Spoilers follow for Squid Game seasons 2 and 3.

Squid Game season 3 marks the end of the most-watched Netflix TV Original. Hwang Dong-hyuk's incredibly successful survival drama has had us on tenterhooks since its first season debuted in September 2021. And, with its final season out now, viewers want to know how Gi-hun's story ends, and if Hwang and company have fittingly stuck the landing with its last hurrah.

At the time of publication, it's impossible to say if that's the case because critics couldn't watch Squid Game's last-ever episode ahead of time. However, I have seen the first five chapters of season 3, and they're as thrilling, incredibly moving, and at times predictable as its forebears' entries were.

Death and despair

Picking up immediately after season 2's heart-breaking finale, Squid Game 3 reunites us with an emotionally crushed Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) after his unsuccessful insurrection. His best friend Park Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan) was also executed by Front Man, aka Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), who infiltrated the competition's latest installment and posed as an ally of Gi-hun's before ultimately quashing the uprising. Numerous contestants who joined the rebellion lost their lives amid the failed revolt, too.

With three rounds left until a winner is crowned, though, the games must continue. That is, unless Detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) and his team of hired mercenaries can locate the secret island where the games are held and help Gi-hun put a stop to them once and for all.

Given last season's cliff-hanger ending and the narrative tissue that connects the pair, Squid Game 3 feels more like season 2 volume 2 rather than a standalone entry.

That's not an inherently bad thing, but six months have passed since last season originally aired. The passage of time has largely nullified the full effects of that season's gut-punch ending, so you'll want to rewatch season 2 episode 7 to redigest its true impact, reimmerse yourself in this world, and remind yourself of events concerning characters like Jun-ho and reluctant Squid Game soldier Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young). I didn't, and it took me an entire episode – i.e. the season 3 premiere – to reconnect with Squid Game's drama-fuelled story and eclectic cast of characters.

Once I was locked back in, Squid Game 3 found new ways to emotionally ruin me, through – yep, you guessed it, more character deaths. I'd argue the demise of certain individuals is far more impactful, too, because of the emotional investment I've put in them. After all, I've spent more time with this cast than contestants who featured in seasons 1 and 2.

Regardless, with its battle royale-like structure, the titular games demand death, so in this final season of one of the best Netflix shows' even darlings and love-to-hate characters have to die. The former's deaths are tear-jerking, while plenty of the latter get their deserved comeuppance in highly satisfying fashion. If it was ever in doubt, Squid Game season 3 is an emotional rollercoaster in every sense of the word.

As the series' protagonist, it's Gi-hun's story that understandably takes center stage, although it takes an episode to get going again. Hey, he's lost the will to live after his best friend's demise, and feels extremely guilty over the deaths of other contestants he convinced to join his uprising, so cut him some slack.

Once it kicks into gear, Gi-hun's season 3 arc becomes an introspection of the series' primary theme of humanity and the fight to retain your morality when events and people want to beat it out of you. I enjoyed – if that's the right word to describe it – Gi-hun's one-man quest to battle back from the brink; the formerly jovial yet determined protagonist succumbing to, and then railing against, the blind rage, shame, and darkness within. It's not until this season's midway point that the fire in his belly is reignited, too, so there's scope for Squid Game 3 to make Gi-hun's descent into madness an unsettling watch. And it does so with aplomb before he gets up off the proverbial canvas.

Game on

Gi-hun's inner turmoil isn't helped by the introduction of new games that initially prey on his guilt-fueled fury, one of which was teased in Squid Game season 3's first clip. Ever the humanitarian, though, that emotional turbulence is replaced by his one-man quest for redemption, which centers on a key detail in Squid Game 3's first trailer and becomes an unexpectedly crucial component of the games' final three rounds.

Whether it's Jump Rope – which features giant robot Young-hee, introduces her companion Chul-su, and literally heightens the sense of fear among contestants and viewers alike – or other new games I can't spoil, Squid Game 3 knows how to raise the stakes. Like its forebears, it does a superb job of slowly ratcheting up the nail-biting tension before delivering spine-chilling and heart-pounding moments aplenty. Add in some narrative curveballs during and between the games that further tighten the screw, and Squid Game 3 surprises and captivates in equal measure.

Squid Game season 3 isn't above reproach, mind you.

Indeed, it gives Front Man far less to do than season 2 did – a grave disappointment when he was such a compelling and complicated antagonist last time around. Season 3 belatedly and pleasingly addresses this oversight in its second half, but I was nonetheless frustrated by his absence for large swathes of the show's final chapter.

Jun-ho's perennial quest to rediscover the island where the games take place drifts aimlessly in an ocean of subplot mediocrity, too. Bogged down by extraneous story exposition and a narrative that goes around in circles, it would've been more effective as a side story with less screen time and some genuine forward momentum. It doesn't actually get exciting until episode 4.

Season 3 does right by one underutilized character, though, in No-eul. Outside of what we learned about her in season 2's first episode, the renegade soldier is given a proper arc in Squid Game's final season and, whisper it quietly, might be the real MVP (most valuable player) of season 3.

It's unclear what impact, if any, No-eul will have on the series' final episode.

However, season 3 episode 5 sets up an engrossing finale that'll see Squid Game's various storytelling threads intersect and, hopefully, give it the send-off it deserves. I just hope its runtime is considerable enough to sufficiently and effectively wrap up each plotline. Based on how this season's fifth chapter ends, it's still got a lot of legwork to complete before the credits roll for the last time.

My verdict

Based on five of its six episodes, Squid Game season 3 is as gripping and delightfully miserable as I expected.

The show's final round could've been braver and less formulaic with its storytelling choices, and its incessant plot exposition regularly grated on me. But, as a character study and exploration of man's inhumanity to his fellow man and other sociopolitical themes, it's hard to argue that finale notwithstanding, Squid Game 3 is a grandstand finish to an unmissable series that fully deserves its place in the pantheon of Netflix TV Originals.

Squid Game season 3 is out now in full on Netflix.