K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available for pre-order and a 20% discount until April 23, 2024! Use code KDRAMA20 at the checkout on the Hachette Book Group webpage: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/ Exclusions apply. This code only applies at the Hachette checkout for hardcover copies of the book, and expires on April 23, 2024.[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the series Like Flowers Over Sand (2023-2024) starring Jang Dong-yoon, Lee Joo-myung and Kim Bora written by Won Yoo-jung and directed by Kim Jin-woo. Grace appreciates the show’s balanced tone and especially the brilliant performance of Jang Young-nam who also appears in Captivating the King. Grace notices a pattern of K-dramas showcasing slower-paced rural living favored over the fast-paced, ambitious and anxiety-inducing city life of Seoulites among young people lately, and takes it as a sign of health in South Korea’s socio-cultural collective psyche. Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at ⁠http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool⁠. Visit the K-Drama School Store at ⁠http://www.kdramaschool/com/store⁠. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, and TikTok. Visit ⁠https://www.kdramaschool.com/⁠ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Miraculous Brothers (2023, JTBC). The show is written by Kim Ji-woo whose TV screenwriting days date back to 2001 with Stock Flower. The show stars Jung Woo, Bae Hyun-sung, Park Yu-rim, Oh Man-seok and Lee Ki-woo. Themes include rationalizing one’s personal shame and the importance of tending to one’s own pain rather than only externalizing through action in the name of “justice.” Grace discusses modernist Korean poet Yoon Dong-ju and the Woody Allen film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) in relation to Miraculous Brothers. Please visit K-Drama School’s Patreon page to support the show at http://www.patreon.com/kdramaschool. Please visit the K-Drama School Store at http://www.kdramaschool/com/store. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Lost (2021, JTBC) which stars Jeon Do-yeon and Ryu Jun-yeol. The show dwells on themes of existential loneliness, hitting rock bottom, and seeking a way to love freely. The show is directed by Hur Jin-ho and written by Kim Ji-hye. Grace discusses the culture of South Korean host bars that cater to women with money and stand-in services where sex workers and entertainers pretend to be a client’s acquaintance or friend at weddings and funerals. Grace wonders whether or not she will continue K-Drama School podcast on a weekly basis to discuss just her personal life if there are no shows to discuss or more sporadically when she has shows to discuss. We’ll find out by next week on what her decision is. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Mr Queen (2020-2021, tvN) based on a Chinese web series called Go Princess Go. The show is written by Park Gye-ok and Choi Ah-il. Grace compares Mr Queen to Jewel in the Palace; whereas more classic hallyu K-dramas like Jewel in the Palace utilizes Korean food as a vehicle to promote wellness, healing and medicinal properties, Mr Queen appropriates aspects of that show to promote Korean food as pleasure and vice. Mr Queen also includes aspects of trans-queerness through the embodiment of a female and male soul in one cis-female body as well as the queering of time and history through camp storytelling devices. Mr Queen promotes feminist values by exhibiting patriarchal privilege through the Queen’s embodiment of a man’s 21st century soul, as well as law reform to protect women’s right to safety and happiness in the last episode. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Inspector Koo (2021, JTBC) written by Sung Choi. Grace delves into the writer’s feminist logic behind conceptualizing Inspector Koo, inspired by the rage and sorrow over digital crimes, sex trafficking, and misogyny in Korea. Inspector Koo demonstrates how having empathy and understanding for the villain helps the heroine come full circle with her own inner battle. This part of the show works as an effective metaphor for accepting one’s own shadow to recover one’s wholeness as a person. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Under the Queen’s Umbrella (2022, tvN) starring Kim Hye-soo, Kim Hae-sook, Choi Won-young and Moon Sang-min. Grace admires Kim Hye-soo and Kim Hae-sook’s veteran performances go head-to-head on this show. She wonders why the actor Moon Sang-min is suddenly popping off. Grace is disappointed by the soundtrack composer of Under the Queen’s Umbrella for copying Rupert Gregson-Williams who composed the soundtrack for season 1 of The Crown—particularly the score “Duck Shoot.” Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.