Squid Game Season 3 Episode 4 Recap

Who's in the cast:
Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun (Player 456)
Lee Byung-hun as Hwang In-ho / the Front Man
Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho
Park Gyu-young as Kang No-eul (Guard 011)
Lee Jin-wook as Park Gyeong-seok (Player 246)
Park Hee-soon as the Masked Officer
Yim Si-wan as Lee Myung-gi (Player 333)
Jo Yu-ri as Kim Jun-hee (Player 222)
Song Young-chang as Im Jeong-dae (Player 100)
Oh Dal-su as Captain Park Yeong-gil
Jeon Seok-ho as Choi Woo-seok

Player 096 blocks the end of the bridge, figuring that if nobody else makes it, the winners will split a huge pot and vote to leave. He knocks several players off, and the rest pile up behind him as the rope keeps swinging. Seong Gi-hun (Player 456) warns him to stop, and after a tense standoff 096 steps aside. Players start crossing again, including Im Jeong-dae (Player 100).

Back on the starting side, Lee Myung-gi (Player 333) tries one last time to get Kim Jun-hee (Player 222) to come with him. She asks why he killed Hyun-ju with the very knife she gave him, and he insists he didn't know Hyun-ju was with her and only wanted the three of them to start a new life. Jun-hee tells him the baby has nothing to do with him and that she never wants to see him again. He crosses without her. Then Player 096 ambushes Gi-hun, angry that he let so many people through. Gi-hun throws him back onto the bridge, and the rope sweeps him away.

Jun-hee finally tries to cross, but her broken ankle gives out. Gi-hun shouts that he's coming back for her, but she stops him. If he dies, so does her baby, and she reminds him that he told her to protect the child no matter what. Asking him to look after her daughter, she steps off the edge into the drop. The game ends with nine survivors. When the announcer says nine players remain, the others protest that there are only eight. The answer stuns them: the newborn has inherited her mother's number and share and is now Player 222. Several players demand that the baby be eliminated, but the guards announce that physical violence between players is no longer allowed.

On the mainland, Choi Woo-seok tries to convince the local police that Captain Park Yeong-gil is part of a murderous gang. They laugh at the pink uniform and toy masks and pull up his own long criminal record instead. When an officer calls Captain Park to report the break-in, the captain learns he has been exposed. Woo-seok grabs his phone back long enough to warn Detective Hwang Jun-ho. Too late: Park orders the crew of the second boat to kill everyone on board, then opens fire on the mercenaries on his own boat. Jun-ho confronts him with a spear gun. Dying, Park reveals he was ordered years ago to keep Jun-ho alive at all costs, and he refuses to give up the island's location. Jun-ho is left with only Kim, the wounded mercenary leader, but he refuses to quit because his brother is out there. He also realizes the island is probably in the very area Park kept steering them away from.

No-eul and Park Gyeong-seok (Player 246) slip away from the island in a small boat. The Masked Officer radios her: he knows exactly who Gyeong-seok is and where his sick daughter, Park Na-yeon, is being treated. No-eul sends Gyeong-seok north, tells him to call the police the moment he reaches land, and heads back alone to face the officer.

The surviving players enjoy a feast and are given a hint about the final game: they will choose which players to eliminate, and if they agree on at least three, everyone else wins. The vote to continue passes easily. That night, Jeong-dae forms a pact of six players to target Gi-hun, the baby, and the drug-addled Park Min-su (Player 125), which would leave 7.6 billion won each.

Then Gi-hun is summoned by the Front Man, who takes off his mask. He is the man Gi-hun knew as Oh Young-il, Player 001, and he apologizes for Jung-bae's death. He hands Gi-hun a knife and suggests he quietly kill the sleeping players before they kill him and the baby. If only Gi-hun and the baby are left, the final game can't be played and they will both walk out alive. As Gi-hun leaves with the knife, the Front Man asks whether he still has faith in people.

Player tracker

Eliminated this episode

• ❌ Player 096: swept off the bridge by the rope
• ❌ Jun-hee (Player 222): steps off the edge to save the baby
• ❌ Captain Park Yeong-gil: dies after a shootout on the boats
• ❌ The mercenaries on the boats, except the wounded leader Kim

Still standing

• ✅ Gi-hun (Player 456)
• ✅ The baby (now Player 222)
• ✅ Myung-gi (Player 333)
• ✅ Jeong-dae (Player 100)
• ✅ Min-su (Player 125)
• ✅ Players 039, 203, 353 and 336
• ✅ Jun-ho, Kim, No-eul, Gyeong-seok and Woo-seok (outside the game)

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