“Squid Game” Season 2. / “Interior Chinatown.”

“Squid Game” (Netflix) Season 2, South Korean dystopian survival thriller. Set four years after Seong Gi-hun won the Squid Game, giving up on going to the United States and returning to the games with the intent of stopping them once and for all. He once again dives into the mysterious survival game, starting another life-or-death game with new participants.

       I can't really tell which was more interesting to watch, Season 1 or Season 2, because they're pretty much the same. I am not saying either or both are uninteresting. In fact, this violent “game” show is an addictive watch. 

       S2's side-plot involved cop Hwang Jun-ho trying to locate Gi-hun with help from hired mercenaries. And then there's an annoying rapper who speaks some gangsta English and a kind-hearted transgender who's good with semi-automatic rifles. Plus an important character in Gi-hun's team that, uhh well, no spoilers, okay? 

       Anyhow, I finished S2, just because. There is a final Season 3, by the way. I'm game! 🎥💻📽

“Interior Chinatown” (Hulu) action comedy-drama, created by showrunner Charles Yu, based on his 2020 novel of the same name. His novel won the National Book Award the year it was published. I haven't read the book so I just minded the series. (And Jimmy O. Yang was funny in Mike Judge's “Silicon Valley.”)

       Mr Yang's Willis Wu is a waiter in Chinatown who discovers that he is merely a background character in a fictional police procedural. He feels trapped and wants to see the larger world.

       In many instances, the funny sequences work, especially those that involve Fatty Choi, Willis's best friend and co-worker. Played with Hong Kong cinema-styled karate gusto and slapstick relish by Ronny Chieng, Fatty's scenes tend to push Willis's off centerstage.    

       However, I get confused with the confused impressionism of the entire shebang. Are the characters simply “acting out” police drama cliches and Asian-American stereotypes as is or are they for real? 

       Focused Chloe Bennet as Lana Lee, a detective who recruits Willis to investigate the disappearance of his brother, seems real. But partner detectives Miles Turner (Sullivan Jones) and Sarah Green (Lisa Gilroy) appear as mere talking heads though they are major characters. 

       The central crime story of the Painted Faces and the mystery of Willis's bro's disappearance are interesting as well as Willis's mom and dad's backstories. And then I got confused again. Jimmy O. Yang is here, all over the screen, but he seems “invisible” (pun intended and serious). 🎭👎🎬