Always Be Streaming... the next Squid Game?

Truth bomb: I was never crazy about Squid Game. There were certainly elements of it that I enjoyed/found interesting. But also, I found some of the plotting choices seemed to be there to benefit the story, while credibility of the far-fetched high-concept be damned.

I’m also 100% willing to concede that I also wasn’t in a standard frame of mind to be watching a show like that. It was literally binge-watched by my wife and I while we sat in a hospital room under a COVID lockdown after the birth of our kid. Watching Squid Game under those conditions… it was a weird week.

Two and a bit years later, Netflix hasn’t really had a zeitgeisty hit like that since. And while it has almost certainly grown its audience for Korean dramas and comedies, none of them have really become mainstream successes.

Will Paramount+’s new K-drama Bargain achieve Squid Game levels of success? No. Paramount+ doesn’t have the global network amplification capabilities that Netflix can offer its programming.

Lucy Mangan at The Guardian suggests that anyone who watches even a minute of the show will be in for the whole duration. With episodes running at just over 35 mins each and there being just six episodes, it sounds like the show should be a quick and good investment of your time.