Chicken Nugget: A lesson in how not to take things seriously

What would you do if your crush turned into a chicken nugget? That is the question Baek-joong faces as Min-ah, his boss's daughter and his crush, steps into a machine that mysteriously arrives at their office's doorstep and metamorphs into a chicken nugget. Based on Park Jidok's manhwa Chicken Nugget, the series follows Baek-joong and his boss, Seon-man, as they are dragged across a crazy adventure that includes mad scientists, purple aliens, a subplot that dates back two hundred years, a bizarre chicken nugget restaurant, and, shockingly enough, a parody of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar while trying to turn Min-ah human again.

If the premise sounds absurd, we can assure you that the actual show is even more so.  Constantly indulging in dad jokes and slapstick comedy, the show's humour is downright horrendous. However, Chicken Nugget is refreshingly self-aware about its less-than-funny humour and doesn't shy away from it. It continues playing into those bad jokes until the audience starts finding the situation ridiculous, thus ending up perfectly executing the so-bad-it's-good trope.

The plotline of the show is generally stupid. Sometimes it even feels like the writers are simply throwing random elements and plot points at the wall to see what sticks. The surprising part is that all of this somehow works in the favour of the show as, most of the time, these completely random things actually end up sticking and help tighten the nonsensical web that the show ends up weaving the audience into.

The highlight of the series is the few moments of tenderness sprinkled in across the show. In Baek-joong's backstory of having to push aside his dreams of singing to become an engineer at his father's prodding and in Seon-man's pained frenzy to get his daughter back, we see the poignancy of the story and the depth of the characters. With their tremendous emotional range and ability to truly immerse themselves in the absurdity of their fictional situations, the actors are undoubtedly incredible in their respective roles. Chicken Nugget unexpectedly draws you in at times because of how seriously it takes the characters' emotions. But these moments feel even more moving because, following them, we are immediately dragged back into the weird world without pause or precursor.

The series was clearly made on a limited budget— abundantly visible through its terrible CGI. However, that subtracted nothing from our overall enjoyment of the show and, in some ways, might have even compounded it by adding an air of wholesomeness to the whole thing. The only aspect of Chicken Nugget that was somewhat irksome was its pacing. At times, the story draws itself out a bit too long or the comic elements become a tad bit repetitive because of the limited amount of situations the characters are allowed to be present in. Instead of a ten-part miniseries, the show could have been condensed into a two-hour-long movie without losing any essentiality or value. However, that is perhaps only a small bone to pick considering the sheer amount of amusement we derived from the show otherwise. 

The show is incredibly weird, unabashedly so, but not in the absurdist, A24 way. It is indulgent towards its ridiculousness, but never overindulgent. It takes care to never take the show itself seriously and does not even try to be artsy. At a time when every piece of content we consume seems to be emotionally charged or high-strung, it felt very relaxing to watch something so unapologetically nonsensical and weird. Watching Chicken Nugget was, honestly, the most fun we have had with a TV show in a pretty long time.  

The writers had a great weekend watching this wonderful show.