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Spoilers ahead for Gganbu and the rest ofSquid Game.
Is there a theme more unifying in global pop culture than capitalism is bad?
Released with little fanfare on Netflix on September 17,Squid Gamehas dominated the streaming services top ten since.
IfSquid GameandParasitewere the shaking-hands meme, their uniting factor would be Eat the rich.
The misery: unstoppably endless, with observational dialogue like Were in hell here.
Theres no rules in hell.
As the sixth episode of nine,Gganbuserves as the narrative turning point forSquid Games concluding act.
Before then,Squid Gamesets up its premise outside Seoul, South Korea.
There are 456 gamers on the island in total, and theyre hesitant about stepping out of line.
The latter point seems promising.
And at first, the group does, ending the game by a margin of one vote.
Without that money, Sae-byeok cant look after her younger brother, who is now living in an orphanage.
InThe Man with the Umbrella,Gi-huns method for licking a shape out ofdalgonahoneycomb candy is copied by Il-nam.
Later on, Sang-woo urges Ali to hide his injured hand (Dont let them see.
There is strength in numbers, and these relationships help keep the players alive.
You must be guaranteed the same opportunities without being disadvantaged or facing any kind of discrimination.
The gamers put their hands out and ask for more food.
They attack and inflict violence upon one another.
They go from arguing with the staff to arguing amongst themselves.
Its a circular chicken-or-egg Catch-22, and its always the rich and powerful pulling the strings.
This brings us back to Gganbu, which most purely captures the stacked-deck nature of the island.
The twist, though, is that the players arent forming partnerships, but selecting their next opponents.
The winner secures all their opponents marbles, and the loser dies.
So the island is pre-emptively quashing a players union?
And so Sang-woo tricks Ali, secretly swapping his pouch of marbles with a pouch of rocks.
Gi-hun takes advantage of Il-nams confusion, convincing the man that hes lost marbles hes actually won.
Will you act and seize the last opportunity were offering here?
Enemies are no longercertainother people, butallother people.
Song-woo had previously paid for Alis bus fare home; now he abandons him to his death.
Did he do so as an act of mercy, as he insists to Gi-hun?
Or did the literally cutthroat behavior manufactured in Gganbu permanently change who Song-woo is?
Instead,Squid Gameimplies, Gi-hun decides to face off against the games organizers.
Is this all an attempt to right his conscience?
Does his declaration of, Im not a horse.
Perhaps these would be narrative paths for a second season ofSquid Game, which awaits renewal.
It was a dream.
