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…

I’ve grabbed the first photo in the series & the last one, which made me laugh.

I'm a big fan of Lee Joon Gi's Instagram. All his taekwando pictures are really lovely

Ah now hello I used to follow Lee Joon Gi after watching Scarlet Heart Ryeo but then it was his tour and lots of studio sessions so I got a bit bored, maybe I should refollow him as he seems like a lovely bloke.

boatyard I use IG for work so I created a separate profile so no one can at look at who I follow on my kdrama feed.

I've just followed Jasper Liu and Lee Joon Gi on IG then panicked that it looks like Im only interested in good looking actors. 😂
I've checked my following list and if you look at the whole thing it's not that bad. There's lots of actual people I know too (attempts to reassure self)

i reassure myself that no one's looking through who i follow, and if they are? they're in for a treat. who doesn't love talented actors, singers and comedians?

Seo Kang Joon has the most beautiful cats: www.instagram.com/p/B1wMf-7HHZC/?hl=en

Yes he has, but looooook HH KJW and his floofy twosome

KJW’s dog is too little and yappy for my liking. SKJ’s kitties are lovely, but I reckon they’re loud too - Oriental breeds have a lot to say!

I’m enjoying getting back into Are You Human although it is a bit shiny and silly. The tininess of the spy camera in his apartment was a bit shocking.

Seo Kang Joon & Park Min Young confirmed for new drama
PMY is so jammy 😡

Sounds good!

SKJ!!... and PMY!!.... WOWSER!! 😂 😂 PMY must have done something super good in her past life!!
That is going to be a gorgeous drama!!... Can't wait!! ❤️❤️
... Boatyard! Are you human! Glad you're enjoying it! With all its faults.. I really loved it! It was lovely and sweet! And I love the cheesy ost! 😂 ❤️❤️... An honest to goodness lovely kdrama! 😂

A bit late to the party but Yoon Kyun Sang has 3/4 adopted cats that he puts all over his Instagram. One of them is called something that translates to heartbeat because it make his heart beat faster when he first saw them. I saw him on I Live Alone, a vatiety show, and he loves his cats so much.
I'm excited for more PMY! She's such a good actress and there won't be a statuesque kissing scene in sight.

If Hello’s question of the day was which kdrama actress would you want to bodyswap with, I suspect we’d all be queuing to have a turn as PMY. She gets such great roles and male leads.

Also, I’d love to experience being so dainty and ladylike just once. 😆

oh it'd be PMY in a heartbeat. alternative hello's question; what actor would you want to ML if you were suddenly FL in a drama?

Of her existing past dramas there's HH KJW, PSJ, Yeon Woo-Jin, Grrrr JCW, Him Off Black and Lee Min Ho and those are only the ones I've seen.
It'd be easier to say which I wouldn't want to be ML (Lee Min Ho)
Or maybe pick one she hasn't acted opposite - Lee Seung-Gi? Lee Min Ki? JKH?

Lee Min Ho is an odd one. I watch everything he's in, and dislike 90% of it but can't seem to stop watching.

Maybe I'd go left feild and say Jang Keun Suk just because I haven't seen him to any dramas lately and he'd be a laugh. Lee Jong Suk might also be an option. I'm trying to think of people and my brains just yelling 'Ji Soo or Park Hyung Sik, how dare you pick other people'

I had to look up Jang Keun Suk as I haven't seen him in anything, apparently he's doing his military service.
I was going to say Jisoo and PHS would be a bit young for PMY - she's 33 & they're 7 and 5 years younger but actually Seo Kang Joon is also 7 years younger than her.

I forget the age differences between people sometimws. Radio Romance was one where the leads had a big age gap. I think it's 10 years between them and she was 18/19 at the time.

Completely slipped my mind he was doing military service. It was a big thing when he came out to say he had bipolar so wouldn't be an active soldier and he apologised like mad. I cant imagine having to apologise for being mentally ill. He must've felt so bad.

It'd be easier to say which I wouldn't want to be ML (Lee Min Ho)

Lee Min Ho is an odd one. I watch everything he's in, and dislike 90% of it but can't seem to stop watching.

Seconded on both counts.

I also agree it’s easier to say who you’d NOT want to be partnered with. I can’t abide Lee Woo-Bin either. The Heirs was totally unwatchable.

Toasty LJS with PMY would be hilarious! Crazy comedy awaits! 😂 😂

I don't mind Lee min ho 😁... I think you're persuaded by what you've watched him in... I've only seen legend of blue sea... Which I really liked! ❤️😁/ the one with PMY and snippets of the heirs!...

Oooo! Excited!!

First episode of Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency is up on Viki. No subs yet though.

Just in case you haven't seen it, they've recently added Noble, My Love which is a contract relationship drama with Sung Hoon. It's from 2015 too which is Sung Hoon's prime in my opinion. Contract relationships are my weakness in dramas. It's the one trope that I always think is overdone but always seem to love.

😂 😂 😂 Noble by love was one of the very very first kdramas I watched (it was on netflix then!) have to confess it didn't catch me.. I skippitydooh dahed quite a lot! 😂 😂