In Season 3, 'Squid Game' hasn't changed much — and that's the problem

Eric Deggans

Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game Season 3.

After watching the third and supposedly final season of Netflix's surprise hit South Korean drama Squid Game, it's tough to remember why this show became such a genre-redefining hit when it first debuted in 2021.

That's not because the show has changed. To be sure, all the elements that powered its success back then are still in place now. Most importantly, it has retained a striking visual aesthetic — one that transforms a space where people in poverty are forced to play deadly children's games into a twisted vision of a playground-turned-nightmare.

And there's the bonkers concept — wealthy VIPs secretly bankrolling what amounts to the most deadly reality TV competition in the world for their own amusement.