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…

My step count is 2,146 at the mo and that is mostly going to & from the kitchen to make another brew. However, I am busy tomorrow, so today was my day of boxset sloth behaviour.

I'm glad we have a dog other I don't think I'd have moved much today. DP has gone to see some friends so I'm finishing Hwarang before anything else.

Im half way through the 1st ep and already LOLing at the discussion on the legal position on wrist grabbing 😂

Oh you reprobates!!... I've been out and about... A load of laundry... Made meringues... Chocolate cake... And custard!... No drama watching for me until this evening! And am going to fin hotel and watcher before delving into anything else!! 😂 😂 😂

I have to say, it took me a while to work out how the bastard siblings were related but I’ve worked it out now. I find it funny that they are treated as part of the family, but not quite the full ticket, because of their potential claim on the family fortune/business. Keep your friends close & all that.

Oooh Bea you're welcome to come and teach me how to bake! I love a good meringue.

Very quiet week for viewing as been busy, plan a marathon catch up tomorrow as started watching Weightlifting Fairy on train (paused Coffee Prince)

Annoying that I can only watch VIKI on my bedroom tv and iPad. Main TV doesn't come up to view on the app?

I ordered some metallic chopsticks off eBay this week and v cheap quality so will be eating my stir fried Pork with wooden ones instead tonight

I struggle with metal chopsticks. They’re harder to hold and more slippery and almost too pointy to pick stuff up with. I suppose if you grow up using them its easier.

Odd general knowledge for you all; metal chopsticks are use in Korea due to the royal family using silver chopsticks way back when as apparently they reacted to common poisons. Commoners started using metal ones as a way of imitating the royal family, thus metal chopsticks are prominent in Korea. There's also subtle differences between chopsticks used in Japan and China.

Here's the part where you already knew and my chopstick knowledge isn't special at all.

That’s a great random fact, Hello.

hello 👏👏👏👏👏😁
Wooden chopsticks are horrible! The feel of them is horrible! Ugh!
I like the melamine ones we've always had!.. Metal ones are slippery like boatyard said!... The Japanese ones are nice... Quite pointy! 😂

I bought some lovely laquered pointy wooden chopsticks in M&S years ago - a rainbow of beautiful colours. I never mastered them. Last seen as structural elements in one of DS2’s many cardboard constructions and as sticks for DS1’s shadow puppets... 🤔 Drives me nuts when they nick stuff from my utensil drawers. 😡

Are they pointy for picking out fish ones, or stabbing people who try to steal you food. Who knows?

I had a rummage and I’m pleasantly surprised to find so many found their way back to the drawer. That said, there are quite a few with sellotape damage to the lacquer or still gummy with glue.

Definitely a few missing their partners though...

Ooh, I like the coloured ones

I struggle using all kinds of chopsticks TBH

When in HK I always commit a faux pas by using both sets to eat (one set are for serving food from the middle) not on purpose of course but get so excited when tasting all the delicious Dim Sum and forget.

They’re lovely to look at, but the laquer makes them so slippery that eating with them is very frustrating. If you get even the tiniest bit of moisture or grease on your hands they slither about. Same for the pointy food end but worse because the surface area is even tinier. They looked so beautiful in the clear package when I bought them, I couldn’t pass them without buying a set.

We have melamine ones, but I have had some metal ones sitting in my amazon basket for a while, not sure now whether to get them or not.

Thanks for the pointer towards Graceful Family boatyard, I am up to speed now and impatiently awaiting the next episode. I loved the running scene in ep 4, and the twist at the end. Lurve the background music. FL is so much better than I thought she would be after My ID Is Gangnam Beauty, and even babyfaced ML is growing on me.

metal chopsticks are use in Korea due to the royal family using silver chopsticks way back when as apparently they reacted to common poisons.

I just wanted to point out that poisoned bottled water was served at a chaebol board meeting in one kdrama and the ‘tell’ was that it got knocked over in the meeting and the neighbouring board member’s silver pen discoloured. I can’t for the life of me remember which one it was.

Melo suffering from glacial pace subtitling again, I see. 😕

I considered it Betty, but the subs are so much better on Viki. Angst!

I agree about the subs, it’s not the same quality on dramafast 😩

But it gives you an excuse to watch it again on Viki. (Reader: I cracked...)