Karma review: Is the Shin Min-A-starrer Netflix series worth watching?

Netflix premiered its original Korean thriller Karma (악연) on April 4, 2025. The show is helmed by writer-director Lee Il-hyung. The cast includes Park Hae-soo, Shin Min-a, Lee Hee-joon, Kim Sung-kyun, Lee Kwang-soo, and Gong Seung-yeon.

The 6-part series is adapted from Akyeon, a popular webcomic by Choi Hee-sun that ran on Kakao from April 2019 to January 2020. It takes a look at the dangerous intersections of desire, violence, and fate. At its heart lies a murder-for-money scheme that sets off a chain reaction, linking strangers through secrets, betrayal, and past trauma.

Disclaimer: This review reflects the personal opinions and interpretations of the author and may not represent the views of all viewers.

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Karma review: A twisted tale of fate that loses its grip before finding its pace

The new Netflix show Karma is adapted from the webcomic Akyeon by Choi Hee-sun. The 6-episode mystery thriller is a tale of 6 individuals with no apparent connection. However, their lives are entangled when one of them decides to kill someone else for 500 million KRW and hires another person to carry it out. What follows is chaos and misfortune, as nothing seemingly goes according to plan.

The series moves back and forth across timelines, exploring the connections among the characters — Park Jae-yeong, Jung Gil-ryong, Kim Beom-jun, Lee Yu-jeong, Han Sang-hun, and Lee Ju-yeon. The individuals take viewers through a story that sparks intrigue from the very first scene. However, it also disappoints in sustaining that intrigue over the next two crucial episodes.

Netflix's Karma opens with a man who had been set ablaze being taken to a hospital where he whispers his name to the attending doctor (Shin Min-a). Once he hears the name, he seems stunned, which instantly raises intrigue.

After that, as Karma begins unravelling its story, it slows down, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the characters’ backstories. This narrative device — taking audiences back to where it all began — is expected in any thriller, and is a crucial phase for building tension.

However, in Karma, this setup phase stretches for three episodes. While essential, it stalls momentum and drains suspense. This prolonged pacing becomes one of the series’ major drawbacks. Despite the numerous twists, detours, and timeline jumps, the series struggles to maintain narrative alignment. It loses the intrigue it built in its opening scene.

Only in the latter half does the series regain its grip, accelerating into a darker, tighter narrative. After episode 3, Karma shifts gears and begins its primary timeline while continuing to unravel past connections.

The grim tone of Karma matches well with its cinematography. The storyline unfolds across three timelines — the present, where chaos has already erupted, a second timeline set 15 days earlier that explains how everything began, and a third set 13 years ago, connecting four of the six protagonists.

Park Jae-yeong (Lee Hee-joon) is a desperate man who has taken a massive loan from a loan shark and must repay it within 30 days or lose his life. To escape this fate, he devises a plan to murder his father and claim 500 million KRW in insurance.

He hires Jang Gil-ryong (Kim Sung-kyun), a recently fired Korean-Chinese coworker, to do the job. Unbeknownst to Park, Gil-ryong involves his former prison cellmate, Kim Beom-jun (Park Hae-soo) as a partner.

Kim Beom-jun is a seasoned con artist who, alongside his partner Lee Yu-jeong (Gong Seung-yeon), deceives wealthy individuals. Han Sang-hun (Lee Kwang-soo) is entangled in their scheme after they draw him in to help them avoid consequences.

The lives of these five morally grey individuals spiral out of control after a single murder binds them and Lee Ju-yeon (Shin Min-a) into one chain of fate.

Ju-yeon was traumatized 13 years ago by Park Jae-yeong, Lee Yu-jeong, and, by extension, unknown to him, Kim Beom-jun. The consequences these morally corrupt characters face are no surprise and offer little unpredictability to seasoned thriller viewers. The storyline leans on familiar tropes, but what elevates Karma is the strength of its characters and performances.

Park Hae-soo delivers a masterclass performance as Kim Beom-jun, a deeply flawed and borderline psychopathic character who commands the audience’s attention in every scene. Lee Hee-joon, known for A Killer Paradox, perfectly embodies Park Jae-yeong — an obnoxious, privileged, car-obsessed man willing to murder his own father for money without remorse. Kim Sung-kyun, Gong Seung-yeon, and Lee Kwang-soo also deliver exceptional performances in their respective roles.

However, Shin Min-a’s character, Lee Ju-yeon, emerges as the second biggest disappointment of Karma. She is presented as a one-dimensional victim, used merely as a plot device to propel the story to its final karmic turn. Yet, she is not the agent of karmic justice.

Despite her unwavering resolve to seek revenge, even appearing to enact it in one scene that is later revealed to be a dream, the storyline sidelines her arc. Nonetheless, Shin Min-a portrays Ju-yeon with remarkable depth.

Instead of empowering Ju-yeon, the writers assign her revenge arc to her boyfriend played by Kim Nam-gil. Despite appearing only briefly as a guest, the actor leaves a lasting impression with a performance that’s both intense and unforgettable.

The final episode of Karma features a memorable cameo by Lovely Runner actor Song Geon-hee. He appears as the teenage version of Kim Beom-jun and delivers one of the cruelest bits of the character in the entire series. Though the scene lasts just 1 minute and 30 seconds, Song’s charisma, screen presence, and exceptional acting make it hauntingly unforgettable.

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Netflix has released all six episodes of its original thriller series Karma, now available to stream in full.