Squid Game Season 3 Episode 3 Recap: It’s Not Your Fault

Tense anticipation survives among the players in ‘Squid Game’s’ season 3 episode 3, titled ‘It’s Not Your Fault.’ In the aftermath of a gruesome game of hide-and-seek, only 25 players remain. For many, like Geum-ja and Jun-hee, their survival has come at the heavy cost of their loved ones’ sacrifices. Furthermore, a new soul has entered the grim players’ quarters in the form of Jun-hee’s newborn baby girl. Therefore, the prospect of another gruelling game remains bleaker than ever. Yet, the only possible silver lining for Gi-hun emerges from a place that he cannot see. Hwang and his search team get closer to uncovering the location of the deathly island. Nonetheless, a mole within the former Detective’s ranks might just demolish all his progress. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Jun-ho Gets Closer Than Ever in His Search For the Island

Initially, Jun-ho has a promising plan for finding the mysterious island that houses the Front Man, his guards, and the players. Before Gi-hun returns to the Game as a player, he fixes a tracker in his teeth to signal his location to his team. Nonetheless, the trick doesn’t fool the Game organizers, who simply get rid of the tracking device. As such, the former detective and his crew of hired mercenaries find themselves forced to look around the ocean to find the Island without a map. Worse yet, they have a secret traitor who consistently works to foil Jun-ho’s efforts. Park Yeong-Gil, the trusted ship Captain who rescued the former detective all those years ago, is actually working for In-ho, the Front Man.

Although the others fully trust the captain, Woo-seok remains suspicious of Park. As a result, he ends up returning to the mainland to do some sleuthing into the older man’s past. Consequently, after some asking around, he discovers that no one in the fish market recognizes Park, despite his claims of working in the area. Even so, Jun-ho needs more evidence to believe the other man. The former detective is inclined to trust the captain since he feels he owes his life to the latter. Furthermore, he and his crew find the exact island and the beach where he confronted In-ho three years ago. Therefore, Jun-ho believes he’s incredibly close to finding the cursed Game Island.

Geum-ja Makes a Decision About Her Future

After the fourth game, voting once again takes place among the players to decide whether or not they’ll continue with the Game. Early on, it becomes clear that even now, the money-pot isn’t enough to sate many people’s greed, as the majority gravitates toward staying for another round. As a result, Geum-ja, who has just had to kill her own son due to the horrible games, begs the others to put an end to the madness. At its core, her concern isn’t for her own life but rather Jun-hee and her newborn baby’s survival. The young woman has been a weak player from the start, but now, as she deals with post-partum and a fractured ankle, she’s weaker than ever. With even Hyun-ju dead, there are a few people left who will fight for her, and Geum-ja knows she isn’t strong enough to be one of those people.

Therefore, Geum-ja tries to sway the voting, even offering to part ways with her own winnings to satisfy the other players. Nonetheless, her pleas fall on deaf ears, and the majority of the players vote for another round. In the aftermath, the older woman can do little else but instill words of courage in the first-time mother. Still, she makes one last attempt to secure Jun-hee and her baby’s future. She goes to Gun-hi, who is still immobile in his grief and guilt. She shares her own grief with him as well as her faith in his morality. She insists that just like she can’t be solely blamed for Yong-sik’s death, he is also not the only one at fault for what happened to the insurgent players. With that, she begs Gi-hun one last time to look after the mother and her baby. The next morning, when the players wake, they find Geum-ja’s body hanging from her bunk. Since she had nothing left to live for, she had decided to leave the monstrous Gam, even at a dire cost.

Woo-seok Uncovers Captain Park’s Secret and No-eul’s Boss Discovers Hers

While Jun-ho continues searching for the Island, Woo-seok carries out a search of his own. His suspicions about Park remain strong, which compel him to track down the captain’s address and snoop around on the property. Although the latter’s house remains fairly ordinary, evidence eventually turns up. On his wall of photographs, Woo-seok spots one image of Park with the suit-and-tie wearing Recruiter. The loan shark recognizes the latter from his own unpleasant meeting with the man and instantly makes the right connections. Nonetheless, his safety is briefly threatened when the captain’s deadly dog comes to attack him in the house. Ultimately, he manages to save himself by killing the dog.

Additionally, Woo-seok finds further proof about Park’s connection to the Game as he uncovers a pink jumpsuit and loads of cash buried in his backyard. Yet, before he can alert Jun-ho about his findings, his luck runs out as a pair of police officers arrive to arrest him for breaking and entering. Meanwhile, back on the Island, No-eul’s Boss in the black jumpsuit makes discoveries of his own. The guard’s suspicious demands of letting herself and Guard 016 escape the island raise a major red flag for the commanding officer. Therefore, he has his men run investigations at the massacre in the organ harvesting operation room. As such, he discovers that No-eul is actually trying to smuggle one of the players, Gyeong-seok, out of the Game.

Nam-gyun Goes First in the Game of Jump Rope

The players are corralled to the fifth game as a new day begins. Jun-hee considers leaving her baby in the sleeping quarters, but quickly realizes she must take her along to ensure the two aren’t separated by any means. Naturally, Gi-hun, one of the only surviving players from their group, makes a point to look out for her and her kid. Yet, the duo can’t help but lose some of their hope once the game’s format is revealed. The players will participate in a giant Jump Rope game for the fifth level, while the VIPs watch from their special screening room. The arena has two platforms with one thin bridge between them. Two robotic kids rotate a long bar along the length of this bridge as the “jumping rope.”

The players must make their way across before the time runs out to win. This game poses an inherent complication for Jun-hee, who has a fractured ankle. However, the vicious VIPs decide to up the stakes for the mother. One of them seems to have drunkenly bet on Jun-hee as his champion. Therefore, another VIP suggests they force the baby to be counted as a player to incentivize the mother. That is, the baby must also make it across the bridge or die at the hands of the guards. Consequently, Gi-hun won’t be able to help the mother and her baby cross the bridge simultaneously. Meanwhile, the rest of the players remain frozen in their places since no one is willing to go first. However, eventually, Nam-gyu braves the bridge, but only after Min-su throws Thanos’ drug-carrying onto the narrow plank.

Gi-hun Takes Jun-hee’s Baby Across the Bridge

Nam-gyun ends up falling to his death as quickly as he had leaped after the cross necklace. As it turns out, Min-su had stolen the last pill out of the necklace before throwing it, leaving the other player out of his fix. Nonetheless, while Nam-gyun’s demise frightens the others, Gi-hun prepares to brave the bridge. He knows better than anyone that the only way out is through. Therefore, since he plans on returning for Jun-hee once he deposits the baby on the other side, he’s eager to finish his first trip quickly. As such, he uses Jun-hee’s jacket to create a swaddle and fastens the baby to his chest.

Once the baby is secure, Gi-hun makes his way to the bridge. With some rhythmic jumping and proper balance, the player is able to cross all the way to the other side. Afterward, others also attempt to complete the task, and another player, Number 096, joins Gi-hun. However, the former seems to have nefarious plans of his own. 096 pushes off the next player who arrives at the edge of the bridge after him. Each person who dies is worth more money in shares to the surviving players. Therefore, this player’s strategy remains to prevent anyone else from winning this task, increasing the pool by billions. Thus, as time runs out, survival becomes more and more impossible.