New opinions and feelings on squid game you said? 👀
SO sorry for not answering this sooner, I saw this ask and wanted to sit on it so I could form a well-worded answer, and then I proceeded to forget about it for like 3 weeks. My Bad!
Anyway, I've had 11 months (JESUS 11 months) to sit on season 3, both while I was fixated and while I wasn't. I'm actually glad to have taken some time away from SG, and to spend time with some of my other interests, as I think that's helped me form a rounded opinion on the finale.
If you've been following me or my main art account for a while, you'll know that I enjoyed s3, and that does generally remain true. But, as I've taken some time away, I have still kept SG in my mind so I could look at the ending through a non-fixated lens.
Also, if I'm being perfectly honest, I was feeling very bitter towards the fandom at the tail-end of my fixation. I don't know if it was at all evident in my posts, but I was notttt having a good time LMAO. I was genuinely beginning to hate this blog, and contemplated deleting it out of spite.
At that time I was also going through what can best be described as a mental health crisis (NOT due to SG, but real life factors). I was suicidal, having breakdowns nearly every day, and ended up being put in a partial-hospitalization program. The past several months have involved quite a few Events in my life, including being put on multiple medications, which have helped tremendously. I'm in a much better place now, and I'm not as bitter as I once was towards the fandom.
But all of this is really just preamble. You're here for my current thoughts on SG3! Well, here's my general take for anyone who doesn't want to read several paragraphs of Nuance: I Think It's Good And Thought-Provoking Though It Has Some Pacing Issues Also I'm Not Happy About Jun-ho
What I've always valued about Squid Game is its commitment to being Raw, and that's what season 3 continues to do. Hyun-ju, Geum-ja, Min-su, Gi-hun -- I pretty much expected all their deaths. The one that actually blindsided me was Jun-hee!
A through-line with these characters and their deaths that I really loved is that they all represented a small push for a good change. Hyun-ju's entire character really revolved around this, I think. Her status as a trans woman inherently Othered her from the rest of the players, but she still pushed to live as herself and to change the minds of those around her, particularly Geum-ja.
And I think that's the heart of the story. A push for change. And I think what SG, and HDH, were trying to say was that sometimes that change, especially in the context of systemic oppression, is slow. And that most of the time, those that help that change come to pass are those who make sacrifices that we will never know of. That's why these characters died the way they did.
Now, people might see where I'm coming from and disagree or still feel dissatisfied with how it was handled, and that's okay! This is my personal interpretation of S3. This isn't really supposed to be a debate post so I'm not looking to go back and forth.
And I'm not trying to act like I'm without any criticisms of S3 either; I think that the pacing for the final 2ish episodes was a bit off, and I'm not entirely happy with how Jun-ho's character was handled. I personally just think he was underutilized an ickle bit 💔 as fun as Woo-seok is as a character, I think he didn't totally need to be apart of the search party, and Jun-ho could've fulfilled his plot-points.
But that's kinda it for my main criticisms? I'm sure that I could, like, nitpick stuff, but I don't really want to.
I guess my hottest take would be that I actually like Gi-hun's plot-thread throughout S3, and that I think his death made sense narratively. I've already talked a bunch about that on this blog and my main art blog though, and I don't really wanna repeat myself, so y'all can go sift through those tags on your own.
ANYWAY. That's all I got (for now at least?). I am wanting to kinda revive this blog at some point. Drawing Gi-hun was fun! I am currently in the process of moving so I don't exactly have lots of free time, but maybe when I get settled into my new place I can cook up some doodles for y'all.
