In short
Two creators discuss what inspired them recently—Pete Ohs on the Korean reality competition Battle of Fates (psychics) and Jeremy O. Harris on Kenzo Borough-Owe’s novel A Personal Matter—framing both as emotionally transformative, non-American experiences with “magic” or radical self-accounting.
Guests
Pete Ohs is a director who cites Battle of Fates on Disney Plus, describing challenges like identifying which five of 11 contestants are billionaires. Jeremy O. Harris is a playwright/actor who discusses A Personal Matter, an autofictional, self-recriminating apology.
Key claims
Battle of Fates makes him believe in “granny spirits,” and the show’s therapy-like energy helps people process life meaningfully. A Personal Matter is “wildly radical” and “stunning,” with trigger warnings, centered on a child’s birth as a “personal holocaust” and Japan’s wartime ideology.
Notable examples
“saju” birth-chart math; judges’ billionaire-identification challenge; the book’s World War II context and emperor-as-god rationale.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOExploring Battle of Fates
0:33 to 2:49
Pete Ohs shares insights on the Korean reality show Battle of Fates.
“We are talking shamans, tarot readers, face readers, foot readers, saju readers, which is just like people who use math to analyze people's birth charts.”
Jeremy O. Harris on A Personal Matter
2:49 to 5:10
Jeremy O. Harris discusses Kenzo Borough's novel A Personal Matter.
“My name is Jeremy O 'Harris, and this is The Treat.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Jeremy O. Harris:KCRW sponsors include HBO Max presenting Half-Man. From creator Richard Gad, this explosive drama series chronicles the fraught relationship between two brothers over four decades. The Guardian calls this series a masterpiece. Half-Man is now streaming on HBO Max.
0:15Pete Ohs:Welcome to The Treat. I'm Elvis Mitchell. The film Aroupsia comes from director Pete Ose and playwright and actor Jeremy O 'Harris. For this pair, The Treat ranges from a stark and unique piece of fiction to a warm and equally unique reality show.
0:33Jeremy O. Harris:My name is Pete Ose and this is The Treat.
0:41Jeremy O. Harris:The thing that has deeply inspired me of recent is a Korean reality competition show on Disney Plus called Battle of Fates, in which 49 of the best psychics in Korea compete against each other to find out who is the best psychic.
1:10Jeremy O. Harris:We are talking shamans, tarot readers, face readers, foot readers, saju readers, which is just like people who use math to analyze people's birth charts. An example of one of the challenges is they have 11 people come in and the judges say five of them are billionaires. Which ones? And the way in which these psychics are able to identify, and it feels unreal, it feels magical. My jaws dropped the whole time and now I fully believe in granny spirits and I am talking to my granny spirit all day long.
1:54Jeremy O. Harris:It's also emotional because it's not American reality television. It just comes at it with a different energy, a different perspective. You are watching these people do therapy and actually help people process aspects of their life and how real and meaningful all this is.
2:20Jeremy O. Harris:Basically, every episode makes me cry. I am without question a full believer after having definitely entered as a skeptic. It makes me feel so good to see these people connect so deeply with magic and believe in it so confidently. And it makes me excited about a world where that is possible.
2:49Pete Ohs:My name is Jeremy O 'Harris, and this is The Treat.
2:58The Treat is Kinzeborough Always a Personal Matter.
3:07Pete Ohs:This is one of my favorite books. I rediscovered it recently. It's truly a wildly radical bit of autofiction and self-recrimination. and it's an apology and, like, a rebel yell at the same time.
3:32Pete Ohs:This book came out the same day as his, like, true World War II. Like, it's kind of a monograph as well. It's like a photo book and, like, nonfiction writing. It's really f***ing up to talk about the other book and why it came out at the same day as this, because he basically says that his child being born was like his personal holocaust, which is insane. But it's really, really, really stunning.
4:03Pete Ohs:So much of his work is reflecting on the fact that, like, the emperor told them all that if you worked for the glory of the emperor and, like, put your body on the line, then, like, Japan could not lose. And so everyone ate less. They, like, sent their sons to wars. and then they lost and they didn't just lose. They lost supremely and they lost supremely. And then America made their emperor say, I'm not a god, which like was the reason they were doing this to begin with because they were like, well, our emperor is a god, so we got to do it. And so then to have your entire reality ruptured at the age of 12, I think causes a lot of anger.
4:44Pete Ohs:It's one of the great pieces of world literature written by, you know, the first Japanese Nobel laureate, I believe. And I think everyone should read it. So if you've never read A Personal Matter, you should read it. It is stark. It has trigger warnings out the wazoo. But it's a really, really beautiful, beautiful book.
5:10Pete Ohs:Director Pete Ohs on the Korean reality show Battle of Fates and playwright Jeremy O 'Harris on Kenzo Borough-Owe's novel, Personal Matter. Rebecca Mooney produces The Treat and Katie Gilchrist mixes it. Yep, it's a lot of O's. I'm Elvis Mitchell. It's The Treat.
5:45Thank you.
6:17Pete Ohs:KCRW sponsors include Netflix, presenting Sean Combs' The Reckoning, from director Alexandria Stapleton. Featuring never-before-seen materials and exclusive interviews, critics call the documentary series engrossing, riveting, undeniably gripping, and incredibly compelling viewing. Emmy eligible.
From the publisher
The new film Erupcja, which stars pop star Charli XCX and takes place in Poland, marks the third collaboration between director Pete Ohs and playwright and actor Jeremy O. Harris. Their latest collaboration is another international venture. It’s a joint treat about a surprisingly moving Korean reality show and a stark and shocking piece of auto-fiction from a Japanese Nobel prize winner.