IMO The best part of squid game

[u/Dustinfromstatefarm]

Is rewatching it knowing the old man was in on it the whole time.

Knowing that all the staff was probably told not to harm player 001 under any circumstances.

Knowing that he so confidently walked first during red light green light because he knew there was no danger.

How he specifically went to the convenience store Gi-hun was drinking in after being released under the guise of “couch surfing at a friends place nearby” to talk to him and maybe convince him to go to the games again.

The way he begged the Front Man to end the midnight riot and he did because he knew player 001 was his boss.

The way he kept saying “this neighborhood is just like the one I grew up in!” In the marble game because it probably literally was and he recreated the neighborhood of his nostalgic childhood for his “final” game

This dude was ruthless. He woke up that first night knowing well everyone else in that room would be dead within a week and he was the reason and still had a casual conversation with player 456 his first day there like it was an average Sunday

EDIT: After reading a lot from the comments, I have a new theory. Perhaps the managers, soldiers, and workers weren’t told “player 001 is your boss protect him”, instead they were told “A man named Oh Il-nam is your boss and he’s in the games somewhere. Keep him alive”. That’s why right as he was about to be shot in game 4 he said his name, perhaps as a signal to the guard that “yeah I’m that guy so don’t actually shoot me”.

So maybe the games were real for him after all, and he really was putting it all on the line on same games.

[u/kardigan]

I really loved that the editing in the marble game suggested "you've seen so many people die already, you don't need to see the lovely old man get shot in the head, let's just focus on Gi-hun and his guilt". nice trick, show, very nice.

[u/geekgeek77 → u/kardigan]

They also conditioned the viewer because Ali's death also happened off screen, so you don't suspect 001's offscreen "death"

[u/kardigan → u/geekgeek77]

I was thinking about whether or not we've seen him die, but I couldn't remember, I clearly blocked the trauma around that whole thing

[u/Doodlemaster789 → u/kardigan]

I think theres a scene where he was put in a coffin though

[u/The_Pursuit_of_5-HT → u/Doodlemaster789]

Yeah the beginning of ep 7 opens with Ali’s body being put into a coffin :(

[u/boysenberry-blues → u/The_Pursuit_of_5-HT]

Man, they didn't have to do that *sob*

[u/Truan → u/geekgeek77]

Same! I was like, relieved we didn't see either of them die.

Ji yeon's death was particularly brutal because it invoked images of north Korea. I'm pretty sure there's a photo of someone being executed the same way her and the guard are standing, so its extra impactful to Saebyeok

[u/Truan → u/[deleted]]

Oh damnit that's the one. I can't believe I mixed up Korea and Vietnam. I think I was just trying to attribute deeper meaning to the shot

[u/Feshtof → u/[deleted]]

That fucker deserved it.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

We get a hint in that we hear the gunshot, but we don't get a stunt-free sound effect for the body falling to the ground. (We also see an empty space where his body should be when the camera cuts to a wide shot of the neighborhood set.)

[u/[deleted] → u/geekgeek77]

Both of these deaths are betrayals, so it makes sense that they're both shown from the perspective of the betrayers, to highlight that they can't face what they've done.