The VIPs think Gi-hun is looney tunes, they can't understand why he makes the choices he does, and Gi-hun feels the exact same about the VIPs. 

But there was one VIP who understood Gi-hun in his last moments. Interesting...

Everyone is interested in choice. What choice will I make? is the question every player has to answer and they are forced into action. VIPs have the ability to choose anything, so being forced into choice and action as when they're participants in the game feels good to them. Watching others make choices with dire consequences but not for them is thrilling as well, and ultimately safer. VIPs truly are disgusting...

As an empathetic person, it is hard to empathize with a lack of empathy. My attempts fail, and unempathetic people don't even try. How the fuck are we gonna make living on this planet together work?

Meta thoughts: everyone that watches the show is a VIP in this world. The actors are VIPs in real life with their class, status, fans... our society praises those who made a game about the game. It is so interesting to me.... depressing for others and a lot are oblivious in their amusement. We see ourselves. 

0:31 - I find it so interesting that Lee Jung-jae likes the Front Man's room in real life, because I think in the show Gi-hun is impressed by it too even though his appreciation is less outward. In-ho and Gi-hun are actually similar so it's a wonderful track for LJJ to admire it irl.

0:54-1:03 - I was really wondering what it's like under the mask so I'm thankful Lee Byung-hun talked about it. We can see the eyes of the Front Man mask are gridded and it's not like one-way glass. In-ho must be super depressed (since he used to be good, but genuinely became evil) so the darkness probably helps him operate. Not only is his mind dark, his literal vision is too. "It had its ups and downs." is so revealing of the Front Man's life, but honestly everybody's right?

1:20 - There's a little smirk in the Front Man's face like he knows mentioning Jung-bae will trigger Gi-hun. 

1:44 - And he's okay with taking the risk that Gi-hun could kill him. In-ho's mindset is the most complex; he wants to die, he wants to break Gi-hun's humanity, he wants Gi-hun to win, he wants Gi-hun to feel like him.

1:54 - me too LJJ

2:14 - facts. I think it is sincere too. That story he told Gi-hun about his wife and unborn child was real. He values innocent life, so he's comfortable killing all these people in the games and the guards because he's accepted that they're trash.

2:37 - he wants Gi-hun to be like him. They already are similar but it's In-ho who needs to change-- revert back to his old self. But how can he after what Oh Il-nam and the VIPs put him through?

2:52 - so interesting that LBH says "Probably not" instead of a definite answer. Even to the actor this character's mindset is hard to fully pin down. I think In-ho lost most of his faith in humanity (maybe 99%) but Gi-hun's actions throughout his games, and especially during the last one, revived hope in the human race. Gi-hun stops the Squid Game between him and Sang-woo because he realizes he does not want to kill his friend. The Front Man says "What is going on?" like he'd never seen another player do that before and it might be true that he hadn't. We see how easily trust and love and camaraderie can be broken in life and in the game, it may have been chance that never put In-ho around good people like Gi-hun, Hyun-ju, Ali, and Geum-ja. I also think there's a possibility that in the games right after his victory, he ignored any signs of humanity he saw because it was too painful to accept the truth that not everyone is trash.

3:23 - In-ho is obsesseddd with Gi-hun okay there is no denying it. Mask off, drinking and watching his man because his actions are the only thing that matter in the world right now. 

3:55 - great decision to go with the messy hair. The chaos and action of the games, not getting to take showers or have cosmetics, the stress of life-or-death decisions... you should not look put together.

4:14 - we love a compassionate king <3 I don't think I'd feel bad cuz it's acting but it is quite brutal lol. I think the repetition of the stabbing motion sparks connections in my mind: Coriolanus killing a tribute when Dr. Gaul puts him in the Hunger Games to get Sejanus out, Mark bashing Conquest's head to bits with his own head and that frame when he's so covered in blood he just looks like eyes... what is it about this that feels so undoing? Is it something animalistic, something that instinctually feels far from human? Is it the opposite?

5:20 - there's outward loathing and self-loathing in that expression. I think a large part of him feels humiliation that Gi-hun didn't make the choice he did, and there's another significant part of him that hates Gi-hun because of it. Despite the negative associations, the feeling he gets watching Gi-hun is one that has been missing from his life and so it deeply affects him. It's attraction (because I think the world is gay), fascination, curiosity, chemistry, something that he never feels as the Front Man.

5:55 - I see myself in Gi-hun cuz I naturally trust people too. I've gotten scammed 2 times because of it and I'm sure there's plenty of interactions I've had where people laugh at me behind my back. 

7:44 - so well said. And everything in between 5:55 and 7:44 was well said too, my annotations are me just nodding like yes I thought the same... this is a great insight into the characters... wow I love that I can watch this to further my understanding.

8:13 - absolutelyyy which is why I love it. I be thinking about humans and psychology is a science that deals with how the thoughts of humans arise. So cool

​8:34 - yes it did thank you baes

Trying to be more outwardly grateful as I think others don't feel that from me. This show was a life-changer for sure and in a positive way, like I have come out with more clarity about my morality. I'm very thankful to be alive at the same time to witness this story. 

This is the first big parallel this season. The knife gets shot out of Gi-hun's hand before he has the chance. It's cruel for the VIPs to keep Gi-hun alive for their entertainment but of course cruelty is the point.

Gi-hun uses multiple fighting tactics from Sang-woo-- his use of the knife, goes for the eyes of the other player during the jump rope game, and wraps his suit jacket around his arm as defense. It is wonderfully interesting how Sang-woo and Gi-hun and In-ho are connected as survivors of the game, what they learn from watching each other.

There's so many things to cry about in this show... It must be so sad for Lee Jung-jae to say goodbye to Gi-hun in this way. I think we all knew he was going to die but such a willing suicide in a game that brutally kills in excess was so sad and the perfect way to encapsulate who Gi-hun and people really are. Sang-woo and Gi-hun both kill themselves to save other people. And I think part of Gi-hun going into the game knew that he wasn't going to leave the island alive. This show is so tragic man...

I previously wrote about the similarities between In-ho and Sang-woo, and now that season 3 is over we see that Myung-gi is similar to them both.

Myung-gi and Sang-woo are both smart, able to win games through distracting others. Outside of the game Myung-gi and Sang-woo are both finance guys, and mention futures trading as the next big way to get rich even though they're deep in debt because of their financial risks. I watched a video that explained that "futures" trading in Korean is a pun because it can also mean gifts, typically for a girlfriend. The accidental (I think) conflation of love and money is quick but telling of how we treat love in our lives. Sang-woo and In-ho kill people in their sleep, like Sang-woo with Sae-byoek and and In-ho with his other finalists. Myung-gi is capable of this violence too. In The Starry Night, we see Myungi-gi first hesitate to stab the player in the black & neon drawings room, but gradually gets used to killing with Nam-gyu to the point where he stabs Hyun-ju in the back without knowing who she is. 

All three of them are affected by killing, and have some humanity, but it becomes easier and easier every time they do kill. 

Remind me to come back and clip shit because it makes so much more sense to outsiders when you actually see the scenes not just read someone's thoughts about it.
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In-ho's the most far gone out of the three of them. He won the games 8 years ago and time has passed. His wife and child are dead even though he has billions of won. He was rewarded with a stylish room and luxury goods. He has killed more and more people behind a mask that obscures most of his vision. He orders around soldiers who are also terrible people trapped in this game and he talks to the VIPs who fund it. In this world, I wonder who designs it. 

I had hope that when Myung-gi first asks Gi-hun to not cross the triangle tower, his plan was to sacrifice himself and Gi-hun so his baby could get all of the money. But that may be too optimistic of a mindset, as it seems like most people thought he was committed to killing his baby earlier. When Myung-gi holds his baby over the edge screaming "I'll do it, I swear I will," that is when I fully believed him. Yim Si-wan is a phenomenal actor and I saw the break in Myung-gi's mind of having gone too far, of becoming an undeniable monster. It mirrors In-ho's terror after stabbing his finalists; Sang-woo's look of devastating clarity after killing Sae-byoek like "I did this." 

Hyun-ju, Ali, Sae-byoek, Geum-ja, Ji-yeong, Young-mi, Jung-bae, Gi-hun, the real good people in this world who exemplify humanity and make the world a better place. Anyone who watches Squid Game should strive to be like these people. I know I do.

It doesn't mean they're incapable of killing or violence or deceit or malice. That is human. In fact, I will go so far as to say there are ethical and moral reasons for killing, along with unethical and immoral reasons. But all of these people are more than the violent side of humanity. They strive to improve life more than destroy it and that is the absolute best thing one can do. 

Hated the CGI baby sorry! It really took me out the first time I watched it lmaoo like people use real babies all the time! I wonder if it was an ethical choice to not cast a real baby in a show this dark, pressure from Netflix, or a purposeful choice because they thought it would look more realistic. But I was not a fan bro, it would've been a completely perfect series with a real baby.

I understand Jun-ho and In-ho's interaction but goddamn that storyline with Captain Park was too long! I guess I understand the point of showing how hard someone can work, how close someone can get, how easily they can be misled by people who lie about who they are, how easily you can trick yourself by holding on to old conclusions... I do still think it could've been sped up. I mean I could never create a masterpiece like Squid Game so these are truly insignificant comments but yeaa sharing my thoughts into the void

I really thought No-eul killed Player 246 based on the angle from season 2. Also another storyline that progressed too slowly/slightly bland for my taste, but I am so glad Na-yeon got a happy ending.