Bargain

Everything about “Bargain” is skillfully unhinged, with developments unfolding like new video game levels. Director/writer Jeon Woo-Sung’s expansion on a short film delivers on numerous counts, packing in more nonstop action and plot surprises than anything I’ve seen this year.

Is there an overriding plot aside from escaping the rubble? Is there any kind of character development? Not really. But a show this crazy doesn’t really need that, as long as it continues to be daring through its entire run.

It is more complex and clever than Squid Game. Whether this will help to make it an even bigger hit or be a hindrance remains to be seen. But whoever sees a minute of it will be in for the duration.

This is not a show that thrives on common sense or nuance, which caused some diminishing of my interest as the series charged toward a conclusion that felt perfunctory more than cumulative. Still, as an intense piece of directorial ingenuity and a pitch-black satire of the dehumanized state of contemporary culture, Bargain is fully worthy of what ought to be initial curiosity and then burgeoning buzz.

While it sometimes struggles to reach the promise of its unique premise, organ trafficking plus earthquakes plus moral dilemmas will always equal an enjoyable equation when added together for television. Bargain also demonstrates, yet again, that K-dramas will continue to be a source to be mined by American streamers for quite some time.