It is inevitable that comparisons will be made between the new Korean drama Bargain and the all-conquering K-drama Squid Game that became the most watched show in Netflix history (racking up 1.65bn viewing hours in its first 28 days). So, let’s make a brute list of their even more brute similarities.
Both shows are an addictive blend of relentless tension and escalating depravity. Both have mastered the art of making the viewer think “things can’t possibly get any worse” before launching into another scene that proves the viewer wrong. Both are about capitalism and how it’s going to send us all to hell in a handbasket sooner rather than later. They are both innovative, fascinating and unhinged. They both require you to lie down in a calm, darkened room after every episode. (The whole series of Bargain is being released at once, so it is technically bingeable but if you can manage that I would like you to hand yourself in at the nearest police station at once.)
