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…

OK, here is my tally thus far:

KBS
My Fellow Citizens PENDING
Angel's Last Mission: Love +5
When the Camellia Blooms PENDING

MBC
One Spring Night +7
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung +8

SBS
The Secret Life of My Secretary +6
The Last Empress +4
My Absolute Boyfriend +6
Vagabond PENDING

tvN
The Crowned Clown +8
He Is Psychometric -1
Abyss -3
Designated Survivor: 60 Days PENDING
Encounter +6
Her Private Life +10
Search: WWW +9
When the Devil Calls Your Name -2
Memories of the Alhambra -3
Romance Is a Bonus Book +9
Hotel Del Luna PENDING

OCN
Watcher +7
The Lies Within PENDING

JTBC
SKY Castle PENDING
Be Melodramatic +10

MBN
Level Up +5
Graceful Family PENDING

WebCasts
Kingdom PENDING
My First First Love +7
I Am Not a Robot +6
Love Alarm -1

Taiwanese & Chinese
Before We Get Married +5
Well Intended Love - a glorious fuck you -10!

This has been a useful exercise for smoking out a load of dramas that I feel warmly enough towards to finish them, along with the currently airing crop (the PENDING).

oh I am so fickle, seeing other people's scores is making me rethink.....

Perhaps its just as well I am not on the spreadsheet.

It's interesting seeing all the averages change on the sheet. I've got a few pending that I can't quite score.

This is what I see when bettys is adding her scores, so no worry about me seeing your email! Anonymous Dinosaur sounds like a brilliant prog rock band. When DP tried earlier he got anonymous kiwi which was just as amusing

Is that me? Anonymous Dinosaur does sound like a prog rock band, I might use that next time I want to be incognito.

I have added scores for ones I'm currently watching, and ones I mean to go back to (Confession) because I am impatient. I guess I can tweak them before the cut-off date.

I’m assuming that it’s Hello who gave BWGM a 9. The decent second half was pulled down by the awful beginning and the hateful Mr123 or whatever he was called.

It was you, at least I hope so. The little box was going down your column adding scores so definitely not me.

We've got 7 ish weeks til the year ends if we're doing a full 2019 so there's no rush. It's made me realise I score generally quite positive, which is funny considering how many holes I pick in dramas. Maybe I need a re-evaluation?

It was me that gave BWGM a 9, as I was soooo addicted it was a sans-subber. I know it has ishoos but I can't help it. I may revise it downwards as I am rethinking some scores.

Any more for any more? Assuming you don't mind hello it'd be great to get as many posters as possible scoring

I’m wondering if Hello should have PMed the sheet link. Anyone can go in and edit now. 😱

Oooer hasn’t thought of that

Oh, I'll ask MN to nicely delete the comment with it in. Then people can ask and I'll share it.

Well that was quick! They've already done it so if anyone needs the link I'll PM it out as soon as I see a request.

Please send me the link 😚. I've been at work where the wifi is rubbish and couldn't get the spreadsheet to load.

Sent! While sending it I saw the message boatyard sent about the ending of Well Intended Love and its set me off again. I'm going to watch some Tale of Nokdu to calm me back down.

Other than finishing Confession and finally watching MyFFLove, looking at the scores on the doors so far I’m not sure that I’ve missed many good ones.....possibly Sky Castle which hello has rated a 7 🤔

I never finished Well Intentioned Love - it went completely off piste half way through.

The ratings reminded me how mystifying Abyss is. You have two cracking leads, an interesting concept, it looks like a load of money was spent on it. How could it end up being so dull and unengaging? How?

Thanks Hello. Have we decided when our scores need to be finalized by?

I’d say between Christmas and New Year to give us all a fighting chance of finishing all our stragglers, but that depends on Hello being OK/around to do the final reckoning and publicise the final tally. On that basis, I’m happy to be guided by others.

I'm okay going to the end of the year. At least most of the work is done now so there's not a rush around the holidays.

bettys SKY Castle was great, probably even better than a 7 for the most part. Definitely worth a watch.

Righto well I think I need to have a year end catch up with Sky Castle and others on the list. Plenty of time, especially as the upcoming dramas don’t look that enticing.
Sigh.. such a chore 😉🤣💜

However will you cope bettys? I think it's a motivation to get my lagging dramas up to date. My Country has to be first on the list.

Just went on to check what else I could do with catching up on and saw someone else having a look. These animals/creatures are getting better and better

I’m finishing off My Fellow Citizens off the back of last night’s round-up. I’d fogotten how good it is. Siwon is funny and the writing is very sharp. It nicely skewers politics and how much of it comes down to interpersonal beefs too. Also, lovely FL from The Lies Within is Siwon’s wife in this - (unbeknownst) white collar crime cop to his conman.

I'm loving the names popping up on the list!

As soon as I have Hwayugi out of the way (and a couple of work submissions but that's by-the-by) I'll be able to do some serious catching up.