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…

I’ve never paid much attention to BTS so not sure about their look, I only recognise them because rm is quite odd looking lol.

Meat is pretty expensive here, yes, and Korean beef (hanu) is known to be really delicious and (as they always say) tender (you’ll likely hear them say ‘budereopgye’ as they’re eating, which means tender. if you don’t say it, are you even eating beef?) Is it particularly delicious? Not to my mind, but fair enough.

People don’t eat a vegetarian diet at all (in fact it’s hard to find vegetarian food) but eating an actual cut of beef is expensive so it’s more like meat in soups, fish cakes (disgusting), processed meat etc. Going out to eat bbq is pricier than other places so it is kind of a treat.

But they are generally more exuberant about food than us and always have to say it looks delicious, it is delicious, it was delicious every meal. There’s a lot of emphasis on looking like you’re enjoying eating. Food is love here.

Plus it’s likely to be marketing/soft power. Emphasise how lovely Korean meat is in dramas and get the foreign tourists coming in. The government absolutely has a hand in stuff like that.

But they are generally more exuberant about food than us and always have to say it looks delicious, it is delicious, it was delicious every meal. There’s a lot of emphasis on looking like you’re enjoying eating. Food is love here.

Oh yes, there is a lot of food enthusiasm in kdrama, but I kind of like it because they also show people making it too & I’m picking up usefultips and shortcuts.

With regards to the tourism element, I like the temples and traditional residences in the historical dramas & plan to visit historical sites when we visit (currently saving up). There are some I’m starting to recognise from different series, which made me wonder if a) there aren’t many left so they get used frquently as locations or b) they are the nearest ones to Seoul, so a bit like LA & California all the location filming starts to look samey. Do historical dramas ever use Chinese temples, for example, or does pride in specifically Korean heritage rule that out?

There are thousands of temples, mostly in the mountains (many mountains are named after the temple or vice versa eg Inwangsa is on Inwangsan). I think they all basically look the same, they were all built during Joseon times so there’s not much diversity in style. They’re not original at all, most stuff like that was destroyed during the war and the occupation.

The palaces all look mostly the same too. Nice to see but I wouldn’t plan to go to more than one or two. For me, hiking is the best way to see Korea, or cycling. Seoul is good for two or three days but it doesn’t have that much stuff to do that can’t be done outside. People outside Seoul are way friendlier, less pushy etc.

There is a possibility they have a set with a temple that is used in dramas, I’m not sure.

Haedong Yonggung temple is definitely worth seeing, it’s on the sea at Busan, really different and unique feeling.

If I were you, I’d look on blogs written by foreigners to find stuff to do and eat here. The Korean Tourism Office couldn’t market a naked kpop samgyeopsal festival. They have no idea what people are interested in. Thus, thousands of posters for rice festivals or potato festivals and no information about things like the mask festival or places to see the autumn leaves changing colour.

Thank you again IAm. The crap tourist info rings true, as I got a page for a mud octopus festival somewhere in Korea when I was googling to find out more about mud octopuses (post Din’t Dare to Dream). It was translated, but there was no context or explanation, no photos, no “getting here” info.

Gah! Toasty LJS has got me in a spiral... have started Dr Stranger... (halfway through ep 1 but will stop now! - I'm not in Pyjamas!!!!) whilst still in the midst of Pinnochio (it's ace and ver tragic!!! so far...) and The K2 (Grrrr JCW)....
I'm such a waster!!!!!

Ooof work is busy & trying to curtail viewing to normal hours but have somehow managed to finish off My ID is Gangnam Beauty. Very interesting regarding views on beauty & plastic surgery and I enjoyed it but not on my favourites list.

Wrt to Toasty LYS his new drama should be coming on January 26th! Don't know if it will be serialised on Viki or Netflix though. Bea I much prefer Pinocchio over Dr Stranger although Dr Stranger has the rather nice Park Hae-Jin too. The story is bonkers though.

boatyardblues how are you getting on with Cheese in the Trap ? In later episodes there is too much about the 2nd ML's backstory, which was changed almost sidelining the PHJ character who is far more interesting.

Feeling slightly restless without a new series to get my teeth into

The Korean Tourism Office couldn’t market a naked kpop samgyeopsal festival

That would be worth saving up for! I've also had trouble finding interesting holiday information. There are Kuoni tours which look a little too 'organised' - but maybe it's hard to get around if you're a foreigner? It's a long-term project to visit there are so many beautiful-looking areas outside Seoul.

I'm up to ep 8, Betty, & 2ML is angsting bigly over his lost piano life (yawn). I’m not convinced to 2 leads have great chemistry either, but I am enjoying the oddness of it all.

Read a fairly puffy Soompi story last night about Park Hae Jin feeling constrained by his “perfect” image. I get the impression that stars’ public images are very tightly controlled and managed. Hard to tell whether he’s really boring IRL or just crushed into conformity. It’s a huge shame as our system does allow loveable eccentrics to flourish (Olivia Colman for eg) and I think we appreciate our artists and celebs more for it. Mind you, like IAm’s caution around acceptable parameters for Korean men to emote, our press is pretty brutal is someone in the public eye transgresses acceptable parameters for individualism.

What the flip! At end of ep 2 Dr stranger and we've gone from hard political grim thriller drama to fluffy medical??... This is why I love this stuff!!

Boatyardblues, yes I think stars seem to be very constrained by their public image. PHJ sort of spoke out about the changes to the Cheese story & how he almost didn’t recognise the last few episodes as they shot extra scenes after he finished filming with 2nd ML . Even so it’s very mild & polite
www.soompi.com/article/827573wpp/park-hae-jin-expresses-his-regrets-regarding-cheese-in-the-trap

The FL is the one in Goblin too

This article has more information but may contain spoilers

YY Dr Stranger is proper mad (and imo flags in the middle) but has the advantage of two tasty MLs - well one toasty & one tasty

The FL is the one in Goblin too

I had to go and check because I didn’t believe you. She’s so drippy and looks so awful in the ginger fright wig, I didn’t realise it was the same actress. A credit to her acting, but still...

The ginger wig is to resemble the webtoon character. If you do read the link I posted below that contains a few mild spoilers, it says how the webtoon creator and Park Hae-Jin were disappointed by the deviations from the source material. In fact not only did I then watch the film in which Park Hae-Jin played the same character two years later, but I looked up the webtoon ending, which was sweet & tied in with a subtle moment from the film & drama as to why he fell for her.

In Because This Is My First Life (Viki) which I highly recommend, the FL is a drama writer and it shows just how things can change between script & screen.

I got frustrated with Cheese ithe Trap, so I’m dallying with Because this is my first life and I’m already having a chuckle about FL (screenwriter) having to shoehorn improbable happenings into the script to cover off all the brand placement requirements.

Oh my goodness! Ep 12... Pinnochio and I'm proper blubbing away! 😭😩😭😩😭... It's too tragic!

Pass the tissues!.....

Oh I know, I've never blubbed over tv so much since I started watching dramas. Over the top cheesy but it gets to you!

Oh I know, I've never blubbed over tv so much since I started watching dramas. Over the top cheesy but it gets to you!

The end of Chicago Typewriter got me that way. I welled up telling DH how it ended and he thought it was funny that it had got to me so much. 🤷‍♂️

Gotta say, loving the Because this is my first life odd not-couple.

Just had to google the Korean writing slang word/term “makjang” & it perfectly nails a lot of kdrama.

Yeah Because This Is My First Life is in my top 10. Has a slightly more contemporary feel, if that make sense. And Lee Min Ki was added to my Oppa's list.

I’m enjoying it a lot more than Cheese in the Trap.

I may be on my own with Cheese in the Trap

Having a shot at Judge vs Judge (Viki & Netflix)