The Ultimate 'Squid Game: The Challenge' Finale Breakdown
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Over three stressful weeks and countless children's games, Netflix successfully created one of the most popular reality competition series of the year: Squid Game: The Challenge. The competition show offered a chance for people to win an $4.56 million by playing the games from the dystopian South Korean drama of the same name. Looking back, Netflix kept the sets, games, and feel of Squid Game pretty faithful. You know, except for removing the murdering. But as the series cut down from 456 people to just three hopeful contestants, the world tuned in with bated breath.
In past episodes, contestants threw marbles, cut a little cookie out of a tin, walked across a glass bridge, and even played human Battleship. But how would Squid Game: The Challenge decide the winner in the end? Murder was, as we explained, pretty much the heart of the original series... and I don't think we're about to enter a new kind of Netflix programming.
Sharing a fancy dinner in the finale, the three remaining contestants wear tuxedos (they look like casino pit bosses!) and prepare for whatever this crazy competition threw at them next. The last players standing? Navy strategist Mai (Player 287), scuba instructor Phill (Player 451), and Florida artist Sam (Player 016).
In another game of random chance, the three remaining finalists have to select one of three shapes: circle, square, or triangle—all with different consequences. Mai goes first and chooses triangle, saying that she wants to be in control of her own destiny in this game. Nothing happens. Safe. Sam then elects to go next and he chooses square. And... just like that... he's eliminated. "To have everything that I've worked for just ripped away by chance is just more than I can take," Sam says, tears falling down his face. That means Phill moves on without having to choose a shape, even if he "feels kind of like a coward."
As the finale sets up for the final game, it's time to find out just how this primetime event will end. Will it be another competition based on pure luck, or one with a bit more skill involved? Arriving to the Squid Game court, Mai and Phill are presented with a safe, with a voice informing them that this is the end of the road. The game that will decide their fate is... rock, paper, scissors. "You're joking," Phill says with a flabbergasted smile. Mai, meanwhile, is silently overjoyed. "This is my childhood game," she exclaims via voiceover.
Still, it's a bit more complicated than one, two, three, shoot! If you win a round, you select a key from a box. If the key opens the safe, you win. If not, you play again. Lucky for Mai, she really thought this one out. "Playing with an adult male, they tend to draw towards rock or scissors because it symbolizes the power within them," she says. True to her word, Phill goes with rock and Mai selects paper. Sadly, her key doesn't open the safe. A few more rounds go by. Eventually, the safe opens for Mai—making her the winner of Squid Game: The Challenge. A little gold credit card sits inside, symbolizing the rights to the $4.56-million prize.
"Today just validates that everything is possible," Mai says. "Even when you feel down and afraid, you just have to pick yourself up, be a strong person, and focus. Whatever your fear is, fight it with everything you got, and you can accomplish anything. I proved it tonight." Great job, Mai.
The series then shows audiences a short "Where Are They Now?" segment. It's nice to see that everyone's favorites are still alive and happy—even if they pretended like not winning the cash prize actually meant certain death. Trey (Player 301) and his mother LeAnn (Player 302) enjoy some ping-pong, Sam paints a picture of a bear, TJ (Player 182) teaches children's basketball, Rick (Player 232) takes care of his bees, Phill scubas, and Mai goes to a fake bodega to confirm on an ATM that her balance is $4.56 million. At the end of the day, I guess Squid Game is pretty nice when you get to go home at the end of it all.
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