In the second season of Squid Game, Seon-nyeo (Player 044), who introduced herself as Sea Shaman, posed a very important question: Can anyone truly escape their destiny? Well, it's a complex topic, if you ask me. We don't really know what each of us holds. We can't leave things to chance. In any situation, we try to fight our way through. We try to survive until our last breath. But the Shaman disagrees with me on that point, and neither does Seong Gi-hun. You can't keep killing people in the name of fate. I mean, we don't know if all these players who joined the challenge were truly destined to die in the game or not. I guess, in the end, one can resort to that old maxim and sum it all up by saying that perhaps fortune favors the bold, and that's what Gi-hun and many others like him are trying to do. Those who understand the world a little better try to share their wisdom with the next generation so that they don't make the same mistakes as their predecessors. The tragedy is that no one really listens, except for a handful of people, including the elderly Jang Geum-ja.
The hostility between the old woman and the shaman can be interpreted as a clash between pragmatism and religion. Geum-ja, who fought in the Korean War, knew that it takes more than luck to survive against all odds. Meanwhile, Seon-nyeo, instead of acting to save her life and complete the games, believed in praying to the gods to rescue her rather than taking charge of her life. The frequent encounters between the two already hint at the possibility that, in the next challenge, they will clash, where, according to my assumption, the old woman will kill the shaman or she could lose her son because of him.
Furthermore, the Shaman has frequently emphasized that Gi-hun was motivated by avenging all the people he had lost. These vengeful spirits had become a part of him and had returned him to the hell he had barely escaped the last time. Well, I agree with the Shaman on this one, because it's true that Gi-hun had forgotten the real reason he came to the island. He wanted to save lives, but over time, his obsession with ending the game had blinded him. He no longer protects those around him, or even tries. Instead, he wants to fulfill his own goals. And being a hero of the story, that's not a noble cause to fight for. Perhaps the Shaman's words will echo in Gi-hun's ears in the next season, and he can finally redeem himself.
In the penultimate episode of Squid Game's second season, moments before the mutiny, Geum-ja revealed to her son, Yong-sik (Player 007), that she had brought her family heirloom, a binyeo. Basically, it was a sharp, piercing sword that she had brought with her in case of emergency. But here's something I found interesting. When Geum-ja showed this weapon to her son at night, she told him she wouldn't mind using it if someone tried to mess with her. Well, I won't read too much into it because her choice of words tells us that she could use her "binyeo" not only against the Shaman or her enemies, but also against her son, who had already betrayed her once by letting her die during "Mingle." We already know how games influence the psyche of players and turn them against each other, sometimes even against their loved ones. If that happens in the next season, it's worth considering the possibility that mother and son will end up playing on opposite teams.
In the previous season, Gi-hun and the Elder, Oh Il-nam, faced a similar conflict during the "Marbles" game, where the Elder sacrificed his life to give Gi-hun a chance to survive for another match. But, you see, Il-nam made that decision only because he knew the guards wouldn't kill him, as he was one of the founders and had only joined the game for fun. In Geum-ja's case, there is no such equation, and her son only brought trouble, at the very least.
Although it sounds inhumane to say it out loud, this sick game can drive you to do things you never even imagined. Perhaps, in the next round, Geum-ja will face a situation where she has to choose between her own son, Yong-sik, and Hyung-ju (Player 120) or the pregnant Jun-hee (Player 222). Over the course of the four games, I've realized that Geum-ja cares a lot for these two players, sometimes even more than for her own son. So, perhaps, instead of being a mother, she would finally make the difficult decision to save someone who deserves to survive far more than her own child.
Before entering the game, Jun-hee and Lee Myung-gi (Player 333), aka MG Coin, were dating, but due to a cryptocurrency scam, the latter suddenly had to go into hiding as everyone blamed him for the loss of his investment. However, it turned out that Jun-hee was pregnant and needed money to deliver the baby. She tried contacting the baby's father, but since Myung-gi wasn't picking her calls, Jun-hee joined the game to raise funds. Now, the entire interaction between Jun-hee and Myung-gi tells me that the latter is nothing but a self-centered man, like Thanos, who would do anything to win the game and get the prize.
During the rebellion, Jun-hee protected the father of her child, but I'm sure her feelings for him will turn sour the moment she chooses greed over her unborn child. As we all know, most of these players are doomed to die, but I'm guessing Jun-hee will play a key role in Myung-gi's demise when she finally realizes that men like MG Coin could never change. He'll behave like a savage his entire life, and it's better to cut ties with such "trash" than let him drag her to her death. That said, it will certainly be interesting to see how these interpersonal relationships are explored in the third and final season of Squid Game.
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