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…

Oh and the hugging scene when Se Ri met up with the troop ☺️

Loved, loved, loved CLOY. Hilarious, and heartbreaking 💗.
In ep 11 the little dog that weed on the North Korean woman was called Terrius!
Agree will all your comments, it's just so good!!

I think the Viki sub team for Dr Kim 2 must be busy watching Netflix. The last episode has been at 89% for days!!
I think most of you have watched it anyway, can you tell what's happening?

A family holiday?.... Out of term time? 😱😱😱... That's if kids are school age of course! 😂😂😂

This is similar to me mentioning to Dh I might go to London to support a friend at an event...

Dh!.. 🤔🤔🤔🤔 "are bts doing something in London that day?"... How dare he suspect my motives! No they're not!!

hahaha! As if BTS in London could be kept secret 💜
DS is at university so we are free of the half term price hikes yay! But I am having to cram kdrama where I can — luckily the WiFi is good so can download latest eps to watch here & there on phone 👍

Aha! Bonjour! 😂

Salut! 👋👋
I had a quick look at Forest but wasn’t taken. Tell Me What You Saw might be ok though.

The grammatical difference I was talking about a page or two ago just popped up on Terrius. It’s “I’ll bring the kids” or “I’ll bringyou home” where we’d say ‘take.’
I don’t think its a rogue subtitler as I’ve seen it numerous times on Korean and Mandarin dramas.

Night all. Except for Betty who has probably snuck her phone into the bathroom for “a relaxing soak” before bed, aka a CLOY catch-up.

🤣🤣 You got it!

Back to the grindstone. This whole earning a living thing really gets in the way of the addiction. Still, reminiscing about some of my favourite bits of CLOY should carry me through some boring meetings today.

I've been watching another Chinese drama because apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. I was telling DP all about how it was making me feel real pangs of sadness. He said he's never experienced it personally. We theorised it's probably due to a combination of the good acting, the chemistry between the leads making it all the more believable, and me being a big ball of emotions.

So, this leads me to the first hello's question of the day in a long time! Do you ever feel pangs of sadness for characters in dramas? Do you have emotional responses to dramas all the time or infrequently? Finally, what dramas made you 'feel' the most?

Do you ever feel pangs of sadness for characters in dramas?

Absolutely. Kdramas really excel in developing the characters and setting the scene and mood to build emotions, so when your favourites encounter a set back, you feel it with them.

Do you have emotional responses to dramas all the time or infrequently?

The well done ones have me laughing, crying, gasping in surprise, squealing with excitement etc. The workmanlike, half-baked ones don’t. Short answer: it depends.

Finally, what dramas made you 'feel' the most?

Because this is my first life - how utterly let down the FL had been by her family but how gently LMK showed his care, then his utter incomprehension at her disappearing & how it stirred him.

Stove League had me a couple of weeks ago with NM holding the baby, proper cathartic blubbing and snot.

Early on, Mr Sunshine got me but I think it wouldn’t so much now.

Melo had me with the grieving friend.

Go Back Couple and Live both got to me on the parental loss the aftermath. Again, lots of cathartic blubbing.

Definitely actual pangs of sadness from Mr Sunshine at several points. But Seo Kang Joon's character in Watcher really really tugged at my heartstrings. His parents murders and his angst 😭

Yy re Stove League and Melo"

But Seo Kang Joon's character in Watcher really really tugged at my heartstrings.

Good catch - that was a pervading sadness throughout. Same with Just Between Lovers.

Oooh hello I could probably write a thesis based on your questions except I have had far too much kir Royale & rosé and am sneaking into MN on my phone while on hols.
I agree with what boatyard & TheGirl said, and I have sobbed at moments (Melo, Black, Stove LeGue & random others) and been haunted by endings (Moon Lovers) but now I want to know which Chinese drama it is that you have been watching????

bettys. It's Here to Heart. It has an utterly crap story that could've been solved in 5 minutes of people saying what they actually mean.

The synopsis made it sound kind of like a forced interaction turns into love kind of shtick but instead it's just misunderstandings for the sake of drama for 46 hours.

it's just misunderstandings for the sake of drama for 46 hours.

...well I’m not sure I should start it now 🤣 That's a pretty concise summary!😁

The synopsis made it sound kind of like a forced interaction turns into love kind of shtick but instead it's just misunderstandings for the sake of drama for 46 hours.

The sheer time commitment required for the Chinese dramas does my head in. I clicked through on The Crocodile & The Plover on Viki the other day on & the synopsis sounded moderately interesting, enough to pique my interest. Then I scrolled down and saw there were 50 x 1 hour episodes and I backed away slowly. 🤯 I was telling DH and DS2 about it at the weekend and they said I should just watch 1 episode a week for a year to see if it was as interesting as it sounded.

1 episode a week for a year to see if it was as interesting as it sounded.

🤯🤯 That's not what you want from a drama

They really didn’t get it. “But that’s only twice as long as one of your usual ones, what’s the problem?” I could see what they were driving at, but can you imagine getting 30+ hours into it & them pulling a Well Intended Love on you? 😱

Omg! I usually cry at all the dramas! I'm always blubbing away!...
At the moment I'm crying my way through Dr Romantic 1 in that classic medical drama ER way... You know the sad human stories!...

The ones I feel it most are the yearning angsty types!... CLOY & Love From Another Star has that yearning / they love each other sooo much / I can't see how they're going to solve it... 2 scenes spring to mind.. From Star... When he's left and she thinks she sees him in the crowd and she absolutely distraught and your heart just aches... I blubbed buckets... And from CLOY this week where she absolutely sobbed when she thought he'd left.... 😭😭😭😭😭

That springs to mind at the moment....

Terrius has gone a bit soggy in the middle, post van explosion and the Jeju jaunt. I’m hoping it picks up the pace and aww-quotient soon.

I'm pretty sure the length of Chinese dramas is what make me become part of the skippity doo dah gang. The endless flashbacks too! It's like they think I don't binge watch it at 1 in the morning while in a blanket nest!