destiny and chicken

saw someone else point out how the characters' subplots in squid game s3 exist in a narrative vacuum and how disjointed the narrative feels as a result from the minimal overlap of character conflict

imagine if instead of restricting no-eul's confrontation to the masked officer, we'd gotten to see in-ho's reaction to how she successfully snuck one of the players off the island. naturally, after realizing gi-hun's stubbornness and ideology will never change course, a frustrated in-ho enlists no-eul to smuggle gi-hun off the island. but of course gi-hun refuses to take the easy way out without rescuing the other x's as well. with no-eul's help, the other x's make an escape attempt (including dae-ho, whose personality is not assassinated and instead provides a thoughtful exploration of the effects of ptsd and trauma).

gi-hun being gi-hun chooses to remain on the island at the last second, leaving the others to escape without him, in order to confront the vips, try to save the o's, and deliver his "we aren't horses" line. luckily jun-ho arrives on time with explosives and actually impacts the plot in a tangible way by blowing up the island himself. when the vips are cut-off from the escape routes, the power dynamic flips and the remaining o-players surround them and force them to play the games for their survival.

gi-hun and in-ho have a tense, emotionally-charged discussion about their opposing views. gi-hun asks in-ho why he helped him and he replies that gi-hun won their battle by convincing him to still have faith in people. jun-ho and in-ho also finally have the confrontation that was built up from season one instead of a lame "brother, why?" copout of an interaction. gi-hun learns the two are brothers and about in-ho's motivations as a fellow former winner

the korean games are brought to an end. the baby is raised by jun-hee, geum-ja, and hyun-ju. gi-hun shares his past earnings with them before returning to america with in-ho as his escort, in case any of the vips are still after him. the ending is bittersweet: they still witness the recruiter for the american games, but it's tempered by the hopeful reunion between gi-hun and his daughter.