Squid Game Season 3’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Already Better Than Season 2

Squid Game experienced one of the bigger “sophomore slumps” when Season 2 was released at the end of 2024 – a disappointment that was only exacerbated by the fact that the fans had waited a grueling three years for the second season to arrive. The early announcement that the Korean Netflix series was getting Seasons 2 and 3 kept hope alive that the second season’s dip could be corrected, especially when it became clear that “Season 3” was really “Season 2.5,” and the second half of an unfinished story. That’s put extra pressure on Squid Game Season 3 to finish the series the right way – and, based on the early Rotten Tomatoes score, fans seem to think the plane is being landed in much smoother fashion.

Currently, Squid Game Season 3 holds an 89% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, with nearly 30 reviews submitted.

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According to the critics’ consensus, Squid Game Season 3 seems to have the awareness that Season 2 lacked. The show was always about the deeper theme of how capitalism has twisted human empathy and societal ethics; and yet, Squid Game’s success and popularity became a twisted curse. In Season 2, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk was left clearly wrestling with how to continue the story while acknowledging the sick irony of having an even bigger audience watching (and rooting for) the grisly games of death. Season 3 seems to find better footing on that front, as critics note that the new season finds a better way to both tell the traditional Squid Game story viewers want to see and still get meta about the double-edged nature of the show’s popularity. “…it’s in the latest depiction of the VIPs… where Squid Game reminds us that if we’re gaping at the series’ ghastliness rather than ingesting its critique, we’re part of the problem,” Vulture’s Roxana Hadadi writes in her review. She later adds that “It’s another sign of Squid Game’s curmudgeonly worldview that the series ultimately presents the VIPs, not Gi-hun, as surrogates for the viewer. One of these parties is on the wrong side of progress, Squid Game suggests, and it’s not the man willing to risk his life to save others.”

Are Fans Turning on Squid Game?

On the other side, Angie Han of THR says that there are no redeeming qualities left in this show: “Squid Game has never been a ‘nice’ show by any standard. Early on, however, its grimness was tempered by a deep empathy for the people trapped in this maze… Now, it’s gloom and doom all the way down.” She also states that “It brings me no pleasure to report that the third and thankfully last of Squid Game seasons only confirms that we, like Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), should’ve left that cursed island behind for good after his first victory.”

To Angie’s point, Squid Game Season 3 currently holds an ominous audience score of 45% with over 100 reactions submitted. That raises a serious question about whether Squid Game will ever be the kind of global phenomenon it once was, or just another one of those COVID trends we need to pack away for good (next to your sourdough starter kits).

Squid Game Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on Netflix.