Recap Korean Drama "Squid Game season 1" Episode 5

Jun 16, 2022

Episode 5 of Squid Game wastes absolutely no time picking up right where we left off from before. Team 4 step forward, catching the group off-balance and leaving Gi-Hun dangling precariously off the edge. The move works and Team 5 find themselves slipping, Team 4 come out as victors.

While the dysfunctional group head back to their dormitory, the workers continue to deceive the Front Man and the others in charge. After marking one of the caskets with a bloody cross last time out, the body is dropped before hitting the incinerator. This drops to a secret chamber where the body is seen to by two defected workers – numbers 28 and 29. Now, given Joon-Ho has taken over Number 29’s room, he’s thrust into this role.

Back in the dorm, Gi-Hun’s group set up a barricade not willing to take any chances given the attack before. They’re not going to see another massacre, and Gi-Hun even has some choice words for Deok-Soo too. He warns him against getting complacent, pointing out that the thugs he’s with aren’t exactly trustworthy. As they say, there’s no honour among thieves.

Now, Player 111, our doctor, has a deal with the corrupt workers in the games. With the CCTV footage deleted, he’s being used to help the corrupt workers ferry organs out of these dead bodies and onto a boat bound for the mainland. In exchange, the Doctor is told what the next games will be and given a distinct advantage. It’s a win/win situation – if they can remain undetected, that is.

The organs are bagged and handed over to staff members Number 28 and Number 29. Now, 29 is actually Joon-Ho in disguise of course, and he does a relatively good job blending in.

In their absence, 111 starts to lose his trust in the remaining guards, especially when they refuse to disclose details about the next game. He charges out the room and makes his way through the winding hallways to thee familiar playground, ascending through numerous doors and clearly being spotted on a whole number of different cameras.

Up above ground, the Front Man arrives and shoots the unmasked worker dead as 111 watches on in shock. Their arrangement has come to an abrupt end and it spells bad news for 111 too. The Doctor is shot dead too, reminded that these games are supposed to be fair.

Meanwhile, down in the basement Joon-Ho’s identity is revealed to staff member 28. Joon-Ho believes these men are responsible for what happened to his brother but 28 remains adamant that they’re not. However, he does reveal the location of a list with all the different people operated on, including a girl whom he and his buddies each took turns raping before taking her organs. Disgusted, Joon-Ho shoots the man in the head.

It doesn’t take long for the Front Man to realize Joon-Ho is not one of them and alarm bells wail overhead as a search gets underway. With precious little time remaining, Joon-ho sneaks into the record room and digs through the files. Labelled as Squid Archives, he begins sifting through each player’s files and finds their medical records and details about their life.

Hiding inside one of the drawers is a familiar black box with pink ribbon. This holds a list of all the winners, dating back all the way to 1990! Anyway, one player immediately catches his attention – Player 132, Hwang In-Ho. Checking the 2015 file, he realizes that this rings true and his brother was very much a part of these games.

The Episode Review

As we reach the halfway point of these games, everything is just starting to heat up now. The Front Man is brought in for clean-up duties, with those corrupt or trying to cheat the game brought to justice. 111’s role in all this has now been terminated, along with everyone else within the organ-ferrying too. It’s clear that all of this was done to show that these later games will be on a level-playing field, ramping up the high-stakes tension for the final 3 chapters.

Poor Player 1 though, his inclusion in all this has been a bright spot on an otherwise dark and stormy rain-cloud, threatening to wash away any happiness in this series. When he is inevitably killed, it’s going to be a pretty devastating moment. Then again, it could go the way of Cube where (spoilers of course) the most unlikely candidate wins at the end.

Either way, Squid Game has been a fascinating watch and the ending leaves the door wide open for where the rest of the series will go from here.