Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 episode "Sacrifice." Stream it with a Netflix subscription and read at your own risk!
Squid Game: The Challenge dropped its second batch of episodes, and, following some exits that were already brutal, the series still had quite a few heart-wrenching moments to deliver. The latest episodes even saw a father and daughter go head-to-head in a contest that was anyone's game, or so we thought. On that note, CinemaBlend was able to get some details on what went down.
I talked to father/daughter duo Curt and Zoe Stinson, who, in "Sacrifice," used their marbles to play tic-tac-toe to see which of them would advance. The drama reminded me why this show can be better than the original series at times, but did Zoe really expect her dad to try to beat her? During a recent interview with CB, she talked about why she chose that competition:
I think me suggesting tic-tac-toe was, in the back of my head, a strategic move, because that is a game that you can choose to win or lose depending on how you're feeling, and my dad likes to say it was fair, but we know he let me win.
Indeed, as the father of a daughter, I knew there was little to no chance that Curt wasn't going to throw the game to Zoe so that she could continue in his place. I'd also argue that in a world where only one could advance, Zoe was more of a physical competitor than her father and would've stood the best chance at winning Squid Game: The Challenge out of the two.
Still, it's hard to know with complete certainty what another person is going to do. Zoe suggested the game because it made it easier for her father to throw the game for her, which she admitted she believed he'd do anyway:
I honestly felt like he was going to do that regardless, And then being eliminated the very next game, [I] obviously have guilt for that, but I am very thankful that he let me progress.
Is this what John Mayer was talking about in the song "Daughters"? Probably not, but I appreciate Zoe's comments all the same, because they confirm the close relationship she claimed to have with her dad amid her confessionals. She knew how to play her father but also didn't really need to because she likely knew from the beginning if there was ever a scenario like this in Squid Game: The Challenge, he'd put her first.
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Of course, Zoe was not one of the few who ended up progressing to the finale of Squid Game: The Challenge. Fans are still waiting to see how that will shake out with the final competitors but, if it's anything like the finale last season, I'm thrilled to see where the chips fall.
The drama is so good so far, it has me thinking of similar shows like Prime Video's Beast Games, and wondering if they'll be able to measure up to what we've seen in Season 2 of The Challenge. Hell, I'd even love it if Netflix were to look at its own upcoming shows and see if it can figure out a way to make all of its reality competition series this entertaining.
Squid Game: The Challenge's final episode is coming up on Tuesday, November 18th. Stream the finale on Netflix and see who ends up being the winner of a life-changing amount of money.
