KDrama Addicts Anonymous (#7)

[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 (non subscription, possibly dodgy) and AmazonPrime.

The previous thread is linked below, but our ‘Addicts Recommend’ list is cumulative so includes recommendations and favourites from all of the previous threads:

Thread 6

Shows marked with asterisk(s) are more uniformly loved or admired. 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 best approximate & ask if you need guidance, eg about suitability 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)*

Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
Crowned Clown (Viki)
Mr Sunshine (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)
Radio Romance (Netflix)
Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)**
She Was Pretty (Dramabus/Netflix)*
The Beauty Inside (Viki/Netflix)
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 themes
Because This Is My First Life (Viki)*
Chicago Typewriter (Viki)*
Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Fight For My Way (Viki/Drama bus)*
Just Between Lovers (Viki)**
My Strange Hero (Viki)
One Spring Night (Netflix)
Red Carpet - film (Netflix, very adult content)
Search: WWW (Viki)*
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)
The Last Empress (Viki)

Not Korean but just try it
Regulars occasionally branch out into Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese drama. The Chinese & Taiwanese stuff is much more variable quality-wise, so we’ve noted anything decent here:

Love O2O (Viki - Chinese)
Morning Call (Netflix - Japanese)

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 fangirling. If you’re still reading, please say hi.)

We are generally fans of all things Korean, so equally happy to talk about Korean food/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 dense 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 or an obvious shortening. Some of the regular favourite actors & actresses have been abbreviated too for speed/efficiency, eg Lee Jong-Suk (LJS), Park Min Young (PMY), Ji Chang Wook (JCW) and his hotness Kim Jae Wook (HH KJW). 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…

The yesses weren't directed at Jimin whose legs really are in a category of their own

Good news about KJH’s new series. It should be translated by the time I’m back on the grid. Have they finished WWW yet?

boatyards it's still at 91% so it might be just about done when you get back 😂

boatyards it's still at 91% so it might be just about done when you get back 😂

That’s a strangely comforting post. My fear of missing out dialled itself back almost immediately.

Just tried watching ep 4 of Watcher but kept losing interest as I didn't really follow or care about what was going on. If someone is further ahead & says it is good I'll persevere, but the only thing that's keeping me watching is Seo Kang Joon and his racehorse legs.

Sorry ep 5 is the one I've just watched. I like attorney Han's bodyguard's back story though.

I'm the same bettys I'm waiting for someone to say its the best thing in the world but until then it's being met with a vague 'ehhh I'll watch the rest of it some day' every time it flashes up on the viki header

Someone talk some sense into me. I keep starting new dramas on a whim because they look interesting but I've got 9 on the go at the moment and I'm only 5/14 for finishing ones with 3 or less eps remaining.

I can't seem to help myself. Someone stop take away my viki & netflix accounts

I've made a plan fellow addicts. I'm putting it here to hold myself accountable. I've got 14 dramas where I'm within one or two episodes of finishing but just haven't quite got there yet. Before the end of this month, I'm going to finish all of them. No more awkward 'I think I've finished that, maybe, oh wait no' moments for me.

Stick to your plan!!! Fighting !!!

Someone stop take away my viki & netflix accounts

Come and join me in the arse end of nowhere. Even the 3/4G dropped out for a couple of hours earlier. DS1 is morose, having discovered he’s nearly used all of this month’s data allowance & he might have to - gasp - read his book tomorrow. We have resorted to listening to music (large, esoteric collection of dusty LPs available).

Let's get started on those other 9 dramas then and if that doesn't work then I hope you've got spare floor space for me boatyard!

I'm going to tackle the winner of the 'horrifically bad camera quality award', Murphys Law of Love, a Taiwanese drama I've been watching forever. Maybe then I'll finish the Korean remake of Criminal Minds.

boatyard I am imagining you in the Lake District or somewhere listening to The Eagles or Greatest Hits of the Seventies on vinyl while it mizzles with rain and no one can face getting in the car to go to the village shop in search of wine and crisps

Its a lot warmer than the Lakes, but the music guess is close and fighting the inertia about venturing out for supplies. We’ve found a few gems in amongst the dusty LP pile, including several live recordings of Louis Armstrong in concert with various other greats of the era. The thing that would radically improve our quality of life right now (wifi aside) would be one of those super-soft brushes for getting the dust off vinyl records. However, such an anachronistic item seems about as feasible to find in the shops here as stays for a corset or a fax toner cartridge, so I’ll have to content myself with blowing gently and crackly music. I do feel a bit like I’m in a Poirot country house party episode, especially when I get the classical music/opera going. There’s an ancient double album of MGM classic musical show tunes too, which is tolerable because one side includes both Singing in the Rain and Good Morning.

Velvet / very soft duster would work for the vinyl
You can’t go wrong with Louis Armstrong

I'm back home!!... Tomorrow the binging will begin!...

Watcher
Hotel Del Luna
100 days My Prince
Poss Dr John
WWW

Woo hoo!

Boatyard your current situation is punishment for not allowing Park Jimin honorary membership to the Race Horse Stables... He may only be 5ft 8...but those legs!! And very very lovely they are!... Pony?!... Pffftttt!!

hopefully the views and the company are making up for your lack of WiFi boatyard! you'll be please to know WWW is still sitting at 91%

I have been enjoying When I See You Again on Netflix, continuing the Jasper Liu spiral. It’s a decaffeinated latte type drama but very amiable with quite funny size characters and perfect for my post-decorating knackeredness.
Waiting for Hotel del Lunar subs and also have Dear Ex - Cookie’s suggestion & 100 Days Bea’s suggestion to try out

Tchah! Side characters

Up to date now with Hotel del Luna and really enjoying it although it is a little ‘ghost of the week’ ish. The new intern is great and even though the reincarnation line may be the main theme I’m hoping for a twist there. The production is fab; the red string imagery in ep 5 was gorgeous

Hotel Del Luna... just caught up on a few last night upto ep5 and yes it was indeed lovely! It really is beautifully done and IU is soooooo gorgeous! Especially in the flashbacks.... she really is just beautiful!
It's very different from the usual kdrama and I'm really enjoying it... I loved the whole bit with Room 13... wonderfully atmospheric and quite spooky and scary! The ghosts can be quite gruesome...! I'm enjoying it the more it goes on!....

Forgot to mention the other day I'm also in the middle of Rookie Historian too! .... It's happenned again... I always think when i get to the end of my current crop of dramas I can't find anything to hook me in... and I'm in a slew of them already!

Hotel Del Luna
WWW
Watcher
Rookie Historian
100 Days*

listing here ... almost so i can keep a track of it myself!

• I think i would be watching this more avidly if it was on Netflic/Viki... even though it's quite a good site - non boobage- i still find it cumbersome to watch through it!... it's definitely worth a watch though!!!!

And.. I got caught up with watching BTS Bon Voyage Season 1 yesterday and I just love watching them out and about... this season was filmed in 2016 I think they went to Sweden/Norway and Finland... and I wonder when they're interacting with the pubic... do they (the public) realise what huge mega stars they are now! I wonder if they could walk around like that now? in Europe?... A couple of times they dance in public and I'm just sat there thinking... "those lucky lucky holidaymakers....a free unblocked close up view of Jimin dancing !" swoon!!!

Hotel del Luna is slowly becoming my most enjoyed drama. Visually it's amazing, the story is great and all the characters are there for a reason. I'm loving the intern and the receptionist man? The one played by Pyo JiHoon. He's so different in this compared to his rapper/idol side.

I’d never heard of Pyo JiHoon before this but he is one of my favourite characters; the scene with the piano was lovely.

Bea let me know what you think when you catch up with Watcher, as after it’s early promise I’m feeling a little meh about it. It’s the last one I watch of the currently airing shows.

Btw I would probably swoon if I saw Jimin dancing so close - maybe not if he’s wearing the Tyrolean hotpants though, prefer him in skinny jeans 😍

If anyone needs a light fluffy romance drama to fill in a gap at some point the Japanese version of In Time with You is adorable so far, but there's only 6 episodes out right now so I might be speaking too soon.

So far it's just a solid slice of life/romance. Although the FL's ex has just appeared so drama may be due to happen soon.

slightly off topic but can anyone figure out whose hand this is? it's been driving me mad for the past ten minutes and now I can't unsee it.