Squid Game season 2’s twist with the masked guards addresses a season 1 mystery about the games. Much of the games’ inner workings are revealed in Squid Game season 1, including how players are recruited, why Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su) created the sadistic competitions, and establishing the games’ global reach through the presence of the VIPs. Squid Game season 1’s ending showed that despite Il-nam’s death, the games would continue, and be overseen by the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun).

One element of the games that was not as explored in season 1 was the masked guards and why they cooperate. The insight that was provided came via Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who was only pretending to be one of the guards in order to find his brother. One of Squid Game season 2’s new characters, Kang No-eul (Park Gyu-young), offers much-needed insight into what the life of the masked guards actually looks like, along with why they willingly cooperate.

Squid Game Season 2, Episode 2’s No-eul Twist Solves A Masked Men Mystery

The Guards Are Also Targeted For Their Desperation

One of Squid Game season 2’s biggest twists, occurring as early as the second episode, is that No-eul is not a prospective player, but one of the games’ masked guards. No-eul’s backstory suggests that the games’ leaders target desperate individuals to be guards, just as they target desperate individuals to be players. Squid Game‘s guards cooperate because, like the players, they are desperate and have nowhere else to turn, and the guards have the luxury of survival. While not all the guards may be as desperate as No-eul is, the Front Man’s backstory is a further indication of how the games target desperate individuals. Before working for the games and becoming the Front Man, Hwang In-ho was a police officer who became disgraced after it was discovered that he accepted a bribe to cover his sick wife’s medical costs. For desperate individuals like No-eul and In-ho, the money and power offered by working for the games is alluring.

Squid Game’s Leaders Targeting Other Desperate People Makes So Much Sense

It Ties Perfectly Into The Show’s Themes

The simple truth behind the guards’ cooperation is a perfect extension of Squid Game‘s themes. It continues the ruthless cycle of capitalism where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Members of the lower socioeconomic classes turn against each other while the corrupt and ultra-wealthy revel in furthering such a divide. Despite the power they think they wield, the guards are also victims of the games, as is the Front Man, who continues the destructive cycle instead of trying to break it.

Squid Game season 3 will be released in 2025.

Of course, the guards’ cooperation is also made easier through their illicit side business of selling players’ organs on the black market. Their willingness to do this goes beyond profit and ties into the desperation that motivates them to be as ruthless as some of Squid Game‘s players feel they have to be. If Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) successfully destroys the games in Squid Game season 3, it will be intriguing to see what this means for No-eul and the other guards.