#Don’t Hate The Player, Hate The Game

Sang-woo enters the games with a mercenary attitude: He’s determined to win, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes. But though “Squid Game” builds Sang-woo up as a villain through irredeemable acts (stealing Ali’s marbles, and murdering a defenseless Sae-byeok), his motivations are more complex than simple self-interest.

Gi-hun is delighted to see a familiar face when he arrives at the games, but Sang-woo — who didn’t expect any of the other players to be people from his “real life” — acts cold and distant in response. And as the games go on, Gi-hun’s persistence in telling all the other players about Sang-woo’s accomplishments and his revered status in their hometown only serve to harden Sang-woo’s resolve. Because ultimately he is playing the game not for himself, but for his mother.

When Sang-woo returns to the outside world in the aftermath of “Red Light, Green Light,” he observes his mother from a distance but doesn’t approach her. Not only is his mother financially tangled up in his current crisis, since he used her store as collateral, she also derives both social status and personal comfort from being the mother of the town’s great success story: Cho Sang-woo, who studied at Seoul National University and is now an important businessman. Sang-woo believes that he cannot face his mother and tell her the truth without greatly hurting her, and that the only way he can fix things is by being the only player to leave the games alive.

The key to Sang-woo’s ruthlessness is also the key to his surrender. When he is defeated and left bleeding on the ground in the final game, Sang-woo is given one last chance to walk away from the games with no prize except for his life. Instead, he chooses to kill himself and let Gi-hun win — and before he dies, his final words are about his mother. He can no longer win the game, which (in his mind) means that he can never return to his mother without shattering the image of the son that she is so proud of. He’s worse off now than when he started: guilty not only of financial mismanagement, but of murder. Having gambled and lost what little he had left, Sang-woo chooses death.