Note: This story contains spoilers from “Squid Game” Season 3, Episode 4.
Once Jo Yu-ri learned what was going to happen in Season 3 of “Squid Game,” she felt that Jun-hee’s fate was “inevitable.” After giving birth in the middle of the hide-and-seek game, she knew that Jun-hee wouldn’t last long in the games. But that didn’t make her death any less emotional.
“Reading about her death was definitely shocking. I feel like it was an inevitable choice that came from her being backed into a corner,” Jo told TheWrap. “It was heartbreaking. That really motivated me to portray her as truthfully as possible.”
That dedication comes through in Jo’s portrayal of Jun-hee’s labor scene. The actor and former member of Iz*One noted that the birthing scene was “actually harder than I thought” and that she had doubts prior to filming it. To prepare for the scene, she asked several people for advice, including her co-star Kang Ae-sim, who plays Geum-ja.
“In the beginning, I was thinking what movements would portray the pain of childbirth. There was someone around me who had recently given birth, and she gave me really useful advice. She said when you’re actually in the thick of it, you’re almost in a trance. The only thing that you actually hear are the nurses yelling at you to push,” Jo said. “Ae-sim was the one who really helped me and supported me, and so thanks to her, I was really able to do a good job.”
Jo was also told that the pain of childbirth becomes so intense that some mothers actually want to rip something apart. “Imagining that I was clawing the walls, the stone walls, that was also a helpful physical sensation to hold onto,” Jo said.
Going into the jump rope game in Episode 4, Jun-hee is at a severe disadvantage. Not only is she still exhausted from having recently given birth, she has to hold onto her child while balancing on her one good leg. Even with Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) help, Jun-hee accepts she’s not going to make it past this game.
Her decision to give Gi-hun her baby isn’t a surprising one. After all, he’s one of the very few trustworthy players left in the game as well as a previous winner. It makes since she would leave her child with the man who represents his best chance at survival. What is surprising is that Jun-hee rejects arguably her only chance at surviving. As the timer ticks down, the father of her child, Myung-gi (Im Si-wan) approaches her and offers his help. Instead of attempting the deadly jump rope game with him, she pushes Myung-gi away, choosing instead to jump to her death.
Myung-gi’s murder of Jun-hee’s friend Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) is a major reason why she no longer trusts him. But Jo thinks that Jun-hee’s distrust goes deeper than these last few episodes.
“He also partners with Nam-gyu [Roh Jae-won] to kill others, and that also comes across as very shocking for Jun-hee. That’s the point where she starts to see him as inhumane and not as a human being. That was one of the points where she decides she can’t fully rely on Myung-gi to take care of her child,” Jo explained.
“Squid Game” is now streaming on Netflix.
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