"Squid Game" Season 2 Debuts to More Negative Reviews Than Season 1

"Squid Game" Season 2 Debuts to More Negative Reviews Than Season 

After three years of anticipation, Squid Game season 2 has finally arrived as the highly awaited follow-up to the most-watched Netflix series of all time. The show has since become a major brand for the streaming service. Originally, there weren’t plans for a second season, but its massive success left Netflix with little choice but to bring it back.

However, early reviews are in, and so far, the ratings for season 2 are lower than those for season 1. While it’s not surprising that a sequel may struggle to recapture the viral magic of the original, the difference in scores is notable. Here’s a comparison of the current scores:

• Squid Game Season 1 – 95% critic score, 84% audience score
• Squid Game Season 2 – 83% critic score, 63% audience score

 

 

While these numbers aren’t disastrous, they’re certainly below the first season’s. Some of the criticism stems from the fact that the new season has been reduced from 9 episodes to just 7—another reflection of streaming culture, where long waits between seasons result in fewer episodes being produced.

The key question surrounding Squid Game season 2 isn’t the review scores, but rather its viewership numbers. The original season holds the title of Netflix’s most-watched show, with impressive statistics:

• Squid Game Season 1 – 2.2 billion hours viewed, 265.2 million views
• Stranger Things Season 4 – 1.83 billion hours viewed, 140.7 million views
• Wednesday Season 1 – 1.72 billion hours viewed, 252.1 million views
• Dahmer – 1.03 billion hours viewed, 115.6 million views
• Bridgerton Season 1 – 929.3 million hours viewed, 113.3 million views
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While some series, like Stranger Things, see a jump in viewership with later seasons, others, such as Bridgerton, peak in their first seasons. Will Squid Game continue to break records? It’s unlikely that the second season will reach the same heights, as the original was a cultural phenomenon, and it may be impossible to replicate that level of excitement. It seems more like a show Netflix had to make, rather than one that audiences were eagerly waiting for—no pun intended.