Diksha Sundriyal
The final season of Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ brings another season of twists and turns, and heartbreaking betrayals that push the players to their limits. Everyone at the game has a reason to be there and risk their lives for billions of won, and while some of them are better than others, none of them is entirely free of the stain of blood and violence. That is, until a new player enters the game.
This surprise entry happens during the fourth game when Jun-hee (Player 222) gives birth to her baby, for whom she had participated in the games. Considering how the place is teeming with bloodthirsty people, one can’t imagine keeping a baby in a place like this. To make matters worse, she is assigned the tag of Player 222, which means she is free to be treated like any other player and is equally, if not more, prone to dying. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Baby Finds a Savior in Seong Gi-hun
Say what you will about Seong Gi-hun, but despite all his shortcomings, he is one of the few people who still manages to have a conscience by the end of the games. And it is this good-hearted nature that leads him to assume responsibility for Jun-hee’s baby. When the child is barely a day old, his mother dies after participating in the game of jump rope. With her gone, no one else has any intention or desire to look after the baby because they are all focused on winning.
They wouldn’t hurt a child in general, but when they discover that she, too, is a player, they are ready to kill her for it. Jang Geum-ja (Player 149) knew this would happen, which is why she asked Seong Gi-hun to look after the mother and the child, as they have no one else left to look out for them. At first, Gi-hun doesn’t pay any attention to the old woman’s words, but when she is found to be dead the next morning, he is pulled out of his depressive state and pushed into action as he realizes that all the good people in the game are dead.
This timing works incredibly for the baby because in the next game of jump rope, Gi-hun takes her to the other side and saves her. But Jun-hee is not able to make it, though she dies knowing that her child will be taken care of, as Gi-hun is the only one she can trust to do the right thing at this point. She doesn’t even trust Myung-gi (Player 333), even though he is the child’s father, because she knows what violence and deception he is capable of, and in the end, she is proven right for not trusting the father.
The Baby is the Sole Survivor in the End
While Jun-hee was pregnant when she entered the games, no one really thought about the possibility of her giving birth during the six days it would take to decide upon a winner. When the baby is born, no one thinks twice about her because they don’t think she has any bearing on the game. However, their expectations are subverted when the Front Man decides to keep the baby in the game, especially after her mother dies. This sends everyone into a frenzy because they believe that if they pull out of the game now, the baby will unfairly receive the billions of won that would otherwise have gone to them.
In the last game, when they are given the choice of killing any three people, they don’t have to think twice before deciding that the baby should be one of the three to die. They don’t care that the baby is innocent, but they worry that she will get all that money when she hasn’t played any games or taken any risks like they have. In Sky Squid Game, everyone (except Seong Gi-hun and Min-su) votes to have the baby thrown off the tower. They claim that they would be doing her a kindness because now that her mother is dead, who will take care of her?
Despite all their arguments for killing the baby, Gi-hun is steadfast in his decision to keep her safe and away from harm, no matter what it takes. In a way, the baby becomes the symbol of goodness and innocence, and the only person left worth saving. Fortunately for him, Myung-gi secretly works to keep the baby from harm, too. In the first round, he pushes Min-su to his death to take the attention away from the baby. In the second round, he keeps the others distracted enough to save the baby and Gi-hun and push another contestant off.
Seong Gi-hun’s Sacrifice Makes the Baby the Winner of Squid Game
Myung-gi’s plan was to get himself and the baby to the third round and pull the “lunchbox” guy, who had been beaten to a pulp by the others, to the third round and then throw him off the ledge to win the game. But then, the lunchbox guy jumped himself, and with no one else left to kill in the last round, Myung-gi decided to do the unthinkable. He thought that Gi-hun would try to win the last round by killing him. Having come so close to victory, Myung-gi couldn’t risk getting killed by Gi-hun, so he tries to force the guy to stay back in the second round, which means that Gi-hun will be killed by the guards.
This, however, also means that Myung-gi and the baby would be the only ones to go forward in the last round, and because Myung-gi doesn’t seem like the kind to sacrifice himself, Gi-hun realises that the man plans to kill the baby. This is shocking for him because he thought that Myung-gi would do anything to protect the baby. After all, he is the father. However, once he realises how selfish the man is, Gi-hun gives it his all to fight the man and protect the baby. The tussle leads to Myung-gi falling to his death, but it is useless because the buzzer to start the game was not pressed, which means that Gi-hun and the baby are the only ones left alive.
Had it been anyone else, the baby would have died. But Gi-hun’s intention was never to win the game. He wanted to dismantle the system, to stop the games altogether, but despite everything, he failed miserably. In the end, saving the baby is the only redeemable thing to do, so Gi-hun kills himself, leaving her as the only winner. He does this because he knows that, despite all of his corrupt practices, the Front Man will ensure that the winner gets the money, no matter who they are.
In the end, this is exactly what happens. The Front Man takes the baby before the whole place is destroyed. Six months later, he leaves the baby for Detective Hwang while also giving him the money that the baby won. This way, Gi-hun’s sacrifice is validated as the baby is safe, and being the sole survivor of the game and its winner, she now has billions of won, enough for her to spend her entire life in luxury, which is exactly what her mother wanted for her.
