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Inkoo Kang

@inkookang.bsky.social
9.6K followers 678 following 67 posts

Television critic at The New Yorker. Pronounced in-goo. Get updates from me: inkoo.substack.com | linktr.ee/inkookang

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Reposted by Inkoo Kang
Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 22h
There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...
But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Bay Area! Tickets are going fast for our In Bed with the Right live show on August 27 at Swedish American Hall! Join us for HOW TO BE A SILICON VALLEY CREEP, featuring digressions on eugenics, pronatalism, South Africa, scifi, climate change, and more. www.ticketweb.com/event/how-to...
ticketweb.com
Tickets for How to Become a Silicon Valley Creep (In 10 Easy Steps)
Find tickets for In Bed With The Right, Adrian Daub, Moira Donegan showing at the Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, US Thursday Aug 27, 6:30PM Tickets starting at $36.64
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 31/07/2026
Kinda wild that @jamellebouie.net is the only person saying this clearly in a high-profile media outlet, but I'm so glad he is.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk’s Racist Commentary?
Why does the owner of X get a pass for what he says and does there?
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 22/07/2026
Recent shows like “Succession,” “The White Lotus,” and “Big Little Lies” have focussed on the corruption of the über-rich. 2026’s best television, though, is interested in the other side of the K-shaped economy: the downwardly mobile middle class. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/XZaBGx
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
Welcome to the Age of Broke TV
Soulless moguls and wealth porn are out. Amid a real-life economic downturn, the greatest shows of 2026—from “Beef” to “The Comeback”—are all about scraping by.
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Maggie Serota @maggieserota.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
If I were an action hero, this is what I’d say to the bad guy before the kill shot.
Screenshot from the paywall on a Wired article that reads: “You’ve read your last free article.”
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Inkoo Kang @inkookang.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
I had a fantastic chat with Lee Sung Jin about the second season of BEEF, its eclectic origins, and its unexpected images. He also talked at length about his personal journey in the TV industry. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
newyorker.com
How the Creator of “Beef” Graduated from Petty Feuds to Class Warfare
The creator of “Beef,” Lee Sung Jin, discusses tailoring dialogue to Oscar Isaac and Charles Melton, the differences between Korean and American élites, and making TV in an age of “all-gas, no-brakes ...
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Inkoo Kang @inkookang.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
👏👏👏
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Reposted by Inkoo Kang
The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 19/04/2026
According to the “Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin, “In 2026, you really can’t talk about anything—life, marriage, love, career—without the theme of class being the variable.” www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
newyorker.com
How the Creator of “Beef” Graduated from Petty Feuds to Class Warfare
The creator of “Beef,” Lee Sung Jin, discusses tailoring dialogue to Oscar Isaac and Charles Melton, the differences between Korean and American élites, and making TV in an age of “all-gas, no-brakes capitalism” in an interview with Inkoo Kang.
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Inkoo Kang @inkookang.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
I had a fantastic chat with Lee Sung Jin about the second season of BEEF, its eclectic origins, and its unexpected images. He also talked at length about his personal journey in the TV industry. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
newyorker.com
How the Creator of “Beef” Graduated from Petty Feuds to Class Warfare
The creator of “Beef,” Lee Sung Jin, discusses tailoring dialogue to Oscar Isaac and Charles Melton, the differences between Korean and American élites, and making TV in an age of “all-gas, no-brakes ...
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 19/04/2026
The creator of “Beef,” Lee Sung Jin, discusses tailoring dialogue to Oscar Isaac and Charles Melton, the differences between Korean and American élites, and making TV in an age of “all-gas, no-brakes capitalism” in an interview with Inkoo Kang. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
newyorker.com
How the Creator of “Beef” Graduated from Petty Feuds to Class Warfare
The creator of “Beef,” Lee Sung Jin, discusses tailoring dialogue to Oscar Isaac and Charles Melton, the differences between Korean and American élites, and making TV in an age of “all-gas, no-brakes capitalism” in an interview with Inkoo Kang.
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Adam Conover @adamconover.net · 18/04/2026
I don't recall any previous transformative technologies that had to be sold to the public so hard. No one in 1999 was going, "Guys. Cell phone? It's coming, whether we like it or not. I think it's important, FOR WOMEN ESPECIALLY, to learn about cell phone. So that we're not left behind!!"
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 16/04/2026
A modest tax on second homes is the scariest thing this rich lady has ever seen.
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
New episode! On @inbedwiththeright.bsky.social, @adriandaub.bsky.social and I talk “looksmaxxing,” the movement’s parallels in incel, pro-ana, and wellness communities, and the looksmaxxer sexual politics of heterosexuality without women. We’re podcastmaxxing. pod.link/1696774612/e...
In Bed with the Right Episode 129: Looksmaxxing
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 28/03/2026
The first season of “Jury Duty” had a carefully curated feel-good vibe that seemed to exceed even the novel premise as the primary source of its appeal. But that very quality renders the follow-up unnecessary, @inkookang.bsky.social writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/RFubxr
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
“Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat” and Age of the Prestige Prank Show
The series, returning for a second season, is the latest example of a new breed—one that relies on elaborate, full-immersion experiments rather than on one-off stunts.
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Jordan @jordanpfot.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Might be the greatest opening paragraph of anything ever.
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Bilge Ebiri @bilgeebiri.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Loved the fact that various Oscar bits and clips "spoiled" the endings of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER and WEAPONS and other films last night. It was almost like the show had finally stopped worrying about appealing to people who don't bother to watch the movies. www.vulture.com/article/the-...
vulture.com
Finally, an Oscars for People Who Actually Bother to Watch Movies
In between spoilers for movies like Weapons and One Battle After Another, the 2026 ceremony took aim at the tech bros and execs threatening cinema.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 18/02/2026
The HBO drama “Industry” recognizes the way its characters are thwarted by Britain’s class system, but “it’s more interested in how their grievances fuel preëxisting personality defects, curdling ambition into insatiability,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/xirM9G
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
“Industry” Is a Study in Wasted Youths
In the new season of the hit HBO series, its young protagonists have left the trading floor that made them. Their second acts are revealing.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 10/02/2026
The HBO drama “Industry” recognizes the way its characters are thwarted by Britain’s class system, but “it’s more interested in how their grievances fuel preëxisting personality defects, curdling ambition into insatiability,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/xirM9G
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
“Industry” Is a Study in Wasted Youths
In the new season of the hit HBO series, its young protagonists have left the trading floor that made them. Their second acts are revealing.
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Reposted by Inkoo Kang
The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 06/02/2026
The genius of Sally Wainwright’s irresistible new series “Riot Women” lies in connecting individual woes to societal failures. The show “dramatizes how women pick up the pieces as institutions crumble around them,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/a1tBYY
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
In “Riot Women,” the Punks Are All Grown Up
Sally Wainwright’s irresistible new series follows a group of middle-aged women who start a band—and find an outlet for the kinds of female grievances that tend to go unsung.
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Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 04/02/2026
Whatever you think of the Washington Post at this moment, here's a chance to support the dedicated, hard-working journalists who were just laid off. If you have the means, your donation is most welcome. If you don't, a kind thought and maybe spreading the word to others is support enough 💙
gofundme.com
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
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Inkoo Kang @inkookang.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
What an absolutely brutal fucking day.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 22/01/2026
With “The Beauty,” a new FX series starring Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Murphy attempts to comment on incels, celebrity culture, and the age of Ozempic. www.newyorker.com/culture/on-t...
newyorker.com
“The Beauty” Is a Hot Mess
Ryan Murphy attempts to comment on incels, celebrity culture, and the age of Ozempic in a new FX series about a drug that makes its users young and gorgeous, at a terrible price.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 10/12/2025
Our TV critic picks the 10 best shows of the year. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/Y61B_-
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
The Best TV Shows of 2025
This year, Hollywood’s decline was evident from its output—but a few great, conversation-starting shows made our critic crave the return of the water cooler.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 26/09/2025
Sterlin Harjo’s new series, “The Lowdown,” starring Ethan Hawke as a citizen journalist determined to expose the crimes of the élite, is at once rollicking and timely, @inkookang.bsky.social writes. Read her review.
newyorker.com
“The Lowdown” Is a Noir for Our Era
Sterlin Harjo’s new series, starring Ethan Hawke as a citizen journalist determined to expose the crimes of the élite, is at once rollicking and timely.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 19/09/2025
The Trump Administration’s attack on late-night TV is part of a much broader agenda, @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
newyorker.com
How Donald Trump’s Culture-Wars Playbook Felled Jimmy Kimmel
The late-night host’s show was pulled from the air after an F.C.C. pressure campaign—one that’s part of a much broader Presidential agenda.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 08/08/2025
Many in Hollywood have concluded that they have to win back audiences by producing more content that represents red-state values. “There’s an experimental energy in the crop of shows catering to this newly prized demographic,” @inkookang.bsky.social‬ writes.
newyorker.com
Hollywood’s Conservative Pivot
After the success of “Yellowstone” and “The Chosen,” the industry is chasing other red-state hits—an uneasy context for the revival of the Texas-set “King of the Hill.”
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 15/08/2025
Is “And Just Like That” bad enough to retroactively diminish its predecessor? “I’d argue yes,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
newyorker.com
“And Just Like That . . . ,” Carrie Bradshaw Bids an Unsatisfying Farewell
The series sequel to “Sex and the City” ends with an abrupt, disappointing finale.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 19/07/2025
With its quicksilver shifts and sneaking sweetness, the experience of watching “Too Much” feels a lot like falling in love, @inkookang.bsky.social‬ writes.
newyorker.com
“Too Much” Remixes the Rom-Com
In her new Netflix show, Lena Dunham revitalizes the genre by delving into her characters’ pre-meet-cute pasts—and all the attendant emotional baggage.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 11/07/2025
With its quicksilver shifts and sneaking sweetness, the experience of watching “Too Much” feels a lot like falling in love, @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
newyorker.com
“Too Much” Remixes the Rom-Com
In her new Netflix show, Lena Dunham revitalizes the genre by delving into her characters’ pre-meet-cute pasts—and all the attendant emotional baggage.
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Kelsey McKinney @mckinneykelsey.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
more than 8,000 journalists have been laid off since 2022. That's 9% of the industry.
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 17/06/2025
uhhhh what huh???? it's been about 24 hours since our campaign's public launch and we're already more than halfway to our goal! thank you!! y'all must really love COOL INDEPENDENT MEDIA FOR BAY AREA HOTTIES givebutter.com/coyotemedia
A pink progress bar is about halfway complete. Text: "$43,650 390 Supporters. 54% of $80,000 goal"
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Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? Food systems are the #2 contributor to climate change, the #1 driver of deforestation, the #1 driver of biodiversity loss on land, and the #1 user of freshwater. (It follows that food systems contain many solutions to these problems.)
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 10/06/2025
Recent shows about the ethically challenged rich have emphasized their characters’ personality disorders along with the trappings of the high life. ” ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ flips the formula, to unsatisfying effect,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
newyorker.com
“Your Friends and Neighbors” and the Perils of the Rich-People-Suck Genre
The Apple TV+ series, starring Jon Hamm as a hedge funder turned thief, serves up luxury porn in the guise of social critique.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 30/05/2025
Recent shows about the ethically challenged rich have emphasized their characters’ personality disorders along with the trappings of the high life. ” ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ flips the formula, to unsatisfying effect,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
newyorker.com
“Your Friends and Neighbors” and the Perils of the Rich-People-Suck Genre
The Apple TV+ series, starring Jon Hamm as a hedge funder turned thief, serves up luxury porn in the guise of social critique.
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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
A sitting cabinet member being unable to define the bedrock principle of Anglo-American law for nearly a millennium will get .00001% of the coverage devoted to Hillary Clinton’s email server or Joe Biden’s mental capacity
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 07/05/2025
that one scene in SINNERS is one of the most breathtaking feats of cinema i've seen in years. coogler is cooking.
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Emily Nussbaum @emilynussbaum.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Sharp @inkookang.bsky.social column about Hacks and The Studio: www.newyorker.com/culture/on-t...
newyorker.com
On “Hacks” and “The Studio,” Hollywood Confronts Its Flop Era
The industry has long loved to tell stories about itself—but, in 2025, the self-satirizing has an air of crisis management.
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
The Pulitzer I’m most excited about was for audio reporting, “In the Dark,” which didn’t get nearly the attention it should have. www.newyorker.com/podcast/in-t...
newyorker.com
In the Dark
Long-form investigative journalism, hosted by Madeleine Baran.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 05/05/2025
Hollywood has long loved to tell stories about itself—but, in 2025, the self-satirizing has an air of crisis management. @inkookang.bsky.social writes about the new season of “Hacks” and Seth Rogen’s new series, “The Studio.”
newyorker.com
On “Hacks” and “The Studio,” Hollywood Confronts Its Flop Era
The industry has long loved to tell stories about itself—but, in 2025, the self-satirizing has an air of crisis management.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
This is two global elections in ONE WEEK where the conservative candidate trying to become prime minister not only led his party to a big loss but lost their own seat in parliament (!) in huge upsets. We are global pariahs unseen since the end of the Cold War and need stronger domestic opposition.
theguardian.com
Australia re-elects Anthony Albanese as Labor rides anti-Trump wave to seal crushing win
Opposition leader Peter Dutton fails to dissociate himself from Trump-like rhetoric and policies – and loses his seat
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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Gotta love these AI simps constantly misrepresenting why people hate this technology It’s not just because it currently sucks It’s because it’s very existence is based on a crime
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
I finally subscribed to WIRED a few months back and...I love it? Its tech lens on culture and politics means it's writing some of today's best journalism. You can see that scope just in today's most popular pieces.
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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
There are not many jobs like this in journalism, so when somebody quits one for this reason, it is worth listening to.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 21/04/2025
Though Season 2 of HBO’s “The Last of Us” gives its characters’ individual dynamics more room to breathe, it ends up feeling smaller than its predecessor over all, @inkookang.bsky.social writes. Read her review.
newyorker.com
Can “The Last of Us” Outlive Its Antihero?
The series’ most exhilarating episode yet ended with the brutal murder of a beloved character. Where does the show go from here?
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 21/04/2025
The new miniseries “Dying for Sex” has a morbid, somewhat off-putting hook: a woman with terminal cancer looks to get laid while she still can. But the show is “also something of a Trojan horse,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
nyer.cm
In “Dying for Sex,” Cancer and Kink Are Just the Beginning
The Michelle Williams-led series, about a woman seeking erotic fulfillment amid a terminal diagnosis, starts off as an unorthodox comedy—then deepens into something far better.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 16/04/2025
“The Pitt” is built on nostalgia and predictability. “It’s structured such that you know you’ll have your heart broken and mended several times per episode—it’s just a matter of how,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
nyer.cm
The Old-School Heroics of “The Pitt”
The hectic medical drama, now streaming on Max, is a throwback to a different era of television—and a counterintuitive comfort watch.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 03/04/2025
“The Pitt,” an “E.R.” meets “24” medical drama, harkens back to a different era of television. It’s “a counterintuitive comfort watch,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
newyorker.com
The Old-School Heroics of “The Pitt”
The hectic medical drama, now streaming on Max, is a throwback to a different era of television—and a counterintuitive comfort watch.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 30/03/2025
The second season of “Wolf Hall,” a PBS/BBC adaptation of the novelist Hilary Mantel’s trilogy of the same name, arrives a decade after the first season but it is “arguably greater than its acclaimed predecessor,” @inkookang.bsky.social writes.
newyorker.com
The Second Season of “Wolf Hall” Surpasses Its Acclaimed Predecessor
In the culmination of the Hilary Mantel adaptation, Mark Rylance’s Thomas Cromwell becomes a more poignant figure, weighed down by regrets.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 21/03/2025
The current season of HBO’s “The White Lotus” isn’t as fizzy or as incisive as the two before, @inkookang.bsky.social writes. In our Goings On newsletter, she recommends three other shows to check out instead.
newyorker.com
What to Watch That Isn’t “The White Lotus”
Also: the audacious Andy Kaufman; Richard Learoyd’s haunting new photography; and the Wooster Group gets wistful.
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