MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #13)

[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 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)
My Secret Terrius (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)**
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)
Romantic Dr Kim - seasons 1&2 (Viki)
Search: WWW (Viki)*
Something in the Rain (Netflix)
The Package (Viki)



Straighter ‘Slice of Life’ dramas on universal themes
Live (Netflix)
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*

Stove League (Viki)

Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - lighter & fluffier

Goblin (Viki)*

I am not a Robot (Netflix)
Legend of the Blue Sea (Viki/Netflix)
My Holo Love (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)

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/ML is too dense to realise the 2ML/2FL is better)
🥾🍑 (boot, peach) = kick up the arse to go to bed



We also abbreviate titles if they’re long, but usually with an obvious abbreviation. Some favourite actors & actresses have been abbreviated for speed/efficiency, eg Park Min Young (PMY), Kim Jae Wook (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…

No I've not seen that in any kdramas so far 😁

Korean film however is another matter altogether! I recently watched The Frozen Flower which has both gay sex and a lot of graphic heterosexual sex - bizarrely it tells the story of the king from Faith:The Good Doctor who apparently IRL was gay and used a proxy to get the queen pregnant.

I have also just discovered a couple of SK films on Film4. The Handmaiden which I think is a Sarah Waters adaptation and features lesbian relationships, and Taxi Driver. Haven't seen either yet though.

Good catch on The Handmaiden, Betty - it’s on Amazon Prime (which we don’t have) so it was on my list to track down.

Onto the more sedate in the lurve dept!... 😂😱😱

On ep 4 of HOLO... and the female lead.. Character is beginning to grate on me!... Stop being such a bloody wet blanket! She's only known holo for about 3 days and she can't cope without him... She'd better buck up soon! Or I'm going to lose the will to carry on! 😡😡...
But thinking on that the female lead in doc kim irked me similarly at the beginning and now she's great! All past sins of wussines are forgiven!... 😂😂

I enjoyed Holo, especially as the ML starts to open up. Currently in the midst of Welcome to Waikiki because I fancied something silly/funny. I have Burning (SK film on Sky) on my list, but realised that I've watched quite a few K films recently. Love Train to Busan for my other DH Gong Yoo 😍 I have the J film 37 seconds on my Netflix watch list and Shoplifters is on Sky cinema as well.

I liked Shoplifters and The Farewell, and there have been a few decent J films starting to pop up o Netflix. Taiwanese rom-coms are my go to for outrageous stories C-drama wise The world owes me a first love was enjoyable, as was With you, Put your head on my shoulder and Unrequited love.

My 11 year old son watched a significant chunk of Put Your Head on my Shoulder with me. He’s getting interested in girls, so is up for watching rom coms and tween fiction adaptations with me. We watched all the Twilight films over several evenings a few weeks ago. He ended the series convinced Bella would have had a better life with Jacob - classic case of second lead syndrome.

Ahh Twishite as it's known in this house. DS used to laugh at the t-shirt that said "Team guy who almost hit bella with a car".

He ended the series convinced Bella would have had a better life with Jacob he's totally right! I feel I have thoroughly researched this via a previous obsession of reading Twilight fanfiction 🤫

See, I knew I was amongst my people here! 😄 You’re very accepting. 😘

I am loving My Mister. I loved it when the neighbourhood ahjussis and the tipsy lady bar owner walked UI home. I love that their friend in the neighbouring block is looking out for her. I love failed director brother’s complicated relationship with the woman in apartment 401. I love that ML’s wife and UI are now ganging up on the shitty CEO. It’s so bloody heartwarming.

DS popped up behind me, saw the thread, sighed and walked off muttering to himself 😂 He says that I should be ashamed/proud of the amount of dramas I go through. I call it language learning since i can now follow some programs like the news in Korean because they speak slower. I'm hoping to find someone locally to help me with speaking, the pronunciation is hard!!

I love how the the first the characters builds slowly, you think My Mister is going to be a Misery-fest but it’s just bloody lovely. Too many sweet things like the way they all look out for each other

Gah my previous post made no sense whatsoever! Suffice it to say that My Mister is a drama that worms its way into your affections and stays with you.

I’m horrified at how many dramas I have got through and I don’t have the excuse of language learning

It sounds better if you call it language learning 😂

Hi Monkey!

I am probably this thread's biggest c drama fan, so really happy to have you with us.

I have only watched 1 J drama but the cultural differences seem huge between it and both c and k drama.

I think there are more similarities than differences, but so long as I can get my fix I don't care lol.

Met up with a friend last week who said she'd been to see Parasite. Cue me raving about kdrama generally trying to convert her Not sure it worked, she was so polite about my passion for it

I don't think I talk to anyone about my drama watching outside of DP and my family. Although I think im bringing DP on side. We watched Girl from Nowhere together which is a Thai Netflix series that's a similar style to Black Mirror and he's really enjoyed it. So I'm trying to steer him closer to Korean dramas.

as long as I can get my fix I don't care lol - ha! that's me!! I don't feel right if I haven't had a subtitle fix

Cue me raving about kdrama generally trying to convert her - I do this as soon as anyone mentions anything drama related, it never works I should know better by now However DHs rather cultured friend was asking if we'd seen Parasite and DH was very blasé and that I'd seen it aaaaaages ago and that that level of film-making is pretty standard in SK. He does quite a good line in stealth boasting.

Currently enjoying the willy-waving in Dr Romantic 2 (not literally)

bettys I enjoyed the metaphorical willy waving too. It doesn't feel like it's ready to end yet though! Or maybe I'm just not ready for it to end?

Currently enjoying the willy-waving in Dr Romantic 2 (not literally)

Although if it was a jdrama, it would prbably be real willy waving. 🤣

hello it's so good! So rare for a second series to be better than the first.
There's a lot of relationship sorting out to do in the last episode

Although if it was a jdrama, it would prbably be real willy waving

🤣

🤣🤣I'm actually surprised at how many "interesting " j dramas are being released overseas. I wouldn't want to watch some of them with my siblings never mind my dad in the room lol

I'm cross on behalf of the slappable anesthetist in Dr Kim 😳. She's finally being a bit more human and she gets questions about her divorce and childcare in a disciplinary meeting!