KDrama Addicts Anonymous (part 4)

[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 there other sources, including Dramabus and AmazonPrime.

Previous Threads, with discussion of what we’ve enjoyed and what to avoid:

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

Some suggestions for shows that we’ve enjoyed - those marked with an asterisk are more uniformly loved or admired:

Because This Is My First Life (Viki)*
Black (Netflix)*
Chicago Typewriter (Viki)*
Don’t Dare to Dream (Netflix, or as Jealousy Incarnate on Viki)*
Fight For My Way (Viki/Drama bus)*
Goblin (Viki)
Healer (Netflix)*
His Master’s Sun (Netflix)
I Hear Your Voice (Netflix /Viki)
Just Between Lovers (Viki)
Last Train to Busan - film (Amazon Prime)
Live (Netflix)
Love from a Star (netflix)*
My Strange Hero (Viki)
Pinocchio (Netflix)
Pride & Prejudice (Netflix)*
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*
Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)*
She Was Pretty (Dramabus/Netflix)*
Something in the Rain (Netflix)
Strong Girl Bong Soon (Netflix)
Suspicious Partner (netflix)*
W (Viki & Netflix)*
What’s Up With Secretary Kim (Viki)*
While You Were Sleeping (viki)*
You are my Destiny (Netflix)

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

If you want to know your oppas from your unnis try this helpful guide to Korean terms of address and honorifics.

We are generally fans of all things Korean, so equally happy to talk about Korean cookery, film 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

We have a few frequently used acronyms:
FL/2FL = female lead/2nd female lead
ML/2ML = male lead/2nd male lead
SLS = Second Lead Syndrome (where the FL/MLis too thick to realise how much better the 2ML/2FL is)

We also abbreviate titles if they’re long, but only after using the full title & acronym together. Some of the regular favourite actors have been abbreviated too for speed/efficiency, although “him off Black” seems to have stuck for Song Seung-Heon. Don’t be afraid to ask for help/clues if we’re not making sense or have descended into acronym soup.

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

Boatyard!
Ahhh! Just got in from night out! 😂
Going to delve into ep 12 of Romance! It's incredibly lovely! Exactly what I expect from a LJS drama!
Love the office! all their side stories are relevant and touching!
Dying to find out the whole story about the famous author in secluded cottage!
Can't wait for Ms Song and illustrator to get together! It's obvious isn't it??
Waiting for Dani to click and realise what she's got! 😍❤️❤️❤️😁

I’m impressed you strung it out for this long TBH. ⭐️

I’m jumping about at the mo. Giving Descendents of the Sun a try. ‘Tis v slick.

Verdict: there is much to recommend Descendents of the Sun. I will do my duty and keep watching so I can report back for quality control purposes.

I woke up early this morning so I watched some more DotS in bed on my phone (with headphones). It is already good. The relationship is grown up, with nuanced conversations. The leads are good and the supporting characters are likeable. The military scenes are currently so heavily stylised that its a cross between an extreme sports activity camp and a Gilette advert, but hey! 🤷‍♂️ It is firmly at the high quality/well done end of the spectrum, a merciful relief from the teen fluff I dabbled in over the weekend. Also, I am seeing some old faces, e.g. one of the slave hunters from Mr Sunshine is the commanding officer at the Urk base.

It's a hard job but someone's got to do it! I've been putting off Descendants because of the military theme so will be interested to hear how it goes.

Finished Touch Your Heart which was pleasant enough but didn't really hook me in. The last episode shows them watching a tv trailer for Her Private Life which starts next week with Kim Jae Wook.

Great, Descendents will tide me over until I can catch KJW’s latest. Yes, the military aspect initially put me off, but it is already exploring the doctor’s (life saving) vs soldier’s (taking lives to secure a broader peace) perspectives, so it is not uncritically cheerleading.

Celebrity is shaping up nicely, definitely exploiting the inherent humour of the siuation well.

Just watched the last 20 min of ep 2 on my lunch break. The bonkers emperor from The Last Empress is a hospital doctor colleague of FL. FL is great in ep 2 - I cheered when she lamped the sleazy senior manager with her handbag, with one of our previous Korean poster’s insights about prosecution of sex offences at the forefront of my mind. I like her style.

Wait for meeeeeeee!

Am going to start it this lunchtime but if there is any gung-ho american style macho bollocks I shall be grumpy.

Oh I could not place the guy in the motorcycle accident - it's the boyish guy from The Beauty Inside and Because This Is My First Life. Hope he's in it more.

I'm liking it so far except for the army bits. Lots of clever humour, and the Viki subs are great

I can't believe how fast you lot get through your dramas! 😂 😂 😂 😂

Belatedly coming on to say the macro to micro aspect of the language makes perfect sense now

I am very excited to have landed on another decent kdrama to go home to. After finishing The Package and spending a couple of days casting around without joy, I feel like a half itched scratch.

Or did I mean half-scratched itch?

Interesting. ML & FL from Descendents of the Sun, made in 2016, got hitched in 2017.

Oooh arterial spray quel surprise

However 'tis lovely to come home and remember you have a whole new drama to binge

Irrelevant info: main theme song is I think sung by Gummy who is now married to Jo Jung Suk

FL is 4 years older than ML in real life so is that a noona romance?

Cute couple: www.koreaboo.com/stories/heres-song-joong-ki-vowed-song-hye-kyo-wedding-day/

Ohhhhh now I just want to eat a tub of ice cream and binge the whole thing (end of ep 2)

I am just hitting ep 6. You’ll come across a bit soon where FL and the nurses are openly gawking at the topless soldiers training, which I thought was honest. 😄

Ha yes and she tells ML to get out of the way 'cos he's blocking her view

I thought his smile when she was doing that looked genuine.

I could be doing without the big melodramatic score.

🥾🍑