Although season 1 of “Squid Game” was a massive critical and ratings success, there was one element that rubbed viewers the wrong way: the VIPs. In the seventh episode, “VIPs,” a handful of (mostly American) rich guys visit the games to spectate. They’re rude, jaded, and their jokes were weird and bad. A lot of this felt intentional, like part of the writers’ commentary on how wealth can make you a worse person, but it still didn’t make for pleasant viewing.
That’s why a lot of fans were relieved when season 2 of “Squid Game” didn’t involve those VIPs, but it turns out they celebrated too fast. The VIPs didn’t appear simply because season 2 only covered the first few games of the competition; in season 1, they didn’t show up until the penultimate game, and that sure seems to be the case again as we head into season 3. In a recent promotional tweet for the third (and likely final) season, dropping on Netflix June 27, fans got another glimpse of the VIP room. The focus of the picture is on the Front Man, but one of the masked VIPs can be seen in the background.
Prepare for the final game. Here’s your first look at Squid Game Season 3 photos, premiering June 27. #NextOnNetflix pic.twitter.com/3j8yUaOccK
— Squid Game (@squidgame) January 30, 2025
It’s clear that whatever the penultimate event of this year’s “Squid Game” may be, those obnoxious VIPs will once again be around to provide their obnoxious commentary. Will they be the same VIPs from last time, or will we find out that the games are attended by a new group of evil rich people each time? And perhaps more importantly, will these VIPs be fleshed out more than they were in season 1? Season 2 made the bold choice of giving one of the pink guards her own nuanced storyline, one that really helped shine an extra light on how these games operate. Perhaps the final season of “Squid Game” will give the VIPs a similar treatment.
Why the VIPs in ‘Squid Game’ season 1 weren’t that bad
To be fair to the VIPs, I’ve long since believed that the backlash to them (especially from American viewers) was a bit over the top. Yes, the jokes they made were eye-roll-inducing most of the time, but that definitely felt intentional. As season 1’s Oh Il-nam (the old man, AKA Player 001) pointed out in the finale, being extremely wealthy turns you into someone with nothing interesting to talk about, and that sure seems to be the case with the VIPs. These guys have zero charisma and quite literally nothing of interest to say at any point, which in line with the show’s critique of the 1%. They’re so rich and powerful that they have no one in their lives to tell them that their jokes are bad, and because they have no real problems they’ve never needed to develop much of a personality. (As for whether the intentionality behind their grating behavior makes it any better? That’s up to you.)
The other big complaint about the VIPs is that most of them come across as bad actors, and their dialogue feels like it was written by people who aren’t that familiar with how Americans talk. One gets the sense that the show didn’t bother to make sure the American actors were good, because they assumed a non-American audience wouldn’t really know or care if their lines were inauthentic or poorly delivered.
But as former /Film writer Hoai-Tran Bui pointed out at the time, this treatment of the show’s American characters is pretty much exactly how American shows often treat its Asian characters. Korean fans of “Lost” had to put up with how the actor for Jin clearly wasn’t really Korean, just as Hispanic “Breaking Bad” fans had to make peace with how Gus Fring’s actor clearly wasn’t Chilean. The rest of the world has always had to put up with seeing themselves portrayed with inauthentic accents and inauthentic dialogue in American movies; with “Squid Game,” a lot of American viewers saw the reverse for the first time. It wasn’t the most flattering experience, sure, but it was still fun to see a show where the tables were turned.