I finished this yesterday and I still can’t stop thinking about this!
For me it’s crazy that the second part is actually better than the first part bcs usually second parts of a movie or drama series are not as good as the first one. Squid Game proved the opposite, that with a better story and more amazing characters, you can definitely create a good story.

Here are my favorite things and reasons that made season 2 better than season 1:

1. In this season it’s not about just playing the games. Now Gi-hun is revolting against the creators of the game. And while he is in the games, there are many unexpected twists for example with new games.
2. Gong Yoo’s performance in episode 1 alone is worth watching it! From the bread vs lottery concept, to the russian roulette scene, his performance was impeccable!!!! What an amazing actor he is and how well he played the suit man!!! His final scene is the most epic scene of a character in a Kdrama in history!!!! The way he looks into the camera and blows his head off!!! I still cannot get over that scene! How can they make such a brutal scene ao aesthetically pleasing!!!
3. The rest of the drama together with this scene, has amazing cinematography!!!! I feel like it is even better than in season 1.
4. Less gory! I think this connects to the 3rd point. Thankfully they cut some gory scenes and now they focused more on the cinematography! In season 1 there were more disturbing scenes of the victims and how they took their organs out. In season 2 there is only one such scene Thank God! Those scenes were the reason I didn’t like Squid Game so much.
5. T.O.P. from Big Bang is playing a drug addicted Rapper names Thanos hahaha so basically he is playing himself!!!! This is genius!!! And his acting skills are AMAZING!!!! He is even cooler than I thought! In season 1 there was a gangster and his minions and that annoying woman who gut fcked by him. And they were both SO ANNOYING!!! Thanos was less annoying and he brought some funny elements into the dark twisted story 😂 Although he is obviously a bad character, he is one of the bad guys who make a series more interesting due to their unexpected behaviour. I was really sad when he died tbh…
His friend is more annoying and an actual douchebag! The way he killed the pretty girl omgggg! A frigging heartless monster! Thanos would have never done that!!!!
6. In general the characters this time were far better and more interesting than in the last season. Apart from Gihun I only liked the North Korean girl and the Indian guy. The gradnpa turned out to be one of the shittiest characters in the history of dramas!!! This time we have the frontman as 001 who is imo still more interesting than the old man. Then Gihun’s friend is more loyal in season 2 than the friend he had in season 1. That man was a bastard! He literally deceived the Indian guy!!!
Then obviously Thanos is much more fun than the gangsta guy from s1, and the shaman might be creepy but she is much more interesting than the woman who fcked the shaman. Then we have the pregnant gurl who is still a nice replacement of the North Korean girl. Maybe not as cool as her but still good enough. And ofc we have the transgender woman!!! Now this is a thing that is kind of a taboo to show in Korean dramas. The LGBTQ+ community and topics around it are not talked about in Korean society much and you can see that by the way the old woman thinks about it. However she finally accepts her and even saves her life in the last episode. So I see it as a sign to tell the Korean society to be more understanding and accepting of the LGBTQ+ community!!! And seeing how popular this series is not only worldwide but also in Korea, I hope that it will bring some level of acceptance! I think the relationship of the Trans woman with the old woman is very crucial and also smart from the producers! Genius!!!
7. More Korean games!!! In season 1 the Dalgona game was the only Korean game i think. And squid game ofc. But Red Light Green Light, Tug of War, Marbles are all games we know in other countries too. This season they changed most of the games! So far we have only seen 3 games and 2 of them were new but the second round consisted of many games and all of them were Korean, so brandnew for us! Except maybe the spinning top! But the episode with round 2 was one of my favorites as well! And then round 3 was also kind of a new game! We do have carousels but seeing the formation of groups was new to me. Although that game was a bit boring it had some twists as well. Thanos actually made that game more interesting and fun 😂

So far these were all of the good things i think. Lets have a look at some of the not ao good things or stuff that I didn’t like so much:
1. Less gory yes but they still kept the scene at night where they kill each other with forks… That scene was already disturbing in season 1 and was disturbing again in season 2… I wish they changed that scene in season 2 and made sth unexpected out of it…
2. They used the opening song of Reply 1988 in the scene of the mini games!!! I didnt like it that much because for me that song strictly belongs to Reply 1988!!! Like how dare they take it and make it into a squid game soundtrack!!! I hope people will forget about that song in that scene. And yes I do think it was a tribute to Reply 1988 as it starts with the Seoul Olympics in 1988, and the second round of 5 mini games does remind of the Olympic Games somehow. I still didn’t like it tho. They already paid a tribute to Reply 1988 in a scene when a character says they live in Ssangmun dong, the streets where Reply 1988 takes place. So imo that was enough tribute.

All in all, I really liked Squid Game season 2 and it was more than what I expected!