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…

I have a conspiracy theory on WIL1/2, I think it was so horrifically bad, especially the medical negligence (not the right word, but you know what I mean) that the Chinese censors realised it was going out in public abroad on Netflix and stepped in to make them make a new version as the old one portrayed China in an awful light 😱

Cassini I’ll believe any and all theories about WIL 1/2. I reckon that’s also why the the actors all signed up to do the 2nd one (apart from the baddies who don’t yet reappear), so they could improve their image which must have taken a bashing.

On a side note, I wondered why ML walked in such a stagey way then I read that he studied ballet for 11 years, so now that makes sense 😌FL also graduated from ballet school hence the dance scene in 1

I love Betty’s wider reading nuggets. They always add something. That ballet nugget is a gem.

Cassini might be on to something there. The idea that you can bribe doctors to fake a serious diagnosis is not a good look for China. Also, the ‘master of the universe’ rich guy aspirational lifestyle narrative is a bit capitalist.

boatyard I have a mind made for trivia but I can never remember where I parked the car.......

bettys I'm the same! We'd make a great pub quiz team! I know so many useless facts that they're bound to help somewhere.

My general knowledge and ability to recall weird & wonderful facts is also legend. I’m not much good at the sports rounds though.

MIL said yesterday that I should go on Mastermind and do kdrama as my specialist subject.

If we ever have a meet-up we should have a quiz... with prizes ....

I am also great at general knowledge! None of the family will let me play trivial pursuits with them! Kdrama and quizzes 👍

Ahhh!... My knowledge is... If I know it!... I know it!... There's none of this... Hmmm I think it could be...?.... Which is what Dh tends to be like in school pta / pub quizzes.... Saying that though we generally come in top 3! 😂 😂 😂... I've got fairly good film /tv/music knowledge... He covers science/nature and sport! 😂
My BTS knowledge is top notch though! 😂😂😂

I also love a quiz! I'm rubbish at sports rounds though. If we did manage a meet up maybe we would each do the questions for a round?

None of the family will let me play trivial pursuits with them!

MIL plays a pity round with me each Christmas for this very reason. I love my MIL, though posting that probably means I’ll get my MN discharge papers in the post next week. 😄

What I’m particularly appreciating about Signal is how the flashbacks and current investigations are building a picture. For example, how the bribery/disappearance case doesn’t sit right with ML because of what he learned from other witnesses in the serial killer case. It’s very deftly done.

Weather seems to be slowing down, I have just finished ep4 and straight into 4

I think I need to find a light and frothy for balance.

WIL 2 or Go back couple?

WIL 2 is definitely a 🧁 (guilty pleasure) but not all the eps are up yet
Go Back COuple is great once you get past the grim first ep

I was tense all the way through Itaewon today but it ended in a stirring moment. I should have had more faith in the laws of kdrama & PSJ / chestnut 😍

Go Back Couple! It’s really good, but second Betty about the first episode being tough.

Hahahaha. Lamest PP ever: FL’s mother serving up a sandwich in her own home to helpful ML on a Subway napkin. It doesn’t look homemade. 😉 🤣

^ in Signal.

Tientsin Mystic has just lurched into Kingdom territory 🧟‍♂️. It’s very good

What is it with the zombies?

Is it time to have a big push on updating the spreadsheet scores so we have a decent means of prioritising our corona virus lockdown viewing? Also, if I’m out of action at the turn of a thread, I’m more than happy for one of you lot to start the next one. Kdrama addicts stops for nothing, not even pandemic ‘flu.

We should choose a couple of the 45 hour long episode Chinese dramas 🤣 that should keep us busy 📺😷

Oh yes! I’ll bookmark that Mandarin one with plover in the title!

Holy moly re Signal. I’m so glad DS bowed out ‘early’ - I’ve got to the case with the depressed women where the third victim escaped alive. It’s so, so dark - but also the backstory to the woman in the lake case was grim too. This is a series rated by Netflix as ‘teen’ - it’s way too graphic, especially all the serial killers’ methods. Is there a way to contact Netflix to query the ratings?

It’s seriously gripping, though - so, so good.

boatyard... I was half way through signal... And then paused! I agree its really good... Not sure why I stopped... Must go back to it! 😁👍

Is there a way to contact Netflix to query the ratings?

I think we should add our own ratings to the the spreadsheet (yet another column - sorry hello !) I would have put Signal at a 15 or 18 for the dark content. Similarly Tientsin Mystic just says 'Guidance' and I would definitely put it at 15 as it is quite gory.

I am up to date with my scores on the board

I started loading the google app & then it wanted an email, which irked me. I’ll get back to it...