Netflix Original Sci-Fi Series Is As Serious As It Is Silly
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not well-versed in K-Dramas, but when I read the synopsis for Netflix’s Chicken Nugget, I had to see what the series was all about. To my pleasant surprise, I stumbled upon a sci-fi series that somehow managed to pull at my heartstrings while making me laugh out loud enough to make me want to drink the Kool-Aid and dive deeper into the genre. In this case, however, a two-ounce ramekin of ranch dressing might be the appropriate substance to imbibe in if you choose to see what Chicken Nugget is all about.
An Emotional Story Rooted In Ridiculousness
Chicken Nugget wastes no time ramping up in ridiculousness, but with deliberate intent. Go Baek-joong (Ahn Jae-hong) quickly graces the viewer with his playful presence, and he has the bright yellow pants to prove it. Go Baek-joong may work at a machine shop, but his true passion is pop music, much to the chagrin of his stern-but-fair boss, Choi Seon-man (Ryu Seung-ryong). The day-to-day operations at the machine shop, More than Machines, are ambiguous at best because we don’t need to get bogged down with the details, but still need a home base of operations for our poultry pursuing protagonists.
When a machine of unknown origin mysteriously shows up at More than Machines, Chicken Nugget’s conflict becomes clear as day. Choi Seon-man’s daughter, Choi Min-ah (Kim Yoo-jung) visits the shop with a box of chicken nuggets from Chikn Nuggit, a popular spot in the area known for its particularly delicious mechanically-separated meat morsels. While it’s painfully obvious that Go Baek-joong is head-over-heels in love with Choi Min-ah, his misguided displays of affection are often overlooked.
Choi Min-ah jumps into the machine, and Chicken Nugget shows its namesake when she’s transformed into a chicken nugget herself. To Go Baek-joong’s horror, he now has to explain to her father what happened, which is naturally met with disbelief. After some serious deliberation, the only conclusion to arrive at is that Cho Min-ah was, in fact, transformed into a helpless chicken nugget, and it’s up to Go Baek-joong and Choi Seon-man to restore Choi Min-ah back to her human self.
Surreal With A Side Of Sesame Oil
If Chicken Nugget doesn’t already sound surreal enough, the series only gets more unhinged as it progresses. Defying and subverting every single expectation I could possibly imagine, Chicken Nugget finds tender (pun intended) moments that will bring a tear to your eye. From Choi Seon-man’s flashbacks of raising Cho Min-ah as a single father after her mother’s passing to Go Baek-joong’s undying commitment to his now-edible love interest, a bond is formed that transcends time and space as our heroes find themselves on a wild goose chase in their attempts to crack the code of the mystery machine that caused all of their problems.
An Unlikely Love Story
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At its heart, Chicken Nugget is a love story that uses a nonsensical premise to evoke universal emotions of grief and loss with a healthy amount of absurdist humor to drive the point home, giving it mass appeal.
You may feel guilty the next time you order a four-piece from the drive-through, but just like the center of a real-life chicken nugget, you’ll experience a savory warmth that’s impossible to replicate if you commit to the 10-episode series.
You can stream Chicken Nugget on Netflix.
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