The previous episode of Squid Game season 3, finally saw the Front Man take off his mask and show Gi-hun (Player 456) exactly who he is. He gives him a knife and tells Gi-hun to kill the rest of the players in their sleep to save himself and Jun-hee's baby. Will he do it? Plus, Detective Hwang Jun-ho is getting closer to the island even though Captain Park is dead. It's the penultimate episode so let's jump right in! Here's a recap of season 3 episode 5, "◯ △ □," on Netflix. SPOILERS BELOW.
Player 456 gets a reminder of who he is in a surprise cameo
As has been the case with each episode, we pick up where the fourth one left off. After the Front Man makes the proposition to Player 456 and gives him the knife, Gi-hun is really struggling with the decision and almost crosses that line. I'll be honest with you, the first one he goes to is Player 100 and I wouldn't have minded if he took him out. He's a horrible, greedy man who's a coward when it comes down to it.
Though our Gi-hun is not that kind of person. And as he's grappling with this decision, holding the knife to Player 100's throat, there's a vision of fan-favorite finalist from season 1, Sae-byeok (Player 067). She tells him not to do it because he's not that kind of person. Which is so true, leading to Gi-hun to not do it as the Front Man watches.
In a flashback, we see that the Front Man was faced with given the same choice by a VIP, who turns out to be Oh Il-nam, the old man from season 1 who was Player 001 and turned out to be just a rich guy looking for some fun. We don't see his face, though the subtitles reveal that's him. Plus he's weirdly preserved as we see when No-eul walks by which is just strange.
Anyway, he tells the Front Man the same speech that the Front Man gave Gi-hun. Though it's clear once again how different the two men are. The Front Man ended up giving in and killing the rest of the players in their sleep, suggesting that's how he won the games his year. Though Player 456 doesn't do it.
The final game: Sky Squid Game
The remaining nine players, which includes that precious baby, face the final game. Of course it has to be Squid Game, but this time with a twist. The height element adds another level of danger as it's Sky Squid Game. There's three rounds and in each one, the players have to push at least one person off to move on. If they don't, everyone gets eliminated. They have to press the start button for the round to begin and for any deaths to be counted.
Look, I love this show. But these past two seasons it just felt like there's been too much dialogue and standing around talking instead of just getting to it. That's definitely what happens here with the remaining players. They stand around trying to take a democratic vote or whatever. It's like, please just play the game already.
After making it this far, Min-su (Player 125) ends up having a vision of Se-mi (Player 380) when the rest of them gang up on him. Myung-gi (Player 333) is too smart and uses the pole to push him off. Min-su sees it as Se-mi's hand saying come with me basically, and he falls and is the first to be eliminated.
Myung-gi (Player 333) reveals he's the baby's father
There's a lot of back and forth until the others come up with a plan to separate Gi-hun from the baby so they can eliminate her. They do rock paper scissors to decide who goes up front closest to Gi-hun. Player 336 tries to push him away but that's when Playeer 456 takes out his knife and cuts him away from the rest of the group. Then, Myung-gi is able to push him down and turns on everyone. revealing that he's the baby's father.
It's hilarious how they can go from ruthless and bravado to real cowards in seconds when they see they don't have the upper hand. So what happens now? Well, the others start beating up one of the other players and tell Gi-hun and Myung-gi that they can all, including the baby, push him off in the next round and all walk away with some winnings. I know Player 456 has his morals and all, but I'm sorry he really frustrated me in this moment.
The ultimate dilemma in Squid Game season 3 episode 5
He's not happy with this plan and wants to draw lots or whatever fair and square. Ugh, it could have ended here and we wouldn't have gotten the dilemma of what happens next. Like, I know that Gi-hun only kills to defend himself. But, he does kill. And he didn't have to kill Dae-ho back in hide and seek though his grief and finding someone to blame for the failure blinded him. He should have thought of it as a way to protect the baby, which it would have been.
But I guess it all had to come to this ultimate dilemma in Squid Game season 3 episode 5. The players get frustrated that Gi-hun won't go with the plan so a fight breaks out. As I said, Player 456 ends up killing one of them with the knife as Myung-gi takes care of two more, including Player 100 FINALLY, with the pole. It's all perfect right? There's Player 039 all beat up left. Or as they call him, the lunch box.
Well, he doesn't want to be anyone's lunch box and is able to drag himself to the edge and eliminates himself. This means that Player 456 and Player 333 are now forced to go against each other. And that was not what either of them wanted. Sigh.
No-eul kills the Masked Officer
To continue protecting Gyeong-seok (Player 246), No-eul goes back and the Masked Officer is there waiting. She wants every file of Player 246 deleted so no one can hurt his daughter. He does it, but there's still a hard copy up in the Front Man's offices. As the two go up there together, they end up in a fight. Before she kills him, the Masked Officer tells No-eul that he thought she was special and that they understood each other.
Like her, he lost the person who meant most to him because they weren't able to get him a kidney transplant even though they're readily available. This adds a little bit more to his backstory and why he runs the organ trafficking ring in the first place. He stabs her and tells her he was wrong about her.
He should have put her in the games instead of bringing her on as a pink guard. Well, whatever dude. No-eul gets the upper hand and is dead now too. Bye! Now she has one more thing to do. Get Player 246's hard copy and destroy it. She ends up finding the room and that's where her story stops in this episode.
Finally as for our favorite detective in the penultimate episode, he gets a message from the Front Man warning him to give up. He tells his brother if he keeps digging and trying to find the island, he'll die. Jun-ho tells him he'll have to kill him then because he's not giving up. Just as Player 246 was about to be taken out by the pink guards the Masked Officer sent after him, the detective shows up and saves the day.
Squid Game season 3 is now streaming on Netflix. Check out a list of all the season's recaps, here.
More streaming news from Show Snob: