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Last December, Netflix published a comprehensive report titled “What We Watched,” which outlined the amount of time its subscribers spent viewing every movie and TV show on its service. One of the most unexpected findings was the large quantity of foreign-language productions that are being consumed. Overall, these productions made up one third of all the content streamed on Netflix.

South Korea took the lead on the global stage, with the recent report showing that The Glory, a K-drama series, ranked third among the most popular Netflix shows following the massive success of Squid Game. This level of success is truly remarkable, showcasing the overwhelming demand for Korean content worldwide. It’s safe to say that any content coming from South Korea will attract a large audience.

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Perhaps. On Netflix, there is a new South Korean show called Chicken Nugget. It follows the story of a woman who transforms into a chicken nugget, making it one of the most unusual shows currently streaming.

Chicken Nugget is a webcomic created by Park Jidok, known for their previous works such as Potato Village and Killer Farts. The plot centers around a clumsy intern at a machine company who has a crush on his boss’s daughter. One day, a mysterious machine appears in the office and the daughter accidentally utters the words “chicken nugget,” resulting in her transforming into one. It can be likened to a condensed version of The Fly film, except the main character transforms into a chicken rather than a fly. This leads to a lack of dramatic interest, similar to that of a fly.

Unlike something like Squid Game, which came swaggering in laden with extremely expensive Hollywood-level production design, Chicken Nugget was very clearly made on the cheap. It’s bright like a daytime soap opera, it has very few traditional action sequences and a big percentage of its visual-effects budget seems to have been spent on making a chicken nugget wobble very slightly. It’s so weird and bargain basement-y that there is a good chance you will get a few minutes into the first episode and decide that Chicken Nugget is simply not for you.

However, it would be an error to dismiss this. I was prepared to give up on the show, but a short scene where the father of the woman who transformed into a chicken nugget mourns her situation changed my mind. He recalls raising her alone after her mother passed away. He is scared and overwhelmed, but also proud of her growth. It is surprising how much this touched me. Despite the show’s nonsensical plot and writing style, it managed to evoke a genuine emotional reaction from me.

From there, inexplicably, Chicken Nugget keeps getting better and better. It becomes less about the weirdness of a woman who is trapped in chicken form, and more about the bonding that happens between the two people who try to get her back. Soon, the girl’s father and the intern team up to try to discover what exactly happened to her, uncovering a long and complicated conspiracy that branches off down a number of incredibly strange tributaries that, among other things, provide a whistlestop journey through Korean culinary history.

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Despite its limited budget, the show takes daring and innovative creative risks. We journey through centuries and decades, striving to uncover the truth behind the unfortunate chicken nugget woman. We are introduced to compelling new characters as the story unfolds with unbridled ambition. If the show had received a big-budget treatment, it may have appeared excessively dramatic and drawn out, merely striving for prestige. However, its low-quality production maintains its charm, leaving it to rely solely on its charisma, of which it has plenty.

In all likelihood, Chicken Nugget will not reach the same level of fame as The Glory. I will be truly surprised if it even ranks in the top half of the future What We Watched report. It is too unconventional and amateur for widespread appeal. However, those who do watch Chicken Nugget will thoroughly enjoy it, and isn’t that ultimately the most significant measure of success?

Source: theguardian.com