Squid Game Season 3's Best New Game Finds A New Use For Those Creepy Robot Dolls

This post contains spoilers for "Squid Game."

Do you remember the large robot doll (named Young-hee) from the Red Light, Green Light challenge in "Squid Game?" Of course you do. This robot doll has been synonymous with the calculated cruelty of the games since season 1, representing the subversion of harmless childhood games into something wholly ominous. The Young-hee doll is, in fact, a wake-up call for every unwitting participant, as the gunshots which follow its roving eyes and singsong voice expose the true nature of the games for the first time. Season 2's iteration of the game also opens with Red Light, Green Light, resulting in the deaths of many despite Gi-hun's (Lee Jung-jae) desperate attempts to help everyone cross over safely.

You might also remember that the end credits for "Squid Game" season 2 hinted at a new game involving Young-hee, but this time, we also see a giant doll of a boy (named Cheol-su) dressed in a striped shirt and a hat. Players 100, 096, and 353 are seen approaching the robot dolls while a stoplight flashes from red to green before everything cuts to black. While the absolute shock of season 2's downer ending might've overshadowed the hints offered by this short teaser, season 3's best (and most dangerous) game finally shows us the big picture. Yep, I'm talking about the penultimate Jump Rope game, in which the Young-hee and Cheol-su dolls are seen facing each other while mechanically operating a massive, deadly jump rope on top of a narrow bridge.

Now, this kind of time-bound, rhythm-based jumping is challenging enough in itself, but "Squid Game" makes things worse by situating it on an elevated platform. The aim is to time your jumps while moving forward on the narrow bridge, which also has a huge gap halfway through. This echoes the nail-bitingly tense Tug of War from season 1, along with the ludicrous Hopscotch game where players had to intuitively jump on tempered glass to avoid falling to their deaths. Although the dolls don't use their creepy eyes to scan participants this time, the fear of missing a jump or simply being pushed/falling off the ledge is so visceral that such theatrics are no longer necessary to heighten the stakes.

A chunk of the participants we've been rooting for are already dead by the time the Jump Rope challenge is introduced. Player 120/Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) is unceremoniously stabbed in the previous game, and the mother-son duo of Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim) and Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun) die under tragic circumstances. Meanwhile, Jun-hee/Player 222 (Jo Yuri) safely gives birth to her child, but is left nursing a horribly fractured ankle right before the penultimate game. With the life of a newborn being jeopardized (as the game makers are insane enough to consider the baby as a participant), Gi-hun steps up and takes the responsibility of jumping across with the child. As Player 222 isn't strong enough to stand properly, Gi-hun promises to return for her and help her cross safely. However, it becomes clear pretty early on that such well-meaning empathy has no place in such a cruel world.

After Gi-hun gathers enough courage and jumps across with the child without incident, he tries to quickly usher the rest towards the finish line so that he can go back and help Player 222. This, obviously, presents a tricky situation, as some very unsavory participants resort to pushing folks off the ledge or goading them into missing a beat. The brash, misogynistic Nam-gyu/Player 124 is baited into a painful death by the timid Min-su/Player 125 (Lee David), who experiences a guilt-fueled hallucinatory trip (thanks to Thanos' crucifix drugs). Several players die either by accident or due to malice, such as when a participant who makes it across threatens to push anyone who dares cross over. The sheer anxiety of the massive jump rope swinging ominously between the dolls, and people helplessly falling to their deaths while the time keeps ticking, forms an unholy medley of chaos and horror.

While "Squid Game" has been underlining the themes of unchecked greed and opportunism since its first season, the Jump Rope game takes these impulses to extremes. There are times when these behaviors come off as cartoonishly evil, but perhaps that is how commonplace selfishness is, as people are constantly willing to hurt others to get ahead. Innocent folks like Jun-hee and Geum-ja are caught in the crossfire of such attitudes, while the system imparting "justice" (the game makers) pretends to be fair, but isn't. Gi-hun is the only ray of hope in such a situation: his empathy for others emerging as the most radical thing to exist in the history of the games. 

"Squid Game" is currently streaming on Netflix.