Squid Game Season 3 Episode 2 Recap: Betrayals and Bloodshed

Squid Game Season 3 Episode 2 wastes no time diving into chaos. Player 246 wakes up after No-eul’s intervention — only to watch her shoot the doctor dead. To keep him hidden, she disguises him as a guard, pushing her defiance of the twisted system even further.

Back in the arena, the deadly Hide and Seek continues. Each Red Team member has 30 minutes to kill at least one Blue Team member or face death themselves. Gi-hun ignores everyone but Dae-ho, hunting the traitor relentlessly — though Dae-ho narrowly escapes each time. The Shaman, meanwhile, misleads her followers under the guise of “ghostly guidance,” but she’s really just dodging noisy paths.

Keys, Alliances, and Deadly Deals

Player 100 realizes too late that his key doesn’t open every door. He teams up with another Blue Team member to collect multiple keys. Meanwhile, Hyun-ju deduces there are three keys for three locks — and with Geum-ja and Jun-hee’s help, she holds all three.

On the Red Team, Myung-gi and Player 124 (Nam-gyu) form a blood pact by killing two players together, ensuring they can’t betray each other. But when Nam-gyu drops Thanos’ pill box, Min-su grabs a pill — desperate to silence the voice in his head calling him a coward.

226 tries to negotiate with Hyun-ju to kill either Jun-hee or Geum-ja for survival. Hyun-ju appears to consider it — but instead kills him herself. Player 100 betrays his temporary ally for a key and narrowly dodges Red Team hunters.

Jun-hee’s hope that Myung-gi will protect her is crushed when Nam-gyu persuades him to kill every remaining Blue Team member to increase the pot. He agrees, sealing his betrayal.

Desperate Hiding and Deadly Confrontations

While Gi-hun obsesses over Dae-ho, a stray Red Team member attacks Dae-ho but is killed by mistake. Dae-ho snatches the knife and flees, leaving a blood trail. The Shaman runs into Gi-hun and trades Dae-ho’s location for her life — but Gi-hun spares her and follows the trail.

Elsewhere, the women hide in a storage room as Jun-hee’s fractured ankle complicates everything — especially when she goes into labor. Yong-sik corners an injured Blue Team player — the same one who tore him from his mother during the Mingle Game. But before Yong-sik can act, another Red Team player kills the target, leaving Yong-sik stunned.

READ MORE: Squid Game Season 3 Episode 1 Recap: Deadly New Hide and Seek

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Hide and Seek’s Brutal End

The Shaman’s luck runs out when she stumbles into Myung-gi and Nam-gyu’s ambush. She barely escapes and drags Player 100 to the exit — only to be betrayed when he uses her to open the door and locks her out. She’s cornered by a drugged-out Min-su, who hallucinates her as Se-mi. She tries her shaman act but fails — and Min-su kills her in a haze of guilt and confusion.

Meanwhile, Gi-hun finds Dae-ho, who grovels and blames Gi-hun for the rebellion’s failure. He claims Gi-hun orchestrated everything to secure the prize alone — before lunging at him with a knife. At his limit, Gi-hun chokes Dae-ho to death, unable to stand the lies any longer.

A Mother’s Sacrifice

Geum-ja and Jun-hee reach the exit, but Yong-sik finds them with seconds left on the clock. He must kill or be killed. When he tries to murder Jun-hee, Geum-ja begs him to kill her instead — but he refuses. Desperate, Geum-ja stabs him with her hairpin blade. He apologizes before the guards execute him for failing the quota.

As the timer runs out, Gi-hun, alone and broken, blames himself for everything and tries to kill himself. The guards stop him — forcing him to face another round of this nightmare. For more K-Drama recaps, check out the link below.

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