K-Drama School

No K-drama today. School is closed because the host is ill. Get your flu shots!

No K-drama today. Grace repaints a self-portrait she painted back in July 2013. What did she paint ten years later? Who is she today? Grace offers a few pointers for you to carry in your back pocket this week.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses Juvenile Justice (Netflix, 2022) starring Kim Hye-soo, Kim Mu-yeol and Lee Sung-min. Grace compares the success of Juvenile Justice to the failure of Extracurricular in that there’s a complete story arc following Judge Sim’s hero’s journey. Grace praises Kim Hye-soo’s controlled performance on this show, as well as the show’s conscious awareness in how a society’s perpetrators come into formation through systemic and structural problems. The show poignantly states that everyone in society is culpable when a juvenile offender is created thus questioning the black-and-white tendency to frame criminals. The show also offers a critique of the lenient sentencing of femicide and rape crimes in South Korea. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Summer Strike (GenieTV, 2022) starring Im Si-wan and Kim Seol-hyun. She analyzes the character Bom and her moments of female outrage in light of the tragedies she faces, which are highly in contrast with how Yeo-reum handles herself. Grace also encourages you to quit your job if you hate it so much. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Save Me (OCN, 2017) starring Seo Yea-ji, Ok Taec-yeon, Jo Sung-ha and Woo Do-hwan. Grace analyzes the show’s illustration of religious fanaticism to critique South Korean cults that take advantage of emotionally vulnerable civilians. She also examines South Korea’s conflicting viewpoint around mental illness—how patients suffering from mental disorder and their families are unwilling to accept a clinical diagnosis from psychologists but willing to seek faith-based healing from shamans, folk medicine, herbal medicine, and religious cults. Grace empathizes with how hard it is for South Koreans to feel safety when seeking psychological counseling in a country that still stigmatizes mental illness. In her opening monologue, Grace celebrates her 36th birthday by indulging in a week-long journey of healing rituals with two reiki sessions, two therapy sessions, dream analyses and more. Grace’s guest is clinical psychologist Dr. Jacob Ham who also serves as the Director of Center for Child Trauma and Resilience at Mount Sinai in New York. Grace and Dr. Ham discuss how to fill a gap by adding healing to the discourse of modern Korean traumas, the show Sky Castle, survival parenting, epigenetics through dreams, how dreams and zodiacs serve us, Indigenous shamanism, Goethe’s light theory, yin and yang, fear of mushrooms and worms, the fascinating ways that our subconscious minds reach for our loved ones, and facing our dark matter with curiosity, presence and loving awareness. Trigger Warning: Grace is especially vulnerable and open in this episode and dives into her trauma history including child abuse, molestation, domestic violence, and more. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Curtain Call (KBS, 2022) starring Kang Ha-neul and Ha Ji-won. Grace appreciates the potential incest romance the show dangles, as well as Ha Ji-won finally playing a strong female character on TV. Grace breaks down what a classic K-drama melodrama is made of. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the Netflix show Somebody—a Netflix series starring Kang Hae-lim, Kim Yong-ji, Kim Soo-yeon, and Kim Young-kwang. Grace is impressed by the show’s diverse way of exploring female sexuality and agency, but questions the choice behind making the autistic character a pathological killer.  Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace welcomes in the Lunar New Year by setting new intentions, including always making an effort to humanity’s good even in light of the mass shooting in Monterey. Her thoughts are with her Asian American community in SoCal. Grace discusses the show Would You Like a Cup of Coffee? (2021, KakaoTV) written by Huh Young-man, Lee Ho-joon and No Jung-wook. Grace calls this chamber piece a K-drama that feels like “tapas”—small and manageable bites that are easy to digest. 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 My Unfamiliar Family (2020, tvN) written by Kim Eun-jung, and the show’s creative uses of the theme “unfamiliarity” in the context of family. Grace’s returning guest is Berlin-based comedian Tobias Hauser (@hahahouser on Instagram) and they discuss how quitting drinking changes one’s social circle, boredom, Joni Mitchell, buying and selling guitars, aging, drag queens, prime ministers and new year’s resolutions. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Glory(2022, Netflix) written by hit-maker Kim Eun-sook in her second collaboration with Song Hye-kyo. The Glory also features Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-yeon, Yeom Hye-ran, and Park Sung-hoon. Grace is impressed by Song Hye-kyo’s frightening portrayal of woman obsessed with vindication, and her sensitivity in delivering a PTSD survivor’s behaviors. Grace problematizes The Glory and other K-dramas’ regular insensitivity when depicting drug addicts while framing other mental illnesses in a more sympathetic light. Grace also dives into studies conducted on South Korea’s laws and stats around corporal punishment by parents and teachers, as well as studies on South Korea’s bullying epidemic in schools. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.

[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Reborn Rich (2022, JTBC) starring Song Joong-ki, Shin Hyun-been, and Lee Sung-min, and how the show has a couple of overlaps with HBO’s Succession although writer San Kyung wrote the web novel Reborn Rich a year prior to Succession airing. Grace dives into how K-dramas that display a giant ego meltdown is what makes it a K-drama. Grace also mentions a category of K-dramas that fall under the "National Self-Reflection" umbrella like Reborn Rich, the Reply series, and Twenty-five Twenty-one. Finally, Grace names her top 4 best K-drama series of the year 2022. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.