Squid Game Season 2 Episode 3 Recap

Who's in the cast:
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun (Player 456)
Lee Byung-hun as Hwang In-ho (Player 001)
Yim Si-wan as Lee Myung-gi (Player 333)
Lee Seo-hwan as Park Jung-bae (Player 390)
Choi Seung-hyun (T.O.P) as Choi Su-bong / Thanos (Player 230)
Park Sung-hoon as Cho Hyun-ju (Player 120)
Yang Dong-geun as Park Yong-sik (Player 007)
Kang Ae-sim as Jang Geum-ja (Player 149)
Roh Jae-won as Nam-gyu (Player 124)
Chae Kook-hee as Seon-nyeo (Player 044)
Park Gyu-young as Kang No-eul (Guard 011)
Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho

Jun-ho, Woo-seok, the mercenaries and Captain Park set out by boat, following the signal from Gi-hun's tracker. Gi-hun wakes up in the familiar dormitory in a green tracksuit marked 456. A shaman, Seon-nyeo (Player 044), tells him he is surrounded by restless spirits who brought him here. A masked manager welcomes everyone and lists some of their debts, starting with Lee Myung-gi (Player 333), a crypto YouTuber known as MG Coin who is wanted for fraud after his coin collapsed. Another player, Im Jeong-dae (Player 100), owes ten billion won.

There is a new twist this time. After every game, the players will vote on whether to stop, and if the majority wants out, they leave and split whatever prize money has piled up. Each eliminated player adds 100 million won to the giant piggy bank. Before signing up, we meet several new faces. Park Yong-sik (Player 007) is horrified to find his mother, Jang Geum-ja (Player 149), here to pay off his gambling debts. Former rapper Thanos (Choi Su-bong, Player 230) and his new buddy Nam-gyu (Player 124) both lost money on MG Coin and corner Myung-gi, demanding it back. Cho Hyun-ju (Player 120), a trans woman, hears snide remarks from other players. Then Gi-hun runs into his childhood friend Park Jung-bae (Player 390), now divorced and broke, and begs him to stay close no matter what.

Out at sea, Jun-ho's team lands on the island the tracker points to, only to find the signal coming from a fisherman's bait. The organization had found the device and passed it off to a stranger. With a storm coming in, they are forced to turn back.

The first game is Red Light, Green Light. Players can move while the giant doll sings, but anyone the doll catches moving when she turns around is shot. They have five minutes to cross the finish line. Gi-hun shouts warnings that losing means death, but most people laugh him off as a drunk. Then Player 196 moves to swat away a bee and is shot, and the field explodes in panic. Gi-hun keeps yelling for people to freeze and tells them to hide behind bigger players so the doll can't see them move. Not everyone plays fair, and some players shove others into the doll's view. Gi-hun and Hyun-ju help an injured man across the line, but a sniper, No-eul (Guard 011), shoots him anyway. She coldly tells a colleague she was just removing a loser.

Back in the dorm, the results come in: 91 players are dead, 365 survive, and 9.1 billion won is in the pot, which works out to only about 25 million won each. Some players beg for their lives, but the staff call the vote. Players press O to continue or X to stop, going in reverse order of player number.

Gi-hun pleads with everyone to leave and finally admits he won these games three years ago and that everyone else died. The confession backfires. Some call him a liar, and others are thrilled to have a past winner on their side. In the end, the votes are tied, and the last player to vote is Player 001, who turns out to be In-ho. The Front Man is hiding among the players, and he presses O, sending everyone on to the next game.

Player tracker

Eliminated this episode

• ❌ Player 196: shot after moving to swat away a bee
• ❌ 91 players in all are eliminated in Red Light, Green Light (365 survive)
• ❌ A wounded player: shot by No-eul (Guard 011) just before the finish line

Still standing

• ✅ Gi-hun (Player 456)
• ✅ In-ho / "Oh Young-il" (Player 001)
• ✅ Myung-gi (Player 333)
• ✅ Jung-bae (Player 390)
• ✅ Thanos (Player 230)
• ✅ Nam-gyu (Player 124)
• ✅ Hyun-ju (Player 120)
• ✅ Yong-sik (Player 007)
• ✅ Geum-ja (Player 149)
• ✅ Seon-nyeo (Player 044)
• ✅ Jeong-dae (Player 100)

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