VIPS
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 by this, especially Deok-su. Meanwhile, the Front Man welcomes the VIP guests to the facility for a front-row viewing of the games.
The mood back in the dorms is solemn, with most of the 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.
The next morning, the players wake up to find that Player 069 had hanged 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 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.
Jun-ho kills a waiter and assumes his identity. He serves the VIPS as they watch the fifth game and bet on the players. VIP 4 develops an attraction to Jun-ho and orders him to take off his mask, threatening to kill him if he doesn't comply. Knowing he will be executed if he removes his mask, Jun-ho asks him to go someplace private. In the secluded room, the VIP takes off Jun-ho's mask and then takes off his own clothes. The VIP attempts to molest him, but Jun-ho attacks and subdues the VIP and holds him at gunpoint. Jun-ho then films the VIP, offering to spare his life if he tells Jun-ho everything he knows about the game. The VIP is later found alive but unconscious in that room, but Jun-ho has already escaped, with the search for him continuing.
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, fulfilling her promise that she would have her revenge for him betraying her in the third game, throws both herself and Deok-su off the bridge, killing them both in a murder-suicide.
As the timer runs down, only four players are left: Gi-hun, Sae-byeok, Sang-woo, and Player 017, the lattermost being at the front of the line. He claims to be have been a glass manufacturer with over 30 years of experience and says that if viewed from a certain angle, tempered glass will have faint stain marks. He correctly guesses the next correct panel, to the relief of the other three. However, when the Front-Man turns off the lights, he is unable to determine the last correct panel. With time running out, Sang-woo mercilessly shoves Player 017 off and into the last trick panel, sending him falling to his death. Sae-byeok and Gi-hun are in shock, but have no time to react as the timer approaches zero. The remaining three players safely make it across just as the timer runs out, and the remaining glass panels are shattered, sending sharp glass shards among the three remaining players.
"VIPS" provides examples of:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: 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. He changes his attitude pretty quickly once he sees what the game is really about.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: 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 points out that he's got no reason to kill him, since that would doom himself in the process.
- Chekhov's Gun: Gi-hun's marble, given to him by Il-nam at the end of the fourth game, proved useful to help Player 017 and the others determine which of the last panels is tempered... or so they all thought. No one had anything else to test the other panel to confirm the difference.
- Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: When The Front Man suspects that the "intruder" is in his office, he pulls out a gun and starts making a Worthy Opponent speech, opening the closets. He misses Jun-ho by a hair, thanks to the staff calling in about a dead body they found (coincidentally the body of the guard Jun-ho mugged and threw overboard in Episode 3).
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Subverted. Gi-hun calls out the glassmaker for not revealing his skill at the beginning of the game, as it could have saved more people's lives, rather than the four of them. The glassmaker answers that the people ahead of them had previously tried to kill other people to reduce their competition; what's to say they wouldn't have murdered him as soon as he outlived his usefulness? Not that the glassmaker revealing the correct steps from the start would have done any good; the Front Man would have dimmed the lights right off the bat to take away his advantage, so their best bet was to do this at the end of the bridge and just hope no one would notice until it was too late.
- Death by Woman Scorned: Mi-nyeo had previously threatened Deok-su that she would kill him if he ever betrayed her. She makes good on this threat here. The VIPs even call it a fitting and poetic end for the two of them.
- Dirty Old Man: A creepy, grey-haired VIP takes Jun-ho into a private room and tries to coerce him into performing sexual acts. Jun-ho threatens him back with his pistol. Earlier, he bet on Player 069 solely because of the exact reason you think he did.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The show up to this point hasn't been shy about taking shots at capitalism. This episode drives it further by revealing that the entire game has been a show for the amusement of the wealthy VIPs.
- Driven to Suicide: Player 069 hangs himself with bedsheets after accidentally causing the death of his wife in the marble game.
- Dwindling Party: At the start of the episode, only 17 of the original 456 players remain, and a few main characters have died. By the end, only three players — Gi-hun, Sang-woo, and Sae-byeok — remain.
- Even Evil Has Standards: 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 or place.
- Faking the Dead: Jun-ho fakes his death and uses his cop ID to seal the deal. The Front Man studies the ID.
- Flipping the Bird: Mi-nyeo does this towards Deok-su while the players are eating after the fourth game.
- Foregone Conclusion: Unless they're lucky to the point where they could just buy a lottery ticket and be set for several lifetimes without having to come to the games in the first place, the first player of the fifth game is guaranteed to die. The only question is how far can they go before then.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Sang-woo's speech to the widow starts as this. He tells him to pull himself together. Then it devolves into a You Should Have Died Instead speech.
- Groin Attack: When a VIP tries to get Jun-ho to go down on 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.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Deok-su is wasting valuable time for the people behind him to force others to go first. Mi-nyeo also can't respect that he was a Dirty Coward 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 with the information on which upcoming panel was unsafe.
- He's Dead, Jim: Ali is one of the many bodies loaded into a ribboned coffin. He's at least not moving, and he has a bullet would going all the way out the other side of his head, so he won't be dissected or burned alive.
- Hope Spot:
- Player 096 was lucky enough to pick the correct first panel. The second? Not so much. Downplayed, in that he still had a massive amount of metaphorical coin tosses to make before even having a hope of being safe.
- Late in the game, Player 017 ends up near the finish and in pole position, and uses his skill as a former glass blower to discern which of the panels ahead are safe. However, the Front Man quickly dims the lights to remove his advantage. However, he has a backup plan to tell which panel is the right one by hitting it with a hard object. Luckily, Gi-hun still has one marble from the prior game, and passes it on to him, which he bounces across one of the two panels. Player 017 then says that he needs another one for comparison, and nobody else has one. As Player 017 is too hesitant to make his choice, Sang-woo pushes him into the next panel, killing him, before the time runs out.
- Ironic Echo: A more immediate example. Jun-ho is escorted to a private room by a VIP who then strips naked and orders 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.
- Kick the Dog: The glassmaker is down to one last panel, and he's examining them carefully. It's one panel, with four players left, and tensions are already high since they have one minute left. Yet the VIPs complain that it's no fun if the glassmaker can figure out which panel is safe, so the Front Man kills the lights in the bridge room. That's downright petty.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Deok-su suffers some serious and very well-deserved payback near the end of the episode for everything he did up until this point, with Mi-nyeo, the woman he screwed over twice, being the one to do him in by her dragging him to fall with her to their deaths.
- I Like Those Odds: Player 062, a math teacher, determines his odds of making it across the bridge to be 1 in 32,768. Seeing nothing more to lose, he sprints across the glass. He ends up making it across several panes before he picks the wrong one, and it clears a rough path for the following players.
- Lampshade Hanging: The VIPs' commentary occasionally has this sprinkled in, particularly with Mi-nyeo taking out Deok-su being "a poetic ending for them both".
- LOL, 69: 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 quickly died.
- Luck-Based Mission: 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 VIPs cotton onto what he's doing 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.
- Match Cut: 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, with a shot of their bodies falling in slow-motion cutting to a shot of both of their chess pieces tumbling to the ground.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sang-woo mourns Ali as they eat the dinner rations, knowing it was his fault that Ali trusted him, and that the man would have saved some potatoes for his "big brother". He later appears horrified to see that Player 069 committed suicide, especially as during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech 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.
- Never Tell Me the Odds!: Subverted. The math teacher, Player 062, quickly calculates the odds he has of making it alive through chancenote , realizes he has little to no chance of getting through it and decides to just go for it. Of course, he dies, but it still nudges the other players forward.
- Oh, Crap!: Player 096 has this reaction upon finding out he just sentenced himself to death by becoming the first person to pass the glass bridge.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: 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 widowed husband tries to beg for people to end the games, Deok-su doesn't get up and violently silence him, despite having plenty of time to do so.
- Pet the Dog:
- 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 Death Glare that should make Deok-su nervous.
- Deok-su doesn't even threaten a riot that night after what happened, and the remainders of Gi-hun's team don't bother putting up a barricade. He also sincerely compliments the players that go ahead of him, until they all die.
- Psychological Projection: Sang-woo's You Should Have Died Instead speech at the husband begging for everyone to call a vote to go home seems to be this. He rants about how they all knew there would be deaths, and going home now won't bring the eliminated players back, or allow the survivors to atone for their actions if at all. If she mattered so much to her husband, he should have chosen his fate rather than sacrifice hers. Sang-woo is screaming his guilt about tricking Ali and leaving him to die.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Pretty much all of the remaining players assumed that because Mi-nyeo was the odd person out, since no one picked her for the previous game, she would be executed by default. Deok-su is especially shocked to learn that's not the case. Instead, she was simply escorted back to the quarters to wait.
- The Reveal: 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.
- Rule of Drama:
- On four separate occasions, a player is pushed onto the panel directly in front of them. Each time this happens, the panel in question is normal glass and the players fall to their death, since the player landing on tempered glass and being safe would be anticlimactic (and rather awkward).
- The glass bridge dramatically explodes once the timer runs out and showers the three survivors with glass shards (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 being impaled like Sae-byeok did.)
- Shoot the Dog: When Player 017 can't tell which panel is tempered at the end with time running out fast, Sang-woo pushes him forward, causing him to fall through the non-tempered glass to his death. As a result, Sang-woo, Sae-byeok and Gi-hun know which tile is safe and are able to make it across just in time, though neither of the latter two are happy about what he did.
- Shout-Out: To poet William Congreve's The Mourning Bride. A VIP incorrectly attributes the "Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd / Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd" to Shakespeare and is corrected by another VIP.
- Spanner in the Works: Player 111's cheating got him killed in Episode 5, resulting in an uneven set of players. Because of this, Mi-nyeo is the odd one out before Game 4 started because no one picked her as a partner. Contrary to everyone's thoughts (including hers) that she would be executed, she was instead escorted back to the players' quarters to wait things out.
- Suddenly Always Knew That: It turns out Player 017 worked for 30 years in a glass factory, which allows him to tell the difference between the safe and deadly glass panels. The game-makers failed to account for this when designing the game, even though it was in his file. Eventually, the Front Man turns out the lights to revert the game back to its intended difficulty.
- Surefooted Barefooter: The contestants must cross a precarious bridge of glass panes by jumping from panel to panel, and are ordered to remove their shoes beforehand, which would increase their flexibility on the panes.
- Taking You with Me: Mi-nyeo tightly grabs Deok-su before forcefully leaning back as revenge for the latter betraying her, causing both to fall to their deaths.
- The Teaser: The first part shows Ali being put into his coffin, which is then closed and taken away to be cremated, solidifying that, although we didn't fully see a body getting shot in the last episode, he is indeed dead. The other part of the teaser shows the Front Man about to welcome the VIPs.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: There's a glassmaker among the players in the glass bridge crossing. As a result, he can figure out which panel is tempered and which isn't by the way the light reflects off of them. This skill has not been useful anywhere else, and likely wouldn't have been so here, either, had the game makers done their due diligence and checked his file.
- Timed Mission: The players have sixteen minutes to cross the bridge of glass panels before the timer runs out. When it does, the remaining glass panels on the bridge are shown to explode into pieces, which would drop anyone left standing on them to their deaths.
- Too Dumb to Live: 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 grabs him into a Deadly Hug before throwing him and herself off the bridge.
- Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: With a sole potato for their rations, neither Gi-hun nor Sae-byeok is taking a bite. They're thinking about who isn't there in the barracks. Even Sang-woo looks like he's choking down his share as he tries to reassure Gi-hun about the Sadistic Choice.
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: Game 5 forces players to cross a bridge made of glass panels, with only one panel in each pair safe to stand on. Barring incredible luck, it's designed to have a high likelihood of weeding out all but a few players.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Player 069 fails to get a single vote to end the games, he calls out the others as being so obsessed with winning that they'd willingly kill the people they partnered with. Sang-woo fires back that quitting now won't bring 069's wife back to life, let alone get him out of the desperate situation that caused him to resort to entering the Deadly Game.
- Your Head A-Splode: Downplayed but no less gory. Unlike the victims of Game 3, some unlucky players land on their heads upon impact, causing their brains to spill out.
