Itaewon Class Roundtable | SeoulPodcast
Channel: ZenKimchi
Date: 2020-04-21

Guests
Flower - Instagram: @FlowerTakesOnTheWorld
Timothy Sun - Korean-American Netflix Junkie

We discuss the hit Korean drama “Itaewon Class.” We recommend watching before listening because of spoilers. We cover issues brought up, our favorite characters, cultural details you may have missed, and things that we love and are annoyed by.

NOTE: We had overlayed clips during parts to illustrate what we were talking about, but JTBC dinged us on a copyright violation. Even though our commentary over the clips fit precisely into Fair Use. I disputed it, but they were firm. I don't know how other videos that are nothing but clips from the show are allowed, but I had to strip out all the clips or get a copyright strike from YouTube.

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Plot Outline
***SPOILER ALERT***
Itaewon Class centers around Park Saeroyi, a stubbornly high principled middle school dropout with a criminal past, as he opens a small pub in the Itaewon neighborhood. He collects a motley crew of employees (“pied piper of misfits” - ManicMuse) as he tries to build his pub and get revenge on the powerful Jang family, who had ruined his life and killed his father. 

First episode - Jan 31, 2020
Final episode - March 21, 2020

Characters

Dan Bam
Park Saeroyi (Park Seo-joon)
Jo Yi-seo (Park Da-mi)
Choi Seung-kwon (Ryu Kyung-soo)
Ma Hyeon-yi (Lee Joo-young)
Kim To-ni (Chris Lyon)
Jang Geun-soo (Kim Dong-hee)

Jangga
Jang Dae-hee (Yoo Jae-myung)
Jang Geun-won (Ahn Bo-hyun)
Oh Soo-ah (Kwon Nara)
Kang Min-jung (Kim Hye-eun)
Mr. Sunshine (Yoon Ho-Sun)
Chef Park Jung-Gi (Lee Joon-Hyuk)

Others
Park Sung-Yeol (Son Hyun-Joo)
Lee Ho-jin (Lee David)
Kim Soon-rye (Kim Mi-kyeong)
Detective Oh Byeong-heon (Yoon Kyeong-ho)
Hong Seok-Cheon

Differences from the Webtoon
The actors were made to try to match the webtoon as much as possible
More backstory to create motivations, especially Soo-ah
Originally named 꿀밤 (changed because the webtoon’s writer owned a real pub with that name)
The order and situations when characters meet are a little different
Park Saeroyi’s father opened a chicken hof, not a pocha
Big car chase at the end
Jang Dae-hee kneels his apology in his hospital room
Issues
Portrayals of powerless members in Korean society 
Dirt spoons vs. Gold spoons
Uneducated
Criminal record
Age
The age gap between Yi-Seo and Saeroyi
Transgender & LGBT
(I didn’t know she was trying to pretend to be a man at the beginning)
How it was used against her in the competition
Recent stories
Withdrawal from Sookmyung Women’s University
Discharged from army after surgery
Harisu
Hong Seok-cheon
Foreign-born/Race
“Korean-ness” more about looks
Assume English speaking (Han Hyun-min?)
Blocked at the nightclub
The jumping and hiding from foreigners
Cross-cultural marriage
Infantilization of foreigners
How the show treated Kim To-ni’s character after they had made their point
Did the issues feel like they were shoehorned in, or did they feel natural?
How did it portray Itaewon and Gyungridan?
Dominance of chaebol
Real life comparisons
Food company
CJ Food
Baek Jong-won
Hanjin
Hanhwa
Good capitalism vs. bad capitalism or Good boss vs. Bad boss
Relationships over money
Suicide? 
Questions & Notes
What was your favorite part?
When Yi-seo kissed a passed out Saeroyi… 
How did you feel about Saeroyi’s reaction when Mr. Jang knelt?
Inigo Montoya
Did Soo-Ah get a good ending?
Did Yi-Seo and Saeroyi make a sensible match or felt forced to please fans?
Did it feel it petered out after episode 13? When it jumped to 4 years later?
The gangster subplot. How do you feel about how it played out?
Geun-won. How realistic is his character? No redeeming qualities?
Which characters saw growth?
Park Saeroyi wouldn’t have become successful without Mr. Jang.
How did it break Korean drama cliches (and how did it stick to them)?
Breaks cliches
Different vibe
Subverted the myth of the Chaebol Prince
Both Geun-won and Geun-soo
Heroes not usually seen on Korean TV
Sticks to cliches
Love triangle/pentagon
Underdog story
Reaching coincidences
Style
The talk to the back
Long pauses
Gratuitous flashbacks and inner monologues
Replaying the same pop songs
Weird stuff
4-year jump
The detective’s daughter doesn’t age at all
Is Saeroyi too annoyingly virtuous? Vulture--”He’s a paragon of moral virtue in XXL fits, with an almost astonishingly naïve capacity to do the right thing even at great personal cost.”
Never kissed a girl
Do you think with the popularity of “Itaewon Class” that more dramas will feature less represented characters in Korean society?