Dear Gossips,
Welcome to October. How is already October?!
Exactly four years ago this week, a new series was taking everyone by surprise – including Netflix, where the show was streaming. It was October 2021 when Squid Game became a global phenomenon two weeks after it was quietly released on the platform, the first Korean series to rise to #1 on Netflix’s US streaming charts. As we know, Squid Game would eventually go on to claim the title of Most Watched Series on Netflix, ever. With very little promotion.
Expectations are a lot different for Squid Game season two, due for release at Christmas. And unlike season one, there’s actually a marketing strategy in place. Sarah posted about the first trailer a couple of weeks ago which focused on Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, returning to the game, presumably seeking revenge, and setting up his conflict with the Front Man. But the Front Man is not the only mystery that Squid Game might address as creator Hwang Dong-hyuk continues to build out the Squid Game world. There’s also, of course, the Salesman, aka the Slapper, who recruits vulnerable people into the game. A new teaser for Squid Game season two just dropped yesterday, the focus here is on this character, and I may be biased but… it’s brilliant. This is a Get-Ready-With-Me style video starring Gong Yoo as the Salesman.
I love this because, yes, Gong Yoo is in the shower – thank you, trailer editors, for this gift – but also for the bigger ideas being explored here. Gong Yoo is preparing for his day: he enjoys coffee while admiring the view of the city; he puts on a well-tailored suit; he grabs his briefcase; and he heads out to work on the subway… like so many other businessmen in other big cities…
Only the kind of business he’s doing is sending 455 people to their eventual deaths by selling them a twisted promise. It might be a lot more obvious than the moral compromises that are made every day on Wall Street but the metaphor is there. Squid Game was always an indictment of unconstrained capitalism and while its execution on its theme may be clunky at times, what it gets right here with this teaser is that, well, the devil is always pretty the first time you meet him. And, well, it doesn’t get much finer than Gong Yoo, my GOD.
Those of you who only know Gong Yoo from the minute you saw him in Squid Game may not understand why some of us lose our goddamn minds whenever he shows up. So consider this a warning: if he is given more screen time in the second season, your world is about to be rocked. I did not have the benefit of caution several years ago when I first watched him in Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (aka Goblin) and back then my reaction to everyone’s thirst was all like, WTF is wrong with you people, how are you all so horny for this man? By the end of the first episode of that series I was ready to pack up all my sh-t, leave my life, move to Korea, and beg to be rescued. Remember this in December if you want to keep your sanity.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
