While the international interest in Korean pop culture was on the rise long before Squid Game entered the sphere, the Netflix show catapulted this profitable intersection of the juggernaut streaming service and South Korea firmly into mainstream media. Now, there is an ever-expanding catalog of K-dramas to look out for, including a six-episode series that invites us into a tangled plot of satisfying karmic retribution. Karma, based on the webtoon of the same name, is the debut series of director Lee Il-hyung (A Violent Prosecutor) that invites some fan-favorite actors together to create a thrilling ride of cover-ups, desperation, and white-hot revenge. Joining the stories of six characters together, the show hosts Park Hae-soo (Squid Game), Shin Min-a (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha), Lee Hee-jun (A Killer Paradox), Kim Sung-kyun (Officer Black Belt), Lee Kwang-soo (Sinkhole), and Gong Seung-yeon (The First Responders).
What Is Netflix’s ‘Karma’ About?

Karma operates on two timelines that are set 15 days apart, and it opens up with the present, where a survivor of a fire in an abandoned building is treated in a hospital. The doctors fight to keep him alive, but the facial reconstruction is less successful, resulting in the patient being covered with burn scars for life. The show cuts to 15 days prior, when we meet five of our six main characters — including the Debtor (Hee-jun), who is desperately figuring out ways to earn money to pay off his debt to a loan shark. Upon finding out his father has a life insurance policy that would ensure a huge payout if he were killed in a motor accident or for medical reasons, the Debtor recruits his shady coworker Gil-ryong (Sung-kyun) to stage a hit-and-run. However, the plan goes awry as, upon talking to the police, the Debtor finds out that his father’s body was buried, implicating murder rather than an accident — now, he is the number one suspect.
Later that night, another two seemingly unrelated characters, Glasses (Kwang-soo) and Yu-jeong (Seung-yeon), are driving down the highway in the middle of the night when they hit the Debtor’s father. Driving under the influence of alcohol, Glasses panics and decides to bury the body in the mountains, but the Witness (Hae-soo) sees the incident and is abducted by Glasses too. Instead of killing the Witness, Glasses makes him an accomplice, not realizing that he would later try and extort him for money. This murder ploy ties the fates of these five characters together on that hectic night, but the sixth character doesn’t come into play until the present timeline. Her name is Ju-yeon (Min-a) and while we won’t reveal her role in the show, her entrance ties some of the characters together in an even more meaningful and troubling way, raising the stakes even further.
‘Karma’ Tells a Brilliant Story, But Makes Its Female Characters an Afterthought

As the title suggests, the show is less about revenge and more about characters getting their comeuppance after their unsavory behaviors. The storyline with which this is achieved is nothing short of brilliant. It constantly turns in on itself, cleverly rewriting events from new perspectives and dropping our jaws as each clue pans out to its reveal. Il-heung, also credited as the writer, is aggressive and meticulous in creating this twisted web of lies, secret plots and alliances. His direction follows suit, with each episode oscillating between quiet suspense and paroxysms of unexpected brutality — it’s a gritty, grounded tale of the pitfalls of greed.
As precisely as the main conceit is told, some secondary storylines are weirdly forced into the overarching narrative. One in particular is used to connect two events together, but is conveniently forgotten about once that hole is covered up. While it is an ingenious addition to the domino effect of narrative beats, the way it is pushed into the story was jarring, especially since the characters who were involved feel less consequential and connected to the main arc. Admittedly, at some point, I had to make a mind map to keep track of the timeline and secondary events, not realizing that some would just taper off without explanation. They may add to the success of the central story, but it does disorient the viewing experience at times.
However, what’s more frustrating is how Karma treats its female characters’ storylines. Of the six characters, two are women, and each of them plays completely different roles in the show. You could easily assign Yu-jeong the label of a “gold-digger,” but when we learn about her backstory, she becomes far more interesting. Just as her character is really starting to take root, it is cut short, leaving us mourning her involvement. On the other hand, Ju-yeon’s storyline, which feels like it should be a prominent driving force, ends up as an afterthought. It certainly adds to the whole depraved feel of the show, especially towards the end, but the way the storyline is handled was arbitrary. Ju-yeon’s story is condensed down to a series of cruel tropes rather than giving the incident the emotional weight it deserved — something that Min-a tries to do with her performance, but doesn’t quite achieve due to how underdeveloped the actual plot is.

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‘Squid Game’s Hae-Soo Is a Brutish Psychopath in ‘Karma’

Image via Karma

Trying to establish the six vastly different lives of six characters and how they interact within six episodes is a feat in itself. Karma actually succeeds in making their circumstances compelling, drawing our attention to how each seismic exploit of karma pans out. But where it suffers is in the characters themselves. With priority given to the plot, the characters are fairly one-dimensional and generally can be defined on a scale of how much they are obsessed with money. On top of this, the show is brimming with such a large supporting cast that are vehicles for the plot and depravity that it becomes difficult to remember which central characters you’re meant to be focusing on.
In turn, many of these veteran actors don’t have enough time to allow their characters to shine, though each has memorable moments in their arcs. However, Hae-soo does become a scene stealer as the Witness, who is arguably one of the better-written characters in the show. We saw him in the first season of Squid Game as Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) best friend, Sang-woo, where his character was quietly vicious and intelligent. Hints of this are in the Witness’ character, coming off as an opportunist who extorts Glasses for money until he evolves into someone much more sinister, or, as Glasses describes him, “a total psychopath.” While the Witness’ character is still as one-note as the other six, Hae-soo’s dynamic and animated performance makes us invariably drawn to his wild eyes and cocky grin.
On the surface, Karma is a gripping show and certainly one to look out for. But it is difficult to fully invest in the characters themselves, as the surrounding events are far more intriguing, drawing the audience into a puzzling rush of brutality and retribution. Many of the show’s issues may have been smoothed out by more episodes, but with the cracking pace that six episodes set, Karma is also a refreshing shot of adrenaline that could have been tainted by a longer runtime. As nice as it would be to care about the characters and to have storylines around female characters that weren’t so arbitrary, Karma still manages to hold the viewer’s interest with its abundance of lies.
Karma is slated to premiere March 4 on Netflix in the U.S.

Karma

Karma is exacting and provocative in its titular retribution. If only we cared about its characters more.

Release Date

April 4, 2025

Network

Netflix

Directors

Lee Il-hyung

Cast

Park Hae-soo

Moon Kyeok-Nam

Pros & Cons

The show’s main storyline folds in on itself in a clever and satisfyingly karmic way.
Park Hae-soo gives an incredibly dynamic performance, easily becoming a scene-stealer.

Most of the characters are flat, especially the women.
Some of the storylines feel like an afterthought.