Squid Game Season 1 Episode 9 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
Lee Byung-hun as the Front Man
Gong Yoo as the Recruiter
Park Hye-jin as Sang-woo's mother
Park Si-wan as Kang Cheol

Gi-hun and Sang-woo face off in the final game. A coin toss makes Gi-hun the attacker and Sang-woo the defender, and the game is the one from Gi-hun's childhood: the Squid Game. To win, the attacker has to hop on one foot until he crosses the squid's waist, then make it into the squid's head and step on it. The defender wins by forcing him out of bounds. The guards also make it clear that if one player can't keep going, the other wins, which means death. Anything goes. Up in their lounge, the VIPs watch as the Front Man explains the rules.

Rain pours down on the sand court. Gi-hun confronts Sang-woo about Sae-byeok, and Sang-woo claims he only put her out of her misery. He then admits the real reason: he was afraid that Gi-hun and Sae-byeok would vote together to end the games, and he couldn't bear going home with nothing. The two old friends fight viciously, punching, slashing at each other with knives, and wrestling in the mud. Gi-hun finally pins Sang-woo down with a knife raised, but he can't bring himself to kill him.

Instead, Gi-hun walks toward the squid's head, then stops just short of winning. He tells the Front Man he wants to quit and calls on the third rule: if both players agree, the games end. He reaches out to Sang-woo and begs him to come home with him, like when they were kids and their mothers would call them in for dinner. Sang-woo apologizes, asks Gi-hun to take care of his mother, and stabs himself in the neck. Gi-hun is the winner by default. Afterwards, in the empty dorm, the Front Man tells him the players were just racehorses for rich people to bet on. Gi-hun is dumped on a Seoul street with a bank card in his mouth.

Gi-hun stumbles home and finds his mother dead in her bed, having passed away while he was gone. A year later, he's still living like a homeless man. He hasn't touched the 45.6 billion won sitting in his bank account and takes only 10,000 won at a time. Then a card arrives from his "gganbu," inviting him to a skyscraper on Christmas Eve.

Gi-hun is stunned to find Oh Il-nam alive, bedridden and close to death. The old man reveals the truth: he's a wealthy moneylender, and he created the games. He and his rich clients were bored with life, and the games were a way to feel something again. He joined as Player 001 because watching wasn't enough, and playing reminded him of the fun of his childhood. Il-nam offers a final bet. A drunk man is lying in the snow on the street below, and if nobody helps him before midnight, Il-nam wins. Gi-hun insists that people are still good. Just before midnight, a passerby finally stops to help the man, but by then Il-nam has quietly died.

Gi-hun finally starts living again, and he dyes his hair bright red. He finds Sae-byeok's little brother, Kang Cheol, at the orphanage and brings him to Sang-woo's mother at her fish stall. He leaves her a suitcase full of cash with a note saying it's the money he owes Sang-woo.

On his way to the airport to fly to Los Angeles and see Ga-yeong, Gi-hun spots the Recruiter on a subway platform, slapping another desperate man over a game of ddakji. Gi-hun races over and grabs the card from the new recruit before he can use it, while the Recruiter slips away on a train. At the boarding gate, Gi-hun calls the number. When the Front Man answers, Gi-hun tells him he's a person, not a horse, and that he can't forgive what they do. The Front Man warns him to just get on the plane. Gi-hun hangs up, turns around and walks away from the gate.

Player tracker

Eliminated this episode

• ❌ Sang-woo (Player 218): stabs himself so Gi-hun can win
• ❌ Oh Il-nam (Player 001): dies of illness on Christmas Eve, after the final bet

Still standing

• ✅ Gi-hun (Player 456): the winner

Up next: Squid Game Season 2 Episode 1 Recap. Missed the last one? Read the Squid Game Season 1 Episode 8 Recap. See every episode in the Squid Game Season 1 episode guide or browse all Squid Game recaps.