Quick Squid Game Recap – Season 1

Want a Squid Game recap of season 1 while getting ready to dive into season 2? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with a quick Squid Game season 1 recap here – including reminders on key characters!

Our Season 1 Squid Game recap is a gripping tale of survival and humanity. Well, often the lack of humanity, but still, hope and kindness were able to shine through in unexpected ways.

Squid Game was the breakout Netflix series released in September of 2021. It delivers a heart-pounding exploration of morality, desperation, and survival. You can also check out our spoiler-free Squid Game season 1 review here – if you’re still looking to start the series.

In this Squid Game season 1 recap, we’ll look at the fates of key characters and how their journeys shaped the emotional core of the hugely popular Netflix series.

Get ready for season 2 of the South Korean series with this quick recap.

Want a longer Squid Game S1 recap?

Many elements and several characters from the first season of Squid Game will come into play for Season 2. You can watch a quick video recap on Netflix, which recaps the first season in just a few minutes.

However, if you want to really be ready for season 2, I recommend watching the half-hour Squid Game Season 1 recap from “Still Watching Netflix” on YouTube. It’s a Netflix YouTube channel that offers more in-depth information on various productions.

We’ve included this longer S1 recap on this page further down (click here to jump to it now), so you can check it out and be ready for the second season coming to Netflix on December 26, 2024.

Squid Game Season 1: The Deadly Games Begin

In this Squid Game season 1 recap, we break down the key events, dive into pivotal characters, and tease what Squid Game season 2 might bring.

The Invitation: The Game That Starts It All

The story begins when Seong Gi-hun, a man drowning in debt and struggling to support his family, encounters a mysterious recruiter in a subway station. This recruiter, played by Train to Busan‘s Gong Yoo, challenges Gi-hun to a simple yet high-stakes game of ddakji (a traditional Korean flipping game).

For every loss, Gi-hun is slapped in the face, but every win earns him cash.

This bizarre encounter sets the tone for the series, as the recruiter eventually offers Gi-hun a card with an invitation to the ultimate game of survival. The recruiter’s charisma and enigmatic role hint at a larger, more sinister organization pulling the strings.

Being an extremely debt-ridden chauffeur (and gambler) struggling to support his family, Seong Gi-hun accepts the invitation. Alongside 455 other contestants, he becomes number 456.

The players, all desperate for the massive cash prize of 45.6 billion won, must endure childhood-inspired games with deadly twists. The deadly twist is that if you lose, you die.

There will be no mercy or second chances, just instant elimination from life itself.

The Season 1 Key Players

Once inside the deadly competition, 456 players face a series of twisted, childhood-inspired games. Each round exposes their desperation, alliances, and betrayals.

To help the audience feel for (and root for) the characters in Squid Game, we’re presented with a diverse group. Sure, all of them have huge debts. Some are gamblers, others have always been down on their luck, and a few were desperate enough to use loan sharks.

The Players and Their Fates

Let’s go over a few of the key players from season 1 of Squid Game:

1. Seong Gi-hun (Player 456): Gi-hun emerges as the protagonist, navigating the horrors of the games with a blend of kindness and strategy. His growth from a selfish gambler to a compassionate survivor forms the emotional backbone of the series.
2. Cho Sang-woo (Player 218): Gi-hun’s childhood friend and a disgraced investment banker, Sang-woo’s arc is one of moral decline. While initially calculated and resourceful, his ruthless decisions, including betraying other players, lead to a tragic end.
3. Kang Sae-byeok (Player 067): A North Korean defector seeking to reunite her family, Sae-byeok wins viewers’ hearts with her resilience and quiet determination. Her untimely death in the final episodes is a devastating blow.
4. Oh Il-nam (Player 001): Initially appearing as a frail old man, Il-nam’s shocking reveal as the mastermind behind the games adds a chilling twist. His true intentions remain a haunting question for viewers.

The Investigator: A Brother’s Search

Parallel to the games, Squid Game season 1 introduces Hwang Jun-ho, a determined police officer who infiltrates the Squid Game compound in search of his missing brother.

Jun-ho’s investigation uncovers the shadowy organization behind the games which leads him to shocking revelations. His journey is filled with tension as he becomes part of the games while wearing disguises, evading capture, and uncovering evidence of the games’ atrocities.

His search comes to a tragic end when he discovers that the Front Man – the masked leader of the operation – is his own brother, Hwang In-ho. In a gut-wrenching moment, In-ho shoots Jun-ho, leaving his fate ambiguous.

The Front Man: A Masked Enigma

The man in the black mask, known as the Front Man, orchestrates the games with cold efficiency. Played by Lee Byung-hun, the Front Man is initially shrouded in mystery, but his identity is revealed as Hwang In-ho, the long-lost brother of Jun-ho.

Once a past winner of the Squid Game, In-ho’s transformation into the Front Man reflects the moral corruption inherent in the system. His motivations remain unclear; Does he truly believe in the games, or is he trapped in a role he can’t escape?

Recap of Squid Game season 1 ending: The Final Showdown

Squid Game Season 1 culminates in a brutal duel between childhood friends Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo. During the previous games, Cho Sang-woo has made some brutal choices and been responsible for some of the most heartbreaking deaths.

Not because he’s cruel, but because he wants to survive and has to be selfish.

Still, in the end, his actions have led to him now overcome by guilt. The result is that Sang-woo takes his own life, leaving Gi-hun as the sole survivor while also saving him from having to kill his childhood friend.

The final game was (of course!) the titular Squid Game.

However, the victory is bittersweet for Seong Gi-hun. The psychological scars from the experience in Squid Game weigh heavily on him as he returns to the outside world.

It doesn’t help that his mother died all alone while he was away playing the game to win money for her surgery.

There’s a time jump of one year, and we then learn that he hasn’t touched the money he won. However, this is about to change. He gives money to the mother of his friend, Cho Sang-woo, who died in the final challenge and is about to leave for the USA, where his daughter now lives.

As he’s about to board the flight to the US, a phone call stops him. Instead of getting on board, he turns around and is determined to stop Squid Game once and for all.

Squid Game season 1 Full Story recap

The video recap below covers the entire first season, and before you dive into season 2, it’s a good idea to watch it. Unless you want to just rewatch all the episodes of season 1. Still, this video offers a solid recap of the entire season, so spend 27 minutes getting ready:

Squid Game Season 2: What’s Next?

As already mentioned earlier, the final moments of Squid Game season 1 ended on a tantalizing note. Seong Gi-hun, disillusioned by the blood money, learns that the games are still ongoing.

In a shocking twist, he abandons a flight to see his daughter and instead heads back to confront the organization.

This moment is where Squid Game season 2 picks up. With more money than he can spend in a lifetime, Seong Gi-hun is ready to dedicate all his time and money to stopping the game. From the trailer, we know that this will result in him going back to Squid Game.

Can Seong Gi-hun convince the new contestants to leave or will he realize that debt and desperation is stronger than the fear of death? After all, in season 1, he did leave the game along with everyone else, but almost everyone willingly returned when given the chance.

It wasn’t until he returned that he finally played the game until the end and won.

Season 2 is not the end – Squid Game Season 3 is coming!

With season 2, fans are eager to learn what drives Gi-hun’s return and how he plans to take on the shadowy organization. Will he dismantle the system or fall victim to its sinister grip once more?

In Squid Game season 2, fans can expect to see how Seong Gi-hun plans to take down the shadowy figures behind the games. He starts by trying to find the mysterious recruiter who finds contestants by playing a game at a subway station in Seoul.

And what will happen to Hwang Jun-ho? Will he survive his brother’s betrayal? And what role will the Front Man himself play in this next round of this deadly competition?

More than anything, it’ll be interesting to meet the new contestants and see how Seong Gi-hun’s second attempt at the games goes. Will things be different this time around? Or is the man in the black mask, the Front Man, correct in his assessment of mankind?!

Be sure to check out season 2 of the series, and get ready to wait a little longer for the final conclusion. Squid Game Season 3 has already been greenlit and is coming. First, however, we need to enjoy the seven episodes (all around 1 hour long) of season 2.

Squid Game Season 2 is coming to Netflix globally on December 26, 2025.