Squid Game season 2 ending explained: what happens to Front Man?

Squid Game season 2 marks the return of Netflix's global phenomenon.

Season 1 winner, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), may have proven victorious, but now he wants revenge. Despite the 45.6 billion won prize, he instead decides to track down the people behind the game in a bid to take them down and end the games forever. The cliffhanger ending of season 1 saw Gi-hun about to board a flight, but when he spots the businessman who recruited him at the airport, he decides he can't leave. And this is where Squid Game season 2 returns. Here's a recap of everything that happened in Squid Game season 2 episode 7.

The final episode picks up at the moment Player 333 stabs Thanos in the throat during the fight between the X's and O's. He pulls the fork out and stabs him again, this time in the side of his neck. As Player 333 tries to crawl away, Thanos grabs at him. He struggles out of his grasp and locks himself in the bathroom, leaving Thanos to die. The players fight and there's blood all over the floor. Player 124 pulls the fork out of Thanos's neck and starts using it to stab the player he’s been fighting repeatedly.

Back in the main room, an announcement reveals the players who have been eliminated and the prize fund grows again. The players who survived the bathroom fight return and Thanos’s friend (Player 124) immediately claims the X’s started the fight. The X’s retaliate saying the O’s are responsible. There’s a clear divide and Player 100 demands a headcount to see where they stand in terms of the even vote.

On the boat that night, it’s pouring with rain and one of the men wakes up to throw up after a heavy night drinking. He notices there's a light on in the main cabin. As he goes to investigate, he finds the fisherman tampering with the drone, but he pretends that he wasn’t. As the man pursues the fisherman out onto the deck, the fisherman turns round and suddenly starts stabbing him before pushing him overboard. The boss’s partner comes out to find out what’s happening as he's heard noises, but the fisherman convinces him it’s nothing. He tells him to get some rest.

After Player 100 performs the head count, he notes that the O side has lost three players. On the X’s side, they've only lost two, meaning they can now win the vote. But, there’s still lights out and surviving night-time to contend with.

Meanwhile, one of the guards confirms to the officer that the delivery team just left and the goods are all good. When asked about Guard 011, the guard replies that he has her under control. The officer heads into the control room and triggers an announcement. For the guards, it says a special game will start momentarily. It calls for all managers, soldiers, and workers to make their way to their designated locations.

Gi-hun warns that when the lights go out, the O’s are going to come for them. Front Man (Player 001) says they have to attack first. Gi-hun says that they can’t. That doing so is giving the people who built the game exactly what they want. He says they’re upstairs and instead, they should focus on getting to them. Gi-hun says he wants access to Front Man. He suggests they take the guns from the guards when they come in to break up the fight and use them to kill them. Front Man (Player 001) says they’ll be outnumbered, but Gi-hun says there only other plan is to stay and fight throughout the night against the X’s. He says this ambush will make sure the games end forever. His plan - wait for the fight to begin and take the opening when it comes.

Meanwhile, Thanos’s friend (Player 124) has taken his necklace and swallows two of his pills. Then, he gets out his fork ready for lights out. Jun-lee (Player 222) comes up to Player 333 and tells him to hide when the lights go out. As the lights go out, the officer watches the cameras as heat sensors show three members of the O's creeping through the dark. Gi-hun tells his team to hide under their beds. Immediately the O’s creep over and start attacking the X’s. The attacks are violent and players are dying across the dark room. Gi-hun says they have to wait under their beds until the fighting is over. Front Man (Player 001) says that what Gi-hun is saying is that if they sacrifice a few, it's for the good of the rest. If they let the other X's become outnumbered, the whole team that they've assembled can take on the higher ups.

Gi-hun says the fight won’t last long as Front Man will need enough bodies to play the next game. Thanos’s friend (Player 124) begins to fight with the girl they had on their team before. The young guy (Player 125), the one who betrayed her, is watching from above. He throws down a glass bottle to her feet so that she can defend herself, but he still stabs her repeatedly to death. The young guy covers his ears and hides.

The guards are called in to stop the fighting and the lights come back on. Gi-hun says when this happens, the guards will firstly break up fights and then start scanning the bodies. As they do this part, that’s their moment to act as they play dead and launch at them. They take their guns and start shooting the guards to death. The officer orders the guards to retreat and to seal the entrance, but one guard gets left behind.

One of the X’s threatens to shoot the O’s with the guns they've now got, but Gi-hun stops him. They shoot the cameras out in the main room and the officer triggers all troops to assemble. Gi-hun’s team gather up all the weapons and ammo they can find. He tells them they need to head up the staircase to capture the people who run the place and end it all. The remaining players don’t want to join, but Gi-hun’s friend makes a plea. Some of the players start to join their side, but not a lot. Front Man (Player 001) says to Gi-hun, “After this is over, buy me a drink?”

Player 120, the ex-soldier, begins to teach the players how to use the guns. Gi-hun asks the remaining guard to unmask - the man underneath is only young. They order him to take them to the guys who run the place. As they ascend the stairwell, more guards appear and start to open fire. Player 120 moves forward and begins taking them down. They manage to survive and move further up the stairs, shooting out the cameras as they go.

Further up, more guards appear. The guard with them leads them to the route they need to get to the control room. He hands Gi-hun his mask to clear security. He catches eyes with Front Man (Player 001) and recognises him, but before he can say anything, he’s shot in the head. There’s more gun fights between the guards and the players, but while they're distracted Gi-hun grabs the mask and heads to the control room with his friend.

As Gi-hun and his friend head further up, even more guards appear to stop them coming up the stairs. All the players are running out of ammo, but Gi-hun discovers the guards are carrying extra in their pockets. They radio Front Man (Player 001) to bring the team up the stairwell, but they need to grab the ammo off the guard’s bodies. The young Marine (Player 388), offers to hunt for ammo back in the main room and he heads off. Front Man (Player 001) reaches Gi-hun and says he thinks he can find a way round the back to get to the control room.

As the young Marine finally gets the ammo, he goes to return to his team but then he hears the gunshots upstairs and panics. He drops his radio that Player 120 is trying to contact him on and goes back into the main room, not returning the ammo to the players upstairs. Player 120 says she’ll head back down to find out what’s happened. As promised, Front Man (Player 001) finds a way to get round the guards with two of the other players. He signals Gi-hun and his friend on the radio to start shooting so that they can take them out the guards from behind. As the two teammates stand in front of Front Man (Player 001), he shoots them both in the back.

Squid Game season 2 ending explained

Gi-hun asks what's happening on Player 001's side. He replies that he’s sorry, it’s over. They got us. Instead, he plays his dying teammates gurgling noises over the radio and fires a shot, pretending all three of them have been killed. As Gi-hun yells in pain for the loss of his friend, Front Man (Player 001) changes the signal on his radio and orders the guards to wrap things up.

Meanwhile, Player 120 returns to the main room looking for the Marine and the ammo. He finds the Marine sitting on a bed in the corner with his head in his hands, pleading that he's sorry. She grabs the ammo to run back to the team, but more guards turn up in the room with guns before she can leave. The remaining men in the stairwell are outnumbered and out of ammo. One is the father from the amusement park there for his daughter. They decide to surrender, but they’re all shot.

Gi-hun and his friend also surrender on the stairs and Front Man, now back with his mask on, comes to meet them on the stairwell. He says, “Player 456, did you have fun playing the hero?” As he holds a gun to Gi-hun's head, he says he’s now going to witness the consequences of his little game and Front Man shoots Gi-hun’s friend dead. Gi-hun screams and the guards hold him down, forcing him to look at his friend's lifeless body. The board announces, Player 390 eliminated.