MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (kdrama #8)

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the Kdrama-curious. (MsLatte is a Her Private Life reference.) Most of our viewing is drawn from Netflix and Viki, with a sprinkling of Dramabus (non subscription, maybe dodgy) and AmazonPrime.

The previous thread is here, but our ‘Addicts Recommend’ list below is cumulative so includes recommendations and favourites from all previous threads.

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. supernatural, romance and a thriller; crime series with fantasy elements. 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 moments. 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
Come and Hug Me (Dramafast)
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)
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/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - lighter & fluffier
Goblin (Viki)*
I am not a Robot (Netflix)
Legend of the Blue Sea (Viki/Netflix)
% Orange Marmalade (Netflix)
While You Were Sleeping (Viki)*

Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - darker/more grown up themes
Black (Netflix)*
Hotel del Luna (Viki)*
Kingdom (Netflix)*
The Guest (Dramafast)
Train to Busan - film (Amazon Prime)
W (Viki & Netflix)*

Guilty Pleasures (for the joy, not the quality)
Hwarang (Viki/Netflix)
The Last Empress (Viki)
Sassy Go Go (Netflix)

Mad as a box of frogs/uncategorisable
Strong Girl Bong Soon (Netflix)

Not Korean but just try it

We 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 with links to Korea who pop in from time to time to provide the context for some of the more baffling cultural references. (Although we may 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 cookery, language, film and music when the mood takes us.

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)
🥾🍑 (boot, peach) = kick up the arse to go to bed

We also abbreviate titles if they’re long, but usually only after using the full title & acronym together or an obvious abbreviation. Some favourite actors & actresses have been abbreviated for speed/efficiency, eg Lee Jong-Suk (LJS), Park Min Young (PMY), Ji Chang Wook (Ji Chang Wook) 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…

Yeah, reading stuff again as a world-weary middle-aged woman means you see a whole lot of subtext, nuance or plain awfulness that went over your head as a naive teen or twenty-something.

I am ashamed to say I'm still a niave twenty something, but I can see myself havjng more 'wait that's not right' moments

Bea I agree the ending of Hwarang is just right.
I used to read loads including re-reading my favourites but since having a child and or a smart phone (I got them at the same time, nearly 8 years ago!) my reading has gone massively down the pan.
Most of my friends and colleagues see me as v feminist, left wing, trade union rep etc but my most re-read books are the Jilly Cooper Riders series 🤫. But I do find them a bit harder to suspend belief and read these days.

I used to read loads including re-reading my favourites but since having a child and or a smart phone (I got them at the same time, nearly 8 years ago!) my reading has gone massively down the pan.

Me too! Although longer than 8 years ago. I reread a brief snatch of a Philippa Gregory book this afternoon preparatory to putting it on Ebay and just though, nah, can't be arsed. Funnily enough I still enjoy Jilly Cooper's early works (Rivals is fab) too. Her later stuff is not so good. However I still treasure Anne of Green Gables and anything by Jane Austen (although I couldn't get past the first 5 minutes of Sanditon )

bettys !!.... Gilbert Blythe! 😍😍😍... The 1980s television series was the most perfect thing ever!!... Have you seen the netflix series?... I was a bit.. 😱😱🤔🤔🤔... How dare they mess with it! You cannot better the Megan Fellows version.. But.. I actually enjoyed it! (though Gilbert Blythe will forever be Jonathan Crombie! (RIP 😔😔😔)... hope you actually know what I'm rabbiting on about! 😂

... And yes to Jane Austen!... Emma is the funniest story! 😂 😂 😂

Bea I hated the Netflix version although the setting was wonderful. And yes the Megan Follows/ Jonathan Crombie first 2 series were just lovely, although Anne will always be Kim Braden from the 1975 version of Anne of Avonlea for me. I didn’t know Jonathan Crombie had died so young, so did Christopher Blake who played Gilbert in the 70s version 😢

Off topic!... I was heartbroken when Jonathan crombie died! 😭😭😭....

Upto date with Rookie! (it really is good fun!)... Now catching up with hotel del luna! 👍👍👍👍👍

Hi guys. I’m back from real life social stuff & just going to have a quick half hour of kdrama to wind down. 😄

I have just tried a bit of Graceful Family on Viki. It looks like quality shiny shit - perfect for a lazy weekend. Chaebol family - check. Healer-style hi-tech reputation management/security team - check. Fast cars - check. Hi-roller lifestyles - check. Sibling rivalry - check. Backstabbing and plotting - check. Plucky underdog disinherited sibling back from exile - check. Plucky underdog lawyer - check.👌 The plucky underdog lawyer could do with being a smidge more dashing, but hey ho. Let the games begin!

Ooh it might fill the BWGM shaped hole. Not steamy but filled with clichés. I'll take it!

It’s perfect kdrama in pyjamas hangover telly.

Half an hour in & Viki’s correct approach to subtitling honorifics pays off:

Plucky lawyer: Ajumma!

Burn! 🔥🔥🔥 😂

I'm in for a group weekly watch!
I think it's going to be hard to replace BWGM for steaminess

I don't think 'old woman' has the same zing to it.
I always find it weird when people translate oppa to sweetheart because it doesn't quite work, but saying 'male that's older than me by a couple years that I'm really close too who may or may not be my brother' doesn't have the same ring to it

The first son’s palm frond suit! Eye-jazz-a-go-go! Aigoo!

This is definitely monologue-worthy. The family dinner with all the bastard siblings is butt-clenchingly awful. Even without being fluent in Korean the rudeness (body language included) is coming across in waves. 😄

Well I was going to go and do some tidying up but obv. my duty is to start Graceful Family and catch up willy-nilly on the monologuing

I'm the same bettys I have a kitchen to clean but now I hear there's awkward dinners to be watched! Such a shame the kitchen will have to wait

5 mins and so far the young masters bodyguard has the best visuals

I love naughty FL’s mustard lace trouser suit teamed with the rose gold fancy trainers. I am also loving her mardy arse bad attitude.

Director Han in Graceful Family was the excellent domestic violence/sex crimes detective in Live. She is a very good actress, though she also had excellent material to work with in that show.

Plucky lawyer about to get a makeover. Fingers crossed it makes him more dashing.

The terms of son #2’s business marriage 😞 Poor wife.

Literally the only good thing she gets from that contract marriage is the double bed. She doesn't even get to see her family live on the money she's sold her life for. What bollocks is that.