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…

Yes! It's full of skullduggery and bad people! Plus there's lots of explosions! 😂...and I'm in the mood for a bit of thrillery stuff... But everything is not going the way I want it at the moment (ep 9)...so I'm getting fed up! 😡😡 But this is because I don't like the baddies having the upper hand... I know it'll turn out well but I'm getting cross at all the evil doings! 😂

I don’t like the new Viki app layout. I can’t see at a glance whether something is Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese etc. Having the films in one place is handy, though.

I tried a bit of D-Day last night. It starts off “a bit GCSE” as DH likes to describe it - all the basics are there (cast, set, plot) but it isn’t working at a sufficiently advanced level to draw my attention. The ER scenes were a tad wooden. Does it get better? Also, I said to DH that I’m not sure I can get past KYK’s floppy hair, which makes him about 50% less attractive in my view.

I just spotted Ha Seok Jin. I’ll give it another go...

I didn't get on with D Day but I could never quite place why. I usually love Jeon So Min too.

I'm watching a drama with obvious Tesla PPL and these automatically opening front doors and falcon wing rear doors and making me think my Citroën is a bit crap.

Oooh. The Tesla PPL - I’ve seen that one but I can’t remember which one it was. Is it Taiwanese? I thought the Tesla gullwing doors were really wanky and it didn’t look like there was much legroom in the back. I’d rather have a Citroen.

Yes, just spotted BTIMFL’s Jung So Min. I went off for a bit to do some housework, but I’ll watch until the end of ep 1 to give them all a fair hearing.

It's a Chinese one with the violin maker, I Hear You. Gullwing doors look wanky and definitely wouldn't suit getting a wriggly toddler into his car seat. I've never seen them in person so I'm wondering how you'd close them, presumably there's a button somewhere?

Although I saw Tesla have now got a function that means you can summon your car to you. That's sounds dangerous and a bit useless, much like Teslas in general but they look so nice. I'm easily swayed by aesthetics. I'm the ideal sucker for product placement.

Ah yes. I have seen that one. They have the psycho kitten that gets almost no loving to socialise it. 😡

D-Day is very crash bang wallop, it doesn't get that much better tbh, I only watched it for KYK. The Man Living In Our House (dramafast) is better and also has Lee Soo Hyuk from Scholar Who Walks The Night who always seems to be playing a vampire even when he's a lawyer

I am enjoying Black Knight more than I should given that it is complete tosh, and I may have to give Doctors a go after this as Kim Rae Won has grown on me and is in the gangnam leopard zone

I’m getting used to his floppy hair...

I may have to give Doctors a go after this as Kim Rae Won has grown on me and is in the gangnam leopard zone

Me too and YY to Gangnam Leopard hot stuff potential. He’s so smooth in Black Knight, it makes me think of those awful 90s coffee ads with Anthony Head.

Doctors is wonderful. Park Shin Hye and Jisoo have the nicest friendship in it. The relationship is good, there's a gangster fighting FL and it's paced well enough to keep you going. I'm a big advocate of Doctors

Where is it available?

It's on Viki! All subbed and just waiting for you to fall in love with Kim Rae Won.

All subbed and just waiting for you to fall in love with Kim Rae Won.

I’m in!👍

He’s so smooth in Black Knight, it makes me think of those awful 90s coffee ads with Anthony Head.

I’ve always rather liked Anthony Head especially in his Buffy days. Him and Spike

Btw 1415 is a top tip boatyard 👍😉😎

Stupid real life has been getting in the way of my drama watching! But I've managed to watch some Graceful Family this evening and I had to pause it to tell you about the MLs alarming raspberry suit and open neck shirt 😂. It's a total transformation from his frumpy brown suit in the first episode. He's even got his ankles out!

I was finding Vagabond a bit samey but if Bea says it's worth sticking with I will.

I'm so slow at watching stuff, I think I need to start a list so I don't forget about some of the things you have watched that sound up my street.

Sorry I meant to say the suit is in episode 15 🙄

TheGirl that suit was something else! A man I used to work with had a very similar one and it's giving me flashbacks. He didn't wear it half as well as ML though

I’m out doing RL stuff tonight, so no Lee Min Ki for me.

I made delicious kimchi fried rice earlier with smoked firm tofu instead of ham. It was great, but DH came down an hour later and thought we had a gas leak. The house stinks of it now. 😩 Next time I’ll remember to shut the kitchen door.

I've been working this afternoon & listening to all the recent music suggestions. Plus have just had a first go at making plum gin, a sort of home-made plum soju. It'll need a few days month before I can taste it.
Saving up for a double dose of Lee Min Ki tomorrow as will try to finish Black Knight tonight.
Although have just realised haven't seen ep 16 of Graceful Family due to being hypnotised by Kim Rae Won's smooth Nescafe charm. That raspberry suit in ep 15 was a corker The Girl!

Blimey a real life raspberry suit Hello ! No one I work with wears anything that exciting 😂