KDrama Addicts Anonymous (part 6)

[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 5 (previous threads linked from OP of each preceding thread)

There are suggestions for shows that we’ve enjoyed - those marked with asterisk(s) are more uniformly loved or admired. Cautionary note: in categorising series, its important to note most Korean dramas have multiple strands - e.g. romance and thriller; supernatural, romance and a thriller, crime series with blossoming relationship aspects. Genre-busting mash-ups are normal. Series that are tagged as dark may also have moments of comedy or the absurd, likewise fluff can have heavier elements. View the categories below as approximate & ask if you need guidance, eg for younger teens.

Comedy (with a side order of absurd)
I picked up a celebrity on the street (Viki)
My Fellow Citizens (Viki)

Crime/Thriller
Healer (Netflix)*
Heartless City (Viki)
He is Psychometric (Viki)
I Hear Your Voice (Netflix /Viki)
Life on Mars (classy remake of BBC series, Dramafast)
Live (Netflix)
Pride & Prejudice (Netflix)*
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*
Suspicious Partner (Netflix)*

Romance - lighter & fluffier
Beating Again (Netflix)
Coffee Prince (Netflix)
Don’t Dare to Dream (Netflix, or as Jealousy Incarnate on Viki)*
Happy Once Again (Netflix)
Her Private Life (Viki)*
His Master’s Sun (Netflix)
Love from a Star (Netflix)*
Pinocchio (Netflix)
Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)**
She Was Pretty (Dramabus/Netflix)*
The Beauty Inside (Viki/Netflix)
The Last Empress (Viki)
Thirty Not Seventeen (Viki)
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (Netflix/Viki)
What’s Up With Secretary Kim (Viki)**
You are my Destiny (Netflix)

Romance - heavier weight/more grown up
Because This Is My First Life (Viki)*
Chicago Typewriter (Viki)*
Fight For My Way (Viki/Drama bus)*
Just Between Lovers (Viki)**
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
My Strange Hero (Viki)
Red Carpet - film (Netflix, very adult content)
Something in the Rain (Netflix)
The Package (Viki)

Supernatural/fantasy/sci-fi - fluffier
Goblin (Viki)*
I am not a Robot (Netflix)
Legend of the Blue Sea (Viki/Netflix)
While You Were Sleeping (Viki)*

Supernatural/fantasy/sci-fi - darker
Black (Netflix)*
The Guest (Dramafast)
W (Viki & Netflix)*

Zombies
Kingdom (Netflix)*
Train to Busan - film (Amazon Prime)

Mad as a box of frogs/uncategorisable
Strong Girl Bong Soon (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. (Although its possible we have scared them all away since our early threads with the incessant fangirling. If you’re still reading, please say hi.)

If you want to know your oppas from your unnis and other Korean terms of address and honorifics, there are good resources online.

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 usually 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…

I am now sitting through Mathilda (film) with DS2 for umpteenth time. 😩

Lol lol lol I know!!! Feckin Queendowager & left state minister!!! By the way I ❤️ Inspector Jang

Boatyard the things we do for our boys! I have packed DH & DSS off to the pub so I can grab an hour casting Viki on to the tv - secret Secretary next!

........after I’ve watched the end of ep 20 again....

I haven't disappeared, but I'm busy unsurprisingly and I've started fallen down the rabbit hole with an anime so haven't watched anything else.

Quite frankly, I'm too hot to put up with gore, there's a distinct chance I'd be physically sick

Hi Cheshire, so no Kingdom then? It'll keep! Hope all going well otherwise & the stilton traveled successfully

Oh God, definitely no Kingdom if you’re feeling sick. The soup!! 😩

It was absolutely fine despite delays, but it's only a short flight.

Swapped yummy cheeses with my mum- I brought her Stilton, she managed to get me some cheese in fir tree bark.

No Kingdom, no Guest either as blech. It's happened to me before so I'm not taking chances- I'm fine if I'm not roasting!

Oh yes the soup in Kingdom 🤮

Cheese in fir tree bark sounds good, I’ve had tree bark cordial before (I think) though that was in Poland.

Am now catching up with Secret Secretary and yet again marvelling at what is it that makes these dramas sooooo addictive?

All this talk of pine bark reminds me of drinking retsina on Rhodes. Like a pine Flash/white wine spritzer. 🤢

Oh my!! Handwashing in Secret Secretary I had no idea it could be so tantalising

The cheese is nice, worth a try if you ever see it anywhere.

Me and the 4yo were just excited about the massive selection of frozen pastries that are like £2- £3 a kg in Carrefour .

Pastries sound good. I had my first ever Pret cinnamon Danish today - it won’t be my last.

Having now watched 1 Taiwanese drama, Netflix is pushing new ones. The trailer for Iron Ladies just popped up and lo! 2ML from The Perfect Match.

And Aviis Wong (FL) is the ex-squeeze of ML from Perfect Match. How big is Taiwan? I am off to google...

Population 23.5m

Crown clown finished it was lovely and I needed a box of tissues at the end! Big thumbs up! Solid drama! Loads of good stuff! Deffo top 10! 👍 👍 👍

Now need to catch up on secretary and boyfriend! 😂

So about half the population of South Korea?

Netflix & their algorithms, much prefer Viki, if only you could download VIki 🤔

The Taiwanese acting community must be quite small. The next suggested show on Netflix had the chaebol step-brother from The Perfect Match!

The clown has sent BTS Jungkook a food truck! 😂... My two worlds colliding! 😂 😂

I’m sensing a gap in the market for an English/British cuisine food truck, staffed by MNers. I don’t know how successful the cream teas and baked goods would be, since I suspect most kpop idols and kdrama actors eat carefully calorie controlled diets, but stuff like roast beef and horseradish sarnies might fly. Everyone goes on about (Korean) beef in kdrama. It has judt occurred to me that the Korean meat marketing board-type trade body may sponsor a lot of shows to rave about Korean beef.

Joining this thread. I've been watching KDrama for ages (when I was teenager, it was Hong Kong drama) :-) and Mumsnet but have never seen this thread before.

Would love to watch Crowned Clown, but it isn't in Netflix :-( (prefer Netflix for downloading and be able to watch during the commute).

Ms. Hammurabi and Prison Playbook are on my list to watch next now.
Also interested in Suaha and Furie (films)

My favourites in Netflix:

• Arthdal Chronicles (current, only if they don't release 1 eps per week).
• Sky Castle (interesting serie about teens education and sucidal)
• Memories of the Abraham
• A love so beautiful (Taiwan I think, but really nice to watch)
• Midnight dinner (if you like food)
• Ainori Love Wagon (fun to watch, similar concept to big brother, but a lot nicer)
• Secret Garden
• Saimdang memoir of colours
• Pinocchio

Nice to watch:

• Mr Oh
• Romance is a bonus book
• My First First Love (waiting for second season, so quite annoying)
• My only love song
• Hwarang

Boatyard!... I thought this thread should send GRRR JCW a bacon sarnie truck as he is the CENTRE VENN! 😂🇬🇧🇬🇧

ZCHM... Welcome!! You should deffo look into getting Viki! (but then again if you want to keep some semblance of normal life maybe not!).... There is sooooo much on there! However I do get sucked into on air titles and it's infuriating having to wait a week for next eps!... How dare they! 😂😁

There's loads to watch on netflix! As you can see on the OP... And you already have a slew under your belt! Sooo welcome to the thread! 😁

Boatyard?.... Staffed by mumsnetters?.... Cue Hunger Games OST.... For the bacon sarnie truck to Grrr JCW...

I VOLUNTEER! 🤚🤚🤚🤚🤚🤚🤚🤚

Welcome ZCHM! Great to see some new faces. I knew there had to be more than 3 of us on a site as big as MN. 😄

zchm - hello!

Some favourites of mine on your list! I really recommend getting Viki, then you can revel in Crowned Clown and a whole host of other stuff.

Hmmm.... MN food truck........we would have to offer naice ham! I'm in if we send one to Grr JCW on his current drama!!

Cheshire - Witch: The Subversion 👍👍

Really enjoyed it though it wasn’t what I was expecting, I actually thought there was going to be witchcraft 😂 Very very violent & thoroughly enjoyed Choi Woo Sik & his tousled cute hair as the bad guy. FL was brilliant, I didn’t guess the twist coming when she was in the chair.

Subtitles were well dodgy though so not sure I got everything, who was the girl next to her at the end? And she said ‘brains will float’ ?? And how did she know there was a sister? Or maybe this will all be explained in part deux.

Excellent stuff though not for the squeamish. Korean films just have that extra touch of originality somehow