The Most Brutal Scenes In Squid Game

In 2021, there were several reasons that the South Korean survival thriller, "Squid Game," became an international hit, smashing multiple Netflix records, becoming the most-watched non-English series produced by the streaming giant, and eventually inspiring a controversial reality show spin-off. Due to the worldwide pandemic, people were stuck at home and hungry for entertainment, and despite "Squid Game" having a few plot points that didn't make much sense, the show quickly struck a chord with the Netflix audience.

Besides its exciting premise, epic execution, superb writing, and excellent cast, "Squid Game" also brought the trademark gore and brutality that are often associated with South Korean cinema and television. Being bold, raw, and unapologetically violent was part of the appeal and shock value the series wielded from the beginning. But its viciousness wasn't self-serving for the sake of sensationalism; rather, it was an appropriate quality that went hand in hand with the story's moral undertones and social critique of modern capitalistic society. No wonder it received wide critical acclaim in addition to its commercial success, winning six Primetime Emmy Awards after receiving 14 nominations.

Since the follow-up is almost upon us (Season 2 premieres December 26 on Netflix), it's a good opportunity to revisit the most brutal moments that appeared in Season 1.

Though each game in "Squid Game" has become memorable on its own, the first one, played in the pilot episode, remains the most iconic. Here, the hundreds of players who agreed to participate in the game are almost as unaware of their danger as the audience, unsure of what the first challenge will hold. Herded into a vast, artificially built playground, they face a giant robot doll with eyes made of cameras that detect and track the participants' movement. If anyone playing the game is caught moving after the robot declares "Red Light," they get eliminated — which, of course, means a bullet to the head.

We see that in effect as soon as the game begins and the first player drops dead within seconds. Initially, no one believes he's been killed — until another player approaches and sees him spit blood on the ground. That's when things turn real. As the second player attempts to run for his life, he's shot, too, and widespread panic erupts and washes through the crowd like a wave. People start screaming and racing all over the place, running to their deaths as a row of guns begins to kill every soul who breaks the rule. It's a bloody massacre amplified with gripping suspense due to a giant clock rapidly counting down, forcing every player lucky enough to still be alive to focus and abide by the rules (running only when allowed); otherwise, they end up on the pile of fresh dead bodies. Welcome to Squid Game.

Deok-su (Heo Sung-tae) is the most vicious, primitive, and ruthless character in Season 1. He's an intimidating, arrogant, and selfish criminal, always conspiring to figure out an angle that can help him in any way. He's an immoral and mean jerk, but that's exactly why it's so thrilling to watch him during (and between) the games. In Episode 2, we learn his backstory; Deok-su is in hiding because there are dangerous people in the underworld looking for him. His boss wants him dead since he lost a lot of his boss' money in a Filipino casino, so he recruits one of his guys to entrap Deok-su.

He's sitting in the guy's car when a group of Filipinos surrounds them, trying to catch and kill him so they can harvest and sell his organs. But Deok-su is like a cockroach, someone who somehow always finds a way to survive. As his trapper attempts to leave the car, the unrepentant criminal grabs him and shoves a knife in his thigh, then stabs him several more times until he bleeds out. Deok-su has no regrets; in fact, we can see in his eyes that he actually welcomes the rush of murdering someone. And, as we later find out, it's not the last time he'll kill someone to save himself or to further his own goals.

In Episode 3, the second game, Honeycomb, takes place in a much smaller playground than the first and involves a very different type of activity. The players choose from four different shapes they need to remove from a honeycomb cookie with nothing but a needle. It's a delicate task, but it's just as nerve-racking (if not more) as Red Light, Green Light. If the participant breaks, cracks, or damages the shape of the cookie in any way, the supervising staff members shoot them dead on the spot.

It's a battle of precision, nerves, and concentration, which might not seem that grim initially. But as the piercing headshots begin to cut through the anxious silence, the scene's intensity quickly goes through the roof. We witness multiple "eliminations" up close, dead bodies hitting the sand like bags of rocks with pools of blood slowly growing bigger underneath them. Once again, "Squid Game" doesn't shy away from overt violence, showcasing the rigid cruelty that has become one of the series' trademark features.

Deok-su, aka Player 101, is the center of attention again in Episode 4. After the second game, the surviving players stand in line to receive their meal for the day. However, when Deok-su and his bunch realize they only receive an egg and a soft drink (a calculated move by the game's creators), they become angry and demand more. When their complaint is dismissed, the group takes matters into their own hands and gets in line once more for seconds. The intimidation by Deok-su seems to work to quiet the objectors until one of the female players rats them out after several people are left without food.

One of the desperate men calls Deok-su out, trying to physically agitate the career criminal, but he clearly underestimates the man he's calling out. Frustrated and angry, Deok-su lands a ferocious blow on the scrawnier guy's head, and, once the smaller man falls to the ground, the gangster starts kicking him relentlessly until he loses consciousness. As we learn seconds later, the person who stood up to the group of thugs doesn't survive the encounter. Visually, this scene may not seem excessively brutal when compared to the rest of the show's violence, but the moral implications and dog-eat-dog nature of the whole fiasco earn it a place on this list.

As mentioned earlier, the light meal delivered to the players was deliberately designed by the game's organizers to trigger a physical altercation (a riot, really) between the contestants. And once lights-out arrives, this plan works as intended. Naturally, Deok-su and his team initiate the fight to terrorize and essentially eliminate other players so they'll have a bigger chance of winning the main prize.

When nighttime sets in and it gets dark, Deok-su quietly sneaks over to the bed of the woman who ratted him out and begins viciously stabbing her. When the others realize what's happening, a mass hysteria breaks out within the crowd. As everyone fights for their life with whatever they can grab, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who runs the Squid Game facility, gives the order to start strobing the lights. This adds to the bloody chaos and causes the scene to devolve into a disorienting and nightmarish experience, showcasing savagery, ruthless attacks, and barbaric killings in their rawest forms. It's an intense bloodbath that eventually ends once the guards rush in with guns in hand to stop everyone — those who are still alive, of course.

Byeong-gi (Yoo Seung-ju), aka player 111, is one of the strangest contestants in "Squid Game." A disgraced ex-doctor, he strikes a deal with some of the shadier staff members to harvest the organs of eliminated players. In Episode 5, Byeong-gi is in the middle of the dissection of another deceased participant, though he's having more trouble performing the task than usual. Next to him, two guards are loudly arguing with each other, distracting and bothering the doctor from his work and eventually distressing him to the point where he starts lashing out at them.

He eventually completes the operation and expects the guards to share info about the next game in exchange per a previously agreed-upon arrangement. But the guards instead tell him they're unaware of what the next game is. This is when the doctor picks up a scalpel and grabs the guy beside him, holding the blade to his throat. He says they better find out what's coming, or he'll kill the man right there. They seemingly agree but then try to trick and disarm Byeong-gi. During the altercation that ensues, he stabs one of them in the neck multiple times. The fight is quick and brief, and the doctor is lucky enough to get away after merely receiving a mild beating, but the harvesting of organs to sell on the black market is another instance of the sadistic side of humanity that "Squid Game" often showcases.

Not every brutality featured in "Squid Game" is a physical one; some are on an emotional or moral level, crushing souls and hearts instead of flesh and bone. One of the most devastating examples of this occurs in Episode 6, during the fourth game, when Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) tricks Player 1, Oh Il-nam (Oh Yeong-su), by exploiting his senility. Gi-hun knows that without lying to the old man, he'll lose the game and end up dead once the round is over. The reason this feels especially cruel is that we know Gi-hun isn't a wicked person. In fact, he always tries to do the right thing under harsh circumstances. But when faced with death, his inherent goodness is pushed aside in favor of survival, and we see how it breaks his heart into pieces.

This is intensified by an unexpected twist before the game is finished when Il-nam starts wandering around the set, which reminds the elderly man of the district where he grew up. As he revisits his happy family memories, Gi-hun increasingly feels more and more guilty and devastated by his choice. In the end, he opts to go through with his deception to win the round, and as Il-nam is presumably executed (which isn't shown), he walks away with tears in his eyes. In his mind, this might be the lowest point in his life. Tricking a weak, old man, exploiting his illness to gain an advantage, and knowingly leading him to his death. Such is the nature of "Squid Game."

A similar situation unfolds between Sae-byeok (Hayeo) and her partner Ji-yeong (Lee Yoo-mi) in the same episode. The two choose to play a simple game that will determine the winner in only one round. But first, the pair agree to have an honest and open conversation, sharing things they wouldn't tell anyone else since at least one of them won't leave the games alive. Episode 6 is a crucial moment in Sae-byeok's character development because she finally becomes vulnerable and sincere as never before. The secrets, emotions, and memories the two women share are deeply compelling and moving, making it all the more traumatic to see which of them ends up the winner.

When the moment of truth arrives, we realize that Ji-yeong had already decided she would be the one to lose, long before the game started. Essentially, she cheats and lets Sae-byeok win because she has something to live for and use the prize money for as opposed to her. When she's shot in the head, smiling as her eyes well with tears, we're presented with an image we'll never be able to erase from our minds. It's a brutal blow, delivered right to the heart.

In Game Five, skill takes a back seat to luck. Compelled to walk across a bridge made of panels of both normal and tempered glass, the Squid Game contestants are literally forced to guess which will shatter beneath their feet — a random decision that means the difference between life and death. Of course, there's also the option of sacrificing someone to learn which glass is the right one. As the clock winds down and the players become more desperate, sacrificing one to save others becomes a lot more appealing and viable as an option than in any previous game.

From the beginning of the series, Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) comes across as a seemingly decent and savvy person, but there's an inherent wickedness in him that we learn about the more we get to know him. By Episode 7, it's clear that he's willing to do virtually anything to win the prize, no matter the cost, even if he does his best to hide those evil intentions. This comes out when, standing two jumps away from crossing the bridge, he decides to push the one man who has actually figured out how to discern which panes are safe from the ones that aren't. Ultimately, he kills the poor guy to save himself — which is the right choice, as we find out seconds later — inadvertently revealing the cruel viciousness and killer instinct that resides inside him. Despite our measured sympathy and complicated feelings toward him, this is the moment where he becomes the unequivocal villain — and the final person to beat in order to survive Squid Game.

One of the most intriguing subplots of "Squid Game" involves a cop, Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who infiltrates the island by pretending to be one of the guards while searching for his missing brother. Throughout the season, he's shown surveilling the place, collecting notes and evidence so that he can inform the police of what's going on, planning to come back with reinforcements to shut it all down. But when Jun-ho attempts to escape the island, the Front Man chases and catches him before the young cop can do any real damage to the massive operation.

That's when the puzzle starts to come together in the detective's mind, with the final missing piece being the identity of the man who runs the show. In Episode 8, Jun-ho stands at the top of a cliff surrounded by guards as the Front Man closes in on him. The game's boss offers the cop a chance to go with him and survive, but Jun-ho doesn't take it. Instead, he shoots the Front Man in the shoulder with his final bullet. Then, when the villain's mask is removed, we learn that the man running Squid Game is Jun-ho's lost brother. Baffled by this revelation, Jun-ho asks him why, but instead of an answer, he's shot and falls to his death. Executing his own brother without batting an eye in cold blood is as brutal and merciless as it gets.

The only players that survive the fifth game are Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and Sae-byeok. The latter comes away critically injured, and we see her deteriorate as she slowly bleeds out in front of our eyes. Gi-hun offers her help, but to no avail; she knows she'll soon die. Before exposing her deadly wound, Sae-byeok has one last heartfelt conversation with Gi-hun, making him promise to take care of her little brother if he wins. Instead of answering, however, Gi-hun starts walking toward Sang-woo, who nodded off, with designs to kill him in his sleep. Sae-byeok stops him before he can get far, saying that it isn't him to murder someone in their sleep — he's a good person at heart.

As she begins to faint from blood loss, Gi-hun realizes that her condition is more serious than he thought, and he rushes to the door to alert the guards. After a few long seconds, they come in — carrying a casket. When Gi-hun turns around, he learns that Song-woo had slit the girl's throat while he wasn't watching. Though the camera doesn't show the murder, we get to see the nasty, lethal wound on Sae-byeok's neck. It's a wicked, callous moment that sends Gi-hun into a rage, lashing out at his former friend until the guards disarm both of them and carry the girl's lifeless body to the coffin. Vengeance is yet to be served.

The final and titular game puts the remaining two players in opposite corners, and one of them has to kill the other to win Squid Game. The rules are practically irrelevant at this point; Gi-hun is fuming with rage and seeking vengeance (thus choosing to play offense), and Sang-woo always suspected that a situation like this would arise sooner or later. In short, they're both out for blood.

As rain starts to fall, the pair, armed with knives, get into it. The battle is somewhat clumsy as neither of them is a trained fighter. They utilize every dirty move they can, and the intensity rises rapidly as they pound on each other, crawling and wrestling in the mud like two angry kids with the strength of adult men. After a brief, desperate yet epic brawl for survival, Gi-hun eventually gets the upper hand. But instead of killing Sang-woo, he surprisingly offers the chance to join him in quitting the game and walking away together, albeit without the prize money. Sang-woo doesn't budge, though. He grabs one of the knives, shoves it into his own neck, and asks Gi-hun, with his dying breath, to use the prize money to help his mother before bleeding out. In violent and brutal fashion, the last game comes to an end.