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Bargain begins with a man, who I thought was having a first date in a clandestine hotel room situation, with a young 18-year-old woman, Park Joo Young (Jeon Jong-seo), who claims to be a virgin, with him rather demanding some proof before paying $1000 for the pleasure. Due to apparent unpleasant circumstances when she was younger, she claims to no longer be ‘intact’, thus he wants to reduce the fee.
He heads off for a shower – getting himself ready for them apparently doing the do – and during this, she’s on the phone to another unsuspecting guy. Now, she didn’t look like the type of woman who’d be bariing anything other than her soul, so while I didn’t expect what actually happened before too long, I did get the impression they would not end up doing the horizontal mambo.
I know the trailer does show what happens later in the episode, but if you want to stay in the dark, do not read the following piece, behind a spoiler header… (NOTE: I am not saying any more than is in the trailer, so no spoilers here!)
I’ve only seen the first episode so far, but it’s gripping viewing, and there are timing of events which are completely mad as cheese!
But what makes this an absolute must-see – other than the stunning Jeon Jong-seo – is that the entire episode is shot in one take! A quick look at the next one shows that’s the same, too.
Thanks to our friends at Paramount+ for the screener prior to release.
Bargain is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Paramount+ from Thursday October 5th, with all episodes available at launch.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 40 minutes per episode (6 episodes)
Release date: October 5th 2023
Studio: Paramount+
Format: 2.00:1
Director: Woo-Sung Jeon
Writers: Byeongyun Choi, Woo-Sung Jeon
Cast:
Park Joo Young: Jeon Jong-seo
Noh Hyung Soo: Jin Seon-kyu
Chang Sun: Shin Jae Hwi
Mr. Min: Kang Gil-woo
Guk Ryeol: Chang Ryul
Hee Sook: Hyung-Soo Park
Gatekeeper 1: Moon Jin-Seung
Gatekeeper 2: Jo Han Joon
Bidders: Ju-Young Lee, Lee Joo-young, Shin Mi-young, Shin Hee-Chul, Ji-Hoon Ryu, Jo-Ah Yang
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.