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…

I really want her to run away with Mr Handsy at this point, at least he's more fun and actually there.

Short term gain, I’d say. He’d tire of her quickly and return to his weird stockbroker sex party circuit, assuming he wasn’t already boffing his PA on the side. The ‘master of the universe’ attitude is the issue.

Just watched ep 3 of Hotel del Luna and am amused by the cameo of Lee Joon-Gi playing the priest/Kim Jae Wook role from The Guest & saying he was off to find Park Il Do which was the evil spirit in that drama.
Lee Joon-Gi & IU played the leads in Moon Lovers; Scarlet Heart Goryeo which has the most number of handsome young men piled into a drama that I've ever seen......except for Hwarang that is

I'm going to go off on a tangent but Moon Lovers must be in my top 3 dramas. I loved it and never understood why it didn't get the ratings domestically. Angry Mom and Page Turner are definitely top 2. Emergency Couple and Moon Lovers constantly flip position for third and fourth.

What's everyone else's top 3?

Ah!! Hello you are the only other person I’ve come across in these threads who’s seen it! I loved it! I read that it did really well overseas but ratings in SK weren’t great, was it in competition with Park Bo Gum’s Moon Embracing The Sun?

I’ll have to put serious thought into a top 3, it’s in my top ten for sure. I haven’t seen Angry Mom or Page Turner, and could only find a dire Youtube version of Emergency Couple so didn’t finish the first episode even though it has CJH in.

Page Turner is only 3 episodes and has Jisoo in. It's quite lovely if you're ever in the mood for a quick drama. Angry Mom also had Jisoo. I'm sensing a theme.

I've never seen Moon Embracing the Sun so maybe? I remember them vaguely being talked about at the same time

Top 3??... That's just too ooo hard! I'll think on it! 😂
It depends on what I've just watched! 😂😂

How can you choose just three? That’s impossible!

OK, I’ve given it some thought (turns out the notes on my phone are more useful than I realised):

Because this is my first life
Her Private Life
Prison Playbook

It only covers 3/5 of my top 5 oppas, but I get bonus Jung Hae In with Prison Playbook so it evens out. I would have liked to include Goblin because its so beautifully done and there are bonus sageuk bits to cover off the genres. Top 10 is definitely easier.

I'd love to see your notes section boatyard I know it's probably just the heading from these threads but I'm imagining mini reviews of each series so you can keep track

I've just looked at my notes and realised that my top 10 is actually 12 so I am going to have to cut something out.....

Some have got dodgy endings ( Cheese in the Trap ) and some have been superseded ( What's Up with Secretary Kim? ) and some don't have a top 5 poppa in ( Don't Dare to Dream )

Top three is so hard...

Hello what did you think of the ending of Moon Lovers? Apparently they filmed two, one of which had Lee Joon-Gi in the gallery at the end.

Oppa not poppa...
Still deliberating...

It’s like the OP but with a few additions - the odd ‘meh’ or ‘pringles’ (really shit but addictively so/so bad its good).

I also have a more nuanced system of asterisks.

Top 3 really should be ones you have NO complaints about but are 16ish episodes of bingeworthy near perfection, with an oppa, no saggy middle and a satisfactory ending.

I am happy with my top 3 on that basis. None of them sagged.

So I’m going to say....

Her Private Life
Prison Playbook
Because This My First Life

It’s the same as boatyards!! 😱😆🤣
But my honourable mention goes to Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Goryeo and the only reason it is number 4 and not 3 is I was haunted by the ending and couldn’t shake it off. I really really wanted him to be in th Gallery at the end 😢

bettys It was never the most memorable ending. I liked the way they did it though. I hadn't heard about the alternative ending, that would've been cool.

boatyard pringles is a new one for me? would Before We get Married be considered pringles-y?

I think I'm going to seriously have to write down all the dramas I've watched! 😭

boatyard pringles is a new one for me? would Before We get Married be considered pringles-y?

BWGM is indeed tagged ‘Pringles’. 😄

now I've got a feel for your favourites, what's everyone's bottom 3? or even just the 'so bad I barely finished it' ones?

Abandoned
Cheese in the Trap (sociopath ML, icky)
Ghost (despite ‘Sub in the Tub, dumbest plot evah)
When Time Stopped (boring, meh leads)
The Heirs (don’t like ML, stupid rich kids)

Meh
It’s OK that’s love
Morning Cantabile
Uncontrollably Fond

Abandoned
9 Times Time Travel
The Liar and His Lover
My Princess
My Contracted Husband Mr Oh
Memories of the Alhambra
Moorim School
Whirlwind Girl
Reply 1994
When Time Stopped
Warrior Baek Dong Soo
God's Gift

Really Disliked
Radiant/The Light In Your Eyes
Boys Over Flowers

Oh yeah, I abandoned Memories of Alhambra too. Too high concept, no likeable characters.

I've never dropped a drama before, well I accidentally dropped BTIMFL but finished it and loved it. I've realised I'm wasting too much time on bad dramas though, so maybe I should learn to do it.

I can usually guess by trailers if I'll dislike it though so I've not watched many on your combined meh/dropped lists. What are you top reasons for binning a drama? How many chances do they get before you think 'that's it, no more'?

Mainly if the leads don’t engage me, because you invariably see an awful lot of them in a 12/16/24hr series. Lazy writing, especially a lack of internal consistency*, or too much cray-cray are a no-no for me. Crap acting gets on my nerves. If something’s misogynistic or the women are treated really badly, I bow out. Well written women and respectful interactions are a positive draw, conversely.

• By internal consistency, I mean that I’m quite happy to go along with vampires, robots, a parallel spirit world etc so long as the writers stick to the rules they have created for their alternative world. Start to bend or break those rules however...