REVIEW: ‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ Season 2 Episode 9 – “Red Light, Green Light”

Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episode 9, “Red Light, Green Light,” sees the final five suited up in their tuxes, ready to see who will walk away with the money. However, there are some twists in store, as well as a new take on one of Squid Game‘s most iconic challenges. 

Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episode 9 opens with the remaining players getting their well-earned dinner. Much like in the source material that inspires the reality show, an extravagant spread is laid out for them, allowing them to enjoy a moment of rest before attempting the final obstacle. Everything is set up extremely well, which ultimately becomes a huge problem for the moment. 

The last meal before the final is a pivotal scene in the original series. The extravagance of the setting creates a powerful juxtaposition with the nearly lifeless walking corpses the remaining contestants have been reduced to due to physical exertion and emotional trauma.

Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episode 9 emulates an impactful scene, but loses sight of its meaning.

In Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episode 9, people laugh, celebratory toasts are made, and the energy is one of genuine frivolity. It leaves one wondering why this game is designed as it is, beyond pure capitalist greed that reduces a work of social commentary into a staged “reality” show for mass consumption. 

Speaking of staged, before the dinner wraps up and the contestants move on to the final challenge, they are surprised by the reveal that there will be a game to eliminate one of them right then and there. But the game takes an unexpected turn as one of the contestants chooses to “fall on their sword,” so the others move on. 

Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episode 9 desperately presents this as a heartbreaking moment of courage and spontaneous self-sacrifice. The other contestants weep as they process the remarkable moment unfolding. Call me cold-hearted, but the whole scene just feels stupid. The character’s big speech about not wanting to eliminate anyone else and how it’s “just money” after all feels like such base drivel.

If they feel this way, why go to Squid Game at all? Did they honestly think they could get through without anyone else failing? Do they know how a competition works? If it’s just money to you, then why fight as hard as the “confessional” vid moments before indicated? The attempt to orchestrate emotional stakes for the final challenge leaves nothing but eye-rolls, even as it desperately searches for tears. 

An attempt at an emotional twist feels contrived rather than devastating.

While its desperate attempts at emotional build-up once more fall flat, Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episode 9 does come through, where the season has frequently succeeded, with the setup for its final challenge. The last hurdle is a twist on a series icon that is genuinely brilliant and elegantly simple. 

This setup is, unfortunately, ruined by what once again feels like a contrived bit of theatre. It’s possible that how the challenge plays out is just as it seems, but it’s much too convenient. While many will probably be happy with the chosen victor, the fact that they feel so clearly chosen badly hits for the series one final time, even as the curtain is drawn on its season.

Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episode 9 has a small ray of light that is vastly overshadowed by its many glaring flaws. Embracing all the worst elements of the show, the final lands with a thud, but promises that yet another season will be coming soon. Oh, boy.

Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 Episode 9 is streaming now on Netflix.

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