Squid Game: The Challenge Just Left Us on a Shocking and Heartbreaking Cliffhanger

Warning! Spoilers for Squid Game: The Challenge Episode 5 to follow! Squid Game: The Challenge has kicked off a surprising new reality game show competition for Netflix spinning off of one of the most popular new series in recent years. Squid Game took over the world when it first debuted on Netflix as fans not only fell in love with the death games as a concept, but also loved the juxtaposition with the childlike presentation of the games themselves. But underneath it all was an incredibly heartbreaking story, and Squid Game: The Challenge finds a way to be just as heartbreaking with its Episode 5 cliffhanger. 

The first five episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge have been released in a batch on Netflix, and by the end of the fifth episode you really know why it was done in this manner. The first five episodes introduce fans to how Squid Game: The Challenge adapts the games seen in the original Squid Game series, but also introduces a number of twists to the games and tests seen. It’s already proven that the game isn’t going to be exactly like Squid Game, but Episode 5 brings it all back down to Earth as contestants pair up to play marbles. 

Squid Game: The Challenge Episode 5 Explained

Episode 5 of Squid Game: The Challenge sees more alliances form as the contestants wait for the next full game. They’ve gone through a number of trials in which they’ve sent each other home, so the ones left have formed significant bonds. This gets to a point where a group is tasked with juicing enough oranges to win a special treat, and it was revealed that this treat was a picnic. Then asked to form into pairs to enjoy the picnic (with 69 contestants left at this point, there’s one left over), each player soon discovers that there’s a bag of marbles hidden in their picnic baskets. 

As fans remember about the original Squid Game series, this marble game ended up cutting the remaining players in half as the pairs played to become their respective survivors. This means that as the players enjoy their treat for just a little bit, they soon are heartbroken to find the game they have to play next. With each player breaking up into pairs with their friends, it’s heartbreaking. There’s a mother and son who find their marbles first, and it hits them the hardest. 

It’s the shocking kind of cliffhanger that really made the original Squid Game series hit as hard as it did, and now it’s just a matter of waiting to see if the marbles game in Squid Game: The Challenge is going to be just as big of a deal as it was in the original. What did you think of the cliffhanger in Episode 5? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!