Squid Game Season 3 Episode 2 Recap: The Starry Night

In the second episode of ‘Squid Game‘ season 3, titled ‘The Starry Night,’ a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek kicks off between the contestants, which ends up having irreversible consequences for everyone involved. The events serve as a direct follow-up to the previous episode, in which we see Gi-Hun struggling to cope with the losses of his friends during the failed rebellion at the end of season 2. However, after learning that Kang Dae-Ho was responsible for not getting the magazines to the front line in time, the protagonist sets his sights on the man, blaming him for the tremendous losses. Meanwhile, No-Eul, guard number 011, stages a secretive plan of her own to rescue Player 246, Park Gyeong-Seok, even going so far as to kill her fellow colleagues in the operating room to save the contestant’s life. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Reds and Blues Initiate Their Deadly Game of Tag

Episode 2 kicks off with Park Gyeong-Seok seemingly regaining his consciousness after being saved by the doctor. Once the blood transfusion is complete, No-Eul kills the doctor, tying up any and all loose ends within the operating room. Meanwhile, in another part of the complex, the red team enters the starry maze as the hide-and-seek game gets into motion, with both teams having to complete their objective in half an hour. Myung-gi and Nam-Gyu team up together in a concerted bid to find a target from the blue team, an arrangement they believe will yield quicker results. However, the former is somewhat concerned when he sees Nam-Gyu take another pill from his cross necklace, the one he picked up from Thanos’ corpse after Myung-gi killed him in the bathroom.

Inside the maze, members of the blue team try to find an escape route as quickly as possible before the reds pinpoint their location. Dae-Ho, in particular, tries to steer clear of Gi-Hu, who is clearly out for his blood. The shaman, Seon-Nyeo, a member of the blue team, leads her followers through tricky parts of the maze, claiming that her powers to speak with dead souls allow her to find the right choice. In the meantime, Jeong-Dae, the businessman with severe debt issues, finds a partner from the blue team who helps him unlock a door within the maze. It turns out that some doors correspond to only some types of key shapes, such as square, circle, and triangle. To that end, Hyun-Ju, Geum-Ja, and Jun-Hee work together as a unit as they realize they possess all three different key shapes, allowing them to navigate the entire maze.

Myung-Gi and Nam-Gyu Form an Unlikely But Effective Alliance

After roaming around for a while, Gi-Hun runs into someone he believes looks like Dae-Ho, chasing him down through the maze’s halls. However, upon cornering his target next to a dead end, he realizes that the man is not Dae-Ho but someone who looks like him. As he lets the lookalike go, he realizes that the real Dae-Ho is a floor below him. Meanwhile, Nam-Gyu and Myung-Gi chase down someone from the blue team, cornering him in one of the rooms. After a brief scuffle, the pair weaken their prey. However, before one of them pulls the trigger, Myung-Gi stops the plan, stating that they must both stab the man together to ensure that neither one of them passes the round before the other. As such, the kill is gruesomely shared between them both, meaning they still have to kill another person to successfully complete their objectives.

A member from the red team alight upon Hyun-Ju, Geum-Ja, and Jun-Hee’s location, especially after the latter injures her foot on the stairs. Sensing no other option, Hyun-Ju engages the man in fierce combat, taking him out with his knife before helping Jun-Hee back to her feet. Elsewhere, Jeong-Dae turns on his partner to save his own skin when a tagger finds them both. After the deed is done, Jeong-Dae steals the key from his partner’s corpse. At the same time, Nam-Gyu and Myung-Gi find their second target, slaughtering him as a duo to complete their objectives for the round. However, despite passing the game, Myung-Gi starts searching for Jun-Hee, determined to uphold his promise to her from the last episode. This plan gets somewhat subverted as Nam-Gyu suggests killing any blue teamers they see, as it will increase their prize pool.

Seon-Nyeo Manipulates Her Way Out of Some Sticky Situations

Dae-Ho’s nightmarish time inside the maze worsens as he is chased by a random red teamer who slices his Achilles tendon. Following a chaotic scuffle, Dae-Ho manages to survive by dropping his attacker down a flight of stairs. Subsequently, he picks up the knife from the corpse, finding a weapon to defend himself, albeit now carrying a debilitating injury to his leg. Hyun-Ju, Geum-Ja, and Jun-Hee find an empty room to hide where the trio can finally nurse the ankle injury the latter sustained during her fall down the stairs. During the exchange, Jun-Hee’s water breaks, leading to an emergency birthing setup orchestrated by Geum-Ja and Hyun-Ju. In a different part of the maze, Geum-Ja’s son, Yong-Sik, fails to kill a helpless blue member, almost losing his life in the process before another red-teamer steps in and kills the man, saving his life.

While navigating the labyrinth using her “powers,” Seon-Nyeo takes a wrong turn, one that costs her followers their lives while she escapes. She runs into Dae-Ho in the hallway before picking herself up and stumbling right into Gi-Hun’s lap. To save her life, Seon-Nyeo tells him that she ran into Dae-Ho right outside, effectively leading him to his prey. Gi-Hun begins following the trail of blood left behind by Dae-Ho’s injured leg, now certain that it will take him to his target sooner rather than later. In the meantime, Seon-Nyeo tries to keep a low profile until she gets spooked by an encounter with Min-Su. As she hides in another room, she discovers the secret exit door inside, one that will lead her out of danger. However, to unlock it, she needs all three types of keys to be inserted in their lock simultaneously, complicating matters.

Cho Hyun-Ju Pays a Costly Price For Her Heroic Selflessness

Jeong-Dae’s life is put at risk after he sees Nam-Gyu and Myung-Gi head towards his hallway. With no obvious way out, he uses the blood of a nearby blue-teamer corpse to disguise himself as a dead body, which works out in his favor. Moments later, he runs into Seon-Nyeo, who partners with him because he possesses the keys needed to unlock the exit door. Elsewhere, Jun-Hee gives birth to her baby, a seminal moment that is cherished by both Hyun-Ju and Geum-Ja. However, this moment is cut short when a red teamer finds them huddled in the room. Once more, Hyun-Ju does her utmost to defend Geum-Ja and Jun-Hee, depicting immense bravery and combat prowess to kill the man. Their fight takes Hyun-Ju into the adjoining room, where she discovers another exit door.

Although Hyun-Ju has the option to escape with her own life, she decides against it and heads back to spill the news to Geum-Ja and Jun-Hee. Tragically, she is killed at the doorstep by none other than Myung-Gi, who has been killing any blue teamer he sees as a way to increase the prize pool. After realizing that Jun-Hee is inside the room with their baby in her arms, it dawns on Myung-Gi that he has made a grave mistake. He closes the door before leaving with Nam-Gyu. As Geum-Ja and Jun-Hee mourn Hyun-Ju’s loss, they have no choice but to find the exit door together with the three sets of keys. We also witness two more notable incidents in other parts of the maze – Gi-Hun finally locating Dae-Ho at the bottom of some stairs and Jeong-Dae betraying Seon-Nyeo by escaping through the exit and leaving her locked behind.

A Confrontation Between Mother and Son Leaves a Sad End to the Round

As Gi-Hun and Dae-ho confront one another, the latter reveals that he lied about being a marine and how he lost courage during the rebellion. He also turns the blame of all the slaughtered individuals during the rebellion on Gi-Hun’s shoulders. The two engage in a messy hand-to-hand fight with no clear winners or losers. Meanwhile, a drug-addled Min-Su stabs Seon-Nyeo to death, believing that he is killing Nam-Gyu in the process. However, the visions soon turn to a dying Se-Mi lying in Seon-Nyeo’s position, exacerbating Min-Su’s feelings of negativity. Jun-Hee and Geum-Ja find the exit door and start placing the keys in their respective locks to escape. However, a hitch appears in their plans when Yong-Sik finds them in the room. Desperate to kill someone to save himself, he sets his sights on Jun-Hee. This prompts his mother to step in, urging him to kill her instead to save himself.

When Yong-Sik refuses to take his own mother’s life, Jun-Hee and her baby’s life is put under threat as the man corners them both. Realizing that she is at a crossroads moment, Geum-Ja makes the tough choice of killing her own son by stabbing him with the hair-pin weapon she keeps concealed in her bun. As Yong-Sik drops to his knees, dying, his mother embraces him, distraught at her own actions. Elsewhere, Gi-Hun tracks down a fleeing Dae-Ho next to the same dead-end hallway they were in earlier. This time, the protagonist places his hands around his neck and chokes him to death, haunted by the feeling that he is at fault for the rebellion’s deaths. Once Dae-Ho is dead, Gi-Hun passes the round moments before the clock runs out. Meanwhile, an anguished Geum-Ja clutches Yong-Sik’s body as the game’s guards enter the maze and shoot him for not completing his goals.