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…

Hmmmmm the Korean Supermarket I go to is on the A3 ...

Definitely not, then. 😞

There's different names for it like 농주 which means a farmers drink. 막걸리 means something roughly sifted so maybe it's more similar to a scrumpy?

My 'local' Korean supermarket is in Birmingham and the drive there is an hour of excruciating torture through odd road layouts and bad driving. So I order most things online, it doesn't have the same effect though.

My Korean supermarket is near to where I work. If I ever managed a lunchbreak I could go there in my lunchbreak. Sadly it doesn’t sell those individual soju cartons, so I can’t buy a stash my my office pedestal unit.

I was admiring a beautiful clear green bottle of a Japanese spirit with tiny yuzu fruits at the bottom earlier. I might ask DH to buy it for me for Christmas, because at £35 it was a bit pricy for idle curiosity.

There’s a Chinese supermarket nearer to home that sells some Korean stuff, including the most epic frozen pork and kimchee gyoza-style dumplings. They are expensive but delicious. Also the kids hate them, so more for me & DH.

hello!!...my "local" Korean supermarket is in Birmingham! 😂 😂... I wonder if its the same one!! 😂

I’m wondering if the bottle I saw had sudachi (Japanese limes) or kalamansi (Philippine limes) in it instead. They were small.

I’ve finished episode 1 of Radiant Office and I’m going to stick with it. The premise is kind of dark - 3 young people attempt suicide and end up in A&E the same night, overhear the doctor saying one of his patient’s results shows they are terminally ill, but the three of them do a ‘dine & dash’ because they can’t pay the medical fees, so they don’t know which of them is ill... And play it for laughs? Kinda ballsy writing. My interest is officially piqued. The FL is Officer Yoo from Life on Mars, which is another bonus. She’s almost as adorable as Park Bo-Young.

Good soju bomb line-up in ep2 around the 52 min mark. Not as epic as the Hospital Ship one, but good nonetheless.

Is the ML in Radiant Office the ML from 1% of Something?

Well spotted, Betty. I hadn’t made the connection (despite watching that last weekend). 🤦‍♀️

Bea its Seoul Plaza! Day In supermarket in China quarter also does a fair selection of Korean stuff too if I'm more central. It's a day out getting to either of them though.

Melo.....Rabbit!!! Hop hop 🐇🤣

I’m assuming the first episode is up on dramafast, Betty?

Yes I couldn’t wait for Viki ☺️ It’s my Saturday morning treat

Funny scene in Radiant Office where FL and 2ML go for lunch to a tteokbokki restaurant and the waitress has served four portions from level 1 to level 4 of spiciness and they are building up to level 4.

(Yes, another lost morning. 😂)

hello!!... Yes! Seoul plaza is my local! 😂😂😂... And know the Day In well! 👍😂😂

Wow Bea small world. Next thing you'll be saying you're a yam yam! Impromptu visit from my sister has put a hault on my search for. Radiant Office. Where are you watching it boatyard

Netflix

Why do i always forget Netflix exists. Don't I feel silly hunting through viki for it now.

😂 😂 😂 😂 Hit The Top!.. Think Boatyard suggested it to me ages ago! It's!
.. 😂😂😂😂... Here I am thinking its going to be a light hearted idol trainee story with a bit of thriller / mystery (what happened to the tragic idol in the early 90s...).

And last 5 mins... Bam!! It's a time travelling... Caught up in the space continuum jape!
.. 😂😂... Only in kdrama! 😂

Oooh, which do I go for, Radiant Office or Hit The Top?

Watched Extreme Job this afternoon, very funny! And featured a couple of the actors from Melo too.

Hit the top for something lighthearted and funny... And makes you think of all those poor idols and their jam packed schedules! 😱😱😭😭😭