KDrama Addicts Anonymous (thread 2)

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the Kdrama-curious. Most of our viewing is drawn from Netflix and Viki, but the more seriously addicted have other sources, including dramabus. To our surprise, we managed to fill a whole thread, which is full of recommendations (and ones to swerve): www.mumsnet.com/Talk/streamed_tv/3337309-K-Drama-recommendations?pg=1

We have some recommendations for newbies:

My (current) top 5 – all Netflix
Live
Prison Playbook
Don’t Dare to Dream
Black
His Master’s Sun

Betty’s top 5
Black (Netflix)
Fight For My Way (Drama bus)
What’s Up With Secretary Kim (Viki)
I Hear Your Voice (Netflix /Viki)
Don’t Dare To Dream (Netflix / Viki)

Bea’s top 5
Strong Girl Bong Soon (netflix)
What's Wrong With Secretary kim (Viki)
She Was Pretty (dramabus)
Healer (netflix)

Our lovely occasional posters who have lived in Korea, are Korean or have Korean partners/family members pop up to provide the context for some of the more baffling cultural references.

We love a good kdrama bingo card to mark off the regular tropes – white truck of doom, drunk/med evac piggybacks, stalkers, rooftop apartments etc

We also stray into Korean cookery and kpop when the mood takes us. To get to grips with the lingo, try dramaloveaddicts.proboards.com/thread/24/korean-word-day?page=1

If you want to join us down the kdrama rabbit hole, pull up a chair, say goodbye to early nights and get stuck in…

Boatyardblues... Interesting... I guess there's always a bit of sci fi geekery in anyone who gets slightly fangirly... They go hand in hand as far as I see it...
In the past I've obsessed about The X Files... Oh! How I loved Spooky Mulder... Stargate Sg1... Dr Daniel Jackson!... More recently?... Daredevil (damn you netflix for cancelling!...) and Timeless...
However... Kdramas!... You now have my heart!! If only there was decent kdrama fanfic out there!... I could completely geek out!! 😁😂

Aaaaaargh! I have a bad case of W. 😫

Yeaah! W is good!

I also loved Timeless Bea and did love ‘Daredevil’ I didn’t know they’d cancelled it 🤨

😂😂😂😂... See! We told you it was amazing!!.. I love Lee jong suk!... Hope he's grown on you!... And his bodyguard! (false memory brother from sec Kim,)

Happy New year!!

Bettys!!... You still up,?! 😁
Timeless!... I'm waiting for e4 to air6thr final 2 hour final!... Been avoiding spoilers!!

Been to a party for NYE 😆
Hadn’t clocked W bodyguard was false memory bro from Sec Kim. Have you seen the BTS clips on YouTube of W? So sweet
Was so cross when they cancelled Timeless at least they’re wrapping with a special. I loved Sense8, it was the Bae Doona connection that got me into kdrama

Happy New Year! 🍾🎉🎊

Hoping I'm not too late to join in. Been hooked on Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo over the last couple of days. My Sisters been nagging at me for months to watch it and finally convinced me to watch it after we discovered it had been added to Netflix and nevertheless I've fallen down the rabbit hole! Love it!

My Sister first introduced me to Kdramas back in 2016. The Legend Of The Blue Sea was my first-anyone check it out? Fell in love with the story, characters and music and still haven't got over it! So excited for the lead actor Lee Min Ho to finish his military service later this year in hope of more dramas!

Since then it's been an endless array of amazing stories and characters as well as falling down the K-Pop rabbit hole. I noticed the topic of BTS at the beginning of the thread-big fan! I may even have attended one of their concerts back in October Any other K-Pop lovers out there-I recommend checking out SHINee & Day6!

Welcome MoonMaybe! The more the merrier.

I went straight to bed after my last post last night but was kept awake by some idiot letting of a few more large/very noisy fireworks every 15-20 min from about 1.30am until just before 3am. If I could have identified the house, I would have gone round and skinned them. 😡

Damn, I’ve been ousted from the lounge by DH and DS1 watching the new series of Lemony Snicket. If I can remember my hastily created Viki password, I can watch on my laptop but otherwise I am benched until later.

Hahaha. Just got to the bit where Kang Chul’s hairstyle changes. I preferred the spiky manga ‘do to the bouffant look.

Boy did I need some hangover soup today!!!

MoonMaybe I can second Legend of the Blue Sea it is really good and as a bonus has a guest appearance by Jo Jung Suk 😊

I will be checking out SHINee to add to my kpop playlist, thanks!

I’m ploughing my way through W, hampered a bit today by real life. It’s so meticulously conceived and internally coherent, it’s fantastic. I’ve realised that’s one of kdrama’s strengths. The stories can be off the chart weird or implausible, but the writing is so tight and universe created so fully fleshed, you can suspend your disbelief and run with it. I really hate sloppy writing where the gaps spoil your enjoyment, but I don’t have that problem with kdrama (although the less said about the last episode of Black 😠 the better).

Boatyardblues!... So happy that you're enjoying W... It was super fun... Hopefully LJS has grown on you by now! Where are you upto?

Welcome MoonMaybe!...i loved WFKBJ... I thought the lead characters were sooo lovely and I loved the whole story of Joon Hyung and his lovely family... Plus how lovely he was with KBJ... sigh!!
Not managed any watching today! 😯😯😯😭... Too many visitors and am going to bed now! Far too many late nights recently!

2/3 of way through ep 13 (the one where Soo Hee sees Kang Chul outside the hotel lobby in the real world). But I’ve belated switched off & I’m turning in.

LJS has grown on me a little but his build is too much like a teenaged boy’s for my liking. I can imagine that he was a fab make model though - he looks good in just about every outfit they put him in, that huge black/white checked trouser suit excepted.

In danger of sounding like a tabloid paper!...😂.. Or a hysterical teenager...

I find it impossible to watch some of the behind the scenes and not think the leads are an actual couple!!... Lee Jong Suk and Han Hyu Joo... Spring to mind!... They are sooooo lovely and flirty with each other!... Surely there's a difference between acting professionals and then lurve....??.... No wonder there's so many articles about are they or aren't they!?... The other two leads I was convinced about are Park hyung sik and Park Bo young! (strong girl bong soon).... They're just too cute not to be!! 😂😂😂😭😭😭😭

Has anyone made a foray into the less poppy side of Korean music? Whilst BTS and their ilk are fun. I find most of the ballady stuff too syruppy for my tastes. Some of the rap is good - especially because I can’t understand any sexist lyrics, which ruin my enjoyment of most English language rap. I loved the Prison Playbook theme track.

It’s so meticulously conceived and internally coherent, it’s fantastic. I’ve realised that’s one of kdrama’s strengths. The stories can be off the chart weird or implausible, but the writing is so tight and universe created so fully fleshed, you can suspend your disbelief and run with it

I was trying to explain to people on NYE just why kdrama is so good, this says it perfectly. Unfortunately due to an excess of prosecco I just came over as a shower scene obsessed groupie.

Bea those BTS scenes of LJS are so cute, apparently he is a very cuddly tactile person in real life, but it does look like he had a crush on her. In While You Were Sleeping the chemistry isn't quite so good, but that could be because Suzy is in a relationship with Lee Min-Ho.

boatyardblues yes, I use Spotify & Shazam for this.

The great theme tune for Prison Playbook is by beWHY and Gravy, so it's easy to look up other stuff by them and then Spotify radio will suggest similar stuff. I'll also stop a drama to Shazam it if I hear music I like. I have a huge playlist of OST that features all kinds of music, plus I'll sometimes use search terms like Korean jazz to find stuff.

I also like people such as SaltnPaper who do a lot of OST stuff in English & Korean, and Epik High who are hip hop based but also do OST stuff.
I find it great music to listen to while working.

There is something to be said for music in an unfamiliar language, as you don’t distracted by the lyrics.

Finished W earlier. Is the “special” episode any good?

Haven't watched it, is it a how we made it kind of thing?

Hmm. The first 10-15 mins was all recapping. Just been ousted from the lounge by the Lemony Snicket contingent (I’m outnumbered), so had to dip out at that point. Where is the cute BTS footage?

What next?

He can't stop touching her!

Are you going to do the 10 minute test or do you have something in mind? I've been watching Defendant which is quite good (viki)

I have got the lists posted near the start of the thread squirrelled away & I’m working through them, but I feel the need for something with a properly gruff, manly ML, not all these lovely skinny metrosexual chaps. Oh yes, hopefully one that’s not an arrogant arse (cf sec kim, the author in Chicago Typewriter).