Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The long-awaited second season of Squid Game is a story of two high-risk returns. One is that of Seong Gi-hun, season one’s winner of an underground tournament of reimagined schoolyard games that rewarded the victor with a colossal cash prize and left unsuccessful contestants for dead. Now, haunted by the human cost of his earnings, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) resolves to re-enter the competition and take it down from the inside. The other is that of Hwang Dong-hyuk, creator of this irresistible, idiosyncratic Korean thriller which became a global phenomenon and the most watched show in Netflix history. Initially conceived as a standalone series, it was swiftly renewed for two more seasons. And so, like his hero, Hwang is back to do it all over again. But instead of a cadre of masked, gun-wielding guards scrutinising his every move, it’s millions of expectant fans.The first couple of episodes might leave some viewers wondering whether both character and creator should have let things be. Largely revolving around a terse and gaunt Gi-hun as he frantically searches for the contest’s Mephistopheles-like recruiter in Seoul, these chapters serve as an inauspiciously protracted prologue that feels like filler.But first impressions can be misleading, as the new crop of contestants discover on arrival at the colourful playground-cum-deathtrap where the tournament takes place. By the third episode, we’re reminded how and why Squid Game captivated the world; the drama is propulsive, the atmosphere febrile, the violence bracing. Most importantly, the inky-humoured satire about the value of human life in a compassionless, profit-driven society is as charged as ever.While the irony of watching an anti-capitalist parable bankrolled by a media juggernaut is hard to shake off, Hwang doesn’t let up in his exploration of what ordinary people might be compelled to do for money, and why. As before, the participants are debt-ridden or desperate. And when Gi-hun warns them about the lethal nature of these games, many initially seem more worried about being in the red than about the bloodshed.Where the first season raced from one sadistic game to another, here much of the tension derives not from brutal challenges, but from the politics that follow, as participants are given a chance to vote on whether to continue or quit and split the jackpot after each round. What ensues is psychological warfare and physical altercations along increasingly tribal lines. But for all the cruelty and self-interest embodied by characters such as the terrifically odious rap-star “Thanos” (Choi Seung-hyun), there are also moments of tenderness. Improbable alliances form between ex-Marines and an expectant mother; an outspoken septuagenarian and a no-nonsense transgender woman.As for the tournament itself, the inevitable loss of shock factor is largely offset by a couple of devilish new games, visceral action and slow-burning suspense. To say more would ruin the fun or dispel the atmosphere of queasy dread.Hwang keeps these disparate moods finely balanced throughout, knowing when to revel in lurid thrills and when to reveal more of the ideas underpinning it all. And while he doesn’t pull everything off — an abrupt finale leaves much unresolved — he succeeds in justifying the return of Squid Game and leaves us wanting still more.★★★★☆On Netflix now
