This post contains spoilers for “Squid Game.”
“Squid Game” season 2 ends on an egregious cliffhanger. Just when we think Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) will succeed in overthrowing the game makers, we’re hit with a string of deaths that are bound to haunt him forever. Among them is his dear friend and former gambling buddy, Jung-bae/Player 390 (Lee Seo-hwan), but we also see the guards gun down several players who backed up Gi-hun’s decision to revolt. Gyeong-seok/Player 246 (Lee Jin-uk) is also shot by an unseen guard, even though he pleads for his sick daughter back home and begs to be spared. While this death seems definitive at face value, budding theories about the final season suggested that Player 246 is alive, as his body is not seen at any point by the end of the second season. Well, these theories are correct.
Given how “Squid Game” unabashedly lingers on violent deaths to drive the cruelty of the games home, it is odd that the camera shifts away from Player 246 the moment we hear the gunshot. The first episode of season 3 reveals that he was indeed shot, but the wound is deliberately non-fatal, and No-eul/Guard 011 asks him to play dead if he wants to survive. In case you don’t remember, Guard 011 is a North Korean defector who had to leave behind her child for reasons unexplained, and she is shown to display empathy for Player 246’s sick daughter even before he enters the games. Throughout season 2, 011 is at odds with the guards who run the side hustle of harvesting organs from barely-alive participants, which she seems to be vehemently against from a moral standpoint.
In the “Squid Game” season 3 opening scene, Guard 011 makes a dangerous gamble: she pretends to be on board with the organ harvesting scheme, as she knows that they’ll be operating on Player 246 (who is feigning unconsciousness, just like she asked him to). Just as they are about to operate on Player 246, Guard 011 kills everyone in the room except the doctor, who is forced at gunpoint to save Gyeong-seok’s life.
Why Guard 011 is determined to save Player 246
Guard’s 011’s single-minded determination to save Player 246 lies with her desire to keep his daughter alive, as she still experiences guilt about leaving her own daughter behind. Moreover, we had previously learned that she was promised that the games would offer folks a fair chance to rebuild their lives. Although No-eul has shown little hesitation in shooting people who lose the games, this apathy doesn’t extend to Player 246’s daughter, whom she wants to save no matter what. In order for that to happen, Player 246 must survive. To ensure that he does, she asks the doctor (who was involved in the organ harvesting scheme) to transfuse her own blood to save him from imminent blood loss.
While No-eul’s efforts to surreptitiously help Player 246 escape are valiant, her co-workers quickly figure out what’s wrong after revisiting the scene of the crime. Her motives are confusing to them, as they’re unable to gauge why a hardened sniper like her would care about a seemingly random contestant, going to great lengths to betray the trust of her allies. On the flipside, Player 246 has no idea who 011 is, or that they used to work together before entering the games, but he has no choice but to trust her and follow every direction she gives. When No-eul urges him to escape alone on the boat (which is pursued by masked guards right after) and reach his daughter before the guards do, he is visibly confused by her familiarity with his daughter, but immediately understands the urgency of the situation.
No-eul/Guard 011 has always been an anomaly. Back when she was introduced, it seemed as if she would emerge as an underdog who would disrupt the games from within. While she does end up doing this, her motivations are much more personal and one-track. She isn’t particularly concerned about the morality of forcing down-on-their-luck individuals into a death match. She is, however, driven by a fierce protective instinct to save an innocent life, and is ready to pay any price necessary — including her life.
“Squid Game” season 3 is currently streaming on Netflix.
