K-Drama School – Ep 194: When Life Gives You Tangerines and Letting Love Win with Will Franken

[Spoiler Alert] Happy Pride Month! Grace discusses the show When Life Gives You Tangerines (2025, Netflix) written by Lim Sang-choon starring IU, Park Bo-gum, Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon directed by Kim Won-seok. Grace compares the show to the Reply series and how they utilize nostalgia triggering materials and historic markers to hail Korean audiences with retro items. Grace also offers a thorough update as to why she hasn’t been podcasting—mostly because she’s been adjusting to a whole new life in Wisconsin involving fishing, firearms and teaching. Her guest today is Madison-based comedian Will Franken (@frosty_franken). They talk about the pointlessness of higher education the way it stands, what a good teacher is, how the word “conservative” has changed over the centuries, and which Madison bars on State Street are the worst. Grace’s book K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television is available everywhere as a hardcover, paperback, e-book and audiobook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/grace-jung/k-drama-school/9780762485727/⁠⁠ Subscribe to K-Drama School on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kdramaschool and follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram and TikTok. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kdramaschool.com/⁠⁠⁠ to learn more. Email info@kdramaschool.com for any booking inquiries.