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…

Tdrama is heavy on the bromance / gay drama! 😂 😂...

Quite racy compared to chaste hand holding kdrama! 😂 😂 Was it trapped /history 3? 😂😂... Lots of coverage on Tumblr! 🤣🤣

I wasn’t reeling away at the ‘gay’ element - the story is it’s a girl dressed as a boy 🤣 I was reeling at the awful acting, production, story and lip-chewy kissing 😩
It’s a sub-par coffee prince plus triads & martial arts but feels really dated & tatty even though it’s 2016

So I headed happily back in to the security of kdrama and really fit MLs

(Although I have succumbed to the dimply charms of Jasper Liu who is very different in his other roles to that of Mr Handsy in BWGM)

I loved Bromamce but only when I accepted it was a crappy b movie type drama. So bad, it's funny kind of thing? Although Baron Chen (the ML) of the son of a mob boss in real life, so he must've been a natural.

So I headed happily back in to the security of kdrama and really fit MLs

I hear you sister! 👊

😂 😂 😂... It's a bit of a shock though!
However... Kdrama is just soooo well produced... Everything else feels a bit clunky! 😱😬

It’s cocktail hour here (ie sun is over the yard arm etc) so I’ve cracked open the local gin from the cupboard of delights and the nibbles. It pleases me no end to know that I’ll be all caught up with the WWW finale by this time tomorrow. 🙏

Now I've sat and pondered the ending some more, I think WWW ended up being a solid drama. I feel it dipped a little in the middle but pulled it out the bag with the last 2 episodes.

So enjoy your gin boatyard because tomorrow you're in for a good one.

Just watched a drama where they've had a product placement for a job search app like Indeed, along with the full five minute spiel about how wonderful all its features are.

It made me think of Hello's question of the day, what is a product placement in a drama that made you stop for a second to take in what you'd just heard/read?

I have been intrigued by one of the pizza company tie-ins, probably Papa Johns but I’m not sure (ineffective PP, eh). It was the concept of a pizza with wieners and mustard as the toppings that threw me. I still can’t decide whether it would be absolutely vile or a work of mad culinary genius. I’m not a fan of wieners, so that’s caused some of the doubt.

The example above was a kdrama but I can’t remember which one.

DP cooked weiners in the microwave on Tuesday, I still can't open it because of the smell. He's tasked with cleaning it out tomorrow or I'm buying a new one. Weiners are the work of the devil.

I saw a shrimp pizza in a Korean Pizza Hut and it makes me feel weird inside, but I don't like shrimp to start with so maybe I'm a bad judge of pizza toppings.

Www... EP 10... 😭😭😭😭 For the abandoned offspring!.. 😥😥😥😥😥

... His pass code for the door is her birthday!!... 😭😭😭😭😍... I hope she falls for him in the end! 😩😭😭😭

Hello... Product placement... The oh so deliberate careful putting on of makeup!... Sec Kim.. Made me snort a few times.. She (PMY) May as well have turned to the camera and said "And that's why I only use.. Insert name of product here!" 😂 😂 😂 😂

PP - There was a character in Love O2O whose sole purpose seemed to be showing how she bought cheap clothes with her shopping app on her phone

As well as the makeup in ^Sec Kim* there were quite a few Papa Johns pizzas,

And in EVERY drama it’s the fancy bottled drinks drunk awkwardly so that the label shows.

Lot of Swarovski in WWW ....I didn’t even know that they did sunglasses but I do now so the PP works.

Mind you if I were Ta Mi I would be pissed off about not getting my special post-shag-I-can-still-pull-a-younger-man earring back 😡

I forgot about the online shopping girl in Love O2O, that's given me a good giggle.

Another Me, the drama with the job hunting app has also had far too many lingering shots of the brand name of an office phone, and people explaining its functions. Are they trying to sell me office phones because that's definitely a new one?

I can't believe there's a kdrama tribe in the UK! Please can I join you? My claim to fame is having met So Ji Sub and shaken his hand! He is very lovely.

Totally get the PP - Subway sandwich, anyone? Or a new hoover?

I'm currently watch Designated Suvivor and Doctor John. Really tried with Aseudal Chroncicles as I adore SJK but am struggling to continue.

Hi 242Mummy! SJS is lovely, how did you meet him? I haven't watched Designated Survivor yet is it good?

242Mummy do join us!

Wait 'til boatyard hears you've shaken So Ji Sub's lovely hand

My claim to fame is having met So Ji Sub and shaken his hand! He is very lovely.

Oh. Em. Gee. Yes, we need to know more! He has the thread nickname of ‘Ji Sub in the tub’ after his bathroom scene in Oh My Venus.

Also, welcome to the kdrama huddle 242. It interesting how this quiet corner is starting to see more footfall. We share a niche interest but we are many!