Squid Game Season 1 Episode 7 Recap

Who's in the cast:
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun (Player 456)
Park Hae-soo as Cho Sang-woo (Player 218)
Jung Ho-yeon as Kang Sae-byeok (Player 067)
Heo Sung-tae as Jang Deok-su (Player 101)
Kim Joo-ryoung as Han Mi-nyeo (Player 212)
Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho
Lee Byung-hun as the Front Man
Lee Sang-hee as Player 017, a glassmaker
Kim Si-hyun as Player 244, a pastor

The survivors return to the dorm and get a shock: Mi-nyeo is alive. Because the doctor's death left an odd number of players, she was the one without a partner, and she was simply allowed through to the next round. She happily rubs it in Deok-su's face. Meanwhile, the Front Man realizes someone has been in his office and nearly finds Jun-ho hiding there. He notices the phone receiver was set down the wrong way and that a bullet came from a standard Korean police revolver. He knows a cop is loose on the island.

The guards then find the body of a guard, listed as Worker 029, with Jun-ho's police ID left on it, and the Front Man orders it burned. In the dorm, Player 069, who lost his wife in the marble game, begs the others to vote to stop the games. Sang-woo cruelly shuts him down, telling him that walking away now would mean his wife died for nothing. Nobody stands up. That night, Player 069 takes his own life.

The VIPs arrive by helicopter. They are wealthy foreigners in golden animal masks who have been betting on the games from afar and have now come to watch in person. The Front Man welcomes them and explains that the host can't make it due to personal business. Jun-ho, disguised as one of the masked servants, waits on them. One VIP takes a liking to him and keeps him close.

The fifth game begins with sixteen players picking numbered vests from 1 to 16 without knowing what they mean. Most rush for the middle numbers. Gi-hun is torn between first and last, and Player 096 begs to take number 1, so Gi-hun ends up with 16. Only then do they learn the numbers decide the order they'll play in. The game is Glass Stepping Stones: a long bridge of 18 pairs of glass panels hangs high above the floor. In each pair, one panel is tempered glass strong enough to hold two people, and the other is normal glass that shatters under a single person. Players must jump from pair to pair, guessing which panel is safe, and reach the other side within 16 minutes.

The early players fall one after another, each wrong guess revealing the right path for those behind. Player 244, the pastor, freezes and prays until he's pushed forward. Deok-su refuses to move ahead, holding up the line so others have to test the panels for him. Mi-nyeo, who never forgave him for dumping her, offers to go first. She grabs him in a tight hug and throws them both off the bridge to their deaths.

Up in the VIP lounge, the VIP who has taken a liking to Jun-ho drags him off to a private room. Once they're alone, Jun-ho overpowers the man and makes him spill everything he knows about the games while he records it on his phone.

On the bridge, Player 017 turns out to have worked with glass for over 30 years, and he can tell the tempered glass apart by the way light reflects off it. Annoyed that this makes the game less fun, the VIPs ask the Front Man to dim the lights. With the lights off, the glassmaker loses his edge. He freezes, tossing small objects at the panels to hear how they ring, but time is running out, and Sang-woo shoves him onto a panel. He falls, revealing the last safe step. Gi-hun, Sang-woo and Sae-byeok jump across just as the clock hits zero, and the remaining panels explode, pelting them with flying glass.

The guards also find a dive pack missing. Jun-ho has slipped into the sea and is escaping the island with his recordings, while the Front Man orders his boat readied for the chase.

Player tracker

Eliminated this episode

• ❌ Player 069: takes his own life in the dorm
• ❌ Player 017, the glassmaker: pushed onto the glass by Sang-woo
• ❌ Deok-su (Player 101) and Mi-nyeo (Player 212): fall together when Mi-nyeo throws them both off the bridge
• ❌ Player 096 (the first to fall), Player 244 (the pastor), and eight other bridge players (everyone except the three who reach the end)

Still standing

• ✅ Gi-hun (Player 456)
• ✅ Sang-woo (Player 218)
• ✅ Sae-byeok (Player 067)

Up next: Squid Game Season 1 Episode 8 Recap. Missed the last one? Read the Squid Game Season 1 Episode 6 Recap. See every episode in the Squid Game Season 1 episode guide or browse all Squid Game recaps.