Okay so here is my second NPE proposal of the year. This time it's not just anyone given that it's a recurring villain of the series that I'm going to talk about and who is the main antagonist of episode 1 of season 2 of the series. I'm obviously talking about the Recruiter (that's what he's officially called apparently) from the Squid Game series (Yes, the proposal arrives 5 days after the two weeks following the release of the season, I had a bad connection, I apologize for the delay).
What's the work?[]
“Squid Game” is a South Korean psychological thriller television series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk. It was first released on Netflix in September 2021 and quickly captured the attention of audiences globally.
The series follows the story of Gi-hun, a debt-ridden and desperate man who finds himself drawn into a deadly game where hundreds of indebted participants are brought together to play a series of childhood games for huge financial reward. However, the stakes are much higher than they seem, as participants quickly discover that losing means death. As the series progresses, the characters face moral dilemmas, treachery, and shocking revelations about the true nature of the game and those who control it.
Who is The Recruiter, and what has he done?[]
The identity of the recruiter is unknown and little is known about his past. All we know is that he was one of the masked men who worked to make the games work. At one point he was a masked soldier when suddenly he saw that one of the players he was to execute was his own father. Despite the latter's pleas, he killed him without hesitation. After that, he upgraded to the title of recruiter, which involves recruiting players to participate in Squid Games.
We will see him for the first time when he approaches the protagonist Gi-Hun in a subway. He will offer to play a game, Ddakji, where the loser will have to give 100,000 won to the winners. Gi-hun accepts, but not having 100,000 won, he will have to receive a slap every time he loses. When Gi-hun picks up, the recruiter suggests he play other games that will bring him even more money. When our protagonist asks if it's a scam, he will tell him his name, his age, his financial situation and the number of his debts. Faced with this, Gi-hun will agree to play the games and the recruiter will give him the invitation. The rest, we know it, GI-hun will play lots of deadly games for which he will lose all his friends and will be very traumatized and will be the only survivor having won 48 billions of won. One years laters, after Gi-hun is convinced to spend his money by the mastermind of the games, he will come across the recruiter who was playing Ddakji with another person in the metro. for which the recruiter will respond with a smirk. This will convince Gi-hun not to get on the plane to join his daughter and will decide to spend his time trying to put an end to the Squid Game.
He tried for two years to find the recruiter without success until the day Mr. Kim and Woo-seek, two gangsters who worked for Gi-hun, found him by chance in the subway playing ddakji with another person. They remembered him in a park where he gave homeless people the choice of taking a loaf of bread or a lottery ticket. After he had chosen the lottery ticket, he crushed the breads in front of them. After that, the two gangsters will try to arrest the recruiter in an isolated street but he beats them up before kidnapping them from his home. He will force them to play rock, paper, scissors, minus, in which the loser will be forced to play Russian roulette. While Woo-seek was going to lose, Mr. Kim decided to sacrifice himself for him by refusing to play, those for which the recruiter would kill him. The recruiter then went to the hotel that Gi-hun owned and then offered to play Russian roulette in exchange for information to see his superiors. Gi-hun will accept to play the games. At the end of the game, when Gi-hun is 1/2 away from firing a real bullet, the recruiter will say that he can break the rules and kill him if he wants but that will prove that he is only a trash that luckily came out of the dumpster. Gi-hun decided to shoot anyway and fortunately for him, no bullet came out. When it was the recruiter's turn to shoot with a 100% chance of dying, Gi-hun threw his own words in his face, saying that he could break the rules and kill him if he wanted but that would prove that he remains only a dog obedient to his superiors. Faced with this, the recruiter decides to remain faithful to his principles, pulls the last trigger of the gun and shoots himself in the head, killing him.
Heinous Standars:[]
Okay then the heinous standards franchise is high as fuck. First we have Oh Il-nam who sets the heinous standards of the franchise by having the one who created the games, being responsible for the death of several thousand players over the years. There's the Front Man who makes sure the games go as planned and who has become more heinous this season, having gotten a majority of players to vote "O" so the games continue and who killed the Gi-Hun's best friend. We also have The Masked Officer who makes sure to take the place of the Front Man when he is not there and who is the one who directs the organ operation who therefore takes the organs of eliminated players who are still alive. And even among players, the heinous standards are high. We have Jang Deok-su who is a gangster who caused around a dozens of deaths during a riot. We can cite Thanos who killed at least 6 people and Im Jeong-dae who convinced a large majority of players to vote "O" so that the games continue and there are more deaths.
So how can the recruiter stand out in all this? It's very simple by giving players the invitations to join the games knowing perfectly well what awaits them, it can be considered responsible for their deaths. He seems to have been doing this for at least over 3 years and he did this to several people so he is at least responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. This makes him stand out other villains like Deok-su very easily. And regarding the standard system, of course he only follows the orders of Oh Il-nam and the Front Man, but already he has an important role in the system, but also he takes great sadism in this, revealing to Gi-hun that he's happy to see trash like him die. But above all he also commits other crimes outside of their orders. After all, it was implied that what he did to Mr. Kim and Woo-seek, namely psychologically torturing them by forcing them to play Russian roulette before killing Mr. Kim, was his own devosion. This is not a case like O'Brien where although his crimes are horrific, they are all done in the name of the system with the latter doing nothing special for the norms. In the case of the recruiter, he has an indispensable role in what he does, takes a sadism in his actions and commits other crimes of his own will, proving that it is not the system that makes him heinous but himself.
What Makes Him Close to Be Pure Evil ?[]
Does He Have Reedeming Quality?[]
Not much. Okay, so it was very easy to think in the first season that this guy was genuinely affable to the players. However this idea is thrown into the widow when it is revealed in season 2 that he sees them as trash. He even begins to insult Gi-hun by taunting him about the fact that he plays very poorly with the Ddakji and that he is a lucky trash who managed to get out of the trash bin. Regarding his loyalty to Oh Il-nam and the Front Man, certainly he follows their orders and never betrays them but he doesn't really have proof that he is loyal to them, especially since he never speaks about the two. Otherwise, apart from its current prevention, there is nothing else to discuss. He doesn't care for anyone, having mentioned that he has a father but that he also kills him without remorse so nothing to say.
Does He Have a Freudian Excuse ?[]
Well look, if we take Fridge Logic into account, it's possible that his father was abusive to him and that he lived in poverty. But that's what, it's based on assumptions and he doesn't really have proof that he experienced a tragedy. These assumptions were never played for sympathy and even if they were true, it would not justify taking sadistic pleasure in killing poor people like he possibily was before.
Does He taken Seriously ?[]
Well, okay the guy has several comedic moments in the series such as his introduction where he slaps Gi-hun or when he starts crushing bread in front of the homeless people. It's certainly comical, but is it detracting? No.
Already the deadly games he sends players into are taken completely seriously with the majority of deaths that ensue being mostly taken seriously. Then there is his second appearance where he meets Gi-hun again who is also taken seriously with our hero who is shocked to see him. We also have the game of Russian roulette that he plays with the two gangsters which is taken seriously, with opera music playing in the background and his two victims who are all on the verge of tears and screaming. There's nothing comical about it. We finally have his last scene where he plays Russian roulette with Gi-hun which is totally taken seriously, with the recruiter who admits to having killed his father and who taunts the protagonist. In general, Gi-hun, who knows the danger he represents, takes him seriously and as a real threat. So no, he's not comic relief.
Does He Have Moral Agency ?[]
There is no evidence to the contrary. Certainly he is a little crazy and he is rather delusional but he knows how to hide his crimes or put on a mask of sanity to deceive his victims.
What's Prevent Him from Being Pure Evil ?[]
Honor.[]
So this is his current prevention. When there was only one shot left during Russian roulette with Gi-hun and he had a 100% chance of dying, instead of cheating he preferred to follow the rules of the game and shoot himself in the head. At first, I thought it wasn't reedeming since I interpreted it more as him sticking to his nihilistic principles and being too proud than admitting his error in his philosophy to Gi-hun.
But the thing is at the end, he still preferred to die than cheating, which is no small thing. He didn't even show anger when he lost and instead seemed grateful towards Gi-hun and kept his words when he said that the invitation to contact the Front Man was in his pocket. So yes, I think his honor is genuine.
Verdict.[]
I give him a yes to the recruiters although I will let you choose if he will become the second NPE of the franchise.