This article contains spoilers for “Squid Game” season 3.

Say what you will about the bad American acting from the VIPs in “Squid Game,” but there’s one detail involving the audience members of this hellish tournament that frankly made no sense this season, and it involves the secrecy surrounding their identities.

We eventually discovered in the season 1 that these death games weren’t just a chance at a better life for the players, but they were being conducted for the entertainment of a group of unidentified rich folk who gambled with the well-being of those fighting for the 45.6 billion won prize money. Amid their horrific and painfully forced conversations, the VIPs hid behind ornate gold masks, supposedly to maintain their anonymity from other guests. This was a sensible approach, and although we knew these characters were coming back for season 3, that approach seemed to fall apart entirely in the show’s final season thanks to a special perk that saw the VIPs become more active than ever.

For the first time, we actually saw the VIPs in a game room executing players who hadn’t made it through. Season 3, episode 3 saw them dressed as guards in those signature pink jumpsuits and black masks, walking through the halls of the hide-and-seek challenge, finishing off any stragglers who had barely. It was here, though, that their act of barbarity turned into what you’d think was a mistake, as all the VIPs removed their masks in front of each other, revealing who they were. For a show that had spent so long keeping allegiances and faces hidden, the group of wealthy people exposed themselves completely, and none of them cared. Why?

After the one-time shooting range session that the VIPs participated in, the betting group stayed in the lounge they’d usually occupied for the rest of the show, watching the brand new batch of games from a distance and betting on how far a baby could get in them (another ridiculous moment of this season, by the way). The strangest thing about all this, though, is that they returned to wearing their elaborate golden masks when, at that point, all their secrets were out.

Having nonchalantly shown their faces to one another during the Keys and Knives game, they surely would have been able to figure out who else was among this group of wealthy zillionaires attending this once top-secret event. Why wasn’t that idea incorporated into the story? Such a major reveal could’ve added a dramatic twist, and these loathsome characters could have faced a risk that was different from the unfortunate players they were betting on. Instead, nothing changed, and the games went off without a hitch. 

It’s this and many other little issues in the final chapter of “Squid Game” that weaken the show’s swan song, poking holes in what began as an airtight, tense, and pulse-pounding show and became one that just didn’t play things as seriously as some might have hoped. We know we shouldn’t hate the player and hate the game instead, but in the case of VIPs, it’s totally reasonable to hate how badly they were handled.