MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (kdrama addicts #10)

[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)
Graceful Family (Viki) - potboiler!
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)*
Tunnel (Netflix)



Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
Crowned Clown (Viki)
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
Tale of Nokdu (Viki)



Romance - lighter & fluffier
Beating Again (Netflix)
Coffee Prince (Netflix)
Don’t Dare to Dream (Netflix, or as Jealousy Incarnate on Viki)*
Gogh, The Starry Night (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/Netflix)*
Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Doctors (Netflix)
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

Regulars 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 its possible we 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…

Hmmmm Before We Get Married seems to have disappeared off the header list...it might just make it into my top 10 best for sheer turnaround value 😉

Are we going to have a 2019 round up of best and most disappointing dramas? If so, I am prepared! Surprisingly my list has thoughtful reasoning too.

I think this is a great idea. Especially now it’s not just me, Betty and Bea talking amongst ourselves. It would be good to have a cumulative score - perhaps we could choose our top 5 and worst 5 and then have 10 points at each end to distribute as we see fit amongst our shortlist, then post & tally. I might need a refresher to remind me what came out this year.

Hmmmm Before We Get Married seems to have disappeared off the header list

Oops. Accident, not design - honest!

Cumulative scoring sounds like a good idea. A little bit like a Eurovision of Korean dramas? Or are we expanding it to all Asian dramas? If we are, Before We Get Married wins guilty pleasure of the year, the Lulu of dramas.

the Lulu of dramas
LMAO!!🤣🤣🤣🤣
Loving the Eurovision slant but you’ll have to explain the scoring as it always confuses me! 🙈

I think we expand it to all Asian dramas as i can’t leave BWGM off the list

I'd have to see a list of which ones came out this year, I haven't kept track. But I would love to join in the Eurovision of Asian Dramas 😂.

I thought this episode of Vagabond was a bit blah too.
I have just started The Running Mates - Human Rights mentioned by Hello up thread. Looks interesting.

Someone mentioned about being confused about LSG’s parentage in Surrounded. I’m half way through ep 19 and AVERT YOUR EYES FOR SPOILERISH GUESSES

I think the fact that LSG’s DNA doesn’t match the ought-to-be half-sibling doesn’t necessarily mean that LSG’s character’s father isn’t the chaebol president. It could also mean the official chaebol heir was not fathered by the chaebol president, ie bag lady was boffing someone else. That would then be Bag Lady’s motive for the Masan murder & attempted murder: to lessen the risk of the official heir being found out to be unrelated to his pops & her infidelity. Waiting to see if it is all settled by the end.

boatyard it was me that asked & those were my assumptions/guesses too at that point 🤔

Boatyard... Surrounded... 🤔🤔🤔😂😂😂🤔🤔🤔😁😁😁

Away for a couple of days now... So drama watching will be very limited... I might be too preoccupied with the real world!! 😱😱😱

I have a meeting this afternoon to prep for so of course this morning I have so far been compiling my Dramavision lists with reasons why I am for/against in bold and italic and hunting down lists of dramas concluded in 2019 😩😩😆😆🙈🙈

If you could stick it all in a spreadsheet so you can add our scores later, Betty, we’d be much obliged.

I spent many a waking hour last night wondering if I should do a spreadsheet. Bloody love a good spread sheet!

I am crap at spreadsheets, so if you do a spreadsheet hello I will source a list of dramas

Oooh what columns would we have? Drama name, country of origin and then one for each of us to score and a total? If so, I can get it done easily and then keep updating it for the next month or so with the new dramas coming out. (I promise I'm cool really, I just think spreadsheets are great)

Yy to proposed columns and do we have the Eurovision thing with nul points in there somewhere? How do we score? If we have 5 best and 5 most disappointing do we go from 10 to 1?

Well I'd assume something like 5 points got best and so on down to 1 for top 5. Bottom 5 would be the same, so maybe two columns for each person; one for best and one for worst? Or different coloured text for best and worst?

What about a column for reasons eg ‘great characters’ or ‘rubbish plot’ or ‘lacking in shower scenes’ 🤣

I'll make one up tomorrow and we can change it from there. I've been having a look at MyDramaList at 2019 dramas, and I can't believe how many good dramas there have been this year!

Yes!! And how many I have watched!!

Perhaps we need a thread googledoc spreadsheet or similar which we can link to in the header. Feels like we should have a ‘standout performance’ column, perhaps male & female categories, as sometimes the supporting roles steal the show.

I went some way to making one before as I have something similar for my own viewing. I don't think I ever got around to finishing it though. Maybe this is an opportunity to create the list in spreadsheet for.

I'm guessing you all love a spreadsheet! 😅😅😅😅

I'm v impressed with the spreadsheet ideas although I feel like I won't have many to fill in in comparison to some of us 😁. Must do better!