In Defense of Sang Woo (Sang Woo Did Nothing Wrong)
Yes, we’re talking about Netflix’s Squid Game again today...
And specifically, we’re talking about Sang Woo.
And I know this character angers a lot of people because of his quote-unquote
appalling actions throughout the Squid Game… But I’m just going to come out and
say what may anger some people… My boy Sang Woo here… Is not that bad.
Now, I have a habit of playing Devil’s Advocate… and I first have to state… I’m sure many people
even here at WickedBinge may disagree with me… so I must state that I’ve written this script alone,
on behalf of nobody else. But today I’m defending my boy Sang Woo.
Now, first it’s important to establish some very important variables in Sang Woo’s character
that are relevant here. We’re not even going to focus on the fact that Sang Woo seems helpful
and even empathetic in situations outside of the games. Whether it’s giving Ali money to get home
or his extra food. Most will say that doesn’t count for much and I won’t even contest that.
But these 3 things are relevant:
He’s smart
Sang Woo is obviously smart enough to know that only one person was walking away from these games…
Or at the very, very least… he knows that every other player left in the
game alive will statistically be a threat to him.
This is important because it establishes that he’s doing the things he does,
not out of cruelty, but because he understands the alternative will result in not only his death,
but him not being able to save his mother.
Which brings us to:
His Reason For Playing
Sang Woo is playing the Squid Game because he wants to save his mom.
Yes, he screwed up royally by putting her shop and home up for collateral, and this was a terrible
thing to do… but he’s willing to put his life on the line against overwhelming odds to correct it.
I think one could argue that because Sang Woo had a calculated goal in
mind when putting up his mom’s shop… although indefensible... It was more
understandable than Gi-hun’s history of stealing from and cancelling the
health insurance of his own mother just for his degenerate gambling addiction.
The point is, Sang Woo is playing for his dear mother.
It’s not selfishness. He simply values fixing her life more than anything else.
And lastly… and this is very important…
Everybody who returned to the games made their decision.
Sang Woo didn’t display any manipulative, sabotaging or violent behavior
in Red Light Green Light. In fact, he offered positive advice to Gi-hun.
His manipulation didn’t kick in until after players returned after going home.
And guess what… Everybody who came back knew this was a death game. As brutal as it may sound,
you knew what you were signing up for… and that’s not a justification for the games themselves…
But how would you expect any other player who came back… to not do
everything in their power to survive and win?
It’s absurd. You all agreed to come back; you know each round would have some crazy
wacky rules that result in death for certain players… Do you really expect your opponent
to not take the Ws that present themselves? When an L results in a bullet to the head?
To Recap:
Sang Woo was smart enough to understand that every other elimination increased his odds of winning.
Sang Woo was playing to make a better life for his dear, sweet mother.
Everybody left after Round 1 knew the stakes of the game; and chose to come back.
With all that stated… Let’s look at Sang Woo’s actions.
So let’s start with... Not telling Gi-hun about The Honey Comb rules.
Simply put, he lies to Gi-hun, as well as Ali and Il-nam,
about not knowing the game’s rules… which results in Gi-hun picking the hardest shape.
But here’s the thing… if you look at Sang Woo’s reaction when Gi-hun picks the umbrella,
it’s not what he was hoping for.
Sang Woo’s reaction earlier was very obvious that he didn’t want the old man on their team… and it’s
most likely because he knows it would weaken them… Something he points out later, before the
Tug of War game, as well… I think that he was hoping for the Old Man to pick the umbrella,
but once Gi-hun chose it, he couldn’t stop him or else everyone would know he knew too much.
Sang Woo, prior to that point… had helped Gi-hun in Red Light
Green Light and then also would later stick to his team during the riot.
This shows that most of his motivations were to form and preserve the strongest team he could.
Now, was trying to get the Old Man to pick the umbrella a nice thing to do? Absolutely not…
But if Sang Woo genuinely felt that having him tethered to their team would put them all in
danger… and his life and his mother’s future at risk… Well, it’s at least understandable.
Again, this was after players returned and knew the stakes.
A bleeding heart here could very easily get you killed.
And now onto the part where I anger everyone... Sang Woo “Betrays” Ali.
Sorry… No.
This is a game in which two people go in and one person comes out. Very simple.
Neither one of them wanted to be self-sacrificing that day, so what is the solution?
You play the game out based on the rules that were provided.
“Well, in that case, Ali should have won… because he was winning the even/odd game”, I hear people
saying… Absolutely not. Those weren’t the rules… Sang Woo was the only one bright enough to listen
to the rules. “Play any game you want… Just no violence.” Sang Woo played a mental game…
And I’m sorry, the level of mental skills to pull that off is more worthy of winning a round
than something like the even/odd marble game, which is literally just a coin flip. No skill.
Sang Woo didn’t even really cheat when you think about it; he just listened to the rules.
Ali being too dumb to fall for it would have been no different than Sang Woo
being unlucky with picking odds or evens.
Now you could go, “Well it was morally wrong to trick Ali. Sang Woo should
have let himself get killed because Ali was winning at marbles…” but I call BS on this…
You’re telling me, you, viewer, are going to sacrifice your own life so that another
player you just met… who agreed to come back to these death games knowing they were death games,
can survive in your place… even though tricking him would be totally adhering
to the game rules… and by letting him win you’d be killing yourself… but also
letting your mom lose her shop and home and being condemned to a life of poverty?
You’re lying. Stop it.
And there’s no nobility in that.
Even Gi-hun was willing to kill his partner through manipulation once given the opportunity.
And even if there wasn’t some altruistic “saving my mom” element to this game;
it was still kill or be killed… Even then, Sang Woo doing what he did was a neutral act at worst.
Come on. I know everyone likes Ali, but I can’t with this.
Which brings us to the Glass Stepping Stones. This is where the criticism of this guy is total
BS. I get it, everyone is still salty about Ali at this point, but let’s look at this logically.
After Sang Woo throws the glassmaker through the last stepping stone, we get a glimpse of
the clock. 9 seconds. 9 seconds. It is abundantly clear this guy couldn’t determine which was fake
at that point without the lights on. Had Sang Woo waited even a few more seconds for this guy to
make up his mind, everybody probably would have died. Maybe the glassmaker would have had the
chance to make his final decision, but then the 3 people behind him would have been out of luck.
And on top of this, Sang Woo didn’t decrease the Glassmaker’s
odds of survival. He had a 50/50 shot regardless. He just picked for him.
And let’s not gloss over the fact that the glassmaker straight up told everyone
he withheld the fact he could tell the difference between the real and fake glass.
What? You’re gonna let him run down the clock and kill everyone else? F that;
pushing this guy forward was logically… and I would argue morally… the right thing to do.
If he didn’t, the three people behind him would be dead, at the very least.
Gi-hun argues the guy might have moved to the last tile soon… But he’s just wrong. There’s 9
seconds left, bro, and nothing about this dude’s mannerisms, posture or anything suggested he was
going. Sang Woo yeeting this guy through the last panel is the reason why you’re alive.
Now, lastly… we get to
Stabbing Saebyeok. And I admit… This one seems like the toughest to defend... BUT:
I’m going to take a crack at it.
Look at this from Sang Woo’s perspective.
You have to at least understand where he’s coming from. Why would you come back to these games,
risk your life against overwhelming odds, and then when you’re finally in reach of winning… be okay
with the other two players left just saying “I don’t want to play anymore”.
You guys came back. You knew the stakes.
I think there’s an argument to be made that… if you chose to come back to the Squid Games,
you bare some responsibility yourself if you get killed. Sure, the people who run the games
are psychotic evil lunatics… But the other players are obviously in it for themselves.
And remember: the rule was… if everyone votes to leave - the
money goes to the victim’s families. And those that quit get nothing.
If there’s a point where you can just stop the game when you start losing
and everyone left goes home with no money… then the person winning who wants to continue
essentially just risked their life for nothing. In that moment,
you can totally see how cheated this guy would feel given everything he’s been through.
If you played a poker tournament with 456 people… and you got down to the final 3,
and the person who was almost out of chips said “Let’s just quit the game,
give everybody their buy-in back… and we’ll get nothing.” You’d be like “hell no”.
And you could say “Well, poker isn’t life or death.”
And that’s true. And exactly my point. Sang Woo risked death all throughout
these games… and calling it quits here, at the end, would have negated it entirely.
The problem was… Sang Woo went into the games knowing the stakes better than anyone.
This guy was willing to die for that money; not for himself, but for his mom. And then all of a
sudden, he has to worry about the other two just pulling the plug on it all. It makes perfect sense
why he’d feel cheated if someone tried to take it away after everything he had been through.
That’s why he ends up killing her.
Sang Woo’s morals are aligned with whatever helps his mom… and he doesn’t deviate from
this. He even applies this moral line to himself, so he isn’t a hypocrite… Because
when given the opportunity to call it quits when he’s losing during the final squid game round…
he still chooses death as long as he knows Gi-hun will help his mom.
Point is, I’m not saying he’s right… I’m saying I understand.
Interestingly enough, I think Sang Woo is one of the most
well written machiavellian characters in TV.
Machiavellianism is a personality trait that denotes cunningness and the ability
to use manipulation. In whatever ways necessary to accomplish a goal.
Essentially embracing an “Ends Justifying the Means” mentality. Sometimes the end
goal is a good one, like saving your mom, but the path to get there is pretty dark.
For better or worse, that’s Sang Woo.
But what do you think? Am I playing Devil’s Advocate too much? Do you think Sang Woo is
straight up evil? Or do you think his reasons for doing what he did made sense? Let us know in the
comment section - and be sure to binge our Squid Game playlist. But most importantly, stay wicked.