Episode 1 of Season 2 of Squid Game on Netflix features the death of a major character

Major spoilers for Season 2 of “Squid Game” follow.

Trigger Warning: This post contains a reference to suicide.

When it comes to the Squid Game, death is inevitable. Part of what made the first season of the hit Netflix series so memorable was the way it mercilessly killed off characters from episode to episode. Apparently no one was safe as they played a series of children’s games with deadly twists. While the main character Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) survived the games and won the prize money, everyone else who played alongside him died a horrific death.

So it probably isn’t a surprise to say that some characters will meet their end in Season 2 of “Squid Game.” In fact, in the first episode alone, Returning character From the first season it usually ends with kicking the bucket in a horrific way. The character in question is the mysterious recruiter, played by Gong Yoo (I’ve seen some sources online referring to this character as the salesman, but the subtitles for the series call him the recruiter, so that’s what we call him here). In case you need to memory activation, 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 DDakji. Players must try to flip one 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. If they don’t have it (and they usually don’t), he slaps them in the face. Eventually, if the player wins a few rounds, the recruiter offers him an invitation to play deadly secret games that could earn him a huge prize (or cost him his life, though he conveniently avoids telling him that).

The Recruiter returns in the first episode of Season 2, titled “Bread and the Lottery.” By the time the episode ends, he has met a violent death.

As Squid Game Season 2 begins, we learn that Gi-hun has spent the past two years (and some of his prize money) trying to find a recruiter, all in the name of getting to the people running the games and shutting them down. Theirs forever. Gi-hun has a whole team of men working for him, patrolling the subway systems day in and day out. Somehow, the recruiter avoided detection all this time, but eventually resurfaced in the first episode. Still up to his old tricks, he plays Dakji. We also see him playing a different twisted game: he offers the homeless people a choice of either a bread roll or a lottery ticket. They can have one or the other, not both. Most people pick a lottery ticket and lose. When they then try to take the roll as compensation, the hiring official denies them that option and eventually tramples the remaining roll into mush.

Two of the men who work for Gi-hun follow the recruit, but he eventually falls on them, captures them and forces them to play “Rock-Paper-Scissors Minus One”, a combination of Rock-Paper-Scissors. And Russian roulette. One of the men was killed in the process. It all builds toward a climactic scene where Gi-hun comes face to face with the recruiter in a hotel room that Gi-hun now owns and uses as his base of operations.

After a back-and-forth conversation in which the recruiter reveals his dark and twisted background, he asks Ji-hoon to play Russian roulette with him (“You might have seen this in the movies,” the recruiter says, Possibly referring to “the deer hunter.”). He sets the rules: You take a six-shot revolver (which the recruit has), load one bullet and spin the cylinder. Then you put the gun to your head and pull the trigger. The odds are one in six that you will shoot yourself. But this won’t be a normal game of Russian roulette (it’s not clear that playing Russian roulette is “normal” to begin with).

The recruiter suggests “raising the stakes” of the game. Instead of rotating the drum after each round, players will continue to move back and forth, pulling the trigger. With this approach, it is quite certain that a single bullet in the gun will be fired in the sixth round at the latest. Surprisingly, Gi-hun agrees to these terms, and the game begins (all while the opera aria “Con te Partirò”, also known as “Time to Say Goodbye”, plays on the recruit’s phone).

Each man puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger. Over and over again, the round is empty. Eventually, the recruit starts putting the gun in his mouth instead of raising it to the side of his head. It’s all very disturbing and unsettling, as the tension mounts with every pull of the trigger. The moment soon arrives when there are only two rounds left, and one of these will fire the bullet. Gi-hun has the gun at this moment, and the recruit points out that Gi-hun can simply say game go, point the gun at the recruit, and pull the trigger until the gun fires. The Recruiter adds that the “key” to getting to the people running the Games is in the pocket of his suit coat—Gi-hun simply has to kill it, get inside, and retrieve it. The Recruiter adds that if Gi-hun does that, he’ll have to admit one thing: “You’re trash and worthless like everyone else.” Oh. Harsh, Mr. Recruiter.

But Ji Hoon doesn’t take the bait. He plays by the rules, puts the barrel of the gun to his temple, and pulls the trigger. Click. This round is empty. This means that the last round is the one that contains a bullet, which means that if the recruit took the gun and played fair, he would end up shooting himself. He hands Gi-hun the gun, and points out that they are now in a similar situation: the recruit can either follow the rules, or he can shoot Gi-hun to death. Ji Hoon mocks the recruit, telling him that he’s nothing more than a dog for the people running the games (side note: mocking a guy with a loaded gun is probably not the best strategy, Ji Hoon). The recruit let a sly smile creep onto his face, then put the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger. This time, the gun goes off – killing the recruit as the episode fades to black and the credits roll. It’s a shocking result, and we’re only in the first episode. Who knows how many twisted surprises await us as Season 2 continues?

Season 2 of “Squid Game” is now streaming on Netflix.