Ms Latte’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama Addicts #12)

[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 [[
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/streamed_tv/3758420-Ms-Latte-s-Daebak-Cybercaf-Kdrama-Addicts-11?topicid=16582&threadid=3758420&pg=1 here]] but our ‘Addicts Recommend’ list below is cumulative so includes recommendations and favourites from all previous threads.


Shows marked with an asterisk 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)
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)*
The Lies Within (Netflix)*
Tunnel (Netflix)*



Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
Crowned Clown (Viki)*
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (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)
The Secret Life of My Secretary (Viki/Netflix)
Thirty Not Seventeen (Viki) or as Still 17 (Netflix)

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

Another Miss Oh (Netflix)*
Because This Is My First Life (Viki/Netflix)
Chicago Typewriter (Viki/Netflix)
Crash Landing on You (Netflix - still airing)
Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Doctors (Netflix)
Fight For My Way (Viki/Drama bus)*
Go Back Couple (Viki)

Just Between Lovers (Viki)*
Melo is my Nature (Viki)/Be Melodramatic (Dramafast)
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)
Bride of Habaek (Netflix)
Hwarang (Viki/Netflix)
The Last Empress (Viki/Netflix)
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:

Before We Get Married (Viki - Taiwanese)
Love O2O (Viki - Chinese)
Morning Call (Netflix - Japanese)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix - Chinese)

Thread Regulars’ Top 5 Dramas of 2019 (courtesy of Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, scores range from +10 if very good to -10 for truly awful)

1. Her Private Life - 9.40 (5 votes)
2. Melo is My Nature - 9.00 (5 votes)

3.= Crash Landing On You, The Crowned Clown, The Lies Within, and The Tale of Nokdu - 8.75 (4 votes)

1. Hotel del Luna - 8.50 (4 votes)

5.= Romance is a Bonus Book, and Search: WWW - 8.17 (6 votes)

The Most Disappointing Dramas of 2019

1. Melting Me Softly -4.17 (3 votes)
2. Abyss -3.33 (3 votes)
3. When The Devil Calls Your Name -2.33 (3 votes)
4. Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency - 0.33 (3 votes)
5. Vagabond 1.25 (4 votes)

Honourable mention for the worst drama of the year goes to Chinese/Mandarin Well Intended Love on Netflix, which scored -10 (2 votes). It beggars belief that Netflix commissioned a second series, but there you go. 🤷‍♂️

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.

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…

DH is strangely keen because he’s been on healthy eating kick for the last couple of years and this is mostly fruit, nuts and rice. It would be suitable for someone with gluten, egg or dairy intolerance. If it’s good I will make it again if we have a charity bake sale at work.

If it’s awful I’ll post pictures so you can all have a bloody good laugh and then we’ll agree never to mention it again.

😂👍

OMG Boatyard that rice dish is something I could easily polish off! Looks delicious
I'm low carbing at the mo ☹️

It does look good! Aesops I’ve been trying to low carb but failed as am also doing Dry January (which is a feckin’ waste of time as I still don’t like mornings) so I’m doing 16-8 which is easier for me

I’ve got to go out for pine nuts and walnuts in a bit for the recipe and then I’m going to fire up the rice cooker. Jury is still out on jujube, having just sniffed the ‘liquor’ for the cake made from boiling the stones, but I like to give new ingredients the opportunity to shine before I write them off completely.

Faith / The Great Doctor is done and scored on the spreadsheet (its a 6 from me). Very enjoyable in a Sunday tea-time way. I did watch it all with a bit of skipping hence its a 6 not a 7.
Time for a shuffle....

The rice cooker is now on - photos to follow, for better or worse. I also stocked up sushi rice and kimchi this afternoon. Kimchi stew is now a thing in this household and we’ll be having it for dinner again on Friday.

Here we go, the cooked mixture is pressed into a clingfilm-lined baking tin or greased glass dish and left to set. I had to work quite fast to stir the dried fruit and nuts (placed on top of rice prior to cooking) into the mixture before pressing it into the dish as it was starting to set. I will post another photo later once it has set and I’ve cut it into squares. I don’t plan to decorate it - I chucked all the rolled jujube and pine nuts into the rice cooker.

That looks like the original picture 😉👍

Boatyard... 👍😁

I'm still plodding my way through Great Doctor... It's good but not... I'm dying to watch good!... It's a good time filler!... Curious to see how it ends!! 😂

Right, I just got back from the gym and sliced it all into cubes. It’s still a bit warm but DH and I have sampled and the reviews are positive. DH said: “It’s like bread pudding without the suet.” It’s not too sweet and the jujube dates have mulched into it, so no one single flavour dominates. The rice is nice and sticky without being heavy. Sadly, the recipe doesn’t give any information about storage (fridge or room temp) or how long it keeps for, so I’ve boxed it up for the fridge. Rice is a tricky one food hygiene-wise and I don’t want to poison the family. Pic attached.

TLDR version: I would definitely make it again.

That looks excellent 😋

DS2 just handed his slice to DH and said he doesn’t like it. 🤷‍♂️

That looks tasty Boatyard.

I'm near the end of Something in the rain and it's really dragging, I'm getting rather fed up of how horrible the parents are and how Jin-a isn't standing up against them. Only two and a half episodes to go...

You’ve got that far, stick with it Ginger. There is a positive resolution which is worth sticking it out for, but I like that it didn’t resort for the obvious ending.

(Pssssst ginger that was when I skipped to the end but don't tell boatyard)

I've just watched the first two episodes of The Game: Towards Zero (drama fast) which was quite good. Taecyeon, back from the military and very toned, can see people's deaths when he look in their eyes. FL (from The Package ) plays a detective.

I have cracked and am currently rewatching last week’s CLOY episodes. I have Hyun Bin & Son Ye Jin withdrawal. I am now much happier.

I desperately want to see how they are going to interact in Seoul, just how cool is he going to appear in suits etc.....right off to go watch the promo again

I'm 10 minutes in to Save Me on Netflix and it is well creepy already. Anyone seen it yet? It does have Wu Do Hwan (and Taecyeon) in it but it seems very dark.

Dong Mae in Dr Romantic has just been really ill and unconscious for days, so definitely not brushed his teeth or showered. But he's woken up looking fresh as a daisy and the FL is hugging him without flinching. He must stink!

Hmmm! To stay up and watch bts at grammys?... Or not? 😂
It won't be a huge performance... So I think not!.... But might wake up and check twitter now and again! 😳😳

What time are they on Bea?

I’ve just been looking at Netflix’s Coming Soon section. There are so many interesting looking series starting this weekend, I’m not sure I’ll know where to start. My Holo Love looks interesting. The ML is the buttoned up cop from Tunnel and 2ML from Beating Again. It's a Netflix original though, so may go down the frustrating serialisation route.