South Korea Plane Crash by Teagan Freedman, Sophomore
On December 29, 2024, a devastating plane crash occurred with a Boeing 737-800 airplane in Muan International Airport in South Korea. The plane was meant to land, but pulled back up after a failed attempt. The plane then received a bird strike warning from ground control. The pilot sent out a distress call and then went to land, but a malfunction with the landing gear opening caused the plane to go past the runway. The airplane hit a concrete wall. Officials are now investigating if they can make that wall out of more easily breakable materials. This airplane had 181 people on board, and only two flight attendants were able to survive. Neither of the survivors is suffering from life-threatening injuries and say they “don’t remember anything after a blast during the landing.” Many South Korean media companies have stopped sending out new content to allow everyone to mourn the people lost that day. The airport runway will be closed until January seventh for repairs and investigations. Authorities are currently looking into over 100
models of the Boeing 737-800 to hopefully prevent any other disasters from occurring.
Sleepwalker: A New Play in the Works by Grey Collins, Assistant Editor, Junior
About twenty Marblehead High School students spent last Thursday night feverishly practicing scenes in Sleepwalker, a newly written play, at the Veterans Middle School Performing Arts Center. Senior Benji Boyd wrote this play as a theater adaptation of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a famous black and white silent film. Boyd wrote the script two summers ago, but the idea finally came to fruition during his senior year. “It’s a very spooky story about a sleepwalker who is being manipulated by this evil doctor to commit acts of murder,” said Boyd. “It has a very spooky vibe. You’d especially ike it if you are into old horror movies.” The group have only been practicing for a couple weeks, but they have already made significant progress. Their performances are only a couple of months away, so everyone is focused on perfecting their parts. “We perform here at the PAC on February 27th and 28th,” said Boyd. “The very next day on March 1st we are going to compete in Dramafest.” Dramafest is a theater competition between different high schools in Massachusetts, in which each school performs a 40 minute play. If they win the first round they will be able to compete in the semifinals and potentially advance to the final round of the competition. “I hope we can win, I feel like we have the potential to do it,” said Boyd. “But I’m just having so much fun anyway.” It is always incredibly satisfying to see your work come to fruition, and Boyd has been able to watch as this script comes to life on the stage. There’s no question that this has already been a rewarding
experience. “The best part is seeing everyone get involved in the script that I wrote,” said Boyd. “Every-
one has been asking questions about their characters and having their own ideas, and it’s been really fun to just work on a project with my friends. I feel like we’ve all gotten kind of closer through doing it.”
Welcome back to the games: Squid Game – Season Two review, by Evan Eisen, Junior, and William Pellicotti, Junior
Squid Game, the worldwide Korean TV sensation that debuted on Netflix in 2021, triumphantly returned this holiday season for a second round of the beloved games. Taking place two years after the finale of the
first season, the second season picks up with a very different Seung Gi-hun (main character). Whereas the first season featured the mild-mannered and brash Gi-hun, season two introduces us to the patient and vengeful Gi-hun determined to do whatever it takes to bring down the games. The season picks up two
years later where we meet Gi-hun attempting to track down the recruiter from the first season by enlisting the help of several groups of thugs for the task. Eventually he comes into contact with the recruiter and, through the recruiter, he is able to track down the frontman. After words are exchanged, Gi-hun agrees to return to the games once again with the goal of destroying it from the inside. The second season has many parallels to its predecessor, both made by director Hwang Dong-hyuk. The second season benefits from the games being pre-established, and this allows the show to put more emphasis on specific aspects of the game, such as the voting systems done before each game. We also get a better look into the perspective of the guards during the games, as we meet guard number 011, No-eul, who has a mission of her own throughout the season. We are also reunited with Jun-ho, whose fate was left ambiguous at the end of season one. In comparison to the first season, the second season has many of the same set-ups and similar side characters that we follow the players throughout the games. However, unlike in the first season, these characters serve a very different purpose in contrast to their season one counterparts. Alongside the new cast of characters, there is one major returning character within the games whose appearance is sure to send shockwaves through the viewers of the show. Overall, season two has
much less focus on the games than season one. There is a much greater focus on the motivations of the different characters, from Jun-ho to those behind the game itself. It’s also very interesting to see the meshing of characters both in and out of the games, such as the relationship that develops between Jun-ho and Gi-hun throughout the course of the season. Even if its ending may be a little subpar, as it leaves a lot of unanswered questions, with the third season having wrapped filming and set to air in 2025, we have little doubt that these storylines will be given a satisfactory conclusion. Overall we would say that season two of Squid is close to, if not on par, with season one. Its only issue is the lack of closure at the end of the season. Overall though, we highly recommend it to anyone who watched the first season, as it is a worthy successor to the first season of one of Netflix’s greatest hits.