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…

Hi and welcome!
Say goodbye to sleep and get sucked in...is His Master's Sun on Netflix? That also has So Ji Sub and is better than OMV I think.
Imdb is your friend here is you want to follow an actor (or spiral as it is known on these threads!)

Welcome Aesops! I think you mean So Ji Sub if you are talking about Oh My Venus. Cain & Abel and His Master’s Sun both star Ji Sub and are on Netflix. I have a massive soft spot for His Master’s Sun and would recommend it. Haven’t watched Cain & Abel yet. Also, My Secret Terrius is available on dramafast (free streaming service, possibly dodgy copyright-wise but no porny pop-ups).

Ha. X-posted with Betty.

Also 242Mummy recently joined us and has met Ji Sub in real life. I am so jealous.

Thank you so much for the replies!!
Yes, I feel I am about to enter a parallel world here...roll on Aug/Winter

Will start on His Masters Son tonight after I have explored all web content on So Ji Sub

Hi AesopsMables - welcome to the fun. You'll soon find yourself wondering when you last watched non-korean TV programmes.

Has anyone been keeping up with Watcher? Is it worth me catching up?

Will start on His Masters Son tonight after I have explored all web content on So Ji Sub

Stay away from his hiphop music videos on YouTube if you don’t want to kill the buzz. Some of his outfits are parody awful and the videos are painfully earnest considering he’s supposed to be looking cool.

I feel we should have a concerted push on Watcher. It’s still pulling in decent ratings back home, so it must be at least half decent.

I always see it on the wheel of airing/new shows and just never click it. Maybe it'll be the drama of my Thursday night. I've got 6 episodes to catch up on i think.

On another note, I saw a picture of Park Seo Joon this morning (the guy from She was Pretty ) and he looks dangerously thin. I didn't even recognise him at first until I read the caption.

Welcome Aesops!!!! Ohhhh!!!! The delights that await you will be mesmerising!
There's a ton of stuff on Netflix... where I first started with this addicition and have now moved onto Viki for more recent watches...
There's tons and tons of recs on the original post from the Three B's! (mostly from Boatyard Bettys and Bea)...
For me... (and some may differ!) to start off with...
Healer - thriller romance and fine fine knitwear (Grrrr! Ji Chang Wook)
Love From A Star... alien stranded on earth / spoilt actress / love / angst
W Two Worlds - stylistically beautiful / intriguing but at time confusing storyline / Race Horse Legs Lee Jong Suk

and there's loads loads more but those are the ones that pop up in my head at the moment...

(and if you want totally bonkers as conkers Kdrama Strong Girl Bong Soon - crazy but the most lovely and adorable romance!)

BTS Movie was very cute and funny.... an enjoyable way to spend an evening though thought the squeeling gasping 15 yr olds i was sat next to were going to pass out! ... nothing incredibley suprising though, think their Burn The Stage amazon series had much more to say!

Almost upto date with Hotel Luna... it just is soooo well done! I feel like clapping at the end of each ep! IU is sooooooo beautiful! Sigh!

Been caught in Come and Hug Me! It is sooo good! I think I'm upto ep 23 though i keep forgetting... but ot just drips in angst and tragedy.... however I know it will be ok in the end!!!!

Still need to catch up on
Watcher
Rookie Historian
100 Days a Prince
... and I know there must be something else!.... arrrghhh! I need to start noting what I'm watching and where I'm upto!

I need to invent a mobile app where I can list and note down!!!!! It's my odea!!!! No one pinch it please!!!!

Ohhhh! PSJ! Hope he's well! I know he's promoting for the Divine Fury at the moment... and he's started his own YouTube Channel which I keep meaning to delve into... (damn you BTS!!!)
I'm going to do a quick look up now! (should be tidying out a garden shed! Ooops!)

Oooo! That's an awful pic... I'm sure it's just angle and lighting... i hope!

he's looking as fiiiiine as ever on his instagram and youtube channnel
Hopefully it's just a bad pic...

I'll go now! ans stop procrastinating the tidy up!!!

I'm hoping it's just the lighting too Bea I was concerned for his health when I first saw it.

While I was on that Instagram wormhole, I also found that IU has an Instagram account that she's doing from the perspective of her character in Hotel del Luna. It's @fullmoon.long and it's actually quite cute. I love IU.

That photo of PSJ looks altered to me, the highlights on his cheekbone are a bit odd.

hello I’m the same wrt Watcher If someone tells me it’s great I’ll go back to it but for now there’s other stuff to catch up on. I’m also a bit meh about Level Up

Unless she used a foot double for the nail polish scene, it was faintly reassuring to see that UI has ordinary looking feet. 😄 Everything else about her is achingly beautiful.

"achingly beautiful"

Boatyard! Spot on!!!

Man Wol is a functioning alcoholic, though - right? I don’t know how she stays so slim when she only drinks champagne and scarfs meringues, pizza, pasta and caviar.

I think she views them as symbols of wealth like all the cars in the garage. Things she has to have like all the jewellery. More a compulsive shopper than a functioning alcoholic.

can she even gain weight seen as she's dead? I assume her stomach wouldn't be funxtioning properly so it'd just fall straight through or something?

It's been driving me mad trying to figure out who SJS reminds me of.
Then it clicked, he has the same bone structure as Christopher Walken

See...

Interesting. They do look similar.

Argh. The slow subs on Level Up and When the Devil Calls Your Name (hereafter WTDCYN) are driving me potty. I so, so miss the HPL subbers and their lightening speed work.

Lightning even.