The Chair released on Netflix on August 20, 2021, and is the eye-opening tale of a woman named Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh), who is the newly appointed chair of the English department at Pembroke University. Nothing seems out of the ordinary here, except that Ji-Yoon happens to be the first woman of color to hold that role. Not only that, but the department she’s heading is badly failing within a top university. Ji-Yoon strives to save her department, while also balancing romantic feelings for her colleague, Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass), and parenting her adoptive daughter.

Needless to say, Ji-Yoon has a lot on her plate. However, it’s when she is flustered and frustrated that her humor shines through, as she deftly attempts to hold together a situation that is quickly falling apart. The series isn’t necessarily hopeful or optimistic, but it does provide a realistic look into what a typical college semester looks like. Not only that, but it also portrays an American Korean woman in a high position at a university. Sadly, this is a depiction of Korean woman that is not frequently found in the media.