Warning: This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 3
The creator of Squid Game has explained his reasoning behind that shocking scene in the new season.
Now streaming on Netflix, this third season of the hit dystopian thriller is the last, after fans were first introduced to Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), or player 456 back in 2021.
But there’s also been plenty of other players come and go (emphasis on the go) on Squid Game since from Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) to Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan).
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And season two also saw the introduction of players 149 and 007, the mother-son duo of Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim) and Young-sik (Yang Dong-geun).
Having survived the games so far, season three sees them split up onto different teams for a game of Hide and Seek. Only in true style of the show, it’s not exactly the typical version of the game, leading to an absolute twist of a moment.
For the first time, the players have to kill each other in order to pass the game. With the hiders given the chance to hide or escape, each seeker must kill one player in order to pass. But while Geum-ja is a hider, her son is a seeker.
And let’s be honest, plenty of viewers were probably expecting that if would go either way, Young-sik would kill his elderly mum.
Except, in a jaw dropping moment, Geum-ja ends up murdering him in order to protect Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri) and her newborn baby (born during the game).
The moment left fans shocked, with one taking to X to say: "Holy sh*t yongsik just got killed by his own mom."
Another tweet saw fans in utter disbelief, with one saying: "the geumja i know would’ve never killed yongsik."
"I think that most people would have thought that the mother would end up sacrificing herself for her son,” Director Hwang Dong-hyuk tells LADbible. “And I wanted to twist that expectation."
He explains the scene depicts a 'huge moral dilemma' for both characters, but particularly Mrs Jang.
"She has to choose between this baby who she helped to bring into the world and protect and her own son, because her own son is the one who wants to kill the baby," he adds.
While also wanting to create that ‘shock level’ Squid Game has become so notorious for, Hwang wanted the situation to be ‘understandable’ – if you can ever imagine yourself having to kill your own son to protect a baby in a game of hide and seek.
"I wanted people to be able to relate to her agony and her dilemma," the creator explains.
As Hwang points out, the woman ends up taking her own life shortly after the game due to the 'intense and extreme trauma'.
And it’s likely fans are going to be pretty taken aback by the absolute twist on expectations as the creator says he reckons there will be a ‘lot of debate’ about the difficult choice.
"Honestly, if someone were to ask me: ‘What is the right choice to make?’ I don't know," he admits. "I think that there will be a time for all of us where we have to make a choice like that, where we have to sacrifice something that is extremely important to ourselves for the better, for the greater good.
"I think that moment is going to come, whether for us as individuals or for nations too."
Squid Game season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
Topics: Squid Game, Netflix, TV and Film
Jess Battison