Are They Lovers? Worse.

everyone at the pitt be trying to fuck someone, meanwhile 2 rats are still missing

squid game + the onion 1 | 2

"I will show you that the world doesn't always go the way you want to" are the premises which Gi-Hun made a bet with In-Ho.

In-Ho, who is smart, cold, and manipulative, always seeming to be three steps ahead of everyone, is being put to the test if things would "always go his way".

He has the upper hand and will absolutely use all the cards in his favor.

This is a continuation of the post I made regarding his interpersonal manipulation to get Gi-Hun to like him and emotionally attach to him. In-Ho didn't stop there, using his position as a bureaucrat to manipulate both Gi-Hun and everyone else to continue the games, systematically ensuring the results he wants to win the bet.

As Gi-Hun correctly pointed out, the way he got people to comeback to the games was upon preying on their desperation, making it seem like they reached a dead end, with the only and last opportunity they had was to participate "willingly" on the games. Making it virtually impossible for people to want to vote out on later games as they feared something greater outside, and everyone has "come too far" to get out now. This time, it was much more sophisticated.

The addition of clause #4 and the voting system.

Unlike last time, people have the opportunity to get out and share the price money, even after only playing one game. A direct way to fuck Gi-Hun's mind as if those were the conditions of the 33rd Squid Game, at least both Sang-Woo and Sae-Byeok would have made it out alive, In-Ho knew this very well, so, he would need to prove that people will continue the games regardless if they shared the price money.

Him choosing to be player "001" is key into determining the fate of the results. If it came to end a tie or marking a tie, In-Ho would hold that power as he is the last person to vote.

Other factor to consider is that voting is *not anonymous* so the outcomes are corrupted by the expectations other people have on you, specially after they are marked with a patch that exposes if they chose to continue or wanted to get out. Min-Su is the most obvious case of voting for 'O' because he was intimidaded into doing so, however, Jung-Bae, Dae-Ho, Yong-Sik, Myung-gi and "Young-Il" all voted 'X' because there was an expectation from someone else to vote that way.

It is very interesting that the games did this fake illusion of democracy, as it only matters during the votes that people don't get violent, however, you are free to intimidate and even kill people.

Participants

While the players were already recruited, it was certainly convenient for In-ho to have many players that would put Gi-Hun on a very familiar and uncomfortable situation, some to point out:

Jun-Hee and Myung-gi: A pregnant woman and her incompetent baby-daddy, who is constantly trying to prove himself for Jun-Hee to forgive him and allow him to be part of her baby's life, as well as hers. Reminding him of how Gi-Hun (without fault on his own) neglected Eun-Ji and almost lost his daughter by witnessing the death of his friend during the strikes. Marking the resentment she holds against him.

Yong-Sik and Geum-Ja: a pathetic mama's boy who gets in debt and (unwillingly) brings his mother down with him, and while trying to make amends to fix mistakes, he doesn't realize how much he hurts her, as she makes her own sacrifices to help her son. Reminding him of the dynamic he had with his own mother, especially after In-ho maliciously implied that Yong-Sik would abandon her to save his own ass.

'Young-Il': A desperate husband who had his pregnant wife in the hospital, sick to death, with time running out, his "only hope" was to win enough money to pay for her treatment. Even if it comes to the death of others. But he is willing to set aside his selfish interest in favor of Gi-Hun's because he "respects and admires him." This is to both remind Gi-Hun's of his relationship with Eun-Ji and also the fact that he came back for the sake of his mother's health.

Jung-Bae: self-explanatory. Gi-Hun's best friend whom he neglected after being profusely traumatized. Too deep into the hole to see past it, blaming himself for not preventing Jung-Bae from falling victim into the system he swore his life to destroy. The only one who reminded Gi-Hun the person he used to be before entering the games. The weapon In-ho would use to destroy Gi-Hun beyond repair.

The Games

In-Ho certainly organized the games in a way that would be favorable to the outcome he hoped for.

He chose Red Light, Green Light first, besides having a huge death rate because of people panicking. He would make Gi-Hun believe that he'd be playing the exact same games as before, blowing his cover as a former winner and making people distrust him, even though his goal was helping as many people to survive as possible. He'd also use this to taunt him. "You know, if you didn't reveal yourself, I wouldn't have chosen to keep going, right? So it is your fault we are still here, despite your efforts of being a hero and saving everyone."

The six-legged pentathlon was also a deliberate choice, a game that relied on teamwork, having a high survival rate and just the right amount of adrenaline, would make people feel euphoric for surpassing the games, forgetting the unfortunate who didn't made it thru. Making people who were originally scared feel confident that if they keep going, they would be able to reach their goal. Not realizing that it meant that the money would be the cost of the blood of the people who "loose" until it came to bite them in the ass for the next game.

This one made it for the majority to vote 'O' without the need for In-ho to be the one making the final choice for him to get the favorable decision.

Mingle brought people back into reality, either losing or being close to losing someone they loved. It brought it back to 50/50.

And now it was turn for the extra round, where In-ho set it up to make it convenient for people to target one another. Keep in mind, if Gi-Hun accepted the terms of fighting one another, In-Ho would have won the bet, as he'd prove to Gi-Hun that things "always went his way," diverting Gi-Hun's objective in favour of the system In-Ho set up. What he didn't expect was that Gi-Hun didn't fall for it, suggesting to take down the whole system down instead of doing what the executives (In-Ho) wanted them to do.

If Gi-Hun chose to go with Young-Il instead of Jung-Bae, he would have kidnapped him (kinda as a payback for trying to do the same a few days ago) and revealed himself right there, winning the bet.

So it was Plan C, betraying him, and shooting the last trace of sanity Gi-Hun still held, his best friend, Jung-Bae, as well as everyone else who decided to follow him.

In conclusion

(Credits to @cleaveslice for such glorious image)

Hwang In-ho, you are not seeing the gates of heaven when your demise comes, malparido triplehijueputa.

Santos deffo gives big soccer lesbian vibes, I could see her playing field hockey or lacrosse too: the girls who run around in fields with sticks are brutal. but the gymnast idea really gives ties to the CSA Santos experienced, with a lot of people still remembering the Larry Nassar thing, and the Pitt really has to fit in maximum impact with details because they will never have a chance to devote more than a short convo onscreen to anyone’s personal life troubles. So it makes sense, even if Santos in cleats and sports bra feels more natural than Santos in a sparkly leotard

you're right, about all of this. honestly, the more i think about it, the more gymnast santos seems right for her character. i'm hoping we get to know more about her as a gymnast in the following season(s).

x

Han Kang, 'Human Acts' via metamorphesque

Still alive... ! It's hard to draw, this days. More like- it's hard to finish the drawings.

But but but ! I watched Squid Game. It was good, with one great episode. And, well, I had to draw something about said episode... spoilers, sort of.

And yes, I do like Sang-woo. He may be my favorite character. He is very well played,well written, and I like morally grey characters... !

"[character] is my husband <3" "[character] is my son!!"

ali is a family friend. he's at the dawat. he comes in with a stack of pizza boxes for the kids. he's watching them play hide-and-seek in the house. he opens the door when one of them gets stuck in the pantry. he's smiling as he hands his son off to an auntie. she's gushing over how cute he is. he's at the masjid. you can see him in the corner, plain tasbih in hand. he stays for the khutbah. he talks to the other men outside, wishing them goodbye. he leaves a styrofoam plate filled with cat food out by the fence. he's at your house. he's in the doorway holding an aluminum tray of biryani. it's for iftar. he can't stay for long, he insists. really, he does. he's sorry. the food's from his wife. he warns that it's spicy. when you go to take a bite, it's still warm.

i can’t stop thinking about sang-woo’s suicide attempt. more specifically, little details surrounding that.

on the floor, we see a pile of cigarettes and ash, an empty bottle of soju, a trash bag filled with wrappers of what i’m going to assume are some kind of food or beverage… and shaving cream. which means it is more likely than not that sang-woo shaved himself before his suicide attempt. (he also does look cleanly shaved as well)

further more, when calling his mother, he’s not wearing the jacket of his suit. we see him put it back on. it wasn’t a spur of the moment decision; he willingly got in the bathtub with his suit on, assuming he was going to die.

so sang-woo made sure that even in death, he looked presentable and clean. he doesn’t want to be found a mess, because he’s meant to be better than a mess, and he wants people to think highly of him, even if he’s dead.

oh, the sheer irony of his actual death being messy.

look how far we’ve come.

—

also, it still breaks my heart that sang-woo was never able to tell his mother he loves her. while yes, he did get interrupted by the customer, i feel he also held back because of the things that had happened.

he’d basically jeopardized his mother because of his own wrongdoings, and he hadn’t really been the son she thought he was for the past couple years. that alone feels like a betrayal on its own.

and he’s basically drowning himself in shame and guilt that maybe he’s tricked his psyche into thinking “well, if you really loved your mother, none of that shit would have happened.”