Why Sang-woo Is More Evil Than You Think in Squid Game

[@sun-youngsunnykim8794]

A footnote about Sangwoo's mother... Korean parents tend to "worship" their academically brilliant children, especially if they themselves don't have a lot of education and high income jobs. What gave Sangwoo a strong sense of entitlement is partially his parents and partially the Korean society in general that worships academic achievements. Of course, his mother loves bragging about her son. Of course, she loves receiving gifts from her successful son. Children's successes are important for the parents' self-esteem because they live vicariously through them. Her selfless sacrifice is not totally selfless because, as much as parents want their children to succeed for their own quality of life, they also want them to succeed to bring the parents glory and pride. That's a part of my Korean culture. By the way, I just have to disagree with you on one small point; when she seems cross after Gihun pays her for the fish (when in fact the fish costs more than what he gave her), she's not being cross for real. It's a subtle part of my culture that non-Koreans would not understand. According to my culture, she thinks of Gihun as her own son. Her looking cross is a cute retort at a non-biological son's pride. She didn't expect him to pay her; that's why she is thinking with a motherly affection, "You proudly think you have a lot of money by paying me, knowing that I'm not expecting you to pay... well guess what, rich boy? That actually doesn't cover the cost." That's scene is about her motherly affection.

[@thejither]

That's a great "footnote" and disagreement. The worshipping of academically successful children by parents isn't exclusive to Korea - it's just as common in Scandinavia, even if the difference between rich and poor is less pronounced here. And I had a hard time reading Sangwoo's mother's reaction to Gihun's payment while watching it - wasn't sure whether to read it like you describe it (which is also not an uncommon reaction here), or like American Ben reads it - American Ben's interpretation actually made me decide on that reading of the situation, but your correction settles it, I think. Thanks! 🙂

[@ghostofrhys]

I also read Sangwoo's mother's reaction to Gihun paying her as affectionate (I'm Chinese)

[@thejither]

To be fair, the translation of what she says into English doesn't help. There are two different translations, with two very different connotations: "Prick! That was 12,000 won." or "That's worth 12,000 won, you rascal." "Rascal" may be used in an affectionate way. Pretty sure "prick" can't.

[@sun-youngsunnykim8794]

@@thejither Oh yes, that translation is misleading indeed! I didn't read the subtitles!

[@8915032]

영어도 지성도 끝내주시네요! 부럽습니다.

[@ankita1333]

I love this perspective on Sang-Woo's entire character. When the biggest losses and debts he had were because of him investing in "futures", why wouldn't he be doing the exact game thing in the game that to him, is identical to the market and outside world? Ali was also just a "future" for him that actually paid off

[@Rakerong]

True that. Great way to look at Sang-Woo and his motivations.

[@libelinhaa2079]

The best I have heard. All of this reasons are what make him one of the most realistic characters because you wouldn't remain that naive through all of that death like the other character. Also he would have realized early on that only one player would be able to win the game, probably when they realized that it was allowed to kill outside the games. He was always trying to be one step ahead so he would have noticed the clues in the walls at some point

[@sophieamandaleiton-toomey8469]

I mean we were warned in the beginning of the show that Sang Woo was not a good person.

[@FootyShorts510]

that’s not the same futures u are thinking of. Futures contracts work differently. Its not necessarily betting on ones futures, its about buying a security in the future at whatever price.

[@CliniK-DS]

@@sophieamandaleiton-toomey8469 sang woo is a saint, loved the guy

[@alexandragabitto2573]

Sang-Woo: “Let’s create a team that will be able to handle all problems sent our way.” Also Sang-Woo: *attempts to pick members with identical skill sets*

[@AlternateSnake]

when it came down to the games all they really needed were strong people mentally and physically, for many games that was more than enough in their perspective.

[@mliss6383]

My long take: Sang-Woo’s last shreds of goodness were eroded over the course of the games. We learn early that he is someone who is willing to use others to fix his mistakes, as seen by his business failings and using his mom’s assets as collateral. His whole identity revolves around his legend as The Business Student at SNU, to the point where even his generosity also quietly serves to feed that self-image of being superior to his peers. Sang-Woo intrigued me when he advocated to vote to end the games after the first round, but still voted to keep playing. He struck me as someone who had humanity (spotting bus fare and buying noodles for Ali, inviting him to call him “hyung”, etc) but was still in the grips of his ego and ambition. Out in the world, suicide seemed like the only way he could escape his debt collectors, police, and the shame of not living up to his own hype-until he was invited to return to The Game. Buying into the idea that he must do whatever it takes to win and save face, Sang-Woo chipped away at that humanity, sacrificing more and more for the prize until his moral compass became so skewed it was less trouble to cast it aside than to fix it. [cont...]

[@mliss6383]

(Part 2) Round 2: After guiding Gi-Hun through Red Light Green Light, he figures out the dalgona game and wants to tell Gi-Hun his suspicions, but ultimately keeps silent, leaving his friend to fend for himself. He is chagrined and apologizes, and I think Gi-Hun picks up on the shadiness in that beat before telling Sang-Woo everything is ok. Round 3: Tug of War showcases his tactical mind. Indeed, Sang-Woo’s idea to trip up his opponents does help his team win the day. But Pre-game, it becomes clear he doesn’t want to bother with anyone who he thinks won’t help him win. Keep in mind he would rather be two players short than agree to recruit a husband-and-wife pair, just because it involves adding a woman to the team. By this time he has also chastised multiple members of his group for not getting on his level: Sae-byeok for picking a girl for the team, Gi-Hun for telling stories instead of strategizing, etc.

[@mliss6383]

(Part 3) Round 4: Marbles. At this point I don’t think Sang-Woo was thinking of his friendship with Gi-Hun at all when he picked Ali as a partner. I also don’t think Sang-Woo foresaw the game. Ali has demonstrated himself to be solid, strong, dependable, and agreeable in Tug of War; given their close “brotherly” connection, Sang-Woo can trust in Ali’s goodness and loyalty to help him get ahead. But with the twist, his ally becomes an obstacle-not even an adversary. When Ali laments having to play against his friend, Sang Woo asks if he would rather they both forfeit and die, or Ali sacrifice himself for Sang-Woo. At no point does it occur to Sang-Woo that he himself might not advance; and because he thinks his victory is inevitable, he shows Ali how to play marbles almost out of pity.

[@mliss6383]

(Part 4) That’s where Sang-Woo truly lost me for good, and I knew the game would end with him manipulating Ali into an early grave. Everything that came afterward just reaffirmed my suspicions: his confusion and anger upon realizing he was losing to an amateur when he felt entitled to win; the fact that he tried to manipulate Ali emotionally by insinuating Ali owed him for the bus fare, food, and game tips; the fact he tried to make Ali feel guilty for winning and therefore condemning Sang-Woo to death; begging for Ali to forfeit by bringing up vulnerable family members. The rest of that game is Sang-Woo psychologically attacking Ali, looking for a weakness he can exploit, until he finds something he can use: Ali’s trust and aversion to hurting someone he cares about. So we see Sang-Woo fabricate some wild tale of how they can both advance, convincing Ali to scope the “competition” and keep his bag of “marbles” safe around his neck. Anything to keep Ali from being able to hold the bag and realize Sang Woo switched it for a sack of rocks. Sure, he played the game, he won the round. But in the process he exploited another person in order to get ahead, sacrificing their future for his gain... just like he did on the outside. A necessary evil in the pursuit for the prize, in his mind. And he all but gets away with it. Ali’s execution slips under the radar as an unfortunate consequence of The Game. Although Gi-Hun’s actions in Marbles were also underhanded, he at least felt terrible about it and the survivor’s guilt shook him to the core. Sang-Woo just distanced himself from it, skulking away with his ill-gotten gains, as Ali fell silent upon finding his Hyung’s knife in his back with a bullet soon to follow. I wonder how Gi-Hun would have felt if he had known how Ali had lost to Sang-Woo.

[@mliss6383]

(Part 5) By Glass Bridge, Sang-Woo forsakes his humanity completely. He has too much blood on his hands to turn back now-if he doesn’t win, he will have sold his soul to the golden piggybank for nothing. So rather than contend with his broken moral compass, he embraces his new dark morality and commits to it. When Gi-Hun takes him to task for pushing the glassmaker to his death after letting him lead Sang-Woo, Gi-Hun, and Sae-byeok to the last glass tile, Sang-Woo cynically (though not incorrectly) claims that the glassmaker was untrustworthy for hiding his expertise and only looking out for himself. Sang-Woo also claimed he owed his current success in The Game to no one else but himself, conveniently ignoring the part where he hid behind human shields, prodded Sae-byeok for intelligence prior to the Dalgona round, had a whole team in tug of war, used Ali as a tool for his benefit; and literally stepped over the corpses of 13 other people who died blazing his trail to the end of The Glass Bridge. Gi-Hun now forces Sang-Woo to confront how far gone he is, but rather than swallow that bitter pill, he tries to rationalize his actions and lashes out at Gi-Hun for preaching on his high horse even as he benefits from the difficult choices and dirty tactics Sang-Woo used to get this far.

[@mliss6383]

(Part 6) Sang-Woo’s path to darkness hits a new milestone after the Finalists Dinner. Seeing he has lost a friend in Gi-Hun, he notes a new alliance forming between Gi-Hun and Sae-byeok. Upon realizing that they could end the game if they both outvoted him, he moves to murder the already mortally wounded Sae-byeok to prevent her from having a say in how The Game should end. He has come too far, his hands too stained in blood, to let someone else force him to walk away with nothing. Although Sang-Woo tries to frame this as a mercy killing, he stops pontificating when he sees Gi-Hun cannot be gaslit or manipulated into seeing Sang-Woo’s truth. Old hometown friends become ideological opposites and enemies for the Squid Game. After taking a massive beatdown, a broken Sang-Woo realizes that whether he won or lost, no amount of money could wipe the blood off his hands, end the shame, restore his honor, or rebuild his image and reputation. In his final moments he longs for a simpler time where none of that mattered, and before ending his life he asks Gi-Hun to do what he couldn’t.

[@technocore1591]

Sang-Woo understood the only rule that mattered in this game: Play to win. What made me interested in Sang-Woo was that he had no way to win but played the hardest anyway. I mean the cops were already on to him. If he won and walked out with the money he was still going to jail. So what drove him? I think he knew his life was over and he was just playing because he understood the game and how to play because of all the reasons you pointed out. The real life game screwed him over, Squid Game was a second chance to play and win, not for the reward but just for the win.

[@fizzychizzy]

THIS. He was going to get arrested by the police, regardless. That is why his actions toward the end of the show are so damning. He fought because he wanted to live. He fought because he wanted the money. He never thought to do what Gi-Hun and Sae-byeok did at the end which is promise to work with each other to share the money or even promise to take care of the others family because there was enough money to do so. With Ali, you know that Ali would agree to do it during the marbles game. Ali had a kid to go back to and parents. What was Sang-Woo fighting to come back to outside of the game other than the vanity of his name? Ask the people on your team towards the end to cover the collateral for your mom's house and store and end it there. He just didn't want his name to get dragged through the mud as the embezzler that he was.

[@miss_ramz8364]

That makes it even worse, if he knew that his life would suck anyway, why kill 2 people on purpose

[@technocore1591]

@@miss_ramz8364 Exactly, It does make it worse. I feel like he lost at life, he wanted a win. Any kind of win.

[@tinyrick4969]

@@miss_ramz8364 for his mother who he had staked on her properties smh

[@TheAngryMarshmallow]

Oh, WOW. YEAH this tbh. This is a great perspective

[@nicole-ls4jb]

Yes, "entitled"! That's the word for Sang-Woo. Like after the glass bridge, he claimed that he's the one who got himself across. Like all those people in front of him didn't find all the weak glass. Classic "Born on third base and think you hit a home-run" mentality.

[@GenerationOchi]

Ooh great example

[@bruhhh8326]

It’s nice you are taking one game for his whole character

[@nicole-ls4jb]

@@bruhhh8326 Um, I'm not. I'm showing one example of how I see him as entitled, adding on to other examples cited in the video.

[@phxander]

He did get them across though. If he let the glass expert take his time or just waited to push him a couple seconds later it’s likely that Gi-Hun and Sae-byeok don’t have enough time to make it across

[@dingleberry4234]

How is that entitlement though? He just claimed credit, isn’t entitlement believing that you deserve privileges

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

Sang Woo is what you call a desperate character. He's not afraid to get his hands bloody.

[@sisiphonqwane2500]

And I lived for it

[@saranalen2741]

He was definitely one of mt favorite character, very interesting and complex.

[@gummy5862]

I never really thought of him as “evil” per se unless you wanna count the part where he was gonna let his team die in the honeycomb game. In my opinion, that part was an oversight by the writers because a smart man like Seong Woo would surely recognize the strength in having people on his side for at least the first part of the game.

[@Rakerong]

@@gummy5862 I think Sang-Woo knew his chances were better if he soloed the game and joined strong teams whenever it was necessary, and Gi-Hun literally brought the 'worst' people on - an old man and an immigrant who never played any games, and was getting super attached to them. The honeycomb game wasn't really him being evil. It was more like he didn't care enough about Il-Nam and Ali, and while he was torn about helping Gi-Hun, he settled on letting him eliminate himself rather than have to go through the game with that emotional connection. He probably expected Gi-Hun to stay out of the games, and it's kind of like, damn, he's in here and I have to come to terms that I need to get rid of him sooner or later.

[@Shrektopuz]

@@gummy5862 He might not have known the next few games were gonna be team games, considering the fact that their first game was red light green light.

[@na3rial]

The subtitle for Sangwoo's line is slightly mistranslated. It says "That's true, but probability-wise, men are better at most games," when he really says "probability-wise there are more games that favor men." He means strength or physique related games, which is objectively true to benefit men, unless we're considering specialized athletes, which is not the case in the Squid Games. Though Korean business culture is indeed very sexist, he doesn't embody those ideas. I would say more of the inherent sexism comes from 001, who chose the games based on his favorite childhood games, disregarding how it affects fairness when it comes to gender, which is in turn incredibly ironic considering how high and mighty the Front Man was about maintaining fairness. It's unintentionally sexist and never gets resolved even when it's clear it's sexist, which is the problem with modern sexism.

[@LauM]

I'd argue that even though Sang-woo is hiding behind the "rationale" that statistics would favor a team of men, he's still kind of sexist, it's just that he likes to justify his sexism with hard data, as a lot of people do ("it's just reality!"). I agree with you that Ilnam displays a lot of sexism when deciding which games are going to be played, although I didn't consider that before. It really makes sense, especially due to his age.

[@BambiLena666]

To be honest, the ''fairness'' is a very dubious concept in the games, even tho they go on and on about it, but never really define it and at the end of the day things kind of come down to being ''fun to watch''. Inviting Ali could be considered pretty racist because Ali is a foreginer and doesnt know the language that well, giving him a disadvantage. Tho i think 001 enjoys the idea of participants not remembering the games of his childhood, kind of a back in my day kind of thing. But then the glass bridge game really brings this home. Turning off the lights because a man had experience with glass and could tell the difference so it wasnt fun or ''fair''. But then the gang dudes having experience in murder wasnt considered unfair for murder night. Nor were the gym bros considered at an advantage for tug of war. or 001 supposedly competing in tug of war. that being said I agree with yuri comment, I think that ''decision'' was definitely meant to show Sangwoos sexism that usually gets covered by ''objective facts'', if for no other reason then because he both gets instantly punished for it and proven wrong. He rejects the married couple cause no girls allowed, and ends up with 2 girls on the team, if he had accepted them, he would have one man and one woman, which wouldve been more preferable to him. And then in tug of war, a game that ''favors men'', they win with an old man and 3 women on the team against a team of predominantly adult men.

[@Palepetal]

@@LauM Yeah, Sang-woo and many of the other male players justify that these games will likely be games testing physical strength. But it was the old man Il-nam who came up with the strategy that won the tug-of-war game. Without the wisdom of this "frail old man", they would have likely lost.

[@kittykatt7652]

@@LauM All of the men were sexist. Gi-hun didn't choose women either and he was pretty aggressive toward his wife and Sae-Byeok.

[@LauM]

@@kittykatt7652 of course they were. Usually all people are sexist in some way or another because that's how the system is.

[@NeonIceyy]

Gonna be honest, if this show wasn't about Gi-Hun and his journey of perspective in finding faith in humanity again. This show easily could've gone a dark route with Sang-Woo as the protagonist who'd actually win the entire event by sacrificing everything in his way. Then approaching an even worse path than before, now that he knows he won a game against 455 other people.. Obviously he has to meet a bad ending probably, but the overall run could be interesting. (Maybe I'm just a little too crazy though) Anyways, very insightful take here. I think Sang-Woo was easily the most interesting character in the show and maybe even my favourite to watch.

[@JulesTheChaos]

I agree. From a human standpoint I didn't want him to win. But in my opinion it would have been the best ending to this series. The sad and realistic truth that the one who is the most calculating and willing to sacrifice others is the one to win this capitalistic game of life and death. Would have given the series an even higher meaning.

[@hopy51]

@@JulesTheChaos Gi-Hun beat him fair and square in the last game though. You can get away with dirty tricks for some time, but in some situations (like in Squid game) you need other skills, and then you still might fail. I prefer to see this as a meaning to the series. It would have been very sad if Sangwoo got away of this game alive after everything he did.

[@JulesTheChaos]

@@hopy51 yes it would have been sad if he got away with it. I said the same in my comment. Thats why i think it would have been the perfect ending. It would represent the bitter truth of reality and how capitalism works

[@hopy51]

@@JulesTheChaos What I'm saying is that we already seen the sad truth, as he got to the final despite not deserving it. (and I definitely didn't want to see him there) Him winning the game would be a step too far. You can't get away with such tricks forever. At the end he still got outplayed.

[@SisterTheohild]

@@hopy51 He was not outplayed tho. He took his own life.

[@remygallardo7364]

Watching this has actually made me decide on my favorite moment of character development for Sang-woo. The moment when Gi-hun is beating on the door desperately trying to get help for Sae-byeok and Sang-woo quietly goes and kills the defenseless contestant. This objectively is the one moment where he made a judgment call that betrays his goals of success. He could have, and arguably should have, instead snuck up on the clearly hysterical and distracted Gi-hun and killed him. But he doesn't. He goes for the easy target. He doesn't go for the target which would guarantee his victory. Obviously thematically and for the story it works better for Sang-woo to fight off against our protagonist and a showdown between him and a fatally injured Sae-byeok would fall flat and be a complete buzzkill but this moment you can see in Sang-woo's eyes he doesn't understand it either. From the outside we see him delivering a mercy to her, ending her suffering. From his stare in confusion however we see he is unsettled by what he just did. He's in shock and doesn't shake out of it until Gi-hun threatens to kill him, but even then he reacts slowly and seems just as confused when the guard disables Gi-hun to protect the possibility of a final game. He's not in the game in this moment. This is where he is beginning to realize that there's something at his core that doesn't agree with what he's doing. The part of him that eventually wins out when disabled by Gi-hun in the titular Squid Game.

[@IIIISai]

very interesting perspective

[@oneonlys]

was not expecting to see an informed media opinion online but this is a breath of fresh air and i love it

[@theiconicera]

beautifully described

[@GuranPurin]

As someone who doesn't even like Sang-woo and is a woman, I think it's disingenuous to suggest that the man hates women. He is correct in his assessment that most games favor men and we know that he's doing whatever he can do to win the game. The fact that he wants a team comprised of men when he's already disadvantaged with Ali (missing fingers) and Il-nam (an elderly man) is completely logical and reasonable. In a life or death situation, I'd do the exact same thing. Because my likelihood to survive increases considerably in a game that requires strength if I recruit more men. That's not the same thing as sexism. Had he been sexist, he would have told Gi-hun to ditch Sae-byeok ages ago. Likewise, he would have killed Sae-byeok whether she was a man or a woman. At that point, she was at death's door anyway. I don't think her gender had anything to do with why he chose to kill her there. He did it because she couldn't defend herself. A man likely wouldn't have been able to defend himself either in that condition.

[@Fearlessly91]

The only game that favored men was tug of war. 1 game out of 6.

[@GuranPurin]

@@Fearlessly91 He said "most games favor men" as a general statement. That is a fact. He had no idea which games would be chosen. It was always in his best interest to try to have more men on his side because any given game was statistically more likely to favor men.

[@mariavi33]

@@GuranPurin Yes, but as Gi-Hun said, some games do favor women. They had Sae-byeok, but because she didn't grow up in South Korea, she wasn't very familiar with most of the games, so having one woman who grew up in South Korea on the team does have more potential benefits than risks.

[@mrbme]

​@@mariavi33 just check the tug of war announcement scene ..as soon as they said make a team of 10 each sang woo predicts it could be a physical game. He has gone with that instinct in selecting people. When our hero character says there are games which women also can play then for it he replies men can also play those games. So he is no where sexist in it. He was logical. Firstly his mind straight away said to him that it could be a physical game. Since they already had woman, a old man and ali he was searching for more men.

[@pyrokatarina]

Yeah I thought the narrator was too reaching with his claims. He was not being sexist, he was doing his best logically to advance his interests

[@sophieamandaleiton-toomey8469]

It's interesting that the games helped Gi Hun grow more selfless and kind as a person... And made Sang Woo more selfish and ruthless, growing more and more away from his humanity.

[@bruhhh8326]

If you think cheating and letting a old guy die is kind then ok

[@sophieamandaleiton-toomey8469]

@@bruhhh8326 Not referring to that part. But even that part is significant for Gi Hun's character development because of how deeply it affects him. In episode 1 that would have been impossible and Gi Hun would have used every trick in the book to win, but in the game because of how much he's grown, it's agonizing to him and eats him alive. And the lessons he learns from that game teach him how to be more kind and compassionate toward others since he failed to do so during that game.

[@bruhhh8326]

@@sophieamandaleiton-toomey8469 but he still did it sooo

[@sophieamandaleiton-toomey8469]

@@bruhhh8326 Yeah and I explained my reasoning as to how it contributed to his growth soooo.

[@bruhhh8326]

@@sophieamandaleiton-toomey8469 but it doesn’t matter he still I did it

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

If Gi-Hun didn't have plot armor, then Cho Sang-Woo would've won.

[@Zeblu]

I honestly think it would have been kang sae byeok ,being stabbed by the glass was utter bs

[@coachleif]

sorta the brilliance of Gi-hun tho, because every winner probably needed that suit of armor on some level

[@Sunset553]

Plot armor - I like that. I haven’t heard it before.

[@tehbucketmaster]

sae byeok wouldve won because she is good with blades but then she got sniped by one in the glass bridge 😔

[@ramenomirice2767]

@@Zeblu long and short they won't let a women win the game as it is unrelated to audience and tha last game was squid game between two men they didn't want to add her in those scene

[@song7529]

speaking from the games point of view, he had the most potential to move on if not for the mc (, he had some THICK plot armor yo). He was not scared to lose his friends, either by his or another’s hand and sabotage people. He was also a tall man at a pretty prime age. Though quite tragic, he really is a diabolical man.

[@shellysharma6274]

The only Evil in this show is the Rich people, Everyone else is just a survivor like us viewers would've been if we were in their situation.

[@sweetluvgurl]

I think a lot of people hate on Sang Woo, but the reality is if they were in the same situation, they would probably do anything to survive. The characters who were moral and selfless probably wouldn’t really happen for real.

[@Sunset553]

I see real life like the Game where a small group sets people like me against each other. We get caught up in the conflict, and forget to perceive the overall situation. If we kept the whole situation in mind we would be angry at an entirely different group of people.

[@Rakerong]

@@sweetluvgurl People who hate Sang-Woo most certainly would do what he did because they are hypocrites. It's because they don't want to believe they can do something so terrible, but they never know until they are forced to deal with it. The truly honorable people who wouldn't would die, and it's as simple as that. It's the same as the people who judged and vilified the survivors of the plane crash in the Andes mountain where they had to resort to cannibalism in order to not starve to death. They didn't have to go through the ordeal.

[@tehbucketmaster]

ikr why are more people hating on sangwoo than 101

[@k.d3983]

@@Rakerong No, most people would have been killed in the first round. Y'all love to keep saying that people would be like sang woo when in reality your average joe would have been panicking, done group thinking and follow the herd. Remember the first round and the glass bridge scenes? Their reactions were very realistic, but y'all don't say anything about them. People who defend sangwoo and say what y'all say are either like him or want to be like him in the game. People like Sang-woo are realistic-if you are *already* or at least *open* to using people as a stepping stone to get ahead in life while willing to lose your morals to gain what you want. Did you really forget that Sangwoo represents the crony wall street guy that a lot of people do not like (especially if you are strongly against capitalism)? If you truly understood the point of squid games, then you would not want to be like sangwoo.Edit: the people who still defend sangwoo makes me wonder if they’ll defend crony businessmen in general.

[@BlockStah]

So you're telling me that VPN's could save thousands of lives? Now this is a scary way of sponsoring something lmao.

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

Gi-Hun didn't realize that Cho Sang-Woo was trying to get him killed until the last game.

[@byunghwara]

That simply means that Gihun is naive.

[@bellam7546]

No he knew. He had a flashback after the honeycomb game and realized he couldn't trust Sang-woo

[@matthewtolentino5141]

Not really during the honeycomb he was trying to get rid of the old man

[@tjampman]

At around 30 mins you say he "KNOWS" they are going back, but that is simply not correct, you even bring it up at another point, that he is about to take his own life in the bathroom scene where he burning charcoal to induce carbon monoxide poising. When he gives Ali the money for bus fare, it is because he have resigned himself to his fate, there is no investment at least not for the physical world.

[@mhuzzell]

I agree, I think that was just him being an actual human to Ali. Maybe just because he was suicidal and felt he had nothing left to lose, but still. I also don't think he was consciously going into the marbles game thinking he'd sacrifice Ali, at least not during the partner-choosing period. I think he was just the only one who seems to have considered that the partners might be pitted against each other, and chose Ali over Gi-hun specifically in case of that outcome, because he was hedging his bets: if the partners worked together, Ali was a trusted ally and had proved useful to him so far; but if the partners were rivals, he'd rather sacrifice Ali than Gi-hun.

[@bringinthedope5929]

interesting point. did you enjoy the video and his analysis of characters overall? or are there more issues?

[@Allison_Hart]

i think the show was making a point about the type of parent that sees their child as more of a "symbol of accomplishment/status" rather than as an actual human being. "my son the doctor," "my daughter the lawyer," these parents have turned their child into an archetype. a "trophy child" if there is such a thing. Sang-Woo was "the graduate of SNU," which was how other people thought of him, rather than thinking of him as an actual person. but it wasn't just his mom, it was everybody that knew him. and this happens to a LOT of high-achieving people - they become "the Harvard graduate," "the guy who went to Yale," and they never got the chance to form much of an identity or even agency outside of that. in some cases that person won't shut up about where they graduated or how great their job is...but in other cases it's clear the person is not happy. and you get the sense they never felt in control of their own destiny. nobody ever thought to stop and ask them what THEY want. they never thought to stop and ask themselves what they want. what makes them happy. they are instead just a vehicle or vessel for endless "accomplishment." if you think of a guy as "the graduate of SNU" and nothing else, a perfect machine of a man, driven only by the demand to succeed...well then...you see what happens...

[@shellysharma6274]

I feel like Most people would've done something evil to survive like Sangwoo. He wouldn't have done such a terrible thing in a usual setting but it's the circumstances in the game that led him to choose his own life over Ali like many would. I loved Ali with all my heart but Sangwoo isn't the villain people think he is.

[@bubbleteaviolet3394]

*Yesn’t*

[@TheNwr1]

I could understand him tricking Ali like that. Deceitful and underhanded but purely for survival. But why did he need to kill Sae-Beok? She was already injured, and wasn’t too much of a threat. Just seems unnecessarily cruel and pointless.

[@kiera_klark8171]

@@TheNwr1 yeah when I first saw that it reminded me of earlier on when the people with guns (I don’t remember what they’re called) wouldn’t kill the woman who didn’t have a partner like it was considered beneath even them to kill the “weak link”. I thought this might be meant to demonstrate how sang-woo had finally become a truly horrible person (I think he got progressively worse) - like the last straw - because instead of taking the opportunity while the main guys back was turned to kill him (which still isn’t great), he instead chose to pick on the weakest link that would have died anyway, perhaps emphasising how much he wanted to feel superior and in control

[@k.d3983]

no. Sangwoo became more greedy and corrupted. it became less about surviving just for the sake of surviving and more about getting the money. It's been very obvious after episode 6 that all he cares about getting the money. Even other characters around him like the married man was breaking down because the game kept getting more inhumane. If anything, more people would have been like the extras who have done bad things.

[@amandah661]

Honeybee Honeybee you’re not wrong, but isn’t every person in there to get the money? Not just Sang woo? No one went back there to make friends. When the married man wanted to end the games no one agreed

[@naturalbby1722]

I don’t think Sang-woo is as “fiercely sexist” as he came across I think it’s the fact that he suspected Deok-Su knew something about the game from getting help from the doctor which he made clear after the game (Tug-of-War) therefore he probably decided to follow in Deok-Su’s ways and also get a group of strong men

[@vocalsunleashed]

I despised him from the moment he put his "friends" lives in danger at the second game

[@AlternateSnake]

he literally made a desperate call. I don't think he wanted anyone to pick umbrella but he also wanted them to keep a low profile. definitely weirdly written character though

[@Amechaniaa]

Somehow I never noticed Ali's missing fingers

[@Flowerdustx]

me neither. my friends told me about it and I was like huh what

[@Zer0TheProdigy]

@@Flowerdustx It was never showed until the tug of war scene but it’s likely it came from his job like what happened to his boss in the beginning.

[@Bunny-mt3zc]

@@Zer0TheProdigy I'm sorry, I know this comment is kinda old, but it's actually shown and directly mentioned in the second episode too when Ali is confronting his boss about the money he owes him.

[@Zer0TheProdigy]

@@Bunny-mt3zc Yeah I realized a bit after I wrote the comment, but thanks still, you are totally right

[@xanderfoley6641]

Sang woo initially picked Ali to play with because they were friends. No bad motives until he starts to loose

[@Rakerong]

I feel it was more because Ali was the perfect choice for any scenario. If they team up, he has brains and brawn on his team. If it was head to head, then he knows Ali is not good at games so he wouldn't have an advantage over Sang-Woo. Ali was just super lucky he was winning every time. But Sang-Woo also knew Ali was naive and would trust him. Once pleading didn't work, he had no choice but to trick him.

[@braveminefly2006]

@@Rakerong im pretty sure Sang-woo also picked Ali bcs Ali was strong physicly

[@Rakerong]

@@braveminefly2006 Right, Sang-woo was the brains and Ali was the brawn.

[@Tommykey07]

@@Rakerong cue The Pet Shop Boys!

[@moi45able]

nope Sangwoo picked Ali because he is physically strong so he cah help sangwoo win

[@highsol222]

I'm so glad the final match was essentially good vs evil, even though best girl was done dirty.

[@matthewtolentino5141]

It’s not good vs evil both of them were good sang woo did what he had to do!

[@matthewtolentino5141]

Plus if sang woo was a true villain why else would he sacrifice himself to gi hun

[@atkim122]

Sang Woo - all brains; no heart. Gi Hun - Big heart; little brain. That's how I conceptualize these two. Evil vs. Good sound oversimplified. Sang Woo is a "ruthless pragmatist." Despite everything unflattering you can accuse him of, one thing he'll never be guilty of is being irrational. He's coldly calculating. Every move is a chess move. He's not a villain to me because villains enjoy the suffering/chaos they create. The harm SW causes is collateral damage. He doesn't go out of his way to cause harm but will do so if he thinks the ends justify the means (putting his mom in financial risk; sacrificing Ali). Gi Hun, to his credit and detriment, is an overly emotionally-driven person. His emotions simultaneously give him the kind of empathy that initially cracked Sae-Byeok's armor (her character growth partly triggered by his reaching out to her and further strengthened by JiYeong), but all the bone-headed decisions he makes as well. He doesn't come out of the games as a wiser man. Still emotionally-driven, he ends the show waging a presumed one-man war against the power establishment that built the Squid Games (with no allies and no game plan for how to take them down). Had someone like Sang Woo intended to bring the organization down, he wouldn't have shown all his cards by openly declaring war - he would've quietly plotted how to destroy them from the inside by slowly gaining the Front Man's trust, giving him deeper access down the rabbit hole.

[@bruhhh8326]

If you hate sang woo just say it

[@k.d3983]

I find it interesting that people don’t give the same grace for deok-su especially when they’re both two sides of the same coin.

[@k.d3983]

No, he wouldn’t. Sangwoo would have been like the frontman. Sangwoo doesn’t question the system-he *enables* it. An enabler to capitalism will eventually enable it or perpetuate it.

[@bruhhh8326]

@@k.d3983 but the problem is he did question the system but quickly found out that they are serious

[@Vampire102]

@@bruhhh8326 ???

[@benrhee1643]

One thing people watching the show from outside Korea mostly misunderstood about Sangwoo is the scene where he is in the tub while still wearing his suit. Most people from other culture just wouldn't have a clue on what that scene really means. So, some reviewers or reactors thought he was trying to do some kind of an aroma therapy. But Koreans know that these coal briquettes he was burning in the scene creates harmful gas that can kill you when lighted in such a closed space. Those coal briquettes produce really toxic carbon monoxide. So, the scene was showing that he was trying to commit suicide. That tub scene already shows that Sangwoo is a person who has already givenup his own life hopelessly and by doing so has givenup on his mother as well. It shows the glimpse of his mentality in participating in the game. The game was the only way he could escape from this situation. (Strong spoiler alert...) It also shows why/how he could decide to kill himself in the last episode to prevent Kihoon from giving up the game in attempt to save him. He atleast needed Kihoon to claim the money as he knew that Kihoon would never let his mom suffer when Kihoon can save her. So, is he evil? Yes he is. But are we better? I think that is the question that the show is asking us.

[@fee6362]

I think most people knew that he wanted to kill himself - full clothing in a bathtub, that pretty clear. I just though he wanted to cut himself.

[@heunchae3562]

뭐?

[@naturalbby1722]

Great analysis

[@alpacawithouthat987]

I think if I were in as deep debt as they were I would vote to end the games and then try to flee the country and come up with a new identity or something

[@alexvaughan1013]

I clocked that Sang-woo was attempting to kill himself in the bathtub.

[@mhuzzell]

Implicitly blaming Sang-woo's mother for his character seems like a huge stretch, to the point of being low-key misogynistic. She's not a saint because she's not completely without material desires (like any human??), and sometimes snarks about her neighbours behind their backs, therefore she's responsible for the way he is? Plus even so, the evidence for her supposed materialism is very thin -- just that she enjoys getting gifts from her son, and wants to be paid what she's owed for some fish. We also see her giving away fish without any implied return, both to Gi-hun's mother and to the kid that he drops off with her without warning. I can see how her intense pride and constant boasting about Sang-woo add to the pressure on him, yes. But that pressure ultimately comes from within himself, in not wanting to disappoint her -- to the point of being willing to lie to her. Sang-woo's moral failings are his alone.

[@islabee94]

Calling the take misogynistic is silly. I agree that the materialism is a bit of a stretch, but the connection made wasn't misogynistic.

[@Lauraraksin77]

When you are a kid, your perspective is the most sensitive. So this theory can definitely play out.

[@mhuzzell]

@@islabee94 It is low-key misogynistic in the sense that blaming mothers for the bad behaviour of their *adult* offspring is a misogynistic cultural trope, which this reiterates.

[@EksaStelmere]

You don't need to be misogynistic to criticize her. Spoiling your kids or incessantly praising them unless it is do causes social development issues in children. If you think what he said is misogynistic, then what if the same character was a man? Your argument falls apart.

[@emm753]

From what I understood, the criticism is one about a parent's role in shaping the viewpoint and values of a child that then get carried through and out into adulthood. I can see why there's a fear of seeing only the surface level issues and dynamics between a mother and son, but I really think the criticism targets an deeper subtext of how a monster is not created in a day and how everyone carries some sense of responsibility for how those that are around them turn out.

[@snowythepuppy8713]

22:40 reason why sang woo prefered men in his team before the tug of war is bc he knows that the game will be where strength is a huge advantage since he analyze that Deuksu are recruiting more men even banned Han Min-nyeo to join his team (Sang Woo mentioned this after the game), hence it's best to follow Deuksu's Lead or strategy since he's really sure about his decisions even before the game started where you're betting your life on it, which is obviously suspicious if you think about it. Therefore, I don't think its bc he's merely sexist.

[@befru]

I agree. Based on how aggressively he was insisting on making their team as physically strong as possible, I strongly suspected that he knew that the next game would be a team verses team strength battle. His arguments were a few levels above normal sexism since it seems like he was trying to convince the team that they would all die if they didn't prioritize physical strength above all else.

[@snowangelnc]

It seemed like a stretch to me to label him as sexist for wanting men on the team when, like you said, he had reason to think it was going to be a competition of strength. I'm about the same size as Ji-yeong. I am not offended by the statement that most men are bigger than I am. Wanting to be treated as an equal does not mean expecting everyone around me to pretend that a man that's taller, heavier, and has more muscle mass wouldn't have any kind of advantage over me in a competitions that relies on physical strength. To be honest, I'm getting tired of the pandering we keep seeing in western media with the overpowered female characters . I don't need to keep seeing a woman dominating in every conceivable type of situation in order to feel good about myself. It was actually pretty refreshing to see characters that acted like real human beings, meaning they ALL had normal strengths and weaknesses, and nobody was afraid to say otherwise.

[@ChiadikaobiExcellent]

​@@snowangelnc thanks for the reasonable comment. It's getting harder to find people with critical thinking.

[@miahh_5185]

This breakdown is so on point. I love sangwoo, I used to have a crush on him (not a real crush ofc but an admiration for his handsomeness) when the first season came out, that kinda helped me seeing him as more benevolent than he actually is lmao but I still love how complex and well written he is. I like his character, I think he represents very well how the average human being tends to become more evil than they’d like to admit in when in desperation. I also love the humanity in him, as you said, he’s not a jerk, he’s just not good. He’s human as in he makes mistakes and he’s also human as in he still has goodness in him, even if it’s not enough. Loved your video!!

[@GenerationOchi]

Thanks for watching and for your thoughtful comment!

[@angelicafigueroa0221]

Sang Woo is by far the most practical aside from Say-byeok They knew it was a death tournament, either you die or kill, there's no wishy washy let's win together nonsense. You do what you have to for that money that everyone knows they need but suddenly want to act moral about it three games in. Please Sang Woo should've won

[@k.d3983]

If you understand the point of the squid games (the director made it clear that it was a class conscious movie) then you would not have wanted Sang-woo to have won.

[@rfrolicarts]

Gi-Hun was a mediocre player and Sang-woo was arguably the most skillful. Yet, Gi-Hun essentially won out of luck. If Squid Game is a critique of the concept of meritocracy, it makes perfect sense that he'd lose despite doing everything in his power to win.

[@SaturnineXTS]

I think you really exaggerated Sangwoo's sexist aspect. He stated only the truth when he said men are better at most games, only because of men's physical attributes which on average are superior to those of women's. Men and women can compete equally at intellectual endeavors, but once physical strength & stamina come into play, men just tend to take the edge. There's nothing sexist in acknowledging reality.

[@RavenAveira]

Yes there is if your just assuming any man they picked would just inherently be stronger and more capable than a woman if he doesn't even know what the next game would be, even in tug of war the obvious answer would be you need a physically strong team but then the question comes down to will EVERY strong person join your team? what if the strong ppl join other teams? what if they all join one team that's not yours? so what do you do then if you cant get all the strong men on your team? just admit defeat and give up? he was very close minded and put all his chips in one basket, thinking that having women on their team guaranteed them to lose when women have their own strengths that could massively contribute as well. Sangwoo only figured out a few of the games and only one ahead of time because of intel he happened to get in advance, but he didn't know what games they were gonna play everytime, so automatically investing all his chips into well if we just have young strong men we'll have the advantage, like in season two there is specifically a game that Korean woman are good at that men arent, if during Sangwoos sexism he ended up encountering that game and had a team of only strong men like he wanted then he would've died due to his own short sightedness and inability to expect the unexpected, he doubted having the old man on their team would be beneficial because he was old and weak but he ended up being a vital key to victory. His sexism 100% played a huge part in showcasing why he was such a failure in financing and wound up in so much debt, he is a very short sighted person who is arrogant and over confident in his own abilities because he's so used to hearing how great he is that he had in his mind that he couldn't possibly ever fail or lose, that anything he did would be successful, just like he assumed in the death games that there was no way any of his plans or actions would fail, that him getting as far as he did was ENTIRELY his own doing even tho it wasn't. If Gi-hun had listened to him about the tug of war game they probably would've lost because they wouldn't have had that key strategy that saved them, same way him underestimating Ali also nearly got him killed because he ASSUMED he had the upper hand and there was no way Ali could win, and when he did, he couldn't admit that it was because of his own failings and instead lashed out at Ali and accused him of cheating and manipulating him which is actually what Sangwoo was doing, and because that's the kind of person he is he assumes Ali is being the same way because again, he underestimated him because of his own arrogance. Had Ali not fell for his lie, Sangwoo would've died because of his arrogance, had Gi-hun listened to him about only recruiting young strong men, he would've died from over estimating their abilities just cuz they were young men and therefore inherently stronger and better at most games. Sangwoos entire character and main struggle is his arrogance, he over estimates himself and that in turn causes him to think he always has the answers, he always makes investments he thinks will be successful because he was this highly praised genius, the pride of his hometown, so anything he does will be successful and that's his greatest flaw that even in the end he never overcame, because he kills himself never having to face any of the consequences of his failings and left Gi-hun to take care of his mother, never having to face her with the shame of what he did. So his sexism 100% played a role in showcasing his shortcomings, because his underestimation of women mirrors his underestimation of everyone he sees as inferior to him, dumber than him, more naive than him, and yes WEAKER than him, and because of that overconfidence in himself it ends up being the very thing that nearly kills him on the outside and in the games, he could've died vs Ali, could've died in the tug of war, and he could've left the game with nothing if Sae-byeok didn't get fatally injured to the point she couldn't defend herself against him, her and Gi-hun would've left the games and Sangwoo would've lost everything. It also shows what little regard he has for women when he chooses to just kill her who was too weak to defend herself but not Gi-hun who was distracted and had his back turned the whole time, which you cant even argue was a friendship thing because he knew next game was a death match anyway, so he could've killed 2 birds with one stone there but chose to only kill the defenseless woman. If he were truly smart and understood investment then he would've killed Gi-hun who had his back turned and was fully capable of fighting back against him and left her alive to play the next game or simply die overnight, either way he would've had an easy win cuz she was too injured to even remotely beat him. Still, it all comes back to his arrogance and over estimation in himself cuz he just assumed he could beat Gi-hun man to man when this entire thing is supposed to be about him getting out of debt, yet he gives up the chance at an easy win because he just assumes he'll beat Gi-hun? because he's more ruthless? this is why he was a failed invester, his failure to see the bigger picture and arrogance in his own capabilities no matter how many times he failed was his biggest downfall.

[@1eyepaul]

​@RavenAveira jesus christ, I'm not reading that, and I don't think anyone else is.

[@bruhmomenthdr7575]

​@@RavenAveira Holy yap

[@Iam74YL0R]

Sang-Woo is the product of a society that values looking out for ones self first regardless of who you hurt and the greedy nature it encourages. How many times did Gi-hun say Sang-Woo went to SNU? What did he go there for? Business. At SNU Cho Sang-Woo changed from the childhood friend Gi-hun knew to a cold businessman willing to sacrifice anyone for his success. He is a character that has learned the ins and outs of a corrupt system. This is why he does not feel remorse for his clients lost money nor for the other contestants in the game. He and Gi-hun relationship personify how society can turn friends against one another in the attempt to climb out of the hole they were both born into.

[@byunghwara]

I don't think you need to study business to do after he did to survive. What would you do if you were there?

[@canesugar911]

Everyone in the game grew up in the same society so what's your point? Business school doesn't turn you into a sociopath.

[@moonchild8984]

@@canesugar911 but, going to SNU (Korea's biggest uni, even one of asia's biggest uni) gave him a lot of pressure n lot of expectations, i think their comment meant that ur environment can decide how u grow up to be since many are not what they used to be

[@UCDRebel]

Actually, even at the end, Sang-woo knew he had nothing left, so he decided to use Gi-Hun one last time (knowing that he will get the money), by requesting Gi-Hun to take care of his mother when he knows he can't.

[@fightmem8452]

Sangwoo could’ve easily took the W if he got Gihun in the back while Gihun was banging on the door to help Saebyeok, Saebyeok was already a lost cause and easier to take out after Gihun.

[@cmo6055]

I doubt they would have let him... the VIP 's wanted an interesting final game. If Sang Woo killed Gi Hun, the game would have ended

[@fightmem8452]

@@cmo6055 it would’ve still been interesting enough for the VIPs to see Gihun get stabbed in the back as he pleaded for someone else’s life. The point is for the game to end.

[@11th-lemon]

@@fightmem8452 Well, the guards actively prevented the last 2 players from fighting to the death right before the 6th game, so they would have hurried up to stop Sang-woo if he had rushed to backstab Gi-hun too.

[@fightmem8452]

@@11th-lemon Well they were stopped because the lights had already come back on and the “night” was over, they aren’t allowed to fight in the presence of guards like that. But yeah, possibly what you said 🤷‍♀️ The game makers just wanted to entertainment.

[@psychedelictacos9118]

I don't hate Sang Woo as a character, his actions are understandable given that in a life or death situation, priotizing your own life at any cost is understandable. At the end of the day, only one person can walk out alive anyway. Also, in the end I think as much as he liked to shrug off his conscience, carry out heartless actions and try to justify his actions in order to survive. His guilty conscience ultimately led him to take his own life, showing that he is not really devoid of guilt and remorse.

[@sheiruto1058]

Well if you want to be brutally logical then he lost and he should have accepted his death and this is not something strange phenomenon plenty of people would accept their deaths in antiquity where people still had honor but nowadays empathy has ruined all order and law.

[@dtsai]

If you reverse the letters of EVIL, you get LIVE. Everyone just wants to live. But what you do to Live may make you Evil. Maybe long ago, the definition of Evil was something done in the opposite of Live and doesn't mean want it means today.

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

I wanna know how the salesman approached Cho Sang-Woo.

[@byunghwara]

Sangwoo asked who brought Jiyeon in the tug of war game not because he was sexist. He was angry because he thought they didn't try harder to get more men.

[@oceanamelodies8062]

no yea, gihun also lowkey let others die as well, he also did his mom dirty the same way sangwoo did. a lot of their actions mirrored each other, only difference is that sangwoo is more adapted to surviving in a harsh game due to his time in business, which makes him more calculated than gihun

[@byunghwara]

@@oceanamelodies8062 Exactly.

[@BAValliere]

I’ve been on board for every Squid Game character analysis on this channel, but this was a really bad take. Sang-woo was my favorite character, so I’m biased, but I think American Ben’s bias was on full display in this too. We get it-he loves Sae-byeok, so he has to hate Sang-woo. But this video was so blatant with that bias. And the moment he started in on Mama Cho, he lost me completely. I think American Ben read Sang-woo’s character in the most negative light possible. Also, hanging so much on Sang-woo’s “success” in the business world was counterintuitive-he’s 6 billion won in debt. The point is that he’s NOT successful in the business world.

[@heliosfromacrossastar878]

Hard same. It’s a shame people get caught up in which player is good and which one isn’t, while most are just desperate poor people trying to get by. That’s exactly what the VIPS do; pretend it’s about morality when it’s about survival. The point of the show is to demonstrate how people survive in different ways, Sang-Woo definitely taking a darker route than Ali.

[@fee6362]

Sorry bit he clearly show sociopathic traits. I am not saying that he is a full sociopath- sociopahty is a spectrum. And is probably a full sociopath. Pretty early on, he should have know that having a team could become helpful, and the death of his teammates wouldn't directly help him at this point. But he throw them under the bus right at the start. He never even tries to leave the game with a few teammates alive, yes it is hinted that this wasn't an option, but he didn't ask or even tried. And he never felt really bad for what he did. Sure a lot of players killed other, even in the marble game but all of them felt bad. And on the bridge, he could have told the man in front that he has to go on. Try to avoid killing him. This is something a normal person would do, and even if not feel bad, they would for killing a human being. But he doesn't. Other humans are just pawns in a game. Sae-byeok is not like this. Yes she uses violence, but considering her motivations and way of acting, that is not sociopathic. And yes she is brutal and does was she need to do in order to survive but she still sees other humans as humans, at the end even helping a friend to not become like sang-woo.

[@BAValliere]

@@fee6362 I wasn’t meaning to compare Sae-byeok and Sang-woo. I just know that’s American Ben’s favorite character and felt his bias was coming through in how negatively he read Sang-woo. You’re right that their characters are completely different. Sae-byeok and Ali are actually tied as my second favorite characters-which is kinda funny considering Sang-woo is my fave lol. That being said, to be technical, Sang-woo is actually more in line with factor one psychopathy, not factor two (more commonly known as sociopathy). He’s callous, has a shallow affect and probably has a higher opinion of himself compared to most of the other players. Not trying to nitpick, I’m just a bit of a psychology nerd and wanted to clarify. I’m not denying that the man has issues. He’s clearly showing psychopathic traits within the game and the game definitely changed him for the worse. However, that’s exactly what the game was designed to do. It’s designed to bring out the worst in people. American Ben is right to point out that his experience in the business world informed his performance in the game-and it made him the best player. Granted, this isn’t really a game you WANT to be the best at, but he joined it for a reason and that was to win-as did everyone else. I feel many people are condemning him for being good at what everyone was there to do: win a bunch of money at the expense of other people’s lives. I also disagree that he was unaffected by the bad things he did. We clearly see him hesitate and almost tell Gi-hun not to choose the umbrella. When Gi-hun makes it, he’s clearly relieved (though maybe also a bit disappointed) in the way he sighs and smiles. That being said, I think the reason he didn’t tell Gi-hun and is maybe a little disappointed at his survival is because he knew this game was only going to come down to a few people. What if he has to kill someone with his own hands? It would be easier if all of those people were strangers. And sure enough, he would have been right in that assumption. If Gi-hun didn’t have the plot armor he did, it would have been Sang-woo against someone who meant little if nothing to him and he would have won. Also, he’s clearly shaken by Ali’s death. I believe he was genuinely connecting with Ali and I completely disagree that he was manipulating him from the beginning. There was no way to know if Ali would come back to the game. I also believe he truly thought that he and Ali would be a team in the marbles game, not opponents. They had just come from a team challenge-it would be logical to assume that when the instructions are to “team up,” you’d be working as a team just like in the previous challenge. Plus, we all watched him jump hard at the gunshot and the way he swallowed when Ali’s death was announced. It’s subtle, but I saw regret written all over that body language. That kind of constant survival and undoubted guilt in such a short period of time would leave anyone numb. By the time he’s on the glass bridge, he doesn’t care who he has to take down to win. He’s made it that far and the glass manufacturer didn’t want to move when they only had a few seconds. (And may I point out he was not the only one who pushed people off the bridge-Jesus Guy, Deok-su, and another person all did it-that’s the pressure of the game.) Sang-woo did what he had to to save his own life. And that’s my whole point. Sang-woo did exactly what most of us would in his position. I love Gi-hun, but the only reason that man made it through the game was luck and plot armor. Sang-woo did what was necessary and he’s the most realistic character in the show. Most viewers want to judge him for behavior that they themselves would enact if they were in the same situation. He became psychopathic in the game because that’s the only way you would survive in a game like that. And maybe he had some of those traits before the game, but I think they were way less pronounced. Yes, he lost his mom’s house and shop through failed investments, but I think that was more a desperate gamble to try and fix mistakes he’d already made. He was a man with questionable morals who made BIG mistakes, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. Nor does having psychopathic traits to a low degree-a lot of professions actually require some psychopathy to be successful. Sang-woo isn’t the evil in this show. The evil are the VIPs and Oh Il-nam who take advantage of those desperate enough to risk their lives for a life-changing amount of money. Sang-woo is deserving of sympathy for feeling backed into that situation. He was ready to kill himself before coming back to the game. The man was in so deep, the game literally represents the last chance for survival to him. And in the end it still couldn’t save him. He killed himself to at least save his mom. I think that’s definitely a character worthy of compassion.

[@IIIISai]

@@BAValliere Amazing analysis

[@DoubleStudentLoans]

It’s incredibly easy to take the high ground when your life isn’t on the line.

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

I just realised. Ali is told by Sang-woo that his whole family will die if he lets him die. That's a flat out lie! His mom, while still working class, has a stable income as a shopkeeper and is healthy. That is a blatant appeal to Ali's family-oriented sensibilities, and Ali can't dispute it because Sang-woo never revealed enough about himself for Ali to know.

[@bruhhh8326]

Yes it is truth if he doesn’t win his mothers shop would have been close

[@BrokenEvil]

I think he's implying that he has really bad people after him as well of the debt collectors, so maybe not a full lie

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

@@bruhhh8326 How? She's self-sufficient. He's not sending her money.

[@astridarideout1864]

@@BonJoviBeatlesLedZepat one point, he tells Gi-hun that he basically bet his mom's house and shop (putting them up as collateral for a loan) so while i don't think her life is in danger, she'd be out on the streets

[@svellah4388]

You paid no attention to what was going on in the second episode, didn't you

[@kherondale1455]

sangwoo is my favourite character, and sometimes i dont understand when people say "he's the true villain" like dude, he was trying to survive, like you would di3, for some random dude you met less than a week ago

[@Linneamarianilsson]

Would you betray ali like that?

[@kherondale1455]

@@Linneamarianilsson yeah, i would. he's nice and all, but he got it coming. hes waaay to trusting

[@Linneamarianilsson]

@@kherondale1455 that’s cold

[@kherondale1455]

@@Linneamarianilsson he met the guy less than a week ago. was he supposed to die for him? would you do die for some random dude?

[@Linneamarianilsson]

@@kherondale1455 only if i’d loose in a fair game. If i would have won, than i would live. But i would never cheat the game and betray Ali after gaining his trust.

[@Harpsibored]

"...he attributes credit for his success to his hard work, when truly his achievements are only had because he's willing to deceive and harm others." Great summary of Sang-woo here. I watched initially thinking that he had gotten far in the games due to his intelligence, but a huge part of it is his willingness to play by the game's cutthroat, brutal rules. Hah..cutthroat. SEE WHAT I DID THERE?

[@GenerationOchi]

Haiiiiii friend!!! How's the harp life? ❤️

[@Harpsibored]

@@GenerationOchi haven't had any strings explode on me this week, so overall I'd say it's good. Looking forward to more Squid Game content from you!

[@GenerationOchi]

You're going to be part of my content soon! 😁

[@Harpsibored]

@@GenerationOchi oh snaaaaap 🤩

[@KingOfWinter]

I had the feeling (while watching) that Sang-Woo picked Ali as his partner not to fool him but he genuinely thought he would be the better partner. Ali showed how strong he was during tug of war and Sang-Woo being the cocky prick he is was probably thinking with his brains and Ali’s brawn they couldn’t lose. That’s how I read the scene but I could see how you could read it your way on a rewatch for sure

[@mrbme]

No u r right even after seeing 10 times.😂 This guy totally wrong in reading this character. Sang woo cared nothing apart from money and survival. He had general affection but there isn't any love or hate for anyone.

[@alainapowerchick2025]

I'd say the analysis of his mom is a stretch: she's a product of her environment as well. Classism/capitalism being a theme of the show, she's a reflection of how she handles her place in society. The thought comes from personal experiences. I'm not South Korean. I'm a Black American who's 1st gen middle class in my family. And my parents, having grown up poor, act similar to Sang-Woo's mom: nice upfront but harsh and judgmental to a fault. That lumped onto a recent visit to a Goodwill near a low-income neighborhood in our hometown: the cashier acted nice but then got vicious with me because I didn't want to buy something in the store. There's a pervasive darkness in capitalism that can twist up a person, no matter where they are on the hierarchy. That aside, solid video! I tend not to commit to vids over 20 minutes, but let my curiosity lead me. I love that you touched on how much his business "acumen" influences his every action, especially when it came to getting the "return" on his "investment."

[@coachleif]

Totally agree that while some of the basic values she had are common, they are obviously not what truly drove Sang-woo. Gi-hun on some level had the same pressures as they grew up on the same street, their parents would have been similarly happy had their sons graduates from SNU, and clearly on some level they both chased the traditional working class dream. Sang-woo, having the talent to thrive at school and eventually business level before falling is what bread him for his cutthroat nature. He had experience at the games that went way beyond just mom.

[@HasufelyArod]

Germany might have the healthiest form of capitalism. Hell, Wal-Mart failed miserably there, so that should tell you something.

[@alexmader7930]

The English teacher in me enjoys this level of analysis.

[@ndcoach29]

Excellent perspective but so It’s interesting how everyone acts like they’d have just let someone else kill them if they were in this situation, LOL!!

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

Gi-Hun making bonds while Cho Sang-Woo is severing them.

[@paprika1725]

11:20 to be a _cutthroat_ competitor... is that a pun? XD Like Sangwoo would eventually cut Saebyeok's throat

[@royalpain9281]

This is off topic but I ordered a TRIANGLE honey comb! I got an Umbrella! Sang Woo is behind this I just know it!

[@alyssapinon9670]

Aw maybe that’s just his way of saying “hi” 😂

[@royalpain9281]

@@alyssapinon9670 me getting shot at (obviously not really) is an interesting way of saying hi

[@alyssapinon9670]

@@royalpain9281 no I feel you. I bought a rocket shaped dalgona and immediately broke it Plus this is sangwoo we’re talking about so

[@royalpain9281]

@@alyssapinon9670 bruh you should’ve taken an easy shape if you’re a beginner or cheat like Han Mi-nyeo

[@alyssapinon9670]

@@royalpain9281 *sigh* you’re right. I flew too close to the sun

[@LesterBrunt]

If it is a last man standing death match then his reasoning is perfectly valid in my opinion. Why would you spare anybody when they can kill you at any moment?

[@blacksesamecandies]

The symbols for the honeycomb game and the core group could also be a subtle visual cue.. Gi-Hun - Umbrella, a purpose for protecting something - given his empathy and compassion suits him Il-Nam - Star, something bright and unobtainable, complex - he is the creator of the game and later has a geometrically complex mask similiar to the Front Man Ali - Circle a simple basic shape, but also symbolizes something eternal, like his loyalty. It is somewhat of a pure symbol Sang-woo- Triangle - which can also be a symbol for a pyramid, which is often used to show superiority and hierarchy. The triangle is also vaguely phallic - hinting at his machosim (and by proxy misogyny) or perhaps it can be see similiar to a knife/sword/pointed end - which is a dangerous weapon.

[@avauwu2683]

It's not that deep.

[@TheMedicatedArtist]

@@avauwu2683 Still a neat observation

[@avauwu2683]

@@TheMedicatedArtist it's really not... Those shapes and "reasonings" could be used for any character with any shape...

[@giannaneri2152]

@@avauwu2683 It's an opinion. Just like yours now. I enjoyed the theory.

[@theorderofthebees7308]

That’s really Clever

[@funkylilpopstar]

you're literally my favorite youtuber hope your channel grows more

[@GenerationOchi]

So kind of you, the channel is made better by your presence. ❤️

[@SpeedBull545]

Everyone forgets that Gi Hun tried to trick Il nam to save his life just like Sang woo, but just because he didn't have to push someone of the glass bridge he gets to talk about Morality.

[@x-rex7236]

Too be fair, ill nam wasnt taking the game seriously and being revealed as the main villain in the last episode means for all we know he enjoys toying with Gi-Hun when Gi-Hun is both fustrated dealing with Ill nam's incompetence while inmits the stress having his life at stake

[@Tommykey07]

@@x-rex7236 I suspected that Il-Nam was faking his dementia and letting Gi-Hun get away with cheating on purpose. But I chalked it up to him believing that because he was so old, it made more sense to let a younger person win who still has a life to live.

[@nont18411]

I may not like Sang-Woo for killing Sae-Byeok and Ali but if I were put in the same situation as him, I would have done the same thing if not more.

[@RagingCatfish]

Personally, i don’t believe that Sang Woo is a sexist. Its just that men on average are more physically capable than women, and Sang Woo doesnt want to risk his life when hes already thrown out all morals

[@TheTonyMcD]

4:36 Woah, hold up here. I don't think anybody would argue that Sang-Woo isn't an absolute piece of shit, but I don't really think you can call this instance discrimination against women. Evidence so far has suggested that the next challenge is likely going to require some modicum of strength or fitness. Two out of three already have, and most kids games do tend that way. He specifically didn't want more women on the team because women, in general, do not have the same level of strength as men. We have gender separated sports for a reason. Had there been an obviously well built woman in the games, I don't think he would have precluded her from joining the team. But from my observations, at this stage, there were no obviously buff women in the crowd. Very few to begin with, and most old or relatively small/lightly built. Maybe you could argue that because of the stakes here, he is essentially condemning women to die over men. Perhaps that could be a form of discrimination. But I would argue that this is just San-Woo being the absolute piece of shit that he is. He will kill anybody that might get in his way. It doesn't matter whether they are a woman or not. And aside from that, what else is there that would indicate he discriminates against women? From my memory, there was not any other point in the series that would suggest he may or may not be sexist.

[@dwnkaomwn3953]

I don't even concerned myself with the good and/or evil of Sang-woo's actions, only if they were necessary.

[@islabee94]

Then why are you here? So edgy.

[@dwnkaomwn3953]

@@islabee94 So rude and petty.

[@bringinthedope5929]

interesting, so moral evaluations are unnecessary to you. So based on your metric, were most of his decisions necessary? Did he disappoint you any point? Also, did you judge Deok Su in the same way? Just curious lol

[@dwnkaomwn3953]

@@bringinthedope5929 Morals are the least of Sang-woo and the others' worries since they're fighting for their survival to win that money. If Sang-woo tried to be a nice person in that kind of environment when his life was always on the line, then he would've been taken advantage of and most likely have died a lot sooner in these games like Ali did when he tricked him. Isn't survival more important than that?

[@bringinthedope5929]

@@dwnkaomwn3953 I wanted to know more about your examination, not sang woo's pov. I also asked if you used the same metric for other characters. Regardless though, appreciate the response. Enjoy your day/night.

[@bisexualmajima]

Your assessment of his mother was frankly a little dumb, she was clearly just fondly joking around with what she said about Gihun and sees him almost like a second son, the director/writer himself has said Sangwoo and Gihun represent 2 halves of himself and how he also ended up still struggling financially after going to SNU after growing up poor and raised by a single mother in a community that had big expectations of him. So his mother behaves pretty realistically the same way most parents in poverty who have a kid who's talented or smart enough to 'make it' does, which I guess is a common real world problem within itself but it's not the 'grooming him to be some ruthless corporate shark' thing you're proposing it is, it's something innocent from misfortunate/impoverished people who often don't know better and don't often realize how they're pressuring their kids. He's a victim of capitalism, not his mother's views conforming to a pretty basic wish of wanting her son to have success and be better off than she is. This is all a pretty unfairly unfavourable view of someone who's a victim of the mindset intergenerational poverty breeds and I don't want to be presumptuous but it sounds like you can't relate to that or to her/having family like that very much. As for the "high standards" remark, I could be entirely wrong but that's most likely a remark from Sangwoo himself that's she's just repeating back, you can interpret that as more 'misogyny'/self-assuredness I guess or you can interpret that as him knowing by that point he's dead weight and not wanting to burden and make even more people ashamed and just feeding his mother a lie like that to avoid question as to why he's 46 and still unmarried and childless, or he very much could be gay which is what some amount of fans do believe. I'm not joking as he does have occasional moments that could hint to that if you want to read him that way, though it's not definite enough to say for sure and I kind of interpreted him that way myself. Also you're a tad biased with your judgements of him during the marble game; he most likely did think they were going against other people and that they would've survived as a team (though I'd agree that he picked Ali over Gihun for both logical and emotional reasons; it's beneficial that he's strong, a little gullible and that he ultimately cares less for him than his childhood friend) and the guy has a *_gun to his head,_* you'd be saying anything to get you sympathy and a chance at staying alive too instead of humbly accepting getting a bullet to the head because fair's fair and you lost a game of marbles lol. Gihun tricked Il Nam too despite being a very caring person who was nothing but kind to the old man because of the same awful fear and reality of the situation settling in and Sangwoo was about to kill himself when he gave Ali that money for the bus fare so it definitely wasn't some long con keikaku when he brought that up again.

[@byunghwara]

Exactly. Gihun himself was also pretty selfish by fooling the old guy although he appeared quite nice to him prior to that point.

[@fae206]

Thank you. I don’t want to sound blind but the mothers behavior is just like I saw from a lot of Asian/Asian American friends growing up. I think it is a cultural difference this video ignores. I’m assuming the creator is from the US and you have to look at it from a world view not a US view

[@YesJellyfish]

@@fae206 a lot of people mention that the mother behaves typical and that it's normal. I wonder why something that's typical, is not up for criticism. For example just because most poor moms from certain cultures would behave the way she does, doesn't mean it's a good thing. Just like most people in a life or death situation would probably only think about themselves, doesn't make it a good thing.

[@ehramitschke4888]

He is not sadistic though. He will do horrific things to survive, but he doesn't take pleasure out of it like the rich people do.

[@JiglyPoof7]

Ok but I’m still in love with him.

[@islabee94]

He is quite quite handsome, ill give you that

[@nouraa.9958]

please seek therapy

[@missathena3240]

I like him as a 'Evil' character, I think he was written well. Its just the choices he makes, but Thats just an evil character for you

[@alyssapinon9670]

He’s so attractive that it brings out my inner pick me girl and I hate it 🙋🏽‍♀️ I went from thinking “he’s such a prick” to “you know maybe I can fix him” 🤡 But hey it could also be because Park Hae Soo is cute as hell

[@JiglyPoof7]

@@alyssapinon9670 YES! you know that deep inside there’s something good in him, not wanting to disappoint his mother.. and maybe under other circumstances he could be fixable OR you could get into his safe circle with his mom and let him beat other people 🙃

[@itmustbecomeasun]

The mother's perspective and resppnsability on Sang-Woo character may seem as misogyny but I don't think it is. Sadly she's the only parent we can look too. We don't know what happened to his father, if he died or if they were abandoned. In any case, the mother being the only economic security they have may sure impact Sang-Woo personality and methods. I mean, we aren't the mere reflection of our parents parenting, but that does affect us somehow. If Sang-Woo's mother had to work all day to provide to his child obviously it affects the child character, and it's not his mother's fault, they were just victims of the circumstances. Watching this I guess Sang-Woo could be considered a narcissist and sort of psychopath, sort of because it could be part of a spectrum. Anyway, I agree with most of the video and I truly enjoyed your take in the character and series as a whole.

[@Sunset553]

Like The Game we see the conflict between players and easily forget it’s all a construct of other people. Single parenting works similarly. People forget to be mad about the missing parent.

[@itmustbecomeasun]

@@Sunset553 Exactly

[@LesterBrunt]

24:00 I don’t know, who wouldn’t become angry and frustrated when there is a gun pointed at your head? How is that letting something slip? Every player is supposed to be playing to win and they all know losing = bullet to the head so why would it be bad to do anything to win? That is the key difference with real society. Yes you are still coerced by needing money for food and shelter but it is not as imminent as a masked man putting a gun to your head. Why does Sang Woo somehow have some kind of moral responsibility towards Ali? Why does he need to let himself die if he can win the game by being creative? Lets say you sacrifice yourself because somehow being mean is worse than death and Ali dies next game what exactly was the point of your noble sacrifice?

[@LesterBrunt]

@@thebilliejeansfandomvideos2004 Why? Why would you join a death match only to let yourself be killed?

[@IIIISai]

fax

[@ChiadikaobiExcellent]

Exactly no point it's literally ego/self righteousness. We can afford to have more rigid principles in the modern world but in more raw situations death, rape, kidnapping, assault; one must be flexible in principles and it might sound hypocritical but it's realistic to compromise. Just imagine people who died over not renouncing their faith in their religion, so apart from the moral high ground what true gain is there, no afterlife is verifiable, nor is the deity/deities beyond doubt real or the right one. Humans personally first their roots and grow nuts.

[@spreetham1989]

Sangwoo had no real regret about Ali. During his death, he asks Gihun to take care of his mom, but does not say a word to help Ali's family. However, Sangwoo played one helluva game.

[@corey4370]

Idk, Sang-woo most likely probably didn’t even think about Ali in his last moments, not because he didn’t care about Ali, but because they were literally his last moments.

[@AttackHelicopter64]

I love to hear how someone in death game is Evil. Like, only one person is going to survive, so either you have a deathwish, or it has to be you.

[@ninacarranza5189]

I'm actually impressed with Sangwoo bc he grew up poor but made it big in school, his downfall was not having a good social network bc if he had a businessman consultant for instance he would've known how to do his job well

[@SHINeeKeyofLucifer]

23:42 You're wrong here. Sang Woo's statistics is correct, as theoretically, given the 50/50 nature, each person would have taken turns winning each round. However, we saw that Ali won every single time, proving that book smarts and statistics don't mean sh*t in real life

[@karriezai73]

Watching this video made me realize Sang-woo's mom named her shop after him. Dang. No wonder he doesn't want to disappoint.

[@gjungart]

I think that Sang-woo is a perfect example of what someone is capable of when they despise themselves. He feels like he's failed in life and hates that he's hurt people out of self preservation. Every time he did something selfish or betrayed someone, it was like he hated himself for it, but also didn't care anymore because he had no pride left to lose.

[@CloakRyzn]

If that was the case? Why did he participate in this game?

[@gjungart]

@@CloakRyzn self preservation, is his only motivation.

[@MacrosFTW]

Your artistry with words is amazing. Great breakdown and work with making each sentence like a poem.

[@cyrusmoore6271]

I wholeheartedly disagree that sang-woo is entirely evil. I think he represents the average person. That's why he has a number in the middle of all the players. 001 is the embodiment of cold calculated maliciousness and 456 is the more idiolistic and kind. It hits harder when sang-woo does an evil act because we don't want to admit that kind of darkness exists in ourselves. We all have levels of greed but the most strong motivation is self preservation. What would you do to continue living? I imagine it's quite alot. And to sang-woo that money was his life. He was on the verge of suicide and to him without that money his life was over anyway. I still think he's quite sympathetic.

[@GTAVictor9128]

20:36 - I'm not so sure about Sang-Woo being the most prominent sexist. I would argue it's Dyeok-Suk (forgive me if I misspelled it) in how uses Han Mi-Nyeo for sex, then throws her under the bus in the very next game simply because he thought she brought no value to the team, despite her literally saving his life in the previous game.

[@IIIISai]

exactly

[@alexvaughan1013]

Sang-woo's death actually had ironic nods to how he killed Sae-byeok and betrayed Ali. Obviously, he stabbed himself in the exact same place he did Sae-byeok. But for Ali? Well, Gi-hun offered him a way for them to both get out alive, just like he pretended to with Ali. But because of his pride and shame, he just couldn't take it. I only finished Squid Game today. It was so worth the hype. I won't be forgetting this great story and characters any time soon.

[@gamerguardian9835]

😭😭😭

[@mrbme]

Lol have u really seen the series. He hasn't rejected Gi Hun for pride or shame. He rejected it bcz he can't go out empty handed. He trusted Gi Hun would help his mother with the money he will get once he die. Remember he came to this game when he was ready to commit the suicide. At last second he gets the call and joins the game. So he desperately wanted that money more than his life. That's why he rejected the offer to go out empty handed

[@abandonallhope.1040]

I’m surprised at the amount of animosity towards this character. If he had killed off some extras, nobody would care.

[@lfcforlifefr]

Oh, btw, I forgot to mention, did I say that Cho Sang-Woo graduated at SNU top of his class and is the pride of ssagmun-dong?

[@cifizl8918]

I don’t think he was completely ruthless, when he kills sae byeok his hand was shaking, I think he just did what he had to do

[@sonofscotland9054]

How is Sang-Woo sexist, for believing the average man is stronger than a woman? Complete nonsense.

[@hardboiled2987]

Yeah lmao especially cuz its a strength game. Complete nonsense

[@andrepoon]

What Sang Woo did to Ali is not morally different to cheating an old demented man. When it comes to survival… we will do things we don’t normally do. That’s a huge factor.

[@CloakRyzn]

The old man (before knowing he was the creator of Squid Game) had little to no purpose to begin with. I'm sorry, but if I'm that age, I'm staying my ass home instead of participating in a death game at the risk of other people's lives and my own.

[@Chipii13]

“He discriminantes against women” I’m pretty sure if it’s life or death tug of war I’m picking all men as well what the hell 🤣

[@tripsy7034]

One thing a lot of people forget is sang woo saved about 50 people When he said you can leave if all players vote to they voted to go home but about 40 of them stayed home and the other 180 came back In tug of war he saved his team of 10 people with his quick thinking In glass bridge if he had waited a second longer to push that glass guy off gi hun would have ran outta time so that’s around 51 people saved because of him

[@Rakerong]

It was actually 14 people that didn't rejoin the game. The second go had 187 players.

[@tripsy7034]

@@Rakerong before they left it had 222

[@Rakerong]

@@tripsy7034 The first game cut the total number down to 201. When they voted to leave, only 14 chose to not participate anymore and the rest went back to the game. That's 187 players. You see that number on the screen, and it coincides with the prize money per player. There wasn't an incident where they had 222 players remaining. They lost 255 players from game 1.

[@tripsy7034]

@@Rakerong oh my bad you were right

[@Rakerong]

@@tripsy7034 All good dawg. But you right, that's 14 people that lived thanks to Sang-Woo.

[@Jammythewerewolf]

I'm convinced Sang Woo choosing Ali as a teammate wasn't to form a brains and brawn team. He must've had a good idea the partners would be competing against each other, and picked the person easiest to manipulate, and who he knew had the least knowledge of Korean games. He deliberately used the trust he'd cultivated in Ali.

[@Ch50304]

so true. and its sick.

[@adiosToreador702]

Oh yeah right, he probably knew it was Oh Il-Nam all along! Sorry for the salt, but it seems WAY too stretched. He might've graduated SNU, but he's not a psychic.

[@Ch50304]

@@adiosToreador702 No, he knew that guy was easy to manipulate.

[@lindahoekstra3172]

I think the intent of the author was somewhere in between. Choosing Ali was a good choice for him regardless of whether they played with or against each other. If they had to play together, he knew Ali was strong and he is clever. If they had to play against each other, he could manipulate him. It is a safe bet.

[@adiosToreador702]

@@Ch50304 Maybe! But so is Gihun and Minyeo (although I have doubts about the lady). Why not choose them? It's easier to leave Ali for the finale and betray him closer to the end. I do believe that Sangwoo wanted to secure his position in the game with this brain+strength combo since the 4th game could easily be 2 on 2 game, but acted to the situation. It doesn't make sense to me to make him illogically cruel, sowwy :)

[@WatchingSundays]

Love your take on Sang Woo, perhaps the most important character in Squid Game!

[@GenerationOchi]

Thx! 😁

[@sachitechless]

I think what you said about him compared to Doek-su is a bit of an interesting comparison. Doek-su is condemned for killing with his own hand and withholding direct information that he knows for sure to get a leg up on the competition. Sang-Woo on the other hand never actually bloodies his hands directly until there is no one but Gi-Hun and Sae-Byeok left, when he's essentially right at the top, and he withholds information about what he expects is about to happen in the marbles or the candy games because he wants to be the only one with that leg up to come out on top. Doek-su controls and kills his enemies with fear, and that obviously comes back to bite him in marbles when he realises for a brief second that that fear will go away when he lacks power over someone (which happens on the glass bridge), but the people who get killed by Sang-Woo are the people who are closest to him, the people who trusted him. Doek-su has lost most of his humanity as a way to survive in a world that literally backstabs for potential gain, and yes, he's terrible. But Sang-Woo's world also backstabs people to survive, but because it's not immediately killing people we don't see it as morally reprehensible, and neither do the people in Sang-Woo's world. Hell, there is a chance that Sang-Woo's actions in the corporate world have caused him to essentially doom others to previous Squid Games (albeit only through sheer speculation), but there is a chance Sang-Woo could have ended up just like the guy in the Subway Station, slapping people and handing them a card to their death for the chance for money. Sang-Woo is the antithesis to the show's humanity in times of crisis, and while he isn't the primary villain, that obviously falls to Il-Nam and the other creators of the game, he acts as the exact kind of person who helps perpetuate the ecosystem that creates the game in the first place.

[@km1289]

The part about the mom was just grasping at straws! Are you sure your are not the sexist one, blaming the loving mom in his life?

[@YesJellyfish]

I think he had a point about the mom. She seemed to mean well, but she also seemed to put a lot of pressure on him.

[@ElliottParkinson]

Curious, how did we get from knowledge of it being a game of strength and therefore not wanting and old man or women to therefore sexist? Did I miss the sexist part?

[@comeast1]

Do you know how much parents have to sacrifice to go to snu like Sang-woo in the poor class? A child who grows up seeing such parents has the highest value to repay their parents. Sang-woo, who caused his mother to fall into trouble due to his own mistake, wanted to save her even if he lost his life. Saving his mother was the top priority for Sang-woo. Is there anyone who thinks that the first person they meet in the game is more precious than their mother? Isn't it a common act of a person to save the family's difficulties first, even at the cost of the lives of others?

[@Xinisterr]

Ok but that sponsorship was smooth af!

[@chirstine_panadalover7949]

Ikr that’s what I was gonna say!

[@xanderfoley6641]

He’s such a great character

[@ffederel]

It's odd because I always had the impression that the look Sang-Woo gives every time someone praises his resourcefulness and qualities was a look of shame and self-hatred.

[@ibraheemtemur3469]

The west is rotting away, calling him sexist for speaking the truth... Ive lived through a civil war, an actual life or death situation, and based on that i know that men are more fierce, fast and willing to do whats necessary. Youre brainwashed brother, remember your roots. And life is a zero sum game. I fought my own family, the people who kicked me into the streets as a kid. My uncle did great things and died a martyr, but the rest of my family is thrash and my biggest regret is that i didnt kill my father during the years of conflict when it wouldnt have been seen as a murder.

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

Cho Sang-Woo is dangerous when he's smart.

[@westarrr]

Sometimes I wonder if writers of series/movies really are this brilliant, or if the theories we create transcend their writing beyond what they even conceived.

[@SpammytheHedgehog]

I laughed when Gi-Hun hopped on one foot during the last game. 😂

[@SaiScribbles]

I was being a Sangwoo stan the entire show, at first genuinely and then more jokingly, probably because I know deep down I'd most likely be like him in that situation. At first I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt: like maybe he didn't warn Gi-hun about the shape choices because he didn't want to put everyone in danger by revealing he knows the game. And even in episode 6 I kept saying well maybe he really DOES have plan. After that my friends just kept dunking on me and I kept playing Devil's Advocate for shits and giggles.

[@crystalcut3717]

This is hilarious! I would've liked to hear what you said about the glassmaker. "Sang Woo was really just trying to help him pick one!"

[@saadqamar8383]

@@crystalcut3717 well there was barely any time left and the other dude wasn’t picking a glass so what sang-woo did is kinda justified to me lol

[@sweetluvgurl]

@@crystalcut3717 Well, Sang Woo said he was helping him and the others finish and not die.

[@spreetham1989]

That observation about sangwoo's mom's role in shaping his character is great.

[@dipeshshahus]

Sang-Woo that's 90% me. I believe he was the only character who was really playing with strategies to win. I loved his character.

[@mt.deka.7]

this is a weird complement but i absolutely love the way you form and word your sentences

[@mariacillan9668]

I have a bunch of problems with this video, just saying. I don't like how people have a very black and white perspective when it comes to characters like these. These characters are not just their names or what they show on screen. The entire show is an academic paper or even a philosophical one, and each character represents a demographic. Sang-woo represents the people who HAVE to go through these lengths for the chance of surviving. People will do what he does or else they'll die, and do we have the right to call those people evil when they're just pushed to that limit? Minorities whose chances of survival are taken from them so they have to resort to evil things to survive? Are we just going to call that demographic entitled, greedy, and evil? I also don't think Sang-woo was misogynistic. He surely had a sexist strategy, but it was very different from Deok-su's method. Deok-su literally actively pushed Han Miyeo (idk their names well, sorry) out of the team, used her for her body, and called her weak or indicated it. He actively tried to remove her winning chance. Sang-woo, on the other hand, recognizes that men are physically stronger in general than women, so his desperation drives him to want to create the best plan and strategy. Having incapable people on the team will weaken his chances of survival, but he didn't push the women and the old man away from the team. He knows it's better to have a team than none at all, and I like that he didn't remove the women's chances of survival either. He has a gender bias rooted in sexist knowledge, but he's not a misogynist because he still helped the women survive. I also really didn't like how you badmouth Sang-woo's mother. Directing the blame of the fault's of the son to a woman is a bad move, especially after the whole remark about misogyny. Sang-woo's mother represent a part of Asian culture--or rather Korean culture, but I guess I can relate. Asian parents are very very proud of their children for their achievements, honestly even to a point of using the kids are physical trophies or retirement funds, but in this case, her pride in Sang-woo is what pressured him into probably doing all these financial crimes--because he's so desperate to make her even prouder. He is familiar with the rules of the trade, so he knows the only way to make his mother proud is to win. Her remark about the 12,000 won with Gi-hun isn't supposed to be taken seriously, it was just a joke. Gi-hun was so proud of his financial achievement and he was acting a bit cocky about it. She just teased him. And the fact that Sang-woo keeps giving her gifts from abroad meant that Sang-woo is doing all of this for her, and she's thankful for raising a child who doesn't forget their roots. This puts pressure on him, but doesn't encourage arrogance whatsoever. This just makes him even more desperate to please her. "She's brought him up to chase riches in the market." Yeah? Because that's what getting a job and fulfilling your dream of being financially stable is? What every desperate parent wants is just for their child to experience a life outside their own struggles and for them to have the things they never had in their own childhoods. That's why our parents always pressures us to study hard so we can have a job--if not to be living piggy banks, to live a life that wasn't like theirs. The fact that you would blame the people who are just as desperate and is still suffering under an unjust system by pointing your finger towards her--a character that represents a culture and a demographic, urks me so much. Also another note, I believe Sang-woo was genuinely nice to Ali. Well, minimally at least. He strikes me as someone who tries to push Ali away, actually, so that Ali wouldn't look up to him so much (telling him to stop calling him, sir, always looking away when he gives some advice to Ali). He seemed to want to help a bit, but his guilt in the knowledge of winning the game stops him from bonding with him so much. I wouldn't think he tried to manipulate Ali at all, it seems that he just won the game fair and square. In such a game, only the strong survive after all. He merely prioritized his chance of winning than the lives of others. He didn't give the bus fare as an investment, it was because he didn't see the point in keeping any money if he's gonna su1c1d3 anyway. He didn't know he was going to go back into the games because he was already in the process of offing himself right before the card arrived at his door. The whole rant in the marble scene was him going through the stages of grief--bargaining to survive and using the past anecdotes as reasons for him to live. He didn't plan it all from the beginning, no, it just happens that he was kind to Ali before he had the choice of offing himself again or pushing through, cheating Ali in the process. If it was your life on the life, would you cheat death or accept it for the sake of others? How much do you really love your mother? How much hope you do have? How desperate do you have to be? Those are the questions facing Sang-woo during that moment. Of course he'd try to survive. "Do you really think he thought that he and Ali would get out of this game together--" Yes. Yes I do. Given that the last game was teams vs teams based on strength, he partnered with Ali because they both had families to support and they bonded over that. Sang-woo is smart, Ali is strong, a good pair to beat other teams with. His desperation to win AGAINST Ali was only when the instructions were announced. And this is where the modalities of Western and Eastern cultures collide, where perhaps socialism and capitalism can also be seen as colliding: when you call Sang woo's statement of him giving himself credit for surviving "delusional". Are we going to be family/community-oriented, or individualistic? The thesis of the show that a lot of people seem to miss is that the system DRIVES people to be like this. We HAVE to take the initiative to survive because under this system, not everyone's going to make it. When your life is on the line, would you be a doorstep so you can sacrifice your life for others but only pay each dead body's families 80 USD or so? Or are you willing to play the game for the small chance of success while needing to step on others to reach that goal? Sang-woo took to the latter. I heavily disagree when you said "Sangwoo's interests are almost always aimed at harming others when in order to advance". You speak as if the first thing that crosses his mind is bloodthirst first, survival later. Sometimes in order to survive, the people who are really desperate have to harm others. That's what the system perpetuates. You can blame me for "trying" to justify the "bad behaviors", but in an environment of real desperation, it really is necessary. Because that's what we'll do anyway in his place. If we didn't, we die, or people who don't probably have a higher chance of surviving anyway and aren't as desperate for their lives. We all have a purpose to get to that goal. It's all a matter of luck. I'm sorry to say, but even though the critique on capitalism and its clarifications for the English speaker is admirable, this video demonizes the group of people who are also victims of the system that are represented by the characters. The perspective on this reminds me so much of how marginalized people are just oppressed because they do bad stuff blah blah blah while the system and the people fail to see what drove to that lane in the first place. But then again, I guess it is a very American view given how Hollywood films are written in a very different format, each character symbolizing archetypes/stereotypes rather than demographics--for the story rather than the essay, how American media and editing uses manipulative tactics to tell the audience "this guy bad" and "this guy good" that I guess it's just natural to see things in such a way for westerners... not to mention only the really really desperate would understand why Sang woo had to be like that. If you think Sang woo is still evil, please be thankful for your lives. The fact that you don't and will never understand means that you'll never be that desperate to survive. I really liked your video on Han-Miyeo, but not this.

[@FenderJaguar66]

His character is realistic. Wouldn't you do anything to win?

[@lauren1211]

Yes, especially if my life was on the line, I hate to say it.

[@FenderJaguar66]

@@lauren1211 yes humane nature for sure

[@shreyanskapoor4072]

His character is the most realistic and better than ji-yeong or gi-hun. Gi-hun forgot that his organs will be taken and daughter taken forever. On the other hand sang-woo remembered the reasons to fight and win.

[@islabee94]

@@shreyanskapoor4072 what are you talking about? Gi Hun doesn't know about the organ harvesting operation. Also "his daughter taken forever,"? What are your referring to? His daughter is living a comfortable life with her mum and stepfather.

[@tiffaleah6690]

@@islabee94 They are referring to the mother and stepfather moving to America and taking his daughter with him. Since he is so broke and destitute, he's looking at the very real possibility of never seeing her again. She's living a good life, but it would also be one without her father whom she very clearly loves and cares for. She will be losing him as he will be losing her.