Squid Game was a smash hit for Netflix in 2021. The South Korean thriller was suspenseful and dramatic, but in foodie terms, failed to deliver much in the way of squid.
There’s no such problem with the streaming service’s new Korean offering, Chicken Nugget (available now). The “comedy mystery” is so titled, simply, because one of the show’s main characters is an actual chicken nugget.
In a story that sounds like its creator lost a bet, we meet eccentric nice-guy Baek-joong, whose day is made by news that his boss’s daughter, Min-ah, is coming for lunch.
Min-ah brings a box of nuggets and – in a probably-best-not-dwelt-upon moment for realists – becomes one when she climbs into a mysterious machine on the shop floor.
Inevitably, there’s a moment where Min-ah is feared eaten – prompting a sudden change of tone to a montage of her and her father’s back story. It’s the most moving thing you’ll see all year that concludes with a weeping man stroking the ‘face’ of a giant lump of poultry.
Mix-up averted, the show tees up nine more episodes of attempts to restore Min-ah to human form. It’s just bonkers enough to gain a following.
But will humanising the nugget hurt sales? If Chicken Run couldn’t manage it, probably not. In fact, there’s a chance consumers will want to try the Korean version, which in contrast to the crispy cuboids familiar on these shores, look like sticky, spherical brains.
A canny entrepreneur could yet cash in on one of the year’s weirdest tie-ins.
No comments yet