Ending of Squid Game Explained – Deeper Look into The Finale!

As many people ask me to share a deeper look of the award winning netflix movies Squid game, so here I write the ending of squid game explained, deep dive into the finale of the brutal korean children games survival movies.

The ending of Squid Game is intense and thrilling. In this game show, 456 contestants compete in high-stakes childhood games for the chance to win an enormous sum of money.

As they battle and fight their way through the competition, tensions reach a fever pitch and only one person is left standing with the prize. However, at the very end, the winner just refuse to win and vote to retreat, while the opponents get back to himself, regret his decision and end his life to help his childhood friend win.

If you’re curious about what really happened at the end of the final episode, or whether the winner made the right decision, let’s take a deeper look about this squid game finale!

The Ending of Squid Game Explained

Here are some of the deeper look into the end of the squid game movie on Netlflix in sequels.

Night Before The Finale

After enduring few grueling and life-threatening challenge, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon) and Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) are the remaining three competitors left for the billion won prize.

Sang-woo is someone driven solely by a desire to win and will do anything to get the prize, while Gi-Hun still maintain his humanity and take care of Sae Byeok who suffer from injuries from previous challenge.

After the three last participants share a celebratory dinner, Sang-woo quietly stabs Sae-byeok with a steak knife in the darkness of their dormitory and she eventually dies, leaving Gi-hun and Sang-woo as the last survivor.

The Finale Begins

The finale of the challenge is ‘Squid Game’ korean childhood games. First of all, they do a coin toss that put Gi-hun in the offensive position.

According to the korean children game rules, either Gi-hun had to make it to the top of the squid drawn on the ground or one of the players had to die (disqualified) for the other one to win.

In an intense fight between Sang-woo and Gi-hun, Sang-woo ended up pinned to the ground with Gi-hun holding a knife. However, despite ‘winning’ this way, Gi-hun refused to kill even his opponent as he wanted them both to be able to walk away alive without any prize money.

But eventually, after this far, Sang-woo can’t let it happened. He got back to himself, regret everything he did and kill himself in order to help Gi-Hun win, get the money and help his mother.

Back To The Real World

In the end of the Squid Game, we find out that the Front Man is actually Detective Hwang’s (Wi Ha-joon) long lost brother. The Front Man reveals his true identity but remains loyal to the game and shoots Hwang on his shoulder.

Whether Detective Hwang is dead or alive after this confrontation is not revealed and remains a mystery. The Front Man then informs Gi-hun, the squid game winner that it was just a form of entertainment similar to betting on horses.

As promised, Gi Hun is sent back to his life with all the prize money he deserves. Unfortunately, as he got back, he realize that his mother has died and his life will never be the same.

Fast Forward One year later

A year after he won the Squid game, we saw Gi-hun sitting in a bank being interviewed by a banker of why he hasn’t use his money at all and he could make lots of money by investing it. It is revealed to us that he has hardly spent any of his prize money and barely looks like himself anymore.

He even asks for 10,000 won (around 8 dollars) from the banker as he walked out, which he uses to buy a beer and flowers from a street vendor. This could be him trying to process the trauma of the Squid game which still haunts him.

Squid Game Explained - Old Man 001

One year after the final round of Squid Game, Gi-hun got a mysterious invitation that led him into a tall office building in the middle of the night where he discovers that Oh Il-nam is alive.

Gi-hun eventually find out that Il Nam, his best friend in squid game is actually the person leading the creation of this brutal deadly game which cause him to lose everything, including his very close childhood friend Sang-woo.

Il-nam reveals he created it to give him and his ultra rich peers a sense of fulfillment and happiness. He explains that when you have too much money, no matter what luxury you buy or delicious food you eat, eventually everything becomes dull and boring.

So, he and his group had to come up with something new to make life fun again – thus Squid Game was born and he join as the 001 player to reminiscing his childhood memories before he die. He also thanking Gi-Hun for the last fun experience he had together in the squid game challenge.

Squid Game Explained - Old Man 001 Last Bet

Finally, Il Nam challenge Gi Hun for one last bet which give bring this finale to another climax and moral dilemma it has posed throughout the series.

Il-nam make a bet that no one will help an homeless man before midnight, and Gi-hun on the opposite, believe that someone will help him before midnight. Gi-Hun ends up winning when someone does help this homeless man, just at the moment before Il-nam dies.

Whether he died believing he won the game and believe there was no humanity left in the world, or that he realize he lost and saw acts of kindness which allowed him to die in peace knowing there’s still good in this world, remain unknown. This give us room to interpret two fold meaning for this scene.

Promise Fulfilled

After talk with Il Nam and realize the brutal game founder has eventually died, he decided to move on with his newfound wealth. First he make sure to fulfill his promise to Sae Byeok and Sang woo.

Credit to Squid Game fandom

He find Sae Byeok brothers and leave him in the care of Sang Woo’s mother with tons of money. Afterwards, he want to put things right between himself and his daughter by reconnecting with her in person.

Realizing that his ex wife, her husband and his daughter has already move on to the States, he bought a ticket and heading up to the airport in order to fly meet her daughter in the States.

The Game Continues

Right before boarding to the States, Gi Hun hears the familiar sound of Ttakji games, the very firs recruitment games that bring him into the real Squid Games, and he was right.

As he look to find where the ttakji sound came from, he saw Gong-yoo, the recruiters play with someone he is about to recruit. Knowing the brutal squid game still continue despite Il Nam’s death, he rush to catch Gong yoo the recruiters to stop this brutal games.

He fail to catch Gong Yoo since he is already inside the train and the door is already close. However, he steal the business card from the debt-ridden stranger and tells him not to call the number.

Just before boarding plane to the US, Gi hun try to calls the number on the invitation and said ‘Listen, I am not a horse, I am a person.’

On the other hand, the Front Man knows him and tells him to go on board for his own good. However, this makes Gi-hun angry and he decided to turns around, cancel his flight, and begin his new journey to to expose the group behind this brutal game.

Meaning Behind The Ending of Squid Game

Many are perplexed by Gi-hun’s choice to turn around and cancel the flight. Many thinking, ‘Is he plotting vengeance? What is his end game?’

However, the creator of squid game movie Hwang Dong-hyuk believes that this ending was thematically fitting and not meant to be a cliffhanger.

He suggests that the meaning of Gi Hun’s cancel the flight, turn around and look at the camera is to communicate a message that we should not be dragged along by the competitive nature of society.

Instead, take a step back, try to understand what is really going on in the world and start looking at the one created the competitive system we are living in and find out if there’s a potential for us to face it. So it seems as if Gi Hun’s choice was made more out of a pure self reflection rather than revenge.

Squid Game Explained

Here’s the ending of squid game explained – as much as I knew. Squid games tells a lot of truth and meaning behind every scene about society, politics, the rich vs the poor and moral battle between egoism and altruism.

At the end, the message is for us to keep and maintain our humanity despite the harsh life we had on earth. Also to look at the bigger picture, look at behind the scene, not just the one we face and compete with. The real jerk and bad people are usually someone outside of the box we are living in.

Squid Game season 2 will surely bring many other truth to light, like how’s fate of the police officer (Front man brother), how Gi Hun will be able to find and reveal the founder of Squid Games. The release date has not yet been confirmed but we expect it to release late 2023 or 2024.

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