Every Time The Front Man Was Actually Nice In Squid Game

While some feel as though "Squid Game" Season 2's Front Man twist feels like the worst kind of déjà vu, the reveal that Player 001 is once again the boss of the operation secretly playing the games unbeknownst to the other contestants was revealed much more quickly than it was in Season 1. And this time, the show completely changes the way that wrinkle has played out thus far and will continue to do so going forward. Unlike Season 1, where it's only on a rewatch that you're armed with that knowledge about Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su), Season 2 has let the audience keep a close eye on the new Player 001 — Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), aka Oh Young-il — and the way he pretends to care about the games and his teammates while actually having a vested interest in seeing them all fail.

That being said, In-ho isn't completely devoid of all humanity. Though there are plenty of times where he is obviously only pretending to be a good teammate and friend, one can find several examples of him letting his guard down, saying and/or doing things that seem to come from a place of genuine concern for others. While there is one particularly notable example from Season 1, the rest all occur in Season 2. It remains to be seen if these fleeting glimpses of In-ho not being entirely evil are a hint of things to come for his character, or if they're just outlier moments from an otherwise entirely cold-hearted and sociopathic individual.

In one of the small details you might have missed in "Squid Game" Season 2, In-ho offering his milk to Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri) is also one of the reasons behind the fan theory that In-ho is actually the son of former Front Man, Oh Il-nam. During Season 1, Il-nam inferred that his son couldn't drink milk, and when In-ho says the same, people assume that was meant to be a clue to that fact. But beyond that, there is something else that we are witnessing during that moment.

In-ho could've given his milk to anyone — or simply not drunk it at all and just put it to the side or thrown it away. The fact that he specifically gives it to Jun-hee, who has already been revealed to be pregnant, seems like In-ho felt sympathy for her and wanted to make sure she was eating and drinking enough for her and her baby. While it's easy enough to write this off as In-ho just playing his role and trying to earn the team's trust, it really does feel like the Front Man was showing actual concern for Jun-hee in that moment.

Choi Su-bong (Choi Seung-hyun), aka Thanos, reveals early on that he has it out for fellow player Lee Myung-gi (Im Si-wan) due to losing a lot of money by following Myung-gi's ill-fated crypto investment advice. Both Thanos and his lackey, Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won), constantly bully and intimidate Myung-gi, telling him that he'd better win the competition so he can pay the other two back for all the money they lost. Myung-gi eventually points out the obvious fatal flaw in that plan, but that's beside the point.

One day, during mealtime, that bullying gets physical, and Thanos and Nam-gyu begin beating up on Myung-gi. In-ho approaches the scuffle, initially trying to reason with the attackers and telling them they're acting disrespectfully. When Thanos mouths off to In-ho, In-ho loses it and makes short work of the rapper and his sidekick, almost killing Thanos in the process.

The overriding point of the scene is meant to be that In-ho has a violent temper and a darkness to him that is revealed to the other players for the first time — one of several instances of him exhibiting that sort of behavior. But there's also the underlying point that In-ho was, in fact, stepping in to stop Myung-gi from being unfairly ganged up on. He could've easily just let the fight go on and possibly even result in a death — which would've meant one less player to worry about.

One of the most brutal scenes in "Squid Game" so far is when In-ho, after having taken off his mask to reveal himself to his brother, Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), shoots his brother and causes him to fall off a cliff into the water below in Season 1. When audiences first experienced that moment, the main takeaway was how cold-blooded In-ho must be, and how committed he is to the games. After all, he'd murder his own brother to keep him from exposing the games to the rest of the world. But there are a few things to consider here.

First, we would eventually learn that Jun-ho survived the incident, which means that In-ho didn't actually kill him. More importantly, the more we learn about In-ho and how careful he is — and how skilled he is with weapons — the more we realize that he could've very easily shot his brother right in the head on that cliffside, ensuring his death. Instead, he deliberately shot him in such a way that Jun-ho not only had a chance to survive the confrontation, but it knocks him into the water and out of sight of the rest of the guards. This way, nobody else could see that he had survived and therefore expect In-ho to finish the job.

Despite what a massive loose end it creates in letting his brother live, and likely knowing he'd be right back at it, trying to find In-ho and take the games down when he recovered, In-ho still couldn't bear to murder his own brother. This is interesting, because he certainly doesn't have a problem murdering anyone else.