You simply turned off the display and stared blankly as you completed watching. This isn’t the ending you had anticipated for the Season 3 of THE “Squid Sport” — not even shut — so that you may be desperately asking your self (and perhaps even the director), what the heck is the which means behind all this?
Properly, perhaps you’ve already learn the interviews. Possibly you’ve scrolled via Reddit or TheQoo threads attempting to make sense of it. However right here, we’re going to ask you right into a extra grounded, human dialogue concerning the which means behind “Squid Sport” Season 3 ending. As a result of—deep breath—it was by no means meant to fulfill you.
Spoiler Alert: This text incorporates spoilers for the present. In case you haven’t watched it but, proceed with warning!
Scathing Responses on “Squid Sport” Season 3 Ending – What’s the Which means?
The final week of June 2025 was a dramatic time for Netflix. “KPop Demon Hunters”—an underdog non-Korean animated challenge with Okay-pop influences—was extraordinarily spectacular that it beats even the most effective Disney animation of the yr.
However on the similar time, Netflix’s crown jewel—”Squid Sport”—hit an emotional wall and have become a laughingstock for international viewers after the ending of Season 3.
Even after all of the efforts of hyping the collection, only a few responses appeared in social media. And even when it did, most of them expressed their disappointment on the ending of “Squid Sport” Season 3 and the which means behind it.
The discharge of “Squid Sport” Season 3 was anticipated to deliver closure to what started as one of the vital iconic collection of the last decade. However as a substitute of a standing ovation, it triggered confusion, anger, and memes of frustration. Phrases like “sh*tty,” “soulless,” and “franchise money seize” echoed throughout X (previously Twitter), Reddit, and TheQoo. Critics from The Guardian to CINEPLAY referred to as it every part from “relentless brutality” to “emotionally hole.”
However is that each one there’s to it? Are you certain you might have understood the true which means behind “Squid Sport” Season 3 ending?
As a result of truly, beneath all the frustration lies a fact that many missed: the “Squid Sport” Season 3 ending was not unhealthy storytelling. It was a rejection of the sort of storytelling most of us have been educated to crave.
It’s not right here to make you are feeling higher. It’s right here to make you are feeling uncomfortable—on function.
Director Hwang Dong Hyuk’s Message: This Is The place Hope Ends
What if the ending you hated wasn’t a mistake however a mirror?
In interviews with The Korea Occasions and JoongAng Each day, director Hwang Dong Hyuk defined that his authentic imaginative and prescient for Season 3 included a extra hopeful ending.
Seong Gi Hun would survive and he’d reunite together with his daughter. In the meantime, Detective Junho would come again and expose the entire system. And we might have had a traditional hero ending.
However then, he scrapped it. All the pieces.
Why? As a result of, in line with “Squid Sport” director Hwang Dong Hyuk, in his actual phrases
“If issues proceed as they’re, we’re heading towards an much more hopeless and bleak future.”
Director Hwang Dong Hyuk.
That’s the reason as a substitute of a hero triumphing over a corrupt system, we watched a person consumed by guilt. Seong Gi Hun doesn’t resist the sport anymore. He doesn’t insurgent. He follows alongside, lets himself be damaged, and ultimately, he dies not as a victor—however as a person clinging to the one factor left he may shield: a baby that wasn’t even his.
Sure, you weren’t presupposed to cheer. As a result of after every part occurred in “Squid Sport” Season 3, the which means behind the ending demanded you to ache.
Why The Which means Behind “Squid Sport” Season 3 Ending Purported to Really feel Flawed
As viewers, we’ve been taught to crave the right decision: a satisfying closing arc, good defeating evil, and heroes dealing with inconceivable odds however nonetheless managing to alter and save the world.
In any case, on the earth the place actual life feels horrible and determined, we search solace and perfection within the universe of fiction for the one factor actuality usually denies us: justice.
As a result of in tales, the reality is meant to be honest. The precise folks win. The merciless get punished. And hope—regardless of how fragile—finds a method to survive. That perception isn’t simply consolation. It’s how we keep afloat.
“Squid Sport” Season 1 gave you simply sufficient of that to really feel hopeful. However then, Season 3 strips all of that away. That’s why you felt hole and even resentful.
However then once more, that’s precisely what the director had in thoughts. That sort of expectation has now develop into a harmful phantasm. And that’s what director Hwang Dong Hyuk tried to confront.
As a result of, actually, in a world the place billionaires play with human lives, and the place wars proceed and inequality deepens, is it nonetheless really plausible to suppose one damaged man can “save the system”?
Seong Gi Hun’s failure isn’t a flaw within the script. And it’s not that the director didn’t wrap this collection cleanly.
As a result of behind the which means of “Squid Sport” Season 3 ending lies the brutal honesty of somebody who not believes the system might be mounted from the within—not to mention by one single mediocre human.
The Child Was By no means Hope—It Was a Burden We All Inherited
One of the vital debated parts within the season’s ending was the infant—Participant 222’s little one—compelled into the sport by the Entrance Man. Many viewers have been baffled. Some have been disgusted. What was that sick joke? Was this only a gimmick to impress some sort of feelings from the viewers? To make this collection extra dramatic than it already was?
Properly, probably not. Possibly that’s the tip consequence, however the authentic intention was far-off from these speculations.
In response to Director Hwang Dong Hyuk, in contrast to what the general public assumes, the infant was NOT only a image of innocence.
Quite the opposite, the infant was a illustration of what the longer term prices. It demanded you to reply the very core and difficult query behind the which means of “Squid Sport” Season 3 ending: If every part is already damaged, what sort of world are we passing on to the following era?
Seong Gi Hun’s closing act as he carried the kid and sacrificed himself, wasn’t redemption. It was resignation. A final-ditch try to supply one thing—not pleasure, not justice—however survival.
And that’s a haunting reflection of what many viewers really feel right now: that we’re not attempting to win, we’re simply attempting to guard one thing from collapse.
So, that child doesn’t supply hope. It calls for accountability.
Why Satisfaction Was By no means the Objective for “Squid Sport” Season 3 Ending
We’ve develop into so used to endings that give us what we predict we would like. A kiss to seal the ache. A reunion to make the loss price it. A twist that by some means justifies chaos. We would like tales to repair what life can’t.
However “Squid Sport” Season 3 doesn’t supply that aid. It doesn’t provide you with consolation, decision, and even revenge. And in withholding all of that, it forces you to confront what you by no means wished to confess:
- Nobody was ever coming to avoid wasting Gi-hun.
- The system didn’t fall—it saved going, untouched.
- The gamers have been by no means meant to matter, and nonetheless don’t.
- The sport was by no means fantasy. It was life, simply stripped of its illusions.
In case you walked away feeling hole, that was the purpose.
As a result of actual despair doesn’t finish with catharsis. It sits quietly with you. It follows you lengthy after the credit roll.
And generally, essentially the most trustworthy sort of storytelling is the type that refuses to heal you.
So, What Now?
Lastly, for those who felt offended after watching and even after you perceive the which means behind “Squid Sport” Season 3 ending, nicely, which means it labored. In case you’re nonetheless occupied with it, then “Squid Sport” has efficiently carried out what most reveals can’t: it stayed with you, and perhaps even unsettled you, lengthy after the credit rolled.
And that’s precisely what director Hwang meant. Not a fantasy. Not justice. However a scar—and a deep one.
As a result of generally the one “message” is nothing. And the earlier you cease searching for a satisfying conclusion, the extra clearly you’ll see the reality buried within the silence that “Squid Sport” left behind.
Don’t you suppose so too? Now that you simply’ve gotten one other perspective on the which means behind “Squid Sport” Season 3 ending, what are your ideas? Please share them with us within the feedback.
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