5.21 - Special Review of Mr. Queen with Ernabel Demillo

Today, we’re doing a special recap and review of Mr. Queen with Professor Ernabel Demillo. For those of you who don’t know Ernabel, or Ernie as we call her, she is Department Chair of the Communication and Media Culture Department at Saint Peter's University and host of the Emmy-award winning "Asian American Life" show on CUNY-TV. We discuss:

Why we chose Mr. Queen in the first place for Season 5
Our favorite scenes from the entire season
The scenes we found the funniest, all of them involving Shin Hye-sun, of course!
That we think the show is ultimately about identity, change and transformation
How every one of the main characters was transformed in some way
Whether the king will love the queen in the same way, now that Jang Bong-hwan has left her body
The small issues we had with the show
How King Cheoljong DID try to enact some reforms, but was not successful
Asian-American Life (AAL), the only monthly TV show devoted to the Asian-American diaspora, life and experience in the US
How the theme of identify keeps coming up in episodes of AAL
Ernie’s favorite AAL segments, how they find stories, how they convince people to be featured, and how they
How Ernie manages to be a full-time professor at St. Peter’s University AND be a producer and host of AAL; she’s also writing a book loosely based on her mom’s experience as a child in the Philippines during WWII
Why we chose Gyeongseong Creature, the show that we will recap and analyze in Season 6 of K Drama Chat

References

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K Drama Chat is a weekly podcast where we take one Korean (K) Drama each season and and recap and analyze each episode. K Drama Chat is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.

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11.10 - Podcast Review of Episode 10 of When Life Gives You Tangerines

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 10 of When Life Gives You Tangerines , the hit K Drama on Netflix starring IU as Oh Ae-sun and Park Bo-gum as Yang Gwan-sik as young adults, then Moon So-ri as Oh Ae-sun and Park Hae-joon as Yang Gwan-sik as older adults. We discuss: The featured song during the recap: “Theme of Ae-sun” by Park Sung-il, the musician who also wrote “Theme of Gwan-sik,” “Spring in a Heartbeat,” and “Two Faced Summer” from this OST. The Baeksang Awards wins for this show—Best Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor—and how validating it feels to have picked a gem for Season 11 of our podcast! How this episode focuses on three mothers and their powerful love for their children: Ae-sun, Yeong-ran, and Chung-seop’s mom. The symbolic and cultural significance of white rice, and how Bu Sang-gil uses it as a weapon in his drunken tirade. Oh Seong’s boiling anger against his father and sister, and his tragic learned behavior from witnessin...

12.17 - Special Episode About the Art and Science of Screenwriting with Ellen Sullivan

Today, we have a special episode of K Drama Chat where we’re joined by longtime listener, friend, and screenwriter, Ellen Sullivan . We talk about the art and science of screenwriting and how the best K Dramas follow—or creatively depart from—dramatic structure to deliver compelling, emotional stories. In this episode, we discuss: The shows that are heavily spoiled in this episode: Crash Landing On You , Mr. Queen , Mr. Sunshine , When the Phone Rings , and Captivating the King . Ellen’s background as a screenwriter and technical writer, and how her passion for K Dramas began with My Mister. The Western three-act structure versus the Korean four-act structure (gi-seung-jeon-gyeol), and how each style approaches storytelling and character development. Detailed examples of setup, midpoint, and conclusion in Crash Landing On You , Mr. Queen , and Mr. Sunshine . What makes these shows work: believable character arcs, clear motivations, strong midpoint turns, and emotional payof...

12.16 - Podcast Review of Episode 16 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 16, the finale, of Extraordinary Attorney Woo , the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Park Eun-bin as Woo Young-woo, Kang Tae-oh as Lee Jun-ho, Ha Yoon-kyung as Choi Soo-yeon, Ju Hyun-young as Dong Geurami, Kang Ki-young as Jung Myung-seok, and Joo Jong-hyuk as Kwon Min-woo. We discuss: The songs featured during the recap: Dance with a Best Friend by Roh Young Sim and Beyond My Dreams by Sunwoojunga. The Wall Street Journal article that explores the wide spectrum of autism and how the medical community thinks we need better and different diagnoses for the different presentations of autism. Woo Young-woo and Choi Sang-hyeon’s similarities, including their autistic traits, intelligence, and love of gimbap and Rubik’s cubes. Tae Su-mi’s response to her son’s confession of hacking and how it reflects both ambition and maternal instinct. The ethical and legal complexities of the Raon hacking case, including Woo Young-woo’s dilemma between social ...

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