Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the second season premiere of Squid Game.

As much as the debut season of The Squid Game drew viewers into its maze of sadistic games and psychological drama, the finale still left the audience with a number of unanswered questions. How would lone survivor Seong Gi-hoon (Lee Jung-jae) use the vast resources at his disposal to exact revenge on the perpetrators? With the death of Oh Il-nam (Oh Yeong-soo), the kindly old man who turns out to be the man behind the curtain all along, will the mysterious Front Man (turned out to be the missing In-ho, played by Lee Byung-hun) step up to take on the big job? Speaking of which, whatever happened to the frontman's brother, seasoned detective Hwang Joon-ho (Wi Ha-joon) — along with the damning evidence he collected and tried to send to his police superiors?

The well-received second season wastes no time catching fans up on this missing piece of information, confirming that the cop survived that tense cliffhanger encounter with his longtime brother, who turned out to be the frontman. But while he managed to walk away from a bullet wound and fall into the ocean far below, the same cannot be said for the intelligence he tried to use to blow the whistle on the whole operation. However, at least he's since returned to his old profession, fighting crime and keeping civilians safe ... though not in the way anyone would have ever expected.

If there's one thing this early story with Hwang Joon-ho proves, it's that gaming has taken its toll and nothing will ever be the same again. Years after the finale, the once ruthless detective is now a shell of his former self. Yet deep down, after all, his need to discover the squid game for what it is continues to drive him.

Do you like good news or bad news first? On the one hand, in the second season premiere titled "Bread and the Lottery" we learn that Wi Ha-joon survived his traumatizing ordeal on the island's mysterious location who hosts the Squid Game competition of the same name (albeit only after a long stay in the hospital to recover from his wounds). On the other hand, the video and photographic evidence he tried to send to the boss never went through, and the authorities are not in a hurry to believe such a far-fetched story. And to add insult to injury, the latest indignity sees Joon-ho – once such a talented and efficient detective – now working the beat of a traffic cop, stopping motorcyclists for minor offenses and going nowhere, career wise.

Of course, that's hardly the last word on one of the show's most promising heroes. We learn that in the last two years since the first season finale, Joon-ho has stayed in touch with the fisherman who pulled him out of the sea and saved his life. Since then, he has convinced the captain to cross the ocean in search of that mysterious island. What's more, Joon-ho seems to get the motivation he needs to break out of this rut ​​and get his mind back on track, thanks to a chance crossing of paths with a similarly restored Seong Gi-hoon. Our main hero has been busy with his vast wealth at work, funding a massive subway manhunt for the mysterious recruiter who sucked him into the games in the first place... and who continues to do so with countless victims at desperate stages of their lives.

The premiere ends with the Recruiter (Gong Yoo) killing himself in a game of Russian roulette, while Joon-ho breaks into Seong Gi-hoon's motel hideout and discovers some files that will almost certainly bring the two back together as a team. it's been a long, long time coming. Every episode of the second season of The Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix.