Squid Game 2 reviews: Smash hit Netflix series underwhelms critics who claim latest outing has 'lost its edge' and is a 'thorough letdown' - after fans slammed the 'overhyped' show
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Squid Game's long awaited second series finally began streaming on Netflix on Thursday, however critics have been left underwhelmed by the latest installment of the dystopian drama.
The South Korean series' first outing back in 2021 swiftly became the streaming service's biggest ever show and racked up a whopping 1.65 billion viewing hours.
It followed the story Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) along with other people down on their luck faced a string of deadly children's games, with many dying along the way, in a bid to win the £24M prize fund.
Series two sees Seong again returning to battle it out, however some critics have claimed the show has now 'lost it's edge' while others declared it 'utterly engaging'.
Daniel Feinberg wrote in The Hollywood Reporter: 'The second season of Squid Game is a thorough letdown'.
'It’s not a fundamental level on which Squid Game is broken, but season two simply doesn’t work'.
Squid Game's long awaited second series finally began streaming on Netflix on Thursday, however critics have been left divided by the latest installment of the dystopian drama
The South Korean series' first outing back in 2021 swiftly became the streaming service's biggest ever show and racked up a whopping 1.65 billion viewing hours
It followed the story Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) along with other people down on their luck, as they face a string of deadly children's games in a bid to win the £24M prize fund
Rebecca Nicholson said in her three-star review in The Guardian lamented the show's pacing and wrote: 'For the first three of these seven new episodes, it struggles to find its purpose'.
'For all of its unevenness, particularly as it is warming up to the proper action, there is one big twist that really works, though whether it is distinct enough from what happens in the first series is unclear'.
'And when you think you know where it is going, it turns away from its trajectory, upping the ante and finding its feet. What a shame it takes so long to get there though. Series three has some cleaning up to do'.
Collider's Therese Lacson claimed the show was as subtle as a sledgehammer and wrote: 'The downside of [series two] is that once we get to the actual arena, You can see the plot twists coming a mile away even when a new game is introduced and if you don't, the show flashes lights in your face to make sure you're prepared for the incoming twist.
'It often feels like the show is afraid its audience might not understand what is going on, so everything has to be spelled out'.
'By the time the season reaches its ending, it feels like a lot of time has been wasted on repetition. Especially since the final episode picks up and depicts something we haven't seen before, more time could have been spent here rather than anywhere else'.
Meanwhile Ed Power wrote in his own three-star review for The Telegraph: 'Squid Game 2 is the equivalent of a difficult second album from an overnight pop star. It has lots of what you loved about the first Squid Game, from 2021, but has little interest in surpassing, much less subverting, its predecessor'.
'The cast is expanded, with Park Gyu Young as a traumatised North Korean woman and Park Sung-hoon as a transgender contestant. Yet despite these new additions, the series does not radically depart from the established formula'.
Series two sees Seong returning to battle it out, however some critics have claimed the show has now 'lost it's edge' while others declared it 'utterly engaging'
Some lamented the show's lack of pacing and 'predictable' twists
'It skims the surface of the Squid Game world when you want it to dive deeper and show us something new. For all the mayhem and ultra-violence, Squid Game 2 plays it safe with a vengeance'.
However in The Times Tim Glanfield was full of praise and declared the series 'more complex nuanced' than it's first outing.
'The key to the success of this sensational return is the careful and thoughtful pacing, combined with hints of light within the gruesome shade'.
What was the greatest strength of the original show remains: humans compounding bad decisions, forging fragile alliances and desperate friendships only to see the tables dramatically turned.
Annabel Nugent also gave the show four stars in The Independent and wrote: 'So, can Squid Game capture lightning in a bottle for a second time? Well, yes and no. It is impossible to replicate the shock of that first outing, and [creator] Hwang Dong Hyuk does well not to try'.
'Where the first series relied on shock for horror, each death landing like a brisk whack to the back of your head, season two derives terror from what we know as returning audiences, positioning Gi Hun once again as our surrogate. He also knows what comes next and yet even with that knowledge is powerless to stop it'.
Meanwhile viewers flooded X with disappointed comments - complaining they 'didn't wait three years for this'.
Meanwhile viewers flooded X with disappointed comments - complaining they 'didn't wait three years for this'
The bitter commentary was inevitably all over X
Fans unanimously branded it 'boring' and 'predictable' - while also moaning it lacked the show's trademark nail-biting plot.
Among the long list of complaints, people on the social media platform also raised there were barely any 'new' games, with some begging producers: 'Don't come back for a new season'.
The bitter commentary was inevitably all over X - formerly Twitter - where viewers wrote: '#SquidGame2 is so underwhelming likeee WHAT WAS EVEN THAT its lowkey so messy and all over the place too many characters to the point idk who to focus on anymore + didnt even introduce them properly and the ending is S**T I didnt wait 2 years for this….'.
'just finished season 2 THAT SHIT WAS TERRIBLE IM CRYING all of the elements from the first season GONE there’s no emotion, substance, and all the games had no thrill or stakes in it #SquidGame2';
