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…

Kingdom S2 out on Fri 13 March.

I want to know how PMY squeezed her extensive wardrobe of padded, down-filled jackets into such a moderately sized suitcase. I also feel like I’m missing something subtle - either linguistic or cultural - as to why she’s had such a bust up with her mad aunt. The subs dried up about 15 min into ep 4 so I’ll go back to it later. However, I love her & SKJ being so embarrassed about sharing the house that they were hugging the landing walls so as not to touch when passing. I also love the bookstore apartment & the traditional sliding doors.

I'm still traumatised by the ending of CLOY. In my version Captain Ri's dad would retire and the whole family would defect to Switzerland, Se Ri would hire a professional manager and run her charity foundation full time in Switzerland, they get married and have pretty babies. Now I feel like I have closure lol.

Oh, and we would find out that 2ML didn't succumb but managed to get to Russia with Dan's connections and he supports her musical career in the background.

10 years down the line the boys would have been discharged and made their way to SK with thier families thanks to the Ri Ri money and connections in time to be cool uncles.

I like your version monkeywench it has just made me feel satisfied!

That and the cherry bakewell I've just scoffed Well it is pissing down outside, that's the best time to have tea and Mr Kipling

I’m bathing in the warm glow of Weather.

I like Monkey’s ending for Se-Ri & Captain Ri better, especially the beautiful children. Can you imagine how adorable a Ri-Ri toddler would be?

Well that’s the first time I’ve seen sanitary pads suggested as a way to get your man back!! 😱 (PP in WIL 2 Ep 12)

I’m starting to think WIL2 may be worth a look.

Betty - seeing as you watched WIL1 to the end (with skippage), how did it end? And did his sensible manservant ever manage to capture the heart of (and pull) FL’s BFF?

Taking a leaf out of Girl’s book for CLOY, my fantasy ending for WIL1 is that FL stoved in ML’s head with something heavy and BFF and capable manservant help her bury him under the patio and cover up the murder, then FL takes over his company and fortune, ably assisted by capable manservant, then BFF and capable manservant move in with FL and they have some kind open arrangement where FL actually gets some decent sex (instead of creepy, wooden controlling sex) and they all live happily ever after, with solicitous manservant ensuring FL and BFF are never short of sanitary towels or painkillers during their periods. The cherry on top would be the gap-toothed playboy getting his teeth sorted and moving to the US permanently.

The PP in Weather is working. I want PMY’s special winter boots.

WIL1 ends with her having a baby, him taking care of the baby while she goes on to further her acting career. Faithful manservant not only pulls but gets engaged to FL BFF.

boatyard you are obv rubbing your hands in glee at the thought of ML in WIL1 under the patio Brookside stylie

I skipped so much I may have the details wrong as the makjang goings on were tedious rather than funny but as I recall:

Spoiler
Spoiler

Clingy 2FL burns down hospital room with 2ML in who is presumed dead but lo!!! he is alive and turns up while press are trying to blame FL for his murder. Clingy 2FL goes to prison.
Evil 'stepbrother' kidnaps FL, ML rescues her but gets shot in process & goes in to a coma, during which his mother who left when he was 8 tries to takes over the company. FL saves the day while realising she is preggers. Cue FL & grandmother playing with creepy baby doll in hospital room (wtf) . ML wakes up from coma, FL is kidnapped again (yawn) and saved again by ML who had put microchips in her diamond earrings.
Happy ending, she has the baby and goes to work while ML takes baby to company. 2ML has new gf who saved him when he was also kidnapped when he was supposed to be dead, and nice secretary proposes to BFF screenwriter.

WIL 2 is MUCH MUCH better but maybe wait until all eps are up on Viki. All the actors are the same but story is different and ML is rather engaging. He has still watched FL for a couple of years but in a less stalkery way, more a wistful yearning though he grabs the opportunity to be with her when it arrives.
The essential truths are still there, about who is fated to be together and who is basically good/bad but it is much funnier.

Ha Monkeywench beat me to it!

Thanks guys!

I’ve just posted on the coronavirus thread about Korean hospitals/seeming absence of primary care based on my extensive knowledge of kdrama, as someone had linked to a wiki OECD list showing # hospital beds per head. 😄 A poster who has just come back from China confirmed the set up is the same there. 😂 Good to be able to put my extensive viewing to use. 😌

SK is #2 after Japan in those OECD rankings.

I've gone off piste! 😱😂... And started to watch Spy on Viki... It's a bit nonsensical... the mother of the ML used to be a North Korean spy and is now happily married in South Korea but is being blackmailed by an old colleague to spy on her son who just so happens to work for the NIS... Her acting is a bit carboardy and hammy but it's amusing and diverting so far... Need a bit of light trash to watch... I've paused with Holo at the moment as the female lead character is beginning to grate on me and it feels a bit slow!.. So I'm espionaging until I feel the need to dip my toes in Weather... And I'm still partly through Itaewon! 👍👍

Lots of good stuff but just taking my tone time and racking them up! 😂😂

Is that the one with Kim Jaejoong in it? It’s been in my list for ages - I liked him in Manhole also on Viki and a fun fantasy drama

bettys... Yes!! 😂... Your knowledge is frightening! 😂

Bad guy from The Good Doctor (and bad guy in loads of other dramas) is the surprise! bad guy in this!
FL from I Am Not A Robot
FL from Suits and Holo...

It's quite fun and thrillery though the mums hammy acting is.. 😣😳

Is it a guilty pleasure, Bea?

I’ve been elbowed off Viki by DS1. We are on our second episode of Death in Paradise. 🙄

Yes! It's quite a guilty pleasure... I'm fairly involved... Though I can see how it's all going to play out! 😂

I'm now up to date with Weather. Its a good job they are v v beautiful people to balance out the frumpy clothes. It is lovely and restful. But I could watch SKJ make coffee and read all day! Relative massive cliff hanger at the end of ep 4!!

I'm now on ep 3 of My Mister it's got less upsetting, but still v tense. The brothers are lovely together. DH is one of 3 boys so it's making me a bit 🥰

TheGIrl I found it just addictive from ep 3 onwards, I was so invested in all the characters

Yes, sunglasses are obv a significant thing in Weather but why???

Yes, sunglasses are obv a significant thing in Weather but why???

Limited PP opportunities is Hicksville in winter?

Hahahaha. I’ve just thought of a guaranteed sturdy piggy back home. Miiiiister Goooooooo!

Ha he could definitely manage!
Although SKJ did some heroic mountainside piggybacking in ep 4 of Weather, so maybe he could manage me on a flat road from my local? 😂