Squid Game Season 1 Episode 3 Recap

Who's in the cast:
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun (Player 456)
Park Hae-soo as Cho Sang-woo (Player 218)
O Yeong-su as Oh Il-nam (Player 001)
Jung Ho-yeon as Kang Sae-byeok (Player 067)
Heo Sung-tae as Jang Deok-su (Player 101)
Anupam Tripathi as Ali Abdul (Player 199)
Kim Joo-ryoung as Han Mi-nyeo (Player 212)
Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho
Lee Byung-hun as the Front Man

Detective Hwang Jun-ho follows Gi-hun the night Gi-hun is picked up. He tails the van to a quiet harbor, ambushes one of the masked workers, and takes his uniform. Disguised as one of the guards, he boats out to a remote island along with the sleeping players. He nearly gives himself away by talking without permission, which is strictly against the staff rules.

Back in the dormitory, Gi-hun is relieved to find Player 001 has returned, along with Sang-woo and Player 199, who thanks Sang-woo for the bus fare. Out of 201 players, 187 have come back. Gi-hun suggests they form a team, joking about it like army ranks, and the old man asks to join as well. Across the room, Deok-su builds his own crew of tough guys. He tries to recruit Player 067, but she turns him down. Player 212, a loud and pushy woman, invites herself into Deok-su's group instead.

That night, after lights out, Player 212 makes a huge fuss to be let out to the bathroom. Player 067 tags along and, while 212 keeps the guard busy with a ridiculous scene, climbs into an air vent. She spots workers stirring big pots of something that smells like melted sugar. Jun-ho, meanwhile, settles into the staff quarters, where the rules are clear: always wear your mask, never speak without permission and never leave the room without permission. In the morning, Sang-woo, who overheard the whispering, corners Player 067 and gets her to tell him about the sugar.

The second game takes place on a giant playground. Players must choose one of four shapes painted on the wall: circle, triangle, star or umbrella. Sang-woo suggests the team split up so they don't put all their eggs in one basket. Player 199 takes the circle, Sang-woo the triangle, the old man the star, and Gi-hun picks the umbrella because of a childhood memory. Just as they split up, a look of realization crosses Sang-woo's face, but he decides to stay quiet.

The game is the honeycomb challenge, also known as ppopgi or dalgona. Each player gets a thin disc of sugar candy stamped with their shape and a needle. They have ten minutes to carve the shape out cleanly, and if the candy cracks, they are shot. The umbrella, with its curved top and thin handle, is by far the hardest. Players all around Gi-hun are being shot as their candy breaks. Player 067 and Sang-woo finish quickly, and Player 212 secretly slips Deok-su a lighter so he can heat his needle. Gi-hun is drenched in sweat when he notices that sweat dripping onto the candy softens it. He starts licking the back of his honeycomb, slowly melting the thin outline, and frees the umbrella just before time runs out.

Jun-ho almost blows his cover by showing up at the wrong post. When his supervisor scolds him, he learns his assigned guard number is 29 and that his real job today is carrying out the bodies. As the game ends, Player 119, who is about to be executed, attacks a guard and grabs a gun. He shoots another guard and forces him to take off his mask, then is shocked to find he's just a young man. A moment later Player 119 turns the gun on himself. The Front Man, a figure in a black mask who runs the facility, then calmly shoots the unmasked guard, explaining that once anyone sees a staff member's face, that staff member dies.

Player tracker

Eliminated this episode

• ❌ Player 119: shoots himself after taking a guard hostage
• ❌ A young guard: shot by the Front Man for showing his face
• ❌ Unnamed players whose honeycomb cracks (79 across the game, per the next episode)

Still standing

• ✅ Gi-hun (Player 456)
• ✅ Sang-woo (Player 218)
• ✅ Oh Il-nam (Player 001)
• ✅ Sae-byeok (Player 067)
• ✅ Deok-su (Player 101)
• ✅ Ali (Player 199)
• ✅ Mi-nyeo (Player 212)

Up next: Squid Game Season 1 Episode 4 Recap. Missed the last one? Read the Squid Game Season 1 Episode 2 Recap. See every episode in the Squid Game Season 1 episode guide or browse all Squid Game recaps.