see a suited blonde woman playing ddakji in an alley with a downtrodden man. This L.A.-based recruiter — played by two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett! — spotted and nodded at In-Ho, before her mark asked to go another round. "As you wish...," she smirked. (FYI, there has been much talk, but no Netflix confirmation, of a USA-based Squid Game spinoff being developed by David Fincher, though Blanchett's cameo here likely was just a one-off.)
In-ho, clearly taking no pleasure in the sight in the wake of recent events, darted his eyes downward and rolled back up his window, before his driver moved on....
"We thought having a woman as a recruiter would be more dramatic and intriguing," Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told Tudum of the series-ending guest casting. "And as for why Cate Blanchett, she's just the best, with unmatched charisma.... We needed someone who could dominate the screen with just one or two words, which is exactly what she did... bringing a short but gripping and impactful ending to the story."