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…

Back home and tucked up in bed ready to plough on with Sec Kim
I've realised if I get passed 7episodes I'm committed.
Yesterday caught up with Camelia and quite enjoying it. The FL son is a super actor. Very believable,

I'm craving Magkeolli

Should mention that I bought some K beauty products also. Sitting here with an Açai sheet mask on my face with TV on VIKKI Chanel. DH walks in and exclaimed "Aesop's don't you think this whole Korean obsession is getting a tad much?!"

Didn't help that I mentioned I was looking into buying a rice cooker costing £100's to go with my $3 rice paddle

I'm craving Magkeolli

I blame boatyard for my recent addiction to beer & soju

I agree, 7 episodes in and you tend to stick with it, though I do a bit of skipping if it's not entirely gripping

Aesop's don't you think this whole Korean obsession is getting a tad much?!

We've all had that reaction!! (though I haven't let DH catch me in a face mask yet)

I didn't try a Soju bomb Betty
Have that to look forward too ...

Didn't help that I mentioned I was looking into buying a rice cooker costing £100's to go with my $3 rice paddle

I love my Yum Asia Sakura. We now eat more rice than potatoes and pasta put together. Do it!! I haven’t regretted my purchase once.

Aesop's don't you think this whole Korean obsession is getting a tad much?!

There should probably be a parallel kdrama widowers’ thread somewhere on MN where our menfolk can gather to grumble and compare notes on how far gone we are.

This will soon be us. Remember 'tap it lightly'~ I need a sheet mask now!

Boatyard just bought the new Bamboo version
Can justify as it has a setting for 'Persian Crusted' which is DH's favourite food not that he's going to find out for a few weeks as will hide it

Remember, you can chuck a load of stuff in with the rice & water to get spicy ricey. 👍

Ha my DH would definitely join in that thread.
I should try cooking some Korean food so he gets at least some benefit from my obsession 😆
Currently he cooks more than me, but it used to be the other way round. Eg I lay on the couch watching dramas on Sunday and he did lots of batch cooking for the week 😂😂😂

Apologies for hijacking thread, any recommendations on brand of rice Boatyard? Recipes please

Mabel - I have these two, picked up in TK Maxx last autumn mega cheap, so may be able to find them on remaindered book sites. The Caroline Hwang one is my go-to, really easy to follow and I’ve tried out loads of the recipes, all tasty so far. The Judy Joo one is quite American, with a lot of the recipes like more traditional American ones with a Korean twist. However, I bought it for the Galbi Jjim recipe after DS found the associated TV series on the Food Channel and we both sat watching it drooling. It definitely hits the spot, so I feel the purchase was justified.

I buy my sushi rice in the local Korean grocery and decant it, so I don’t know the brand. I’ve tried a few imported brands, including Italian grown sushi rice. All have been much of a muchness and decent.

Another use for the back-to-front hoody as modelled by Yoon Kyun Sang and his new floofy kitten

😍

We always go for green dragon Thai fragrant rice! In fact bought a huge sack of it today from wing yip Superstore! 👍😁😍

Reverse hoody as a kitten sling is a trend I can get behind. Those side-to-side hoody tummy pockets would make an kitten pouch too. I need more kittens in my life. Sadly DH has vetoed kittens. 😞

Kim Rae-Won has lovely fluid handwriting. I first noticed it on Black Knight, but he just saw him sign a form in Doctors and it reminded me. I have no idea if its legible, but it looks beautiful. I noticed one of the actresses had very neat, precise handwriting on another show recently, perhaps Secret Life of My Secretary (it was on post-its), and was struck by how lovely that was too.

Did anyone else find the neurosurgery detail interesting in Doctors? I like the live brain cam footage, which is obviously shot from real surgeries. The op where they inserted Teflon wadding between the nerve and artery to stop the facial tic was especially good. I hate the bone saw noises though. 😖 Urgh!

I confess to looking away at the close-up brain bits and just focused on the fugly clothes FL was wearing (but not in surgery obvs.)

Park Shin Hye rarely gets great outfits in dramas, maybe its because she can usually make them sort of work? Or because there's so many sponsorships they have to put everything on at once?

I am watching a documentary on BBC4 about the Korean War, mainly because I needed something in (mostly) English so I could get the ironing done. It’s horrifying on a number of fronts: the war crimes/abandonment of the usual rules of engagement, the American’s naivety about Korean history (eg a well-practised guerilla army from the Japanese occupation) and will of the people (wanting a united country -duh!), how vicious it was. It’s interesting but not an easy watch. What really surprised me was how much of the south the communist troops from the north had taken before McAthur’s bold assault on Incheon to re-take Seoul - photo of my TV screen attached. The US-led United Nations troops were getting absolutely thrashed and had basically been confined to the area around Busan. The documentary footage is really interesting for the social aspects. The refugees from rural areas would not look out of place in a sageuk drama - hanboks in neutral shades, handwoven straw shoes and carrying their worldly goods in those recogniseable wooden frames, carts pulled by oxen. The footage is from 1950. When you view S Korea in this context, their rapid economic ascent, industrialisation and position as a leading nation in some areas of tech is astonishing.

(You’ll need to click on the image to see the tiny blue bit - held by the allies/S Korean army - at the bottom.)

I should watch that, is it on iPlayer?