We Rewatched Squid Game Season 1 And It's Totally Different Now

An untold truth of "Squid Game" is that it took over a decade to get from conception to becoming a global juggernaut on Netflix. On the surface, the story sounds like it should have been a slam dunk: Take a bunch of people disenfranchised by capitalism and put them in a deadly competition where they play children's games to win massive amounts of money. It's a storyline that speaks to the reality of so many in the world right now, allowing it to transcend borders.

The first season easily could have stood on its own as exceptional television, but when Netflix strikes gold, you can be certain they'll try mining in the same spot. Not only did the streamer move ahead with an actual reality competition series called "Squid Game: The Challenge" — that thankfully didn't involve anyone dying — but "Squid Game" got renewed for two more seasons, allowing it to come to a close after Season 3. 

Still, even if "Squid Game" ends, its legacy will remain, and people will likely still go back to watch it all the way through because it's just that good. With more episodes and the benefit of hindsight, there's even more to gain from rewatching "Squid Game" Season 1 today. From subtle foreshadowing to hints at what was to come, here's what you might have missed the first time watching the show back in 2021. 

Given the plot of "Squid Game," there was always the assumption that a lot of characters would die. But how and when that would happen remained up in the air and created a ton of tension. However, if you pay close attention to Episode 2 — "Hell" — there are ample hints about how various characters would meet their demises. 

Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) is about to commit suicide in a bathtub before he's interrupted by a doorbell ringing and an offer to join the Squid Game; Sang-woo ends up sacrificing his own life in the final game against Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae). Ali Abdul (Anupam Tripathi) steals his boss' money; he dies in Episode 6, "Gganbu," after Sang-woo steals his marbles from him. Kang Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon) holds a knife to a smuggler's throat, and Sang-woo stabs her in the same spot in her throat on Episode 8, "Front Man." Lastly, the gangster Jang Deok-su (Heo Sung-tae) jumps off a bridge to escape some enemies, and fittingly enough, he dies during the glass bridge game. 

Even though Gi-hun doesn't die, his fate also comes full circle in "Hell." He has a conversation with Oh Il-nam, whom he doesn't realize is the creator of the games at this point. Il-nam talks about how awful the world is, trying to get Gi-hun back into the games. After Gi-hun wins, they speak once more when Il-nam is at the hospital, his full identity being revealed at this point. Once more, they discuss how truly bleak reality is.

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"Squid Game" Season 2 has a Front Man twist that feels like déjà vu in the worst way. Back in Season 1, Gi-hun doesn't learn until the end that Player 001, aka Oh Il-nam, is really the creator of the games who's dying and just played for fun. In Season 2, the same thing basically happens again, except this time Player 001 is Hwang In-ho, aka the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). The only difference in Season 2 is that we as the audience know his true identity the whole time. However, it's a little odd that Gi-hun doesn't pick up that Player 001 is once again betraying him, especially with the obvious sign hitting him in the face. 

The name "Oh Il-nam" literally translates to "Number One Man." It's appropriate given his position, but it also symbolically signifies that he's the "Number One Man" of these games: the guy who's controlling everything. In "Squid Game" Season 2, In-ho enters the games as the new Player 001, but he takes the pseudonym Oh Young-il, which translates to "Zero, One." What are the chances that in two separate games, the man who's Player 001 just so happens to have a name that literally means "number one"?

Maybe Gi-hun is too trusting, or perhaps he didn't think the people behind the games would try the same bit twice. If Gi-hun ever gets into the games a third time, he really needs to start paying attention.

One of the first scenes in "Squid Game" involves Gi-hun betting on horse races. It's a sequence that lets us know exactly who he is — a gambler who's prone to getting in over his head. However, he actually wins money off the races and celebrates jubilantly while watching. Even after going through the games once, it's clear that some things never change. 

In "Squid Game" Season 2, one of the games is a six-legged race where five people must walk in unison and complete a series of minigames. Season 2, Episode 5 — "One More Game" — sees everyone watch one of the teams excitedly as they complete one challenge after the next and eventually cross the finish line. It shows how, at his core, Gi-hun is still a gambler because what is a horse race if not another version of a six-legged race? After all, the horse has four legs while the jockey has two legs, meaning there are six legs total. In Season 2, Gi-hun may be more invested in saving as many people as possible rather than betting and making money, but it's obvious he still enjoys a good race.

The horse race in the first episode of "Squid Game" Season 1 is interesting in a different aspect. The scene involves a bunch of men excitedly yelling at the screen showing the horses, who are all designated by their numbers, with Gi-hun having money on horses six and eight. The horses, despite being living, breathing animals, are reduced to mere numbers for the spectacle of men. Additionally, one could argue that horse racing in and of itself is absolutely vile since it forces the animals to push themselves beyond their capabilities and potentially injure themselves. If a horse breaks its leg in a race, it's not unheard of for it to be shot and killed since it's no longer seen as valuable.

The exact same thing happens when Gi-hun enters the games later on. All of the players are reduced to numbers to dehumanize them. Meanwhile, a group of VIPs watches each challenge from television screens elsewhere. In this case, the "higher entity" is the extravagantly wealthy, while the animals only suitable for sport are the lower class. Upon rewatching "Squid Game" Season 1, it's clear the horse race is a metaphor for how one class will subject another to horrific conditions for nothing else beyond their own amusement. 

The horse race isn't the only thing to have thematic resonance later in "Squid Game" Season 1. Later on, Gi-hun meets the Salesman (Gong Yoo) and the two play ddakji, with the Salesman offering Gi-hun money if he can flip his piece over; however, since Gi-hun doesn't have any money to wager to the Salesman, he gets to slap Gi-hun every time he flips Gi-hun's piece over. It's a simple enough premise that gets Gi-hun into the competition, but upon rewatching, it's worth it to see how Gi-hun reacts when he finally wins. 

The Salesman repeatedly flips over Gi-hun's piece and slaps him. Gi-hun is unsuccessful for a long time until he finally squeaks out a win, and when he manages to do so, his first instinct isn't to ask for the money. He's completely forgotten about the money at stake at this point; he just wants to slap the Salesman, who stops his attack and offers up the won. 

Gi-hun's first instinct after winning a contentious game is to enact revenge. This is precisely his reaction upon being the sole survivor of the competition. He earned 45.6 billion won, but rather than start a new life somewhere, his instinct is to get revenge on those who perpetrated the games. He wants to make them all pay by metaphorically slapping them and ending the games for good in Season 2. 

"Squid Game" Season 2, Episode 1 opens with a bang ... literally. Gi-hun and the Salesman play Russian roulette, with the Salesman ultimately losing in the end. The scene in which the two men point a gun at their own heads before pulling the trigger seems parallel to one of the most crucial scenes in the very first episode of "Squid Game." 

When the Salesman first approaches, Gi-hun pulls a gun on him after a very bad day. The Salesman is clearly nervous at first, but then Gi-hun reveals that it's just a prop lighter and he just wants him to go away. It's almost a demonstration of how far Gi-hun comes. He doesn't have a second thought about pointing a gun at the Salesman (even if it's fake), but during Season 2's Russian roulette, the Salesman points out how Gi-hun could easily just point the gun at him and cheat by killing him right then and there. Gi-hun refuses and instead wins the game, fair and square. He goes from pulling a gun on a man to refusing to do so.

It's doubtful whether this foreshadowing was intentional though. "Squid Game" creator Hwang Dong-hyuk previously said that he never intended for the show to go beyond one season, but it's hard not to see a connection between the two season openers. 

We've already discussed how Gi-hun missed a big clue into Oh Il-nam's true identity with his name and number correlation. Granted, it's easy enough to chalk that one up to a coincidence, but when you look at everything related to Il-nam throughout the games, it's amazing more viewers didn't catch on sooner. 

For starters, he has a nonchalant attitude toward the deadly games. After people are shot in Red Light, Green Light, he's the first to start moving again with a big smile on his face. In "Hell," Il-nam has his chance encounter with Gi-hun, convincing him that it's worth it to re-enter the games, which seems more than a little suspect. And when the riot breaks out and players start killing each other, Il-nam cries out that he's scared. Shortly after, the guards enter to stop the mayhem, clearly taking a signal from the founder and not wanting him to be harmed. 

However, the biggest hint is something Gi-hun wouldn't have seen. Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) investigates the island while the games take place and comes across a folder containing all of the players' information ... except for Player 001. The file begins with Player 002, which makes sense since those running the game wouldn't need to keep tabs on the guy who created them.

The ending of "Squid Game" Season 1 is nothing short of tragic. Gi-hun is the sole winner and survivor, who walks away with 45.6 billion won, but it's all for naught as Gi-hun's mother has already passed away. A big reason why Gi-hun participates is to pay for his mother's medical treatment, but she's gone now. Instead of being with her for her final days, Gi-hun was risking his life to save her, and now, it doesn't even matter. It's a tragic happenstance, but it's one some viewers may have seen coming from the Season 1 finale's title — "One Lucky Day." 

This is also the title of a 1924 Korean short story by Hyun Jin-geon. It's about a rickshaw puller whose wife begs him not to work for the day, as she's sick. He goes anyway and has a great day with a lot of fares coming his way. He makes a bunch of money, but when he returns home, he discovers his wife is dead. The story represents the struggle of the working poor and how they have to work all the time to survive, neglecting those they love. It's similar to how Gi-hun gets so wrapped up in winning billions of won that he doesn't have time to be with his dying mother. 

Gi-hun obviously thinks he'll have more time, but nothing is ever guaranteed in life. It's the perfect way to end the season by showing how all the money means nothing to Gi-hun now that the person he loves most is gone. 

In Season 1, Episode 6, Jun-ho finds some important files and takes photos of them as proof of what's going on with the games. When he takes the picture on his smartphone, it makes a loud shuttering noise, which would seem to be ill-advised seeing as he's trying to be sneaky about it. However, he really doesn't have a choice outside of smuggling a quieter camera onto the island. 

South Korea actually has a law explicitly stating that all smartphones must make a shutter sound when snapping pictures. The reason for this is to protect citizens' privacy so that they are aware if they're near someone taking photographs. The purpose is to crack down on individuals taking photos of others without their consent, with a similar law existing in Japan. 

Jun-ho has no choice if he wants to use those pictures as evidence, even if they don't factor into Season 2. He calls the chief, who can't understand him, and the pictures seemingly fail to go through, so he's back at square one trying to find the island when the new season begins. 

One of the biggest unanswered questions in "Squid Game" Season 2 involves Gi-hun's endgame. He's kept alive despite his rebellion getting crushed, and a popular fan theory online is that Gi-hun will become the next Front Man of the games. Despite trying to end the games for good, he might become the one overseeing them after being convinced that it's a necessary evil. And it's possible that Season 1 hinted at his fate with a subtle costume choice. 

The Season 1 riot ends after Oh Il-nam announces that he's scared. Gi-hun also notices that Il-nam wets his pants that night, so he offers his jacket to wear around his waist and cover it up. In exchange, Il-nam insists Gi-hun take his jacket, so for a period of time, we see Gi-hun labeled as "001." Only two other players get that number on the show — Il-nam (the founder of the games) and Hwang In-ho (the current Front Man). Il-nam giving Gi-hun his "001" jacket suggests he's grooming Gi-hun to take a larger seat at the table for the games moving forward. 

It's possible Gi-hun wearing the "001" jacket foreshadows how he'll eventually win the game, effectively becoming the "Number One Player." But on a grander scale, it could hint at what's to come once Season 3 comes out. If Gi-hun becomes the new Front Man, perhaps he'll follow In-ho's lead and join the games himself, becoming the next Player 001 to keep better tabs on the players.