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…

Rough Guide says July and August are monsoon/rainy season, plus hot & muggy. Looking at max/min temps April and October are similar but I’m assuming spring is better for day length and pretty blossom. I am therefore pondering an Easter or Whitsun trip (with permission fro school for an extra few days or week at Whitsun).

Poxy poxy Netflix I am so annoyed!!

I've been watching Judge vs Judge on there instead of Viki 'cos I can download the eps & watch them in a part of the house where broadband is wobbly. However the final episode seemed to miss something so I looked for a recap and found a clip from Kokowa.

They only missed out a whole bit where the ML confesses his love to the FL by singing along to a love song. I assume because of song rights. They did the same in She Was Pretty when they left out the Carpenters track according to Bea.

It really stuffs up the narrative. I am now going to have to rewatch the last ep on Viki.

As a general rule, better to watch on Viki!!!

Oooh exciting, April this year?? Anything on the MN travel boards?

I don’t think we can afford to go that soon - need to get house stuff done. Problem is, if its not this year we are facing an interminable run of exam years where Easter & Whitsun may need to be protected for revision. I am planning to drop DS1’s form teacher a line to see where a trip may be feasible.

YY we are finally out of the exam years cycle, but I am thinking of 2020 maybe, which will give us time to save up & plan, especially as DH fancies Japan too so costwise it would be ££££

Same here in all likelihood, Betty (2020) but the Rough Guide says you can fly from the UK to S Korea for as little as £400 rtn if you go with a carrier that has a stopover (like Finnair - Helsinki stop) and you’re not going at peak times. Tempting, right?

I’m thinking about splitting Japan & S Korea into 2 separate trips to make the cost more manageable.

Now sucked into While You Were Sleeping, damn you both.

Had to pause so I coukd properly lol at LJS in his pink pyjamas with his fringe in hair clips. 😂 😂 😂

Which episode is that?

3

Found it - adorkable! Didn’t remember that bit, but I think the scenes with him & his brother in their bachelor house are funny

He is very dorky in this series, despite ostensibly being a good catch (prosecutor). Now I’ve seen a bit of his back story, its clearer he’s an outsider without the family connections/monied upbringing to be firmly established. I guess FL’s Dad being a bus driver places her fairly firmly in the underclass, based on earlier thread discussions about people hiding their blue collar roots.

What’s the pianist’s mother been in? I definitely recognise her, but she’s not listed in the cast list on viki.

Ooooooo! I'm loving it!!... I love ALL the characters!... (except bad lawyer guy)!!
Episode 6!... LJS ❤️😍♥️... I was going to watch it slowly as prepping myself for when he leaves us!.. 😭😭😭😭... But couldn't help it!.. It's fab!... I love his brother!... The policeman!... The office! The families! All are great!! I am laughing out loud and then caught up in the cases and back stories!... Brilliant! 👍👍👍👍

... The more I watch the more I think there's a small pool of actors in S. Korea!..

Prosecutors office has FL from Suits...

Gangster and annoying over the top manage from Strong girl bong soon...

Nitpicker from Pinnochio (Dh spotted that one!... He got sucked into watching 3 eps!)

Domestic Violent husband is Lovely Mr Kim from Shopaholic Louis...

😁😁😁

Sorry... Don't know about pianists mum!...

I found her. Pianist’s mum was FL’s BFF in Something in the Rain, which policeman was also ML in. I like the policeman very much - he was good in Prison Playbook. LJS’s Dad in this was in Live and a whole bunch of other stuff & I think his Mum in this is Mrs Hamman. I agree about the small pool of actors, as I see the same ones again & again. Jury is out about whether we watch too much kdrama, it really is a small pool or whether the same actors tend to get cast in stuff that plays well to an international audience, so gets translated for Viki or Netflix.

In fact, piano mum & policeman were orphan siblings in Something in the Rain.

Or... I think similar production teams like to use same actors... As I think the writer of WYWSLEEPING wrote Pinocchio and I Hear your voice... 😁😍

A bit of both a small pool and casting probably. In the same way that someone bingeing on UK drama might recognise Hermione Norris (who I’ve watched in Luther and Cold Feet this week) but not someone from Eastenders or Holby

And as Bea says production teams seem to like working with actors they know

Another explanation might be contracts with particular studios. As the streaming services seem to buy up content from the likes of JTBC and TvN, it figures we’d see the same people repeatedly if this was the case.

Actually I wouldn’t recognise anyone from Eastenders or Holby which is why I never have a clue anymore about the celebrities on Strictly or Jungle.