REVIEW: ‘Karma’ (2025) Can’t Untangle Itself From Its Plot

Karma (2025) weaves a tangled web that should fascinate. Instead, in its attempts to add intrigue, the storyline becomes overcomplicated. It’s a shame, considering how much the talent onscreen knocks things out of the park performance-wise. In this latest crime-thriller Kdrama dropping on Netflix, this short six-episode series could have benefited from a tighter storyline and maybe fleshing out its characters a little bit more.

Six characters take center stage, with all involved finding their lives taking twists and turns that inadvertently connect them all together. If the title of the Kdrama didn’t give an idea as to what to expect, fate plays a significant part in how everyone’s story unfolds. Each action causes a reaction that ripples across the plot, with no one spared. If there is any lesson to take away from this unnecessarily complicated storyline, it’s that every action has a consequence that can either impact things quickly or only come to the surface years later.

As television episode orders get shorter, storytelling is forced to adjust and adapt to squeeze as much in as possible. This is the impression Karma (2025) gives off. At first, the series starts almost like an anthology with a seemingly self-contained story. We’re introduced to the Debtor (Lee Hee-joon), who makes a deal with local loan sharks in a last-ditch effort to buy more time to pay off his debt. The decisions he makes carry far-reaching consequences across the series, with each new episode connecting the strands of fate together with each new development.

Karma (2025) is more complicated than it needs to be.

As Karma (2025) continues on, the initial anthological format is shirked off as storylines blur together. Writer/director Lee Il-hyung makes an admirable effort to add mystery and shock to the story, but loses some of its impact by needlessly complicating things. Storylines drop off. Most of the characters are underdeveloped, making it tricky to keep track and challenging to connect with them wholly. This is despite the actors doing their best to elevate what they are given.

Nearly everyone claims their rightfully deserved spotlight onscreen, but Shin Min-ah deserves some kudos. Her character is, for better or worse, defined by the tragic circumstances of her past. Given little else to work with, Shin injects enough nuance and complexity into her performance to elevate the character off the page. If only the role could fully allow her to show off her range.

For a series that focuses on such loathsome characters (with the exception of Shin Min-ah‘s doctor), not enough is done to make viewers love or hate them. Even for the most developed characters of Karma (2025)—the Debtor, the Witness (Park Hae-soo), and Glasses (Lee Kwang-soo)—there’s a certain missing element that punctuates the hollow nature of these seemingly three-dimensional people.

More character development could have made the story richer.

Where the characters falter, the storyline tries to make up for the circumstances. Whether it’s trying to dig oneself out of colossal debt, freaking out over hitting someone with a car, or trauma resurfacing when least expected, these inciting moments offer relatability and tension that hook the viewer in. These snippets from each character’s storyline likely could have benefited from sticking to an anthological format. It isn’t until the characters start to intermingle in each other’s lives that things get messy.

Yet, it can get sticky when it comes to something like the red strings of fate, a symbol prominently featured in Karma (2025)’s intro credits. It can be messy. It certainly is in this crime thriller. If it had the luxury of maybe one or two additional episodes, some of the disorganized, chaotic feeling of the storytelling could have been finessed.

Ultimately, one thing is abundantly clear by the end of Karma (2025): Our actions have an impact. If we let greed, pride, or vengeance take over, who knows what will return to us later? Even amidst this tangled web, this theme shines brightly. The execution in demonstrating it to us just needed a lot more work.

Karma (2025) streams exclusively on Netflix April 4, 2025.