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"Gganbu" is the sixth episode of the Netflix Korean television series, Squid Game, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk.The episode was both written and directed by Dong-hyuk, who wrote and directed all of the episodes for the season. The series revolves around a contest where 456 players in deep financial debt put their lives at risk to play a series of children's games for the chance to win a prize. The episode follows the characters as they enter the fourth game, but a new twist is thrown in.

"Gganbu" was released on Netflix, along with the other episodes, on September 17, 2021. The episode received critical acclaim from both critics and audiences, praising the performances, writing, and themes of humanity.

Plot
The players see the bodies of Player 111 and his co-conspirators strung up for cheating, and are assured that the games are designed to give every player a fair chance without discrimination. For the fourth game, players are told to pair up. Gi-hun partners with Player 001; Sang-woo partners with Ali; Sae-byok partners in Ji-yeong; Deok-su parnters with Ja-hyoung. When the time is up, everyone but Mi-nyeo has a partner. As everyone is taken to the game, Mi-nyeo is dragged away by the guards.

When the players reach the game, each player is given ten marbles each. They discover that instead of working as a team, they will have to play against their partner in a marble game of their choice. Whoever gets all their partner's marbles within 30 minutes will win and survive.

Deok-su beings playing with Ja-hyoung, but begins to lose. Since the rules say they can play any game, he requests to switch the game. The guard allows it. The two take turns throwing marbles into a hole. Whoever gets it in the hole, gets the marbles on the ground. When Deok-su runs out of marbles, Ja-hyoung laughs at his partner, saying it was good while it lasted. However, when he throws his marble, it hits Deok-su's marble in, making him the winner. As the guard prepares to kill him, Ja-hyoung runs, before being gunned down by another guard.

Sang-Woo and Ali play a guessing game. Ali keeps winning until Sang-woo is down to one marble left. Sang-woo accuses Ali of cheating and threatens him before being calming down when their guard aims his gun at Sang-woo's head. Sang-woo then comes up with a plan to make sure that they will both get out of there alive by facing off against other groups. He takes Ali's bag, and hides it under his jacket. He then sends Ali to scope out the other teams. Sang-woo gives Ali his bag back. However, Sang-woo has the bag with all the marbles, and filled Ali's bag with rock from a nearby garden. Ali learns of this betrayal, right before he is killed.

Sae-byeok and Ji-yeong, share their life stories; Sae-byok talks about her brother, her parents and the struggles of getting to South Korea. She says when she gets out, she'll take her brother out of the orphanage and they'll visit Jeju Island. Ji-yeong reveals that her father killed her mother. She killed her father in self-defense, but was sent to prison for it. Once she got out, she was asked to participate in the games, afraid that her father's debt may come after her. When the time runs down, they both toss a marble at the wall; the closest one ot the wall wins all the marbles. Ji-yeong, seeing that Sae-byok has a reason to leave the games, purposefully drops her marble. Despite pleas from Sae-byok, Ji-yeong tells her to get out and find her brother. Before she is killed, she thanks Sae-byok for playing with her.

Gi-hun tries to play with Player 001, but he is unable to get his attention. When they finally start to play, Player 001 outbeats him. When he's down to his last marble, Gi-hun exploits Player 001's dementia to win. Gi-hun beats Player 001, and is ready to give his marbles to the guard, until Player 001 reveals he has one marble left. When Player 001 walks off, Gi-hun chases after him. With only minutes left, Gi-hun finds Player 001 finding a replica of his old house. As he reminisces, Gi-hun begs Player 001 to continue to play. Player 001 says that they should play one final game; winner takes all. Gi-hun doesn't understand why he would do that. Player 001 then reveals that he knew Gi-hun was tricking him, and he had been faking his dementia. Regardless, Player 001 gives Gi-hun his last marble, as they swore they were gganbu (trusted friend). Player 001 comforts Gi-hun as he breaks down. When the timer runs out, Player 001 says he remembers his name; Oh Il-nam. Gi-hun walks away as Oh Il-nam is shot.

Writing
Hwang wrote all of the series himself, taking nearly six months to write the first two episodes alone, after which he turned to friends to get input on moving forward. Hwang also addressed the challenges of preparing for the show which was physically and mentally exhausting, saying six of his teeth fell out while making Season 1. As such, Hwang was initially unsure about a sequel after completing these episodes, though wrote the ending to keep a potential hook for a sequel in mind.

Casting
Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Jung Ho-yeon, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi and Kim Joo-ryoung portray Seong Gi-hun, Cho Sang-woo, Kang Sae-byok, Oh Il-nam, Jang Deok-su, Abdul Ali and Han Mi-nyeo respectively. Guest stars include Yoo Sung-joo as Player 111, Lee Yoo-mi as Ji-yeong, Kim Yun-tae as Player 069, Lee Ji-ha as Player 070, and Kwak Ja-hyoung as Player 278, all reprising their roles from previous episodes.

Release
"Gganbu" was released on September 17th, 2021, along the rest of the series on Netflix.

Reception
The episode has received critical acclaim from critics. Quincy LeGardye from Vulture gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars, and said "“Gganbu” is a heartbreaking gut-punch of an episode...These kinds of huge, story-altering moments are usually dropped toward the end of an episode or movie after years of buildup (think the Red Wedding or Thanos’s snap). But Squid Game reveals its brutal twist a quarter of the way into the episode and makes us sit and watch these matchups in close to real time. When you know what the end has in store, the lead-up hurts just as much as the gunshot."