Stick to the Team
"Tug-of-War needs more than just raw strength."
Written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk
"Look at them. It looks like they’re planning something. If they try to attack someone, let’s group together and fight them."
— Cho Sang-woo
Player 111, a doctor, is working with a handful of staff to harvest organs from the dead players in exchange for information on what the next game will be. He joins Deok-su's team by offering them the information he's learned in the hopes of getting their protection. Meanwhile, Gi-hun realizes that Sang-woo could have helped their team in the previous game but forgives him because they're alive and together as a team, so that's what matters. The staff foments discord among the players when Deok-su and his team steal more food for themselves, leaving others without. When one confronts him, Deok-su kills the player, which adds another 100 million Won to the prize money total. After the lights go out, a riot erupts and numerous players are killed. Player 067 joins Gi-hun's team, who protect her from Deok-su's gang. When Player 001 begs everyone to stop, the Front Man sends his soldiers to end the riot. Gi-hun's team exchange names to build trust: Player 199 is Ali Abdul, and Player 067 is Kang Sae-byeok. Player 001, however, seems to have trouble speaking and remembering his name. While the staff retires for the night, the guard in the room next to Jun-ho sends him a message by coughing in Morse code. In the third game, players are told to form groups of ten. Deok-su, knowing that the upcoming game is tug-of-war thanks to the Doctor's intel, picks the biggest and strongest men and rejects Player 212, Han Mi-nyeo, despite her having helped him previously and even trading sex with him, leaving her to join Gi-hun's team of weaker players which includes him, Sang-Woo, Ali, and Sae-byeok, as well as Players 001 (the old man), 240 (another young woman named Ji-yeong), 196 (a paranoid grouch), 244 (a misogynistic pastor), and 276 (the only other non-Korean contestant besides Ali). Deok-su's team easily beats its opponent, leaving them falling off the platform they're playing on and to their deaths. Player 001 gives the team advice on how to best their opponent. It initially works, but then the opposing side gets a second wind. Sang-woo says it's time for their next solution, much to Mi-nyeo's horror.
"Stick to the Team" provides examples of:
- Batman Gambit: The staff provides each player with an egg and drink to have, claiming to be accounted for exactly each remaining player. At first, it seems that Deok-su's group cutting in line for "seconds" was simply them being jerks after not being satisfied of their portions. While that is the case, it is soon revealed that the staff is counting on this happening for what comes next.
- Brains Versus Brawn: How the second tug-of-war round ends up starting, with Gi-hun's weaker team relying on tactical knowledge to have a chance against their stronger, all-male opponents. Il-nam tells them all to pull and lean as far back as possible. The opposing team will struggle in the first seconds before losing their footing, allowing Gi-hun and the others to gain an advantage. However, when the other team gets a second wind and starts to pull back, Sang-woo forms an alternative plan.
- Cliffhanger: As Gi-hun's team is steadily losing in the tug-of-war game, Sang-woo suggests that every team member moves three steps forward, even if it could send them over the edge. He counts to three, the team moves forward, with Gi-hun's feet fast approaching the edge — and the episode cuts to black and rolls credits.
- Cowardly Lion: Mi-nyeo is scared of this challenge and screaming. She still falls in line to comply with the old man's strategy and literally pulls her own weight when everyone leans back, also moving forward three steps when Gi-hun says they need to try Sang-woo's strategy.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Sang-woo's plan, to run forward three steps is extremely risky. If it causes the other team to stumble, it could let them gain the advantage, but if the other team stays on their feet, then they'd give up enough ground that defeat would be certain. Mi-nyeo objects that it's practically suicidal, but they have few other options.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Team 1, consisting of Deok-su and many other able-bodied male players, defeats team 7, with older players and more women, within seconds.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Mi-nyeo is shocked and devastated when Deok-su betrays her and doesn't put her on his team. He then proceeds to shove and insult her in front of everybody when she starts begging and tried to appeal to the nickname she gave him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Though they are thugs and killers, complete with a doctor doing organ donation on living players before lights out, Deok-su is the only one laughing when they win their round of tug of war. Most of the others are too horrified as they lie on the platform.
- Everyone Knows Morse: 29 did, apparently. Jun-ho when he hears the coughs transcribes it into Morse code in his notes, showing he knows the symbolism if not the translation.
- Eye Scream: The doctor removes some eyes from a corpse and places them in a bag lined with ice.
- Forced to Watch:
- While undercover, Jun-ho is unable to save the riot victims; the most he can do is check on Gi-hun after the fact, and ask if his brother is there. Even if he did storm in with the issued machine gun, that's one man against about fifty guards and a gang of players. He's shaken about it during lights out when taking notes on his phone.
- The teams not chosen for a set of tug-of-war have to sit and watch the preceding competition before their lot is drawn. It definitely psyches out Gi-hun and some of their team members when they see ten people fall to their deaths in a matter of seconds. Their only consolation is they only have to participate in one round and are safe from further games that day, meaning that Gi-hun's crew won't have to go up against Deok-su. Deok-su is disappointed, saying he wanted to kill them personally.
- Forgiveness: Showing Character Development, Gi-hun approaches the pickpocket before lights out and offers that she can join his group and he doesn't bring up the stolen money at all. He says that Deok-su has it out for her, and there is safety in numbers. She says that she'll think about it.
- Four Is Death: In the fourth episode, a riot happens that takes out 27 people. The next day, the players are forced to be responsible for killing an entire group of individuals.
- Groin Attack: Sae-byeok knees Deok-su in the crotch to escape his chokehold.
- Hero Antagonist: No one on the opposing team facing Gi-hun's crew seems to be particularly bad, especially the leader. When you see their faces, they're a bunch of scared, desperate people fighting for their survival.
- Hope Spot:
- The team going against Deok-su manages to hold their ground at first, pulling as much as the thugs do. Then Deok-su shouts "Kill them!" and swiftly leads his group in yanking the team over the edge.
- Il-nam's Brains Versus Brawn tactic gives his team an advantage...at first. However, their opponents get a second wind and begin to turn the tables, forcing them to hastily enact a plan B thought up on the spot by Sang-woo.
- I'll Kill You! My-nyeo promises to kill Deok-su for betraying her. He says, "Ooh, I'm so scared."
- It Only Works Once: Gi-hun's team tries to lean back when the other team gets their second wind, as they did at the start of the game. They can't get enough leverage to stand still. That's when Sang-woo suggests a new plan.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- The cynical man who tells the old man to save his strength rather than give advice on tug-of-war. While listening to him is a good idea, the old man did stay up all night to keep watch over his crew. Gi-hun even worried about him playing while sleep-deprived.
- From Mi-nyeo's point of view, walking towards the edge of a platform that leads to a deadly fall sounds like an easy way to throw the match and sentence the entire crew to a broken neck. Sang-woo shouts at her and everyone to trust him; he was studying the other team's footing and they just need to throw them off balance.
- Last-Second Villain Recovery: Gi-hun's team initially appear outmatched in the strength department, but Il-nam is able to come up with a strategy that leaves the opposing team on the verge of toppling... only for said team to recover and stage a comeback, ending the episode on a cliffhanger when Sang-woo calls for a new plan.
- Literal Cliffhanger: Two teams are stationed high up where the tug-of-war takes place. The losing team that falls off their ledge hang at the center, a few seconds before a guillotine cuts the rope, sending them plummeting to the concrete below. If they're lucky, the fall will kill them immediately.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Deok-su and Mi-nyeo have sex in a stall inside the game's public restroom. This is justified, however, as the main game room has a lot of people and bunk beds. There is also the fact that this takes place just after a violent Prison Riot.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!":
- It clearly hits all the players hard to discover there's no penalty if they kill each other, meaning they all need to keep a careful eye on a lot of people who are very motivated to bump them off.
- When the first tug-of-war set plays out, no one is actually sure what will happen. Then they see that the losing team is pulled off the platform, dangling for a few seconds, and sent flying to the ground when a guillotine slices the rope. Cue the Oh, Crap! on everyone's faces as it sinks in they'll either die or murder the other team.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: This is the first episode where the man is not smiling in certain moments. He's legitimately scared during the prison riot and shouts for it to stop. Later, he's the one that tells the team This Is No Time to Panic as they ride the elevator up to the platform because they can still win. His advice actually helps them in the beginning of the match.
- Prison Riot: A nighttime massacre is instigated by Deok-su's gang. It was invoked by the game staff to "weed out the weak", who stepped back from protecting contestants from each other and further increased tensions by giving everyone little food.
- Properly Paranoid: When instructed to form a ten-person team before the game is revealed, Sang-woo and other players try to form one with all-men or at least male-dominated. Sang-woo is rightfully worried about the team he has, as the game is soon revealed to be a lethal version of tug-of-war.
- Refuge in Audacity: Gi-hun doesn't question a guard asking him about another player because he's too shaken by the riot, barely surviving by the skin of his teeth and seeing people die in front of him. The Irony is that Jun-ho could probably help him but has already seen that he needs to blend in to not get caught.
- The Reliable One: Ali's further reinforced as this when Gi-hun has him take up the rear of the rope since he's strong and dependable. He holds his weight, as well as the weight of everyone on the team even as they lose ground.
- Rewatch Bonus: Il-nam's plea for the guards to stop the riot massacre takes a whole other meaning after the reveal in the final episode. The same goes his urging for everyone to not give up, and dropping his smile.
- Smoking Hot Sex: Deok-su and Mi-nyeo share a cigarette after having sex.
- Spanner in the Works: To the You Are Number 6 ploy that the players fight for themselves and remain nameless. An undercover Jun-ho asks Gi-hun if a prisoner by the name of In-ho Hwang is there. Gi-hun answers that they don't know everyone's names...and the "Eureka!" Moment hits him. He advises his tiny crew that if they exchange names, it means they aren't just meatsacks, but friends that can build bonds.
- Time for Plan B: When Il-nam's plan starts to wane, Sang-woo desperately suggests a new plan, leading to the Cliffhanger and next episode.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Mi-nyeo gives a little "Oh, shit" when she sees that her team's opponents are all able-bodied men.
- This Is No Time to Panic: The old man tells everyone in the elevator not to lose hope. They have a fighting chance to win. Another man tells him to save his strength for the game, but Gi-hun says they have nothing to lose by listening to him.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: The old man claims that he always won tug-of-war even when the other team had a strong guy or a wrestler.
- Unbroken Vigil: The old man kept up a watch all night until the lights came on during the morning. He says he felt guilty about his helplessness during the riots and wanted to be useful. Gi-hun expresses worry that the man may be too exhausted for the games, but the old man reassures him he's tougher than he looks.
- Weak, but Skilled: Some members of Team 4 include women and an old man who all aren't that strong, but they're able to put up a fight thanks to Il-nam's strategy and Sang-woo's quick improvisation.
"Move up or you’ll die! On count of three! One! Two! Three!"
