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…

Galbi jjim was a hit in this household. There’s a good Food Network recipe by a Korean-American food writer somewhere online. I have her book.

If we are taking Korean snacks, though, we love the toasted, seasoned seaweed in packs of small sheets. Yum!

I keep eyeing the seaweed packs up, I'm sure I've had them before though.

Out of curiosity, how did everyone start watching Kdrama and getting into it.

Something in the Rain kept popping up on Netflix and piqued my curiosity, but Mr Sunshine was my entry level drug.

Bettys.. /.. Boatyard... Yes! The ballet director little shadow reveal! 😱😱

Cheshire!... You can witness my downward spiral through these threads I think!... I watched "Good Morning Call"... Japanese on Netflix and thought it rather odd and entertainingly quirky!... Then watched "Strong Girl Bong Soon" and again found quirky and fell in love with the bonkersness of it (and lovely Honey Eyed Park Hyung Sik) Looked on Mumsnet to see if anyone else had watched... Found a thread with Boatyard on... And then foolishly followed the thread and fell down the South Korean KDrama hole (What's Wrong With Sec Kim /Healer /W two worlds / love from another star being my very early watches!) and even bigger BTS mayhem!...

Not watched proper English telly since before Christmas and frustrated that I'm not completely fluent yet! 😂😭😱

Send help! 😭😭😭

I want to try some Korean cooking. Made ramen for the first time a few weeks back, not Korean but my family is more Japan saturated than Korean. I keep getting longing for rice dishes lately. Cabbage pancakes sound good.

Ds likes anime, has for years. Then dd watched it, then dd and I watched Good Morning Call, which is based on a manga book. Then we watched a couple of Chinese dramas (Accidentally in love and Love O2O), and on to Korean. I think Romance is a Bonus Book was our first Korean as it was being promoted lots at the time.

Been watching Korean since around January I think. Only learnt a few phrases though. I've installed an app but it keeps asking me to learn words like 'goat' which isn't as much use as 'hello' or 'I really like you' 😂

I’d previously watched a lot of Scandi/French subtitled stuff and was looking for something to binge watch as an escape from the World Cup last year. Had really enjoyed Sense8 so looked up Bae Doona’s Imdb & came across Stranger which hooked me in. Then Black and Healer, discovered Viki so could watch Grrrr JCW in Suspicious Partner and a load of other stuff that wasn’t on Netflix.

Found a foreign language tv thread with boatyard on & started watching Mr Sunshine & chatting....🤷‍♀️ haven’t watched standard tv since maybe September. You can probably count in single digits the number of non kdrama series I’ve watched since then ( Killing Eve, Fleabag, GoT ) . I started listening to kdrama OSTs and Kpop and Bea lured me down the BTS rabbit hole 💜👍 🤣

We fired up our Virgin cable box last night to watch the new series of Handmaids Tale on C4. It was the first time I’d switched it on since the Strictly Final before Christmas. DH and I are debating getting rid of it, as none of us watch regular telly any more.

I wonder how many people just randomly watch something on Netflix or similar and then go down the rabbit hole.

The algorithms are a huge factor, as once you’ve watched one you are offered more. It’s s blessing and a curse - you see more good stuff, but it starts to mute everything else. We’ve had to split our profiles at home to get round this & it takes ages to ‘right’ a busted profile. Just by watching 1 Chinese & 1 Taiwanese Netflix show, my usually Kdrama reliable profile has shifted to Chinese output. I’m going to have to split my profiles again. 😕

😂 😂 😂... Ryan gold??... Getting my sesame seed oil and dried bean curd! Look who I bumped into! 😂😂😂

Are you sure that’s KJW?

Looks like 2ML from Beating Again, Yoon Hyun Min, to me...

I thought it was HH KJW! 😂 😂... it's the cheekbones! 😂

I think it might be Hyun Bin

The article says hyun bin was at a Mediheal CF Event and I though 'oh they have an event for cheeky fuckers....' too MN!

Bettys! 😂 😂 😂
Angel.. MGetting a bit fed up with FL being soooo horrible!... Story needs to MOVE!!

Crikey! Perfect Match is throwing a few googlies. I’m on ep 9 and the usual passionate clinch was very, um, different. If no-one’s going to watch I’ll expand, but it was not your usual first kiss and I’m not whether the relationship will flourish. Awks.

Not gonna watch tell me tell me tell me!! or point me at the timecode

I’ll DM you and can repaste if others want to know.

Done.

Got it thanks!! Tres awks

Well, I don’t know how they pulled it off, but things are back on an even keel (of sorts). Scheming grandma is excellent value. 😄

From the brief bit I saw the production values aren’t as high as most kdramas and the men aren’t as hot
Prob just that drama

Agreed Betty.