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…

PSJ’s hair is always questionable. (Not a fan.)

I've yet to like PSJ in a drama. Some of his variety appearances he seems alright on but I'd definitely never entertain his company in a pub.

Vagabond ep 2 was good too. It’s disappointingly American in its sensibility and approach, like the standard Jerry Bruckheimer shiny fare, but I still like it. LSG and Suzy make it better than it ought to be.

Agree with about PSJ and the pub, Hello.

Aaaand, seeing as I’m on a roll I made myself a big old kimbap roll for tea today with canned tuna, sriracha mayo, red pepper, cucumber and finely chopped kimchee. I ate it Healer-handler style as one big long roll with a glass of chilled and shaken makkeoli on the side. It was really tasty. DS2, having fluffed his own tuna roll and ended up with a plate of tuna kimbap crumble, stared at my beauty and asked incredulously how I’d managed to make such a good one: “I just squeezed and pummelled it until it submitted.” We bought proper Korean seaweed sheets this time, which came brushed with sesame oil, not like the boring plain Japanese seaweed. Much tastier!

I'm excited! The release date for the feminist film Kim Ji Young, Born 1982 has been announced. It's coming out in October. The book was about everyday sexism women faced in Korean through the writer's own experiences. The film will show the sexism in childcare and marriage. I can't wait to see it. Hopefully it'll appear somewhere online by the new year.

boatyard you're making me hungry. do you have a spare room where i can move in? I'm a really good washer upper, and I can iron well too!

That film sounds great Hello. We have an arthouse cinema near us that would screen something like that. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

My 11 year old is the sushi/kimbap master in this house, not me. I don’t know what went wrong for him yesterday, as his maki rolls are usually pristine. Failure yesterday tipped him into a grumpy spiral.

Do you ever use raw salmon at home? If so, where do you get yours from? The helpful assistants in our Korean shop said they don’t stock salmon for sashimi and maki because you can buy it anywhere. I think the top notch fishmonger in town does sushi grade salmon, but its finding time to get there that’s the problem. I recall that you should freeze fish for sushi first to kill worms/bacteria etc. Anyone got any experience with this?

The advice is usually either go to a fishmonger, or use fish that has been frozen at at least - 20 degrees for 24 hours.
I know some friends who have fish delivered by the fish society. I've checked and they do sushi grade salmon and tuna. Its overnight shipping with dry ice to keep it frozen, then you defrost it and use it as you wish. So they might be worth a look.

Thanks for the tip about the Fish Society Hello. I’ll look into them.

Afternoon! I'm trying to sneak away from the family activities to watch Graceful Family with a glass of wine

Sounds like a plan The Girl !

I am catching up with Flower Crew. Early days but it seems quite fun Hwarang type nonsense with a touch of Pygmalion

I'm going to watch episode 8 of Graceful Family tonight. I think im going to watch Flower Crew too and maybe join the subbing team on Viki because it's so slow!

Ooooh do it do it hello it is horribly slow!

Think I might dip into flower Crew this evening too! 😂

Hope you don’t mind me dropping in now and then, I can’t keep up with you all!!

So, I’ve just finished the following dramas

Secret garden - took effort to watch this, it seemed not to know what kind of show it was! The character Oska is why I kept watching in the end!
Masters Sun - Ji-Sub 😍 Ji-Sub hair in this 😱 really enjoyed it though.
Full House -so old- oh my goodness, wanted to slap the illogical FL at the start, but she grew on me. Rain - well who new that fashion could look good on anyone, but he pulled it off - sadly not many shower scenes 😜!
Protect the boss - Ji Sung ❤️❤️😍😍, need I say more?
Currently watching The Greatest Love on Netflix, have a bit of a lady crush on Gong Hyu- Jin, can’t wait to watch When the Camellia Blooms in Netflix (when all episodes land!)

There aren’t enough hours in the day!

I watched two episodes of The Greatest Show because I love Lee Sun Bin but I couldn't get into it at all. You'll have to let me know if it's worth catching up on CastielDeanSam

@helloswellow will do, on episode 5 atm. I am struggling a bit with it having Yoo In-Na in it, which the makes me sad because of Goblin, which in turn makes me happy because of Gong Yoo 😍 which makes me want to watch Coffee Prince again! 😂😂

Castieldeansam is that in order of preference? For me it'd be CastielSamDean

I really enjoyed Protect The Boss too because of Jisung and quite like the 2ML visuals also (Kim Jaeyoung?) although not convinced by 2MLs acting.

Think I've caught up with everything now, need another binger while waiting for weekly eps

I'm a bit slow with all my dramas at the moment!
Rookie Historian... This is my top pick at the moment! It's really hetting up now we're getting to the end!
Vagabond in the middle of ep 2...got very teary at the beginning! (still forlorn over Dd1 going! 😭) it was very tragically done.. Though feeling 😱🤔🤔about the beating ML got... Surely he'd be in hospital recovering after all that! 😱😱
Hit The Top ... Still enjoying this but don't feel like completely binging!
100 days my Prince ... This would be a complete bringer if only it was on netflix or viki... Find it cumbersome watching on other sites! 😂 It's very funny and I feel it will be well done! Just tapping my fingers until it pops up in netfkux/viki... (I endured watching Are You Humanon non boobage site only for it to appear on netflix a couple of weeks later! 🤔😡
Hope you're all having a lovely Sunday evening! 😁

Phew! Long day... Evening all! I am planning to catch up on Melo this evening.

Welcome Castiel! Good to see we are gathering in new converts and posters. 😄

I'd anyone watching The Running Mates: Human Rights? The description makes it sound like there isn't a romantic relationship and I might watch it for that alone. I need a break from push and pull relationships.

I now get Betty’s 💨💨💨 post. 😂

👋🏻☎️👋🏻 C’mon KJW - you know you want to call!

Flower Crew is hitting some home runs. There's a woman pregnant and if she's found out her family will kill the baby. ML has just said 'it's not a sin to carry the baby of someone you love, we should blame the world that made it a sin' It's making me slightly emotional.

Aw Hello. U ok hun? 😉

I’m rather overdone tonight. Spent the weekend slogging through a load of work reading and writing a report. I may have finished that bottle makkeoli earlier and had two Mr Kiplings Bakewell slices in my excitement at finishing my first draft of the damned report.