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…

Viki not Biki obvs. And 'not a ' not Nita

she gets a fake boyfriend to avoid Kim Jae Wook. What a nutter.
I am shocked at this.....implausible plot line to say the least

TheGirl - excellent! BTIMFL is in my top 5 of dramas

she gets a fake boyfriend to avoid Kim Jae Wook

Say what? Nope. Does not compute.

And it has Park Morgan in a supporting role

Adds to the list.

I just finished the first episode of Black Knight, which did not go at all how I expected. Shades of Goblin with the supernatural elements and 2 mysterious female characters that I’d characterise as fairy godmother and devil.

hello that panda clip! Yoon Si Yoon always seems to pull the same face, and I haven't been that keen on him since he got the girl in The Best Hit (should've been Kim Min-Jae)

I'm watching Well Intended Love which is a Mandarin contract marriage drama and all the acting is stiff as boards. I'm sure it's got to be a clause in their contracts that kissing must just be face touching for 0.03 seconds and no longer.

Hello - I bowed out around ep 12. There’s such a horrendous reveal around ep 10-11 that only someone who’d had a lobotomy would stick around. Unfriggingbelievable. Happy to PM you, so as not to spoil the fun for others. I should have skipped to the end to see if ML’s considerate manservant and FL’s BFF got together.

Omo the wicked stepmother in Graceful Family is sooooo eeeeevil (ep 13 beginning) and the father just so ghastly like a big wodgy toad who doesn't care about anyone's feelings.

Ooh yes please boatyard I'd be grateful if you could PM me the reveal, just so I know whether it's worth wasting my time. At this point I suspect not.

I have a half day and a quiet house, so I’m settling down to a DVD of Oldboy. I’ve been trying to watch it for weeks but the kids stay up too late & then it’s too late to start it. I have a can of Coke and a bar of Ritter Sport to hand. Let the games begin! If I have time before the younglings return, I’m going to finish Train from Busan too.

bettys he definitely is a big wodgy toad. in the words of my grandma, he's got a face like a slapped arse and an attitude to match.

Hello - you’ve got mail!

boatyard you're right that's absolutely grim! Well Intended Love my left foot. Bloody dramas spreading the message rich men are free from all morals and laws.

Oh I want to know too and I’m not even watching it!!!!

Apparently there's a second season coming out next year and the synopsis mentions Xia Lin and her 'overbearing' husband. Understatement of the bloody century.

Betty - You have mail!

Oldboy is decidedly weird (off the chart odd) but in a good way so far. I’ve passed the scene of him biting the live octopus’s head off and its still-wriggling tentacles wrapping around his face. 🤮 Onwards & upwards!

Watching through my fingers now. 😩

boatyard 😱😱😱Thank you for that reveal it is a twist I would never have expected and no way am I going to waste time watching that now. You’ve saved 10 hours of my valuable viewing time 🤣🤣

If anyone else asks, I may as well just post it on the thread. 😆

You can post it as far as I'm concerned 😁. I've got so many dramas in my to watch list there's no way Ive got time to waste on one you two have declared not worth it.

Here it is:

Well Intentioned Love is contract marriage-based. The FL marries the very rich ML as a transaction in return for his bone marrow to treat her leukaemia, as he’s the only match. It turned out about 10 episodes in that she never had leukaemia, just anaemia. He paid the doctors to switch her results and lie & put her through unnecessary treatment. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it shows flashbacks where she caught his eye about 3 years earlier and, obsessed by her, he’d been effectively tracking her movements and stalking her for about 3 years in the run up to the fake diagnosis. Of course, it’s presented as his ardent interest & commitment, but urgh. I was quite disturbed by the turn of events. I watched for a little longer, thinking she’d dump him & go to the police, but no..... so, so wrong on so many levels. Grim.

Oldboy was excellent, but hard to watch in places. Very inventive and interesting structure. Some really groovy wallpaper too. The scene where he opens the box in the penthouse was 😮 but I should stop posting now. Suffice it to say I gasped.

I didn't manage to watch Oldboy but I always hear good things.

It wasn’t at all what I expected from what I’d heard in the past. I was imagining a gangster film. There are gangs of heavies and fight scenes, but its not a mob film - more a revenge story.

I had to drop the blinds so that my neighbours didn't think I was watching porn on the big telly.

Anyone else watching Camelia?
I've caught up on Netflix with it but going to stock pile as it is a little slow now.

Pouring rain here and I have the house to myself tonight. Feeling tired after a long week so it's bath/bed and BTIMFL marathon.

I'm so envious of you, Aesops - being new to BTIMFL and having an evening of that ahead of you. Happy days!