Squid Game – Moral Kombat

Full transcript of Squid Game – Moral Kombat.

0:00KT: It's another week in the foyer reference household. And how did we get into the Squid Games again? Ot.

0:07Oti: Oh, maybe it's the pink hair. I dunno.

0:12KT: Off top if you, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. If you had won the first squid games, would you have come back willingly into Fuck that?

0:25KT: Can a bitch buy a clue? Mm-hmm. Let's find out.

0:29KT: Let's get on with the show friends and others.

0:35KT: Friends and lovers, don't worry. You won't need any subtitles. I might be badly over dub like the other foreigners. Welcome back to not the Foyer Foreigners. Welcome back to the Foyer Reference Podcast. You got your host, KT

0:50Oti: and ot,

0:51KT: but you can be my, uh, edible Sushi Table O tea.

0:55Oti: Oof. Yeah, I'll take that.

0:58KT: Yeah, you do.[00:01:00]

1:01KT: And you're welcome friends and lovers into the casting reference couch. Spoiler. Spoiler, spoiler. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Mentioning we do have a episode on the first season.

1:13Oti: Mm-hmm.

1:13KT: Squid Games possibly where it should have ended.

1:16Oti: Mm-hmm.

1:18KT: Assemble well-meaning down on their luck misfits to their peril at the morally limp crusade that is as one dimensional.

1:28KT: As the protagonist and his hollow menacing expression become the very power you fear with squid games this week.

1:40Oti: Oh, we like our good squid games.

1:44KT: It's for the SEO. So we get to the audience routine

1:52KT: before we even get into what we're about to get into, friends and lovers again, please go and check out our squid [00:02:00] game.

2:01Oti: Mm-hmm.

2:01KT: But now we got two episodes. So it is Squid Games.

2:04Oti: Yeah.

2:05KT: Um, I just wanna read the intro. From the first season, because again, you could literally copy and paste this intro for this, uh, review episode friends and lovers lay back and succumb to the tightening tentacles of social structures, one dimensional foreigners, and edging our completion.

2:29KT: Meet us at the designated location with a Netflix series, squid Games, all those fucking years ago in 2021 to where we are in a much worse condition globally in 2025. Woo hoo.

2:46KT: Before we get your nasty, tasty, delicious, um, you know, non-tax Eva, uh, quote, ot, how are you feeling about, I guess, tackling into this?

2:57KT: Because no one's making us do this for [00:03:00] review. We are doing it ourselves. How are you feeling before we even dive into this? No.

3:05Oti: Ready to talk about it. I think. The impact Season wine made, we enjoyed it. I think also it was sort of the same time we'd watch Alice in Borderland also came out.

3:17KT: Yeah,

3:18Oti: we were getting hit after hit.

3:20Oti: And you know what? As we knew Netflix with commissions season two, three, whatever fuck the number is right now. And we just wanted something different. Yeah. And I thought we'd get that, but we didn't. It was very. Mm.

3:37KT: Yeah. But what we're get is what you're gonna continue to get. They're going to, you know, in a cake, blanchet flavored sort of way.

3:44KT: Um, friends and lovers, before we get into the quotes, I just want to point out, which is rumored perhaps, but I feel like we know, like you said, once they know, like they use that like me. They're like, I, I know that one trick combo and I'll do it [00:04:00] over and over again. We had Squid Game three, summer 2025, which just happened.

4:04KT: Winter 2026 will be Squid Game 1987, which maybe will be the front man. I've no idea. I don't think they're gonna be showing that. Perfect man again. Surely fall 2026 Squid Game. USA.

4:21Oti: Mm,

4:21KT: so some more bad overdubbing. Apparently. Um, spring 2027, ot. We're two years in the future. Um, squid Game 2.8 and then winter 2028.

4:35KT: Squid Game World. May we all shuffle off our mortal coil before the end Rotate. Wow. Okay. Well, let's, um, again, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler, we are talking about the final season of Squid Game, at least what this squid game is. But we will be talking about the whole series. So I guess just the general spoiler, spoiler, [00:05:00] spoiler, ot, hit us with the good stuff.

5:02KT: Give us your nons spoiler, um, pull quote. And first impressions.

5:07Oti: Squid Games final season delivers surface level thrills, but Huns return feels more puzzling than purposeful. Mm, entertaining enough, but far from the impact of its degree.

5:19KT: Oh, absolutely. Mm, absolutely.

5:25KT: It is unfortunate that the very messaging of Squid Game is compromised by the network's eagerness to franchise social commentary of wealth and greed.

5:38Oti: Yeah. See it. Oh, it, it's what they do though.

5:47KT: No, but if, if that's what it is, you should be Greta Thunberg and you should be out in the ocean sailing the seas with all of the freedom fighters.

5:56KT: No, really?

5:58Oti: Yeah,

5:59KT: she is. She is [00:06:00] doing real life squid games. I don't know what Gigg one's been doing the whole fucking time acting like he's poor and he is got all that, you know, we're gonna get to it. Yeah,

6:08Oti: yeah.

6:09KT: But it's frustrating 'cause you don't really mean it. Keep it cute. Make a franchise, but don't make it about the goodness of humanity 'cause that's not what this is.

6:21Oti: Far from it.

6:23KT: Alright, let's get into it. Uh, friends and lovers as always, with our full review episodes. Uh, make sure you're well satiated, maybe even well lubricated. Get yourself a snack and get yourself a beverage. Um, we're going to explore it through themes. I just wanna have a general conversation because, um, I personally, I'm not interested in any more squid games, like I think I was even struggling with this final season.

6:50KT: You are more than welcome to continue ot. If you can find OT on the interwebs, you can hit him up for conversations, but I feel like I'm pretty much done [00:07:00] so. I kind of wanna have a delicious, well-rounded that wasn't necessarily in this show. A, um, I guess reflection, um, on the commentary and that sort of thing.

7:12KT: I wanna talk about the direction of the show and what did this show become?

7:18Oti: Uh, the direction felt forced. It felt like an add-on to a show that didn't foresee itself beyond the first season. Uh, and it showed.

7:30KT: Yeah.

7:31Oti: Um, and, and this is where I like to allow creators the space and not feel as if you could have done X, Y, and Z.

7:43KT: Yeah.

7:44Oti: But watching the show on the direction they took J Character in season one. Yeah, you could see how he ended up winning and all that, but then translate, transpose that into the seasons [00:08:00] beyond It's. It's ridiculous how he moved.

8:04KT: Yeah.

8:05Oti: While still trying to convey the same themes that were present in the fast season.

8:10Oti: Yeah. Which felt completely devoid of how everyone else moved.

8:14KT: Mm-hmm.

8:14Oti: He already knows what the game is about, what everything entails, and still willingly felt shocked at every fucking time. Him pouting on the screen, feeling angered like a fucking emo teenager. I wanted to punch the hell out of him. Just, just like he's so

8:32KT: indignant.

8:33KT: Yeah. Like

8:34Oti: what do you think this is? Yeah. This is your second run out here. You've seen Countess of people die.

8:41KT: Mm-hmm.

8:42Oti: You got out with your life. You promised to take care of people's kids. Mm-hmm. What did you do? Yeah. Even the money alone, you could not even go back to your own kid and say, Hey, you neglected everything and all for the this.

8:59Oti: [00:09:00] Twisted morality of, oh, I gotta bring them down. And the way you do it is by entering the game again. I'm still feeling puzzled at every ton the human nature and psyche of seeing a lot of money.

9:15KT: Yeah, but he also had a lot of money at that point too. He had a lot of money. So why are you going back in there?

9:20KT: You dumb idiot.

9:21Oti: There's different ways in which you could have tried to take them down without you being a participant again.

9:27KT: Mm-hmm.

9:28Oti: Because then it changes. Then we was back to the, to the, to the sort of world of we've seen that, we've been there, we've done that.

9:36KT: No, but it actually, it doesn't do nothing.

9:39KT: It does worse. And that, this is what I noted as, it's not even a heading. It's, it's, it's kind of a reflection in regards to this theme. Not evil, not good. A more sinister third thing, actively allowing evil to thrive by having the resources but doing nothing about it. But it's okay 'cause he [00:10:00] feels bad about it.

10:01Oti: Mm.

10:02KT: Because what the fuck you saw? And even if you ignore all of the wealth you wanna game in, which 455 people died right in front of your fucking face. I'm not even talking about the wealth, right? Because somewhere we talked about he was quote unquote evil, right? So we didn't want him to win. We wanted Jihan to win the first squid games, right?

10:30KT: He didn't do anything with the money. Not even anything bad with the money, right? If we ignore the money part, how do you as a person, see 455 people die? Do nothing about it, cock yourself or however many years, and then reinsert yourself into the game. Just to see another 455 people die. Like, what the fuck is that?

10:56KT: Because that's not even a crusade. That's not even, [00:11:00] and I think that was part of the frustrating thing about Ham's character, because you know, for, for all that it is friends and lovers go and check out. We have a, um, episode on The Wire as well as a bonus episode. Um, on the wire on the podcast. McNulty did some.

11:17KT: Very, very questionable shit, especially in the later seasons of the wire, right? Mm-hmm. However, however, morally twisted, right? We understand why he did what he did, right? And that's exactly the point. Jiun didn't have a family unit. He cared about. Hun didn't have any, um, commercial sort of aspirations that he cared about.

11:46KT: He didn't necessarily care about the system, and I will fight anyone that says that he genuinely cared about fighting the powers and punching up. 'cause he actually didn't, right? He didn't have anything driving his [00:12:00] action or, or I guess more accurately his inaction. So what was the, so even from an audience point of view, you don't even wanna live.

12:08KT: So it's like, why are we watching you continue to see people die, get angry at, uh, dejo because of his inaction. You know, people just freeze. Yeah. Even if he was a Marine. He might have just frozen. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but he became the big, big, big, big bad. And even in the show, it was positioned in a way that Jiun didn't really, it was very necessary.

12:34KT: Then he killed him, you know?

12:36Oti: Or to make him feel as if he had no, he was backed into a corner. So he couldn't make that decision to be the bad guy. Yeah. Or I would not kill unless forced into a corner.

12:46KT: Fam bro. People are in hundreds, billions Korean, one debt. Who cares In this fantasy world of squid game, who cares if people are getting killed?

12:56KT: And this is, you are there for debt

12:58Oti: and, and this is the thing, right? [00:13:00] Fuss season, there's an insider part. One of the owners or the founders of the game is part of the game anyway. Yeah. Finds out the old man, whatever. Mm-hmm. He enters the game again and I don't know about how para, I would be paranoid as fuck anyone would be an ops.

13:21Oti: Yeah. But this guy moves, trusts everyone. Yeah. Up until shit doesn't go according to plan, then is surprised. Gets angry at everyone thought, whoa, you froze up. So what? Yeah, this is his first time coming into the game. What do you think he told you the truth? Yeah. It's, it's a game of what people in debt trying to bloody gamble away their, they're okay to risk their lives to die to get money.

13:47Oti: And you are here shocked people will freeze and die and lie about their background.

13:51KT: But he was also back in it as well because in the first season, was it like the third episode, they went outside and they realized, oh fuck, I'm still in debt. They're still [00:14:00] chasing me. Life is still shit. Let me get back in here, get my my money right quick.

14:04KT: You know what I mean? You knew all of this and then you went back in and you started yelling and shaking your fists at the power bro. You are the power. You are 400,000,001. You aren't the struggling class anymore.

14:22Oti: He spent majority of the time and the money trying to find the recruiter and, and, and this is where like him getting back in.

14:35Oti: Is is

14:37KT: like from a writing point of view, that doesn't even make sense. Why would you do that? Unless our man has a, like a perpetuity in perpetuity, he has to be involved in every s good games. He needs to get 2% on all merchandise sales. No, I'm, I'm being for real, for real. Unless he it's in the contract, unless he actually has dirt on one of these overdub foreigners.

14:59KT: Like I [00:15:00] don't understand. I don't understand why from a story point of view. 'cause I told you why we're getting to the end of this season. I was like, this is worse than Game of Thrones. And what I mean by that is there were actors that were too big, whether in name or in regards to the story that you knew they were never gonna die.

15:21Oti: Uh, bullets for Dan, eh.

15:23KT: Pow, pow. You might, you might see just the, a sexy, beautiful dragon lady. I also see slavery

15:30Oti: uhhuh.

15:31KT: She also did the same thing. She was, she was fighting for the slaves, and then as soon as it got toughing and scare wee, she ran away and they all fucking died. Big whoop. There you go. If you, if they, they're gonna do a whole timeline of squid games, the nearest, he must be a,

15:51KT: or a call. Oh, you never know.

15:55KT: Um, but I do just wanna put a note here. I don't, I don't think anyone involved in the show is gonna be listening to this, but I do just want to lay my love, uh, for Don Hu Kwan, who is the creator of Squid Game. And for as fiery and as impassioned and as fucking frustrated, the both of us are with this show, I feel like.

16:22KT: Because we also talked about his story to even get the show made

16:25Oti: Mm.

16:25KT: Right. Early to find out if there is a notoriety and a worldwide phenomenon. He's probably not getting the same amount as those fucking executives, right? Yeah. Let's, let's, let's, let's do, let's do a Spartacus throwing a spear right at the box, ot, right at the Baty artist box.

16:43KT: That's a Spartacus reference. Go in and check out Spartacus. We'll be there soon. Asha, we got some heat for you too. Um, but I feel like he made the show 'cause he had to keep making the show. I don't think this is the show that he wanted and I'm just pulling up, if we're knowing [00:17:00] nothing, I'm never going to be able to see an interview where he speaks very honestly.

17:05KT: But if he meant what he felt in the season that we saw in season one, it doesn't make sense to keep fucking franchising this shit. It's like that Britney Spear South Park episode. Just let it die like enough.

17:20Oti: It, it's, it's, it's bigger than him at this point, you know? Yeah. The numbers, the fast season dead is only ever gotta be, of course, redone into a franchise, and he has no control over that.

17:33Oti: Mm-hmm. It's now. It's like how we watch Black Mirror and watching Black Mirror sort of change and be more Americanized. Americanized.

17:43KT: Yeah. You

17:44Oti: know, and lose the oomph it had.

17:47KT: Mm-hmm.

17:49Oti: I'm not gonna sit through whatever, how many things you mentioned that've gonna come up in the next two years.

17:55KT: No. Oh, so you're not?

17:56KT: No, I'm not. You always get curious though, when it's about

17:59Oti: to come out. I [00:18:00] get curious, but not having to sit through season three, which just felt like a chore. At some point,

18:05KT: and we watch, we watch Kate Blanchet in TA slapping people on the street. So I don't know, I,

18:10Oti: I wouldn't even watch that,

18:12KT: but I'm saying I don't even think I need to see ussa.

18:14KT: I already saw her do that in ta.

18:16Oti: True, true. We love Kate

18:18KT: Blanchet, by the way. But, um, it's, it's like when they start attaching big names and shit, that's when it's like, okay. But then keep it cute, then don't make it even, you know, I struggle to think of one now, but even if they still wanted to deal in a world of like capitalism, there's a way to do it, to keep it cute and keep it light.

18:40KT: I think part of the, the heart is also the achilles heel of the show is because you couldn't even handle the weight of the implications of which you are presenting into a show.

18:53Oti: Mm-hmm.

18:53KT: Right. Because they never, and that was part of the struggle. No one really [00:19:00] challenged Gihan in the fact that he came back into the game.

19:03Oti: Mm-hmm.

19:04KT: They had like a few squabbles and a few ings from the other contestants, but. Yeah, that's fucking wild. The fact that he brought himself back into a game and then he is shaking his fist is like, how dare you make us do this? But okay, but you made yourself do this. Yeah. No one forced you to come back now a second time.

19:24KT: And that was really frustrating. And I think also what I wanna say about, um. The direction of the show and you know, the social commentary of it the first season? Yes. It's talking about capitalism. Yes, it's talking about mass debt, which is universal. And you know, globally there are conversations, there are protests, there are expressions of, of art and, and freedom of speech that is going on, but.

19:55KT: It tapped into the specific sort of circumstances [00:20:00] in South Korea about a lot of, not just young, but qualified, unemployed people, that even if they're doing all the things that society or the government tell them to do, they still end up in debt.

20:14Oti: Mm. Right.

20:16KT: Especially in South Korea because they have the cha balls as well.

20:18KT: So even if you are playing the game by all of the rules that have been given to you, even if you do all the bonus uh, stages, even if you buy the expansion packs, it doesn't fucking matter. Even by accident. You can end up in debt, in debt that you will never be able to recover, that your kids might not even be able to recover.

20:39KT: Right. What I would say is there are many KDRs and web tunes that use this particular premise, and it's done in a cute, fun, light, sexy way. Mm-hmm. Right. So it can be done, but this show, it fell by its own. Inability to care. It kind of stopped caring [00:21:00] about that and the fact that they're trying to broaden it to do it like to a,

21:06KT: I think the US is just, what, what do they call it? Fire and brimstone and hell, so there's

21:10Oti: gonna be a squid, squid game. Wild. I'm assuming it's, it's an international thing at that point.

21:16KT: But I'm saying like, what made, what made squid game. So great is we got a view into an artistic expression of how people might be struggling in South Korea.

21:34Oti: Mm-hmm.

21:35KT: And that's, and I think like you said, with, even with like Black Mirror, when you zoom out and you do it to appeal, 'cause audiences will watch it, right? So you don't even need to broaden it and westernize it 'cause people were watching it anyway. It loses everything that makes it so great in my opinion.

21:55Oti: But then you, you go against the machine. We are going to get a, a parasite, [00:22:00] USA or some shit. Yeah.

22:01KT: Like it's, yeah. I love you bong ho. But I don't see a world where he didn't sign that off. And that makes me upset.

22:06Oti: Yeah. But it, it's the nature. Right. But

22:09KT: if we're looking at okra and we're looking at Mickey 17, the parasite would've been the one to protect.

22:14KT: Oof. Well. Yeah, it's your host bitch. Knock, knock. I'm infiltrating your waters like the US Navy bases anyway.

22:25KT: Mm. Well, let's, let's get into, um, another general theme. This is outside the outside world. This is the investigation. Personally for me, if we were going to have another season of Squid Game. And when we had these scenes, to me, they were the most interesting parts of it.

22:43KT: Where you start on it, where you start pulling that thread if you're nasty. Mm-hmm. Right? It's where you start kicking the tires of the logic of the world where you have the detective shut, idiot idiot, sorry. [00:23:00] Um, shout out to Troy. Love, love, love, love, love. Favorite, favorite part of the whole show. Um, but you have.

23:07KT: Trying to figure out this world, maybe even take down this world. I wanna talk a little bit about that.

23:15Oti: You are right. That was the most interesting. Those are the most interesting scenes. Mm-hmm. The outside world about the show, because that's what I imagined. A season. A season progressing past the first would be more about.

23:31KT: Mm-hmm.

23:32Oti: The games, yes, you get cutaway here and there, but the main call with story, having John Hall survive being short, coming out, trying to figure out where the brother is, how, how can I take them down? It was, that was the call. Mm-hmm. That was, that was supposed to be the me. Mm-hmm. And, and having, you know, the, the, the, and, and this is where I'm like, I don't [00:24:00] know if they made people intentionally dumb.

24:01Oti: I. But you, you can't be a detective and move in ways in which goes against the nature of your job.

24:09KT: Like is it, is it, uh, illegal for detectives to investigate?

24:12Oti: Oh, you mean you can't think beyond this?

24:17KT: Like, you mean no one in this town has heard of him? Oh, well, it doesn't matter.

24:22Oti: There has to be a level of curiosity

24:24KT: Yeah.

24:24Oti: In your nature to be a detective, to be like. Okay. This seems weird. Why is no one here? How did this man find me? Having, like, there's a lot of questions I would've asked.

24:36KT: Well, let's sound it out, baby.

24:38Oti: Mm-hmm.

24:39KT: This man almost died. The only reason why he didn't die is 'cause his brother didn't kill him, right?

24:44Oti: Mm-hmm.

24:45KT: This is the mechanisms of a rich underworld that he was sent there or he sent himself to go and infiltrate, right?

24:53Oti: Mm-hmm.

24:53KT: He almost died multiple times. And you are telling me they're just gonna allow some random captain.[00:25:00]

25:00KT: To drive them around literally the only way that they can, and they're vulnerable in the waters.

25:06KT: And you almost died and you didn't even do the work to ask locals if they even knew this man. So ignoring the fact that you didn't even do your due diligence anyway, and you're just gonna leave you and your crew, you are, you are not paranoid enough, bur.

25:24Oti: How did you find me?

25:26KT: Yeah.

25:26Oti: How the hell do you find like there's, there has to be an an inquisition into. The rescue into who he is because it just can't be explained by, oh, I'm a fisherman. I just sailed the seas around here. I saw a body riding the sho. I was like, Hey mate, let me go and get it. Oh, don't go to that

25:46KT: area.

25:46Oti: Oh, that's just high seas. Oh, the police patrol that area. I'm just

25:50KT: here with Tugger around the world. Oh. Like idiot, idiot, idiot.

25:57Oti: Yeah.

26:02Oti: And to have your favorite mans saying. The captain ain't right. I get a gut feel about this. I, I feel a suss

26:04KT: on him. Yeah.

26:05Oti: There's there's something about him.

26:07KT: Yeah.

26:08Oti: That should have been John Hall from the start.

26:11Oti: Yeah. Regardless of the gratitude of you being saved, but

26:14KT: you should always be suss on people until you suss him out.

26:16Oti: You've been searching for him for months.

26:18KT: Ah.

26:20Oti: And to not make any progress. Yeah. For him to always get, oh, we'll do it this time, but, oh man, look at that weather. How, how, what's going on?

26:32KT: Like the, the, the South Korea have a deficit of bitches buying clues because,

26:40Oti: and this is like, it's,

26:41KT: and this 'cause it become, it becomes a class thing. It becomes a. Prejudice thing because he didn't wanna believe wasik because he is like a criminal. Yeah. I wouldn't call him a criminal, but he was criminalized. In the show we see him because he is one of the guys that like, they're all looking for the front man.

26:59KT: Mm-hmm. [00:27:00] Right.

27:00KT: Um, sorry, the recruiter. Um, and it's like, who are you to judge? You're seeing all these mega billionaires paying to see hundreds of people die for sport and you're judging him. Fuck off. You should die, leave the baby with the 400 million

27:16Oti: and this is where you have these two un unlikeable corporate target and they're the main ones because you have a scene with John Holland, then you cut into the other guy and you're like, bro, turn the TV off.

27:28KT: Yeah. Ish. It's frustrating, you know? Okay.

27:34KT: Can we be very real?

27:35Oti: Mm-hmm.

27:36KT: Is there a part of you that feels like they needed to cautionary tale this show?

27:41Oti: How so?

27:43KT: Well, Jihan did nothing in regards to the powers.

27:47Oti: Mm.

27:48KT: He could have been like, you could, I wouldn't even call him a pacifist. I feel like he was actively allowing shit to happen.

27:55KT: But I feel like they're trying to make sure that the poor is [00:28:00] the poor, the poor, um, people that are in that, that are watching this as this show, um, don't necessarily take the right messages out at this. They don't become Greta Thunberg themself. Mm. Because why was, why were they both so dumb?

28:17Oti: Because anything else, the show crumbles.

28:19KT: Yeah.

28:20Oti: You can't have them being smart. You can't. Then it creates a flow, what they want to say. But I,

28:26KT: I wanna build my consciousness, tower of Babel. I wanna reach the heavens of the wealth. Of the riches.

28:33Oti: You can't, because then you get idiotic people leading the cause.

28:37KT: Yeah. Speaking about idiotic people. Um, I wanna talk about, I, I kind of surrounded it around life.

28:48KT: Um, we have June's baby gal. Um, we have the, the young woman that defected from North Korea. She had a younger brother. Mm-hmm. [00:29:00] Right. Um, and then we have the bear bit. Which they didn't even fucking care to name the baby mind you.

29:07Oti: Mm-hmm.

29:09KT: I also feel like Julian is such a deadbeat dad. He didn't even look after the babies that weren't his, that he promised to take care of.

29:17Oti: He is an envelope of, of a hundred, a thousand. Done. That didn't look like a lot of money. It was like after, after a month you'll be looking elsewhere.

29:29KT: But I also like. This show has been so defanged because I also, they also had a bit of running sort of commentary, like if we come all the way to the end where they were doing like the three towers, there was commentary about the baby not having a voice.

29:45KT: And I wonder if they were really lightly trying to touch on, not necessarily abortion, but like who matters, you know, because they, they made it clear old people don't matter in the first. Show, [00:30:00] and I'm just like, Hmm, what are you trying to say? Because I don't think this is, this is a very positive message to have children because how many children are being abandoned in this fucking show?

30:12KT: Like, we can, we can be serious, but we can also be cute about it because no one gives a fuck about these children.

30:18Oti: Mm. No one does.and this is why them trying to tie into. J

30:25Oti: ohn Ho's sort of humanity or him trying to maintain humanity rather than buying into the world he's in.

30:31KT: Yeah.

30:32Oti: Uh, a world where he sees people getting rich or people who are desperate trying to kill each other up,

30:38KT: grow up

30:39Oti: for money, and him still trying to maintain his core, oh, I'm a good person, despite having watched millions of hundreds of people die.

30:50Oti: Yeah. And juxtaposing it against the front man who made a decision of slaughtering everyone in their sleep.

30:58KT: Yeah.

30:58Oti: To win the money. [00:31:00] He decided, oh, I can't do that because I still have my humanity tied in. I still care about the, ah, there's this value of human life. Let the chips fall. How they, you know, make this.

31:14KT: But the chips are falling and you are watching it and you have the resources to do something about it,

31:19Oti: but the game's been tilted to your side anyway. You know everyone got captured into got shot. You were brought back. They kept you alive. Mm. That's favor. That's not keeping the game. A hundred.

31:30KT: Yeah. It's not.

31:30Oti: W

31:30Oti: hat are we talking about?

31:32KT: It's putting your thumb on the side. You've gotten

31:33Oti: favoritism up until the How do the hell do you think you've been surviving?

31:36KT: Yeah. And let's be honest. 'cause the front man, I feel like that's some nepo, that's some nepo, uh, baby. And the money, not ne necessarily the baby, but that was Nepo money that was given to his brother because that money stays in the family.

31:51KT: If you really fucking cared, if this show really fucking cared, drop that $456 million to [00:32:00] a not-for-profit organization or an orphanage.

32:02Oti: Yeah,

32:03KT: if you really care, put the baby there and put the money there. Fuck off and fuck you. Hmm, but stop fucking, because no one cares about the babies that come out of the fucking ao.

32:12Oti: But they took a, oh, I'm just gonna die. I'm just gonna die and give myself, I'm gonna make people advice. People would rather die

32:18KT: than look after a baby.

32:20Oti: And that let my kids who I, I just left. Not any word. Give them a card at the end of it. Be like, oh, your dad did all this for you. But he didn't wanna be your father.

32:31Oti: Yeah, I'd do anything. I'd fucking go back and watch 4 55 other people die before. Instead of coming to you spending a night with you doing anything. Yeah. Fa

32:42KT: this like, I will go and play kids games instead of playing kids games with you. The implications of this are terrible.

32:51Oti: The last mistake I made was being a father because I, all I wanted was just to play kid games, not necessarily play

32:56KT: with you kid games.

32:58KT: I love that. That's what [00:33:00] it's, yeah. Fuck man Z. Fuck man. I just made the connection. No, because it's like, it's like we're being cute and we're being funny, but it's literally, why the fuck did you try and set the show up this way? You could have just made it a cool contestant, like we've seen many instances, like Cube is also like that as well.

33:23KT: Gemma Chan's uh, exam is also like that as well. So you can really dissociate a lot of real world implications and just keep it to the games and, and, and the surveillance and the, the, the greed, the hunt. Betty Gilpin. Mm-hmm. Lindelof, you did a great one with that. Sorry, you had to apologize given the timing, shit.

33:44KT: Well, it was given the timing, so, but that was also a, a great film in, in this sort of genre. Like it could have been a fun, cute time. Now it's, it's, fuck, poor people, fuck the babies. We [00:34:00] don't like, we don't give a fuck about anything. And I think that's why it's like we can talk about the characters, but it's all fucking stupid at the end of the day.

34:10Oti: Hmm. Because you, you, you get the same archetypes you've got in season one in the sa in whatever seasons they do. Yeah. You get those who are, oh man, I'll survive here. You get your, oh, I'll do whatever. I'm just a little shy, baby. I can't do anything.

34:26KT: You know what? I've also been really cool.

34:28Oti: Uh,

34:28KT: ignore. Why did we have to go into the game again, right?

34:31KT: Mm-hmm. Why didn't we go and visit all the people that have won and see what they did with their money? Like whether it was good or bad, like that would've been interesting. Yeah, because even if we were to reenter the games, again, we didn't learn anything. We just continued to see ion do absolute fuck all

34:49Oti: with more annoying facial expressions than before.

34:51Oti: Yeah. Because he, he, he was all about the game being fair. But the fact that you've gone through you, you are prepared [00:35:00] well, you are well way prepared in the psyche of this game that everyone else, because you've been through this. Yeah. Even if they took one thing here or there, you still understand the gist of it.

35:09KT: Yeah.

35:09Oti: You are advantage by default. Yeah. So there's no this, oh, I'm gonna keep it fair. I'm gonna keep it fair. I'm gonna, oh

35:17KT: no. Fuck. It was never fair, but into the fucking world you are in. It was never fair.

35:22KT: He is worse. He is worse. He is worse than a rich person that doesn't understand. He is worse than most fucking billionaires sitting there. Yeah, but you know what?

35:33KT: If we want to be very, very, very, since we're getting so mu, um, since we're getting pic or the spiciest, uh, paste, uh, in Korean cooking, um, if they really.

35:48KT: Wanted to whip out their Randy size balls. And I said this in the first review as well. I know, I know people try to bury it, the powers that be try to [00:36:00] bury it. But uh, if they really wanna talk about some real shit, fuck the foreigners. Why do you think the police aren't doing anything? Because the police commissioners probably sitting there watching the game as well.

36:15KT: Mm-hmm. The government officials with the foreigners that are giving them a little slidey slide under the table, and I'm not just talking about money A Oh, they're probably sitting there too.

36:25Oti: Oh, you think that people wouldn't notice a couple hundreds of people disappearing without a trace every bloody year.

36:31Oti: Right. And would just be like, Ooh.

36:34KT: And it's not just like. Unfortunately, there are demographics of people that no one would care about if they went missing. These are all different types of demographics, different ages, yeah. CEOs.

36:45Oti: Yeah,

36:47Oti: no one had a clue just.

36:49KT: I have so many themes, but I'm so exhausted

36:53Oti: because intelligence is the enemy of this, of this show, of this game, of everything. You can't risk [00:37:00] having anyone that you can't have a a score level character in this. You can't risk having someone who's above average in the intelligence because it crumbles.

37:14KT: Yeah. It, it can't, it, it's paper drawing itself. Like it can't withstand the liquid of freedom and justice. It just can't soak it up. Um, well, I guess you are looking at the themes. Is there anything that you would like to tackle My love.

37:36Oti: Uh, again, we, we got to see the foreigners come in, the v VIPs, whatever they call.

37:40Oti: Can

37:40KT: you see what I was saying?

37:42Oti: Mm.

37:42KT: I wouldn't say you disagreed with me when we did the first review, but I was saying how caricature they were and you were like, eh, which fair? But they got even more of a Yeah. Present here.

37:53Oti: Yeah. They got more screen time, the. They add very [00:38:00] little to the show and what the messaging, or at least they tried to do the messaging for this was no.

38:06Oti: But are we

38:06KT: saying if these, if these foreigners didn't exist, are we saying squid games will never have a place and a function

38:11Oti: it would

38:12KT: fuck off?

38:13Oti: and that's what I don't get. It's not,

38:15KT: Ooh, I'm a mustache twi villain. It doesn't, it doesn't have to be that the call's coming from inside the house, bro.

38:21KT: Yeah. Yeah.

38:22Oti: Ah, yeah.

38:25KT: It's just like they put the, the most beautiful people on the screen. There's some ugly sinister intentions going on behind the background that you're not seeing,

38:33Oti: and I don't know what they, they talk like robots. I do not understand,

38:37KT: you know, and I, I was starting to think about it. Do you think they're white people that have lived in Korea for a while and they're actually speaking Korean?

38:45Oti: I don't know. I think they just said, Hey, white person, come and be in this set. I dunno,

38:51KT: they're more random. They're more one dimensional than like Tyler Perry's white characters.

38:56Oti: Uh, yeah, I dunno how they got them. [00:39:00] But yeah, just character caricature stuff.

39:03KT: Like we understood why they were there. The same thing with Jiun, but we didn't need an increased presence of them.

39:10KT: Because the function and the purpose in which why they were introduced to the show was never expounded upon, was never explored, and was never, um, challenged.

39:24Oti: Mm.

39:24KT: So we didn't really learn anything by having them on the screen for longer. Yeah.

39:30KT: I wanna talk about the CGI in this show I friends and lovers.

39:35KT: I don't know what it is. I'm not a fake bitch like the rest of you. So I find it hard to identify ai. Like every so often I'll show OT something that people are saying is AI and I have to get him. Usually you'll mention the hands and that sort of stuff, but it's getting better, right? So I'm not a fake bitch, so I can't identify fake shit, but the CGI in this, you don't think it was resume level.

39:59KT: For the [00:40:00] unnamed baby. They didn't care about to name.

40:04Oti: I don't know, I didn't pay too much attention looking at the baby like that, but, um, half the time it was all covered up anyway.

40:14KT: And the skipping rope as well. I don't know. It it, if I had the time and the poetic tongue, if you're nasty, I would attribute that to.

40:26KT: The pump and dump approach and synthetic to streaming as opposed to practical letting things sim simmer. I'm not saying they had to build like a big skipping rope, but there is a synthetic and a fakeness that is so present in a show that preaches about realness. I

40:49Oti: dunno, maybe I was disillusioned by that point to really pay attention to details like that.

40:55KT: I guess a, again, like do you have any positives? Not that we need to, [00:41:00] but do you have any positives? Uh, or was it just, we just wanted to see how it ended. 'cause that's how I felt.

41:06Oti: Yeah. I wanted to see how it ended. I, I think halfway through I sort of figured out how it would be because there's only one way it is ever going to end.

41:16Oti: Um. I guess the scenes outside of the game itself were, were really good,

41:22KT: the best part.

41:23Oti: Um, it gave us an insight into, you know, what the world could be and there's things that we can actually build on if they wanted to.

41:31KT: Yeah.

41:32Oti: Um, yeah, I, I guess that,

41:36KT: sorry.

41:37KT: I'm mad at Jhan again because entering the Squid games is like.

41:43KT: If it were to make any impact, it would be the smallest fucking impact because how many millions of people outside, not in the squid games, how many millions of people outside in South Korea are fucking struggling? You couldn't think to thought to, to have an idea to help [00:42:00] people outside.

42:01KT: Yeah. Why don't you, why don't you, Perry Mason, that shit. Why don't you, Perry Mason, follow all of these government officials around for all of their affairs, take pictures, ransom them for money, I don't know, do some shit like use your money in a way that will exploit the exploitation that's going on you fucker,

42:19Oti: because then it will involve him using his body, brain.

42:25Oti: Um, but yeah, all in all, I think what the show itself has done. You know, majority of it in the first season is unprecedented. In terms of viewership, in terms of, um,

42:38KT: man heist also became defanged when they tried to westernize it. Americanize it, yeah, that was the one. 'cause it's usually three examples I think, of squid games.

42:48KT: Uh, black and la la.

42:52Oti: Yeah. Yeah, it changes, but it's more, the success becomes now the Achilles heel of that's

42:59KT: [00:43:00] what they chase.

43:00Oti: Yeah.

43:01KT: It's like when sinners became surprisingly to motherfuckers, it wasn't surprising to me, but the success of sinners was so surprising. And what execs are getting out of that is like, ooh, they want more vampire movies.

43:15Oti: We need that. We, we need singers too.

43:19KT: Ew. No. Four

43:20Oti: and five before he gets his Stop it. Stop the nightmare.

43:23KT: Well, Coogler gets it back in 25 years and if we're eating our vegetables and taking our vitamins, we'll be able to see what will be in store. Um, you know, just, I guess regard it as diehard 4.0. We love Jack Courtney.

43:36KT: Don't need the movie.

43:42Oti: Cannot come soon enough.

43:43KT: Asha cannot come, um, soon enough. But what I do wanna mention, uh, as it seems like we're closing up, um, is who's the trans character? Mm-hmm. Um, there was a lot of conversation about [00:44:00] it. Would also love to hear your thoughts, ot, in regards to it. Um, a cis man played the role. Um, again, unfuck, unfortunately, based on everything we're saying, anything of a whisper of a, a leg that they might wanna stand on in regards to saying something is so morally limp.

44:27KT: So I think unfortunately, in regards to trans representation, it follows through in that point of view. But like,

44:36KT: if it's not a trans woman playing a trans woman character, I don't fucking want it.

44:40Oti: Mm-hmm.

44:41KT: What's the point of that? And then a lot of, whether it was the actors, uh, fans, or just. Fans in general, were saying, well, you know, it's like really bad in Korea, so if it was a trans woman playing well, it's like, yeah, well that's the fucking point.

44:55KT: That's the bravery of it, like, you know what I mean? Then don't do it. Don't [00:45:00] attempt to do it. Don't say you're gonna look after all these babies that you would rather die than look after. That's wild.

45:07KT: Actually, uh, one more thing I wanna say is, uh, aside from the outside world, the front men's flashback was very interesting.

45:15Oti: Mm-hmm.

45:15KT: That was probably one of, but then by me saying that they're gonna fucking milk it. 'cause I'm pretty sure that's what 1987 is going to be, but I don't. I don't need that. Um, do you have any closing thoughts?

45:30KT: My love. What are you gonna do if you are 456 that you've been seeing people back for what you gonna do if you're riches?

45:39Oti: Uh, a franchise became bigger than what they knew what to do with, and we could see it in the season, but

45:48KT: I think it's intentions that flew too close to the sun.

45:52Oti: Yeah, I, I guess, I guess I, I, I'm looking forward to the reality show of it, which I think we had fun with.

45:59Oti: [00:46:00] Um,

46:01KT: not really. Spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. Got to a point where it, it was either the final or one of the finals where the actual game was them putting keys in a lock. And that was it.

46:13Oti: Was it?

46:14KT: Yes. See, you don't even remember.

46:19Oti: Uh, yeah. Yeah.

46:23KT: Nostalgia will get you every time her. Yeah,

46:26Oti: because now I remember Alice in Borderland season two and I'm like, yeah, I don't know.

46:30Oti: It's hard. It's hard to follow up a successful debut of a season that you know, but yeah. On we go,

46:41KT: must we?

46:45KT: Man, man, man, man. So sad. But again, like, if it's, like you said, if it's successful, it's going to continue. Um, unfortunately we're probably gonna see with that with sinners as [00:47:00] well. Um, Amber, Dan, why are we left with the heaviness of moral quandaries? If this show wasn't bound by it?

47:08Oti: Mm.

47:10Oti: Yeah. I dunno. All in all

47:14KT: you can't. All in all this motherfucker.

47:21KT: Hi friends and lovers, thank you for joining us another week in the four Year Reference podcast. We're gonna finish off in a segment we call for your reference ot,

47:30Oti: oh, Alice in Borderland, season two, I guess.

47:35KT: Nice.

47:37Oti: Hmm. You?

47:38KT: Well, if we are talking about specific South Korean issues that are being explored in a, uh, I guess, uh, extended reality that gets, uh, bombarded by over [00:48:00] caricatured foreign western influence.

48:03KT: All you deserve is okra. And okra is what you will eat tonight or you will go hungry.

48:10Oti: One of the best fast half of movies I've seen in a long time in okra, it really should have just ended there.

48:17KT: Yeah.

48:19Oti: Oh well.

48:21KT: Well, that's how the Gill Hall crumbles.

48:30KT: Uh, thank you so much again. Go and check out our Squid Games episode. Check out our Allison Borderland episode, check out our Spartacus episode. Literally check everything out because why the fuck would you watch this show? Uh, because we know you guys will listen to our episode, even if you haven't watched it.

48:48KT: Um, Twitter slash. Yes, we're still on it. Ooh, could you believe that? All of these fucking billionaires and corporations are fucking encroaching on [00:49:00] everything. Anyway, that's my Twitter rant for the day. Instagram blue Sky we at For your ref pod.

49:07Oti: Write us an email. Ah hello podcast.com.

49:10KT: We're also on. Let Shit die.

49:15KT: Podcast if you like to leave a rating and review and we'll see you next time. See you.