Squid Game Season 3 Episode 5 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)
Park Hee-soon as the Masked Officer
Lee Jin-wook as Park Gyeong-seok (Player 246)
Yim Si-wan as Lee Myung-gi (Player 333)
Song Young-chang as Im Jeong-dae (Player 100)
Lee David as Park Min-su (Player 125)
Jung Ho-yeon as Kang Sae-byeok (in memory)

In the dark dormitory, Seong Gi-hun (Player 456) stands over the sleeping players with the Front Man's knife. Then he remembers Kang Sae-byeok's words from years ago telling him he isn't that kind of person, and he can't go through with it. Meanwhile, Hwang In-ho, the Front Man, radios his brother, Hwang Jun-ho, out at sea. He tells him to give up the search or die, and Jun-ho answers that In-ho will have to kill him. A flashback to the 2015 games shows how In-ho won: he killed other players on the way to the win, with Oh Il-nam pushing him to do it.

Kang No-eul (Guard 011) returns to the island and faces the Masked Officer. She forces him to delete every record of Park Gyeong-seok (Player 246), then learns there is still a paper copy in the Front Man's private archive, which only the officer can reach. He tells her he understands her because they are both from the North and both lost someone, but he believes she has crossed the line. He mocks her for saving someone else's child after abandoning her own, and the two fight. No-eul kills him and takes his mask so she can use the elevator to the archive. At sea, the guards chase down Gyeong-seok's little boat and shoot at its engine, but Jun-ho reaches him first.

The final game is the Sky Squid Game. Players stand on three tall pillars shaped like a square, a triangle and a circle. In each round, someone has to push at least one living player off the pillar within 15 minutes. If they do, everyone else moves to the next pillar. If nobody falls in time, everyone on the pillar is eliminated. Whoever is still standing after the circle round wins.

Im Jeong-dae (Player 100) and his group decide to keep things "democratic" by voting on who goes first. They pick the easiest target, Park Min-su (Player 125), who is suffering through drug withdrawal and seeing visions of the dead. Min-su begs and lashes out, but nobody wants to touch him in case he drags them down too. In the end, Lee Myung-gi (Player 333) uses a long pole hanging by the pillar to push him off.

On the triangle pillar, the group votes to eliminate the baby, but Gi-hun refuses to hand her over, warning them that killing both of them only means one of them will be next. Myung-gi comes up with a plan: tie everyone together with their jackets, send someone over with fake lots to distract Gi-hun, then pull the baby away from him. The man chosen for the job, Player 336, breaks down and begs Gi-hun for his life, and Myung-gi suddenly pushes him off instead and announces he is on Gi-hun's side. He then confesses that he is the baby's father.

Jeong-dae, deep in debt with 10 billion won to pay off, now pushes his own idea: beat Player 039 senseless and carry him to the last pillar like a "lunch box" to throw off in the final round. The alliance tears itself apart over this plan, and in the scuffle Players 203 and 353 are killed. As Jeong-dae cheerfully recalculates everyone's share, Myung-gi pushes him off too. Once the group reaches the circle pillar, the bloodied Player 039 refuses to be anyone's lunch box and jumps. Only Gi-hun, Myung-gi and the baby remain.

Player tracker

Eliminated this episode

• ❌ Min-su (Player 125): pushed off the pillar by Myung-gi
• ❌ Player 336: pushed off by Myung-gi
• ❌ Jeong-dae (Player 100): pushed off by Myung-gi
• ❌ Players 203 and 353: killed in the brawl over Player 039
• ❌ Player 039: jumps rather than be used as a "lunch box"
• ❌ The Masked Officer: killed by No-eul

Still standing

• ✅ Gi-hun (Player 456)
• ✅ Myung-gi (Player 333)
• ✅ The baby (Player 222)
• ✅ Jun-ho, No-eul and Gyeong-seok (outside the game)

Up next: Squid Game Season 3 Episode 6 Recap. Missed the last one? Read the Squid Game Season 3 Episode 4 Recap. See every episode in the Squid Game Season 3 episode guide or browse all Squid Game recaps.