MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (kdrama addicts #9)

[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 AmazonPrime and search engine-accessible content available on shady non subscription streaming sites (listed as ‘alt site’ below). The subtitling on alternative sites is variable in quality and the pop-ups can be adult themed...

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, alt site)
Live (Netflix)
Pride & Prejudice (Netflix)*
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*
Suspicious Partner (Netflix)*
Watcher (Viki)*

Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
Crowned Clown (Viki)
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
Rookie Historian (Netflix)

Romance - lighter & fluffier
1% of Something (Viki)
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)*
Morning Call (Netflix - Japanese)
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)**
Melo is my Nature (Viki)/Be Melodramatic (alt sites)**
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
Absolute Boyfriend (Viki)
Are You Human (Netflix)
Goblin (Viki)*
I am not a Robot (Netflix)
Legend of the Blue Sea (Viki/Netflix)
Love O2O (Viki - Chinese)
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)
Before We Get Married (Viki -Taiwanese)
Hwarang (Viki/Netflix)
The Last Empress (Viki)
Sassy Go Go (Netflix)

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

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 (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…

About 10 minutes in

Tunnel is proving to be really good. I like how you slowly build a picture of the central characters, especially the female professor. Yoon Hyun-Min is a funny one. By all rights he should be on my oppa list - very handsome, tall and leggy, decent actor - but something about him leaves me cold. He’s way too convincing at playing evil/conniving bastards and cold fish. Perhaps if I see him warmed up in a comedy I’ll change my mind, but for now he’s on my ‘admire but do not desire’ list.

I like incidental sad music in Tunnel too - it moves me at a deeper level.

the incidental..

OK, more random guesses for Tunnel:

• CJH’s namesake was the baby of the military wife who was murdered in 1986, given up to an orphanage by his soldier father;
• the grey-haired academic psychiatrist is CJH’s wife (although I think she might be too old - the age thing is tricky), meaning that the young professor is sort of CJH’s adoptive daughter.

Any warmer, Betty?

🤦‍♀️ Just had the soldier’s son reveal. This is the most frustrating game of Cluedo ever...

boatyard I agree with you on Yoon Hyun Min. It’s odd because he is very similar to Lee Jae Wook (actor in Search WWW) but but somehow doesn’t have ‘oooh nice’ factor that LJW has. Currently watching LJW in Extraordinary You and I know I’m going to get SML syndrome.

On your two theories for Tunnel, you’re getting warmer but not quite there 🤣

Ah crosspost, I’m was slowed down by checking out pics of aforementioned MLs

Typos due to makgeolli & fat finger phone typing

If Yoon Hyun Min sticks to his black trouser/black shirt/black tie/leather holster combo in ep 5 I could be persuaded. It’s basically Him off Black’s smokin’ outfit. Wait! Is that the secret of Song Seung-Heon’s attraction? I haven’t watched him at all in The Great Show. I think I’m on to something here...

Is that the secret of Song Seung-Heon’s attraction?

I think it might be.

For the benefit of any regular/lurker with younger teens, Netflix has rater Tunnel “teen” but I’d say its more like an 18. The murders are graphic and have included strangulation with a ligature, the stabbing of a child and someone beating another man to death. The crime scenes are realistic and gory. Its also psychologically unsettling. I have no idea why Netflix have rated it as suitable for teens, but I wouldn’t let my robust 14 yo watch it.

Morning! I'm hoping to fit in some watching this afternoon as I'm busy this morning and tomorrow.
Hopefully Graceful Family and Flower Crew will have subtitles ready by then 😁.

Have a good weekend everyone!

I have lots of work to do this weekend, but woke stupidly early worrying about getting it done, so managed an episode pf Tunnel from the warmth of my bed. Having been awake since before 5am 😩 I’m not holding out high hopes of staying awake for long this evening....

Morning all, been a while since I posted. I've finished Memories of Alhambra which had some interesting ideas but I think was a bit drawn out at the end and disappointing finish.

I'm picking up Arthdal Chronicles again, which had returned, and trying to remember the vast cast. Of course they've decided to add yet more.... 🙄 Storyline continues to be good.

And still watching rookie historian with dd.

Does anyone still play BTS World? I finally got through chapter six! And I think their music is growing on me...

Morning ginger! I’ve sort of given up on BTS World but have downloaded TikTok so I see them there. I love their music 💜

Enjoying Vagabond but honestly, they try to kill Lee Seung Gi in every single episode it’s getting very predictable (and there was no shirtoffness in ep 5)

what we have established from bettys postings is its a good idea to rotate dramas frequently in order to get a good mix of shirtlessness. so I should probably stagger my Vagabond and My Country viewing for the best experience.

Quick culinary query for later. I’m going to do the beansprout and kimchee spicy rice recipe that I posted last weekend in my rice cooker for tea tonight. It says to trim the beansprouts and I see people doing this in kdrama all the time. How? What bit am I supposed to be removing? Do you nip the leaf end off? And why? (If it cuts down on beansprout related wind and gut gurgle, that would be brilliant.)

boatyard it's the stringy bit you need to remove not the leaf, it makes them taste better but you definitely don't need too

Thanks hello

I'm finally catching up on some Netflix viewing! Although there's so much on my watch list I'm doing a bit of a boaty shuffle. I'm currently umming and ahhing over Vagabond. Objectively great, but I'm stumbling on something and I don't know what.

Simultaneously scrolling through Instagram and have just seen how odd Lee Jun Ki's ears are. They seem so thin like they'd be really bendy and now I can't unsee it.
Here's the link if anyone wants to confirm or deny that his ears look like they'd be a bit bendy. www.instagram.com/p/B3L9BK2ldL5/?igshid=s98vjhdp7oud

They do look wafferrrr thin (John Cleese voice)
I really noticed his ears when I first cam across LJG but now I unseeded them, kind of like Jasper Liu and his adam's apple which I am don't even notice now

hello Vagabond suffers a bit from being shiny shite - all razzle dazzle and explosions but somewhat lacking in ‘heart’ and emotional depth. It’s more American than Korean in its underlying sensibility in my view, although I’ll concede the crash was very well done.

Sodding autocorrect -
came across and unsee them

Gah I should go out and garden while waiting for next eps of Vagabond & My Country but it's so cold and tea and cherry cake are calling me like the little voices in Shopaholic Louis