Squid Game Season 2 Episode 4 Recap

Who's in the cast:
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun (Player 456)
Lee Byung-hun as Hwang In-ho (Player 001)
Lee Seo-hwan as Park Jung-bae (Player 390)
Kang Ha-neul as Kang Dae-ho (Player 388)
Jo Yu-ri as Kim Jun-hee (Player 222)
Yim Si-wan as Lee Myung-gi (Player 333)
Choi Seung-hyun (T.O.P) as Thanos (Player 230)
Kang Sung-wook as Gyeong-su (Player 256)
Park Sung-hoon as Cho Hyun-ju (Player 120)
Kang Ae-sim as Jang Geum-ja (Player 149)
Park Gyu-young as Kang No-eul (Guard 011)
Park Hee-soon as the Masked Officer
Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho

At dinner, Gi-hun is too upset to eat. Players who voted to stay because of him crowd around, asking what the next game is. He tells them it was Dalgona last time and that the triangle was the easiest shape. Some want to keep that secret so fewer people survive and the prize grows, but Gi-hun says he will tell everyone. Geum-ja notices that young Kim Jun-hee (Player 222) is pregnant and close to her due date, and that binding her belly to hide it is dangerous. An eager ex-Marine, Kang Dae-ho (Player 388), introduces himself as a fan of Gi-hun after the first game and quickly bonds with Jung-bae, who also served in the Marines.

Thanos and Nam-gyu bully Myung-gi, shoving food in his face. Player 001, In-ho, steps in, and when Thanos insults him, he twists Thanos's arm until he begs. Later, In-ho apologizes to Gi-hun for blaming him earlier and tells his story: his wife needs a liver transplant, she is pregnant, and he lost his job after borrowing money that looked like a bribe. It is partly the truth about his real past, and it earns Gi-hun's sympathy.

Behind the scenes, a group of guards is working with an outside doctor to harvest organs from players who are still alive after being shot. They are angry that someone keeps shooting the wounded a second time. That someone is No-eul. The Masked Officer who recruited her seven years ago calls her in. He reminds her that she escaped North Korea alone after taking out the soldiers chasing her, and that she joined him hoping to find her lost child. He wants her to cooperate, and she refuses. On the mainland, Jun-ho asks his police chief for help and is laughed out of the station. Woo-seok tells Captain Park everything about Gi-hun, and the captain arranges a second boat.

In the next game hall, there is no dalgona in sight. Players turn on Gi-hun, calling him a fraud. Myung-gi finds Jun-hee and learns the truth: she is his ex-girlfriend, she is carrying his baby, and she lost money on his coin too. She wants nothing to do with him. The players must form teams of five. Gi-hun, In-ho, Jung-bae and Dae-ho take in Jun-hee after she pleads for a spot. Thanos recruits Nam-gyu (Player 124), a young woman named Se-mi (Player 380), the timid Park Min-su (Player 125), and his superfan Gyeong-su (Player 256). Hyun-ju ends up with Geum-ja, Yong-sik, the shaman Seon-nyeo, and a nervous young player named Kim Young-mi.

The game is the Six-Legged Pentathlon. The five teammates have their legs tied together and must shuffle down a course, stopping every ten meters for a member to win a traditional children's game: ddakji, flying stone, gonggi (jacks), spinning top and jegi (a shuttlecock you keep in the air with your foot). They have five minutes to finish all five and cross the line. Gi-hun's team assigns ddakji to Jun-hee, flying stone to Jung-bae, gonggi to Dae-ho, the top to In-ho and jegi to Gi-hun.

The first teams go, and one squad runs out of time and is gunned down. While the staff clean up, a shaky Nam-gyu gets a pill from the stash Thanos hides in his cross necklace, and Se-mi calls them out. During the cleanup, No-eul finds a wounded player the guards were hoping to harvest and shoots him dead, cutting the organ scheme off from another victim. The episode ends as Hyun-ju gives Young-mi a pep talk and her team steps up to the starting line.

Player tracker

Eliminated this episode

• ❌ The five players on the team that runs out of time: gunned down
• ❌ A wounded player: shot dead by No-eul (Guard 011) so the guards cannot harvest his organs

Still standing

• ✅ Gi-hun (Player 456)
• ✅ In-ho / "Oh Young-il" (Player 001)
• ✅ Jung-bae (Player 390)
• ✅ Dae-ho (Player 388)
• ✅ Jun-hee (Player 222)
• ✅ Myung-gi (Player 333)
• ✅ Thanos (Player 230)
• ✅ Nam-gyu (Player 124)
• ✅ Se-mi (Player 380)
• ✅ Min-su (Player 125)
• ✅ Gyeong-su (Player 256)
• ✅ Hyun-ju (Player 120)
• ✅ Geum-ja (Player 149)
• ✅ Yong-sik (Player 007)
• ✅ Seon-nyeo (Player 044)
• ✅ Young-mi (Player 095)

Up next: Squid Game Season 2 Episode 5 Recap. Missed the last one? Read the Squid Game Season 2 Episode 3 Recap. See every episode in the Squid Game Season 2 episode guide or browse all Squid Game recaps.