History Recap / SquidGameS1E7VIPS

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: During the game, the person ahead of Deok-su begs for him not to push him, and that he'll keep the pace up, knowing full well how dangerous Deok-su is. However, Deok-su genuinely assures him that he won't do that, because he needs him to cross so that he can cross himself.

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Deok-su assures the person in front of him that he won't kill him because he needs him to cross so that he can cross himself.

* SurefootedBarefooter: The contestants must cross a precarious bridge of glass panes by jumping from panel to panel. This is an InvokedTrope when they take off their shoes to increase their traction.

The group is brought into the next room, which is modeled after a circus tent, with two columns of multiple glass panels ahead of them. The PA announces that they will be playing the Stepping Stones game - in each row, there is one tempered glass panel, which can support the weight of two players, and a normal glass panel, which will break if even one player lands on it. The objective is to cross to the other side before the 16-minute time limit runs out. Player 096, the first one in line, is hesitant to jump. The other players beg him to not waste time, and Deok-su walks up to him, threatening to push him off if he doesn't go. Eventually, Player 096 jumps onto the first panel and reveals it to be safe, but isn't as lucky for the second, and falls to his death.

* TheReveal: In an earlier episode we learned the games have been going on for decades. This episode reveals that South Korea is merely a single branch. There are possibly dozens, if not hundreds, of similar games taking place all around the world each year for a handful of incredibly rich VIPs to gamble on.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Subverted. Gi-hun asks why the glassmaker didn't reveal his talent at the beginning of the game. It could have saved more people's lives, rather than the four of them. The glassmaker mentions that the people ahead of them had previously tried to kill him and others; what's to say they wouldn't have murdered him as soon as he outlived his usefulness? Not that the glassmaker creating a straight path from the start would have done any good; the Front Man would have killed the lights earlier to take away his advantage, so their best bet was to do this at the end and just hope the Front Man wouldn't notice until it was too late.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Deok-su doesn't stage a riot that night, and doesn't steal people's rations after the fourth game. He can tell that even with half his gang available, it's not the time and place.

* ForegoneConclusion: The first player of the fifth game is the first to die. The only question is how far can they go before then.
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Jang-woo's speech to the widow starts as this. He tells him to pull himself together. Then it devolves into a YouShouldHaveDiedInstead speech.

* HeroicSacrifice: Deok-su is wasting valuable time for the people behind him while making others go first. Mi-nyeo also can't respect that he was a DirtyCoward who threw her away when it was convenient for him and tosses others ahead like fodder. So she "volunteers" to go ahead of him, locks her arms around his waist, and leans back with all her strength. The glass panel they crash into is the breakable one, and it sends them to their deaths. She threw the match to get her revenge ''and'' ensure that the other players could still cross while seeing one panel was unsafe.
* HesDeadJim: Ali is one of the many bodies loaded into a ribboned coffin. He's at least not moving, so he won't be dissected or burned alive.

** Player 096 was lucky enough to pick the correct first panel. The second? Not so much.
** Late in the game, Player 017 realizes he can tell which panel is the right one by hitting it with a hard object, but does not have one. Luckily, Gi-hun still has one marble from the prior game and passes him one that he throws on one of the two panels. Unfortunately, just when it seems like all four remaining players will be able to survive, Player 017 says that he needs another one to test it on the second panel and compare noises to be absolutely sure. Sang-woo loses his patience and just pushes him onto one, killing him, instead.
* IronicEcho: A more immediate example. Jun-ho is escorted to a private room by a VIP who then strips naked and asks Jun-ho to fellate him, saying, "If you can satisfy me in five minutes, I’ll change your life." Jun-ho then crushes his genitals, quipping "Satisfied?", before pulling a gun on him and saying, "If you can satisfy me in five minutes, I ''might'' let you live." He then orders the VIP to spill all he knows about the game on camera.

* LOL69: The main reason why one of the [=VIPs=] bet on Player 069. He was frustrated that the player killed himself before the next game. He then picked Player 096 for the same reason and was even more pissed when he chose to go first and eventually died.
* LuckBasedMission: The game in the episode, "Glass Stepping Stones" is this, with two parallel bridges made of glass panels suspended between metal bars. For each pair of glass panels, one is tempered glass that can hold the weight of two people, and the other is regular glass that will break under a person’s weight. There is no obvious way to tell the panels apart, so the only way to have a good chance of finishing is to go late, after the other players have revealed the correct panels. However, the players chose the order they would go in before they knew what the game even was, and some of them chose their numbers before even knowing it would determine the order they play in. When one of the players, a man who worked in a glass factory for 30 years, reveals that he can tell the panels apart by seeing how light reflects in them, the [=VIP=]s notice his strange behavior and the Front Man turns the lights off. The three who survive the game, Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and Sae-byeok, were also the last three players to start the game.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: After a riot was started by limited food a few episodes ago, you'd expect Deok-su would be trying to steal people's rations. Nope; even he doesn't try to disrupt the somber atmosphere, as more than a few people are refusing to bite into their potato. Heck, when the husband tries to beg for people to start a vote, Deok-su isn't the one to get up and silence him violently.

** The Front Man allowed Mi-nyeo to live because no one chose her as a partner; she and everyone else thought that she would get a bullet to the head. After the guards escorted her back to the barracks, Mi-nyeo spends the day sleeping away the past week of trauma, waking up when people return. She's thus in the best shape the next day but has a silent DeathGlare that should make Deok-su nervous.

** On four separate occasions, a player falls or is pushed onto the panel directly in front of them. Since the opposite result would be anticlimactic (and rather awkward), each time this happens, the panel in question is normal glass and the players fall to their death.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Gi-hun asks why the glassmaker didn't reveal his talent at the beginning of the game. It could have saved more people's lives, rather than the four of them. The glassmaker mentions that the people ahead of them had tried killing him, and others. What's to say they wouldn't have murdered him as soon as he outlived his usefulness? Not that the glassmaker creating a straight path from the start would have done any good; the Front Man would have killed the lights earlier to take away his advantage, so their best bet was to do this at the end and just hope the Front Man wouldn't notice until it was too late.

** The glass bridge dramatically explodes once the timer runs out and showers the three survivors with glass shards
[[spoiler:(and ends up impaling Sae-byeok)]]. The fact the guards standing watch on either side would be just as exposed to the glass explosion as the players is not addressed (while their masks might protect their face, their soft suits would likely not protect an unlucky guard from [[spoiler:being impaled like Sae-byeok did.)]]

* RuleOfDrama: On four separate occasions, a player falls or is pushed onto the panel directly in front of them. Since the opposite result would be anticlimactic (and rather awkward), each time this happens, the panel in question is normal glass and the players fall to their death.

* ComeOutComeOutWhereverYouAre: When The Front Man suspects that the "intruder" is in his office, he pulls out a gun and starts making a WorthyOpponent speech, opening the closets. He misses Jun-ho by a hair, thanks to Jun-ho doing some preparation to make the guards think he's dead.

* CrazyPrepared: Jun-ho found the dead body of a man that looked like him and planted his ID on the guy during the fourth game. ''That's'' forward-thinking.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Gi-hun asks why the glassmaker didn't reveal his talent at the beginning of the game. It could have saved more people's lives, rather than the four of them. The glassmaker mentions that the people ahead of them had tried killing him, and others. What's to say they wouldn't have murdered him as soon as he outlived his usefulness? Not that the glassmaker creating a straight path would have done any good; the Front Man would have killed the lights to take away his advantage.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Before the fifth game begins, 096 begs Gi-hun to be first in line, since he wants to feel in control of his life for once and thusly wants to be the first to play the game. [[OhCrap He changes his attitude pretty quickly once he sees what the game is really about...]]
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Deok-su assures the person in front of him that he won't kill him because he needs him to cross so that he can himself.

* CrazyPrepared: Jun-ho found the dead body of a man that looked like him and planted his ID on the guy during the fourth game. That's forward-thinking.

* DirtyOldMan: A creepy, grey-haired VIP takes Jun-ho into a private room and coerces him into performing sexual acts. Jun-ho threatens him back with his pistol. Earlier, he bet on Player 069 solely because [[LOL69 of the exact reason you think he did]].

* GroinAttack: When a VIP tries to get Jun-ho to have sex with him, Jun-ho grabs the VIP's junk hard enough to leave the guy squealing in pain before pulling out his pistol and forcing him to spill everything he knows about the games.

* IronicEcho: A more immediate example. Jun-ho is escorted to a private room by a VIP who then strips naked and asks Jun-ho to fellate him, saying, "If you can satisfy me in five minutes, I’ll change your life." Jun-ho then crushes his genitals, pulls a gun on him and says, "If you can satisfy me in five minutes, I ''might'' let you live," before ordering him to spill all he knows about the game on camera.

* MatchCut: The episode occasionally cuts back and forth between the players jumping across the panels and respective chess pieces being moved across a miniature of the bridge made for the [=VIPs=] to follow along. A notable instance occurs after Mi-nyeo takes Deok-su down with her, after which the episode cuts to both of their chess pieces tumbling to the ground.

The next morning, the players wake up to find that Player 069 had hung himself out of heartbreak from the trauma. Most are shocked and horrified, including a guilt-ridden Sang-woo, except Deok-su, who is overjoyed as his chances of winning have only increased. Eventually, the players are led to their fifth game, but first enter a room with 16 mannequins, each with their own numbered vest. When the PA announces that the numbers on the vests correspond to the order in which they will play the game. Naturally, the players rush to get the middle numbers as they seem to be the safest, but Gi-hun is too slow and is left with only 1 and 16; first and last. Before Gi-hun can pick the first vest, Player 096 approaches him and asks to have Vest 1 instead, since he wants to take initiative in his life for once and thusly wants to be the first to play the game, to which Gi-hun agrees.

The mood back in the dorms is solemn, with most players having lost the person they were closest to in the games. Gi-hun is still shaken by the previous game, while Sae-byeok slowly eats her meal. Sang-woo, however, seems to be unaffected and tells Gi-hun not to beat himself up so much as Il-nam was merely a random person he met a few days ago and already an old man who was close to death's door anyway, pointing out that Player 069 is in a worse situation as he was forced to play against his wife, Player 070. It's then that Player 069 begs the remaining players to vote to end the games, clearly in agony over losing his wife, but Sang-woo berates him, saying that all their effort will be for nothing if they quit. Gi-hun and the other players can only look on in pity, knowing Sang-woo is right.

As the game progresses, the players near the start of the line fall to their deaths, while at the same time marking out a clear path for the remaining players. Gi-hun notes that there are enough glass tiles left for the last few players to cross without having to guess, but Sang-woo warns him that if the players in front waste time, they too will be in danger at the back. When Deok-su gets to the front, he refuses to continue, confirming Sang-woo's warning. Mi-nyeo taunts Deok-su and calls him a coward, but the latter still refuses to budge. Mi-nyeo tells Deok-su she will go first, but when Deok-su allows her to cross, she wraps her arms around him. Deok-su struggles, but is unable to pry her off of him. Mi-nyeo, as an act of revenge for him betraying her in the third game, throws the both of them off the bridge, killing them both in a murder-suicide.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Before the fifth game begins, 096 begs Gi-hun to be player 01, since he wants to feel in control of his life for once and thusly wants to be the first to play the game. [[OhCrap He changes his attitude pretty quickly once he sees what the game is really about...]]

* HeroicSacrifice: Deok-su is wasting valuable time for the people behind him while making others go first. Mi-nyeo also can't respect that he was a DirtyCoward who threw her away when it was convenient for him and tosses others ahead like fodder. So she "volunteers" to go ahead of him, locks her arms around his waist, and leans back with all her strength. The panel ends up being tampered and sends them to their deaths. She threw the match to get her revenge ''and'' ensure that the other players could still cross while seeing one panel was unsafe.

* TooDumbToLive: With no one else in front of him, Deok-su decides to stall and bully other players to go ahead of him, whether or not they are lucky to survive the next panels. He forgets that time is running out and he will die anyway if he doesn't proceed. Mi-nyeo decides that enough is enough and throws him off with her.

* YourHeadASplode: Downplayed but no less gory. Unlike the victims of Game 3, some unlucky players land on their head on impact, causing their brains to spill out.

The mood back in the dorms is solemn, with most players having lost the person they were closest to in the games. Gi-hun is still shaken by the previous game, while Sae-byeok slowly eats her meal. Sang-woo, however, seems to be unaffected and tells Gi-hun not to beat himself up so much as Il-nam was merely a random person he met a few days ago and already an old man who was close to death's door anyway, pointing out that Player 069 is in a worse situation as he was forced to play against his wife, Player 070. It's then that Player 069 begs the remaining players to vote to end the games, clearly in agony over losing his wife,but Sang-woo berates him, saying that all their effort will be for nothing if they quit. Gi-hun and the other players can only look on in pity, knowing Sang-woo is right.

As the game progresses, the players near the start of the line fall to their deaths, while at the same time marking out a clear path for the remaining players. Gi-hun notes that there are enough glass tiles left for the last few players to cross without having to guess, but Sang-woo warns him that if the players in front waste time, they too will be in danger at the back. When Deok-su gets to the front, he refuses to continue, confirming Sang-woo's warning. Mi-nyeo taunts Deok-su and calls him a coward, but the latter still refuses to budge. Mi-nyeo tells Deok-su she will go first, but when Deok-su allows her to cross, she wraps her arms around him. Deok-su struggles, but is unable to pry her off of him. Mi-nyeo, as an act of revenge for him betraying her in the third game, throws the both of them off the glass, killing them both in a murder-suicide.

The mood back in the dorms is solemn, with most players having lost the person they were closest to in the games. Gi-hun is still shaken by the previous game, while Sae-byeok slowly eats her meal. Sang-woo, however, seems to be unaffected and tells Gi-hun not to worry so much as Il-nam was already an old man who was close to death's door anyway. It's then that Player 069 begs the remaining players to vote to end the games, clearly in agony over losing his wife, Player 070, but Sang-woo berates him, saying that all their effort will be for nothing if they quit. Gi-hun and the other players can only look on in pity, knowing Sang-woo is right.

The next morning, the players wake up to find that Player 069 had hung himself out of heartbreak from the trauma. Most are shocked and horrified, including a guilt-ridden Sang-woo, except Deok-su, who is overjoyed as his chances of winning have only increased. Eventually, the players are led to their fifth game, but first enter a room with 16 mannequins, each with their own numbered vest. When the PA announces that the numbers on the vests correspond to the order in which they will play the game. Naturally, the players rush to get the middle numbers as they seem to be the safest, but Gi-hun is too slow and is left with only 1 and 16; first and last. Before Gi-hun can pick the first vest, Player 096 approaches him and asks to have Vest 1 instead, to which Gi-hun agrees.

The next morning, the players wake up to find that Player 069 had hung himself out of heartbreak from the trauma. Most are shocked, while for Sang-woo is neutral and Deok-su is overjoyed as his chances of winning have only increased. Eventually, the players are led to their fifth game, but first enter a room with 16 mannequins, each with their own numbered vest. When the PA announces that the numbers on the vests correspond to the order in which they will play the game. Naturally, the players rush to get the middle numbers as they seem to be the safest, but Gi-hun is too slow and is left with only 1 and 16; first and last. Before Gi-hun can pick the first vest, Player 096 approaches him and asks to have Vest 1 instead, to which Gi-hun agrees.

The survivors of the fourth game return to their room and discover Mi-nyeo was not executed, despite not having participated in the game. The players are all shocked and disgusted by her callous attitude, especially Deok-su. Meanwhile, the Front Man welcomes the VIP guests to the facility for a front-row viewing of the games.

The players return to the dorm where Mi-nyeo is waiting, having been allowed to sit out the game. Player 069, who beat his wife in the marble game, commits suicide. The [=VIP=]s arrive and are welcomed by the Front Man on behalf of his boss, the host. The [=VIP=]s are wealthy patrons who gamble on the games. Jun-ho, who is posing as one of the masked servants, is sexually propositioned by one of the [=VIP=]s. In a private room, Jun-ho interrogates the [=VIP=] for info and escapes the island with a scuba kit. In the fifth game the players, in a predetermined order, have 16 minutes to cross a bridge made up of panels of either tempered glass, or normal glass which can't support their weight. The players at the front of the line fall to their death as the panels are tested. When Deok-su gets to the front of the line, he refuses to move; Mi-nyeo grabs him and they fall together. With four players left, Sang-woo pushes Player 017, killing him to reveal the last trick panel. Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and Sae-byeok complete the game just as the remaining panels explode when the clock runs out.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Sang-woo appears horrified to see that Player 069 committed suicide, especially as during his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to him, he told the man that if he was truly upset over losing his wife, he should have been the one who died instead.