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…

Monkeywrench... Ms Hammerubi is really good!.. It's got very Lovely Hair Kim Myung Soo in! Hmmm! Lovely hair! Lots of courtroom shenanigans I really enjoyed it!!..

Welcome to the chat Young!

Welcome Younghill! It’s always a pleasure to have new posters. Greeat to know that our lists are of use to others too. I hope you stick around.

Duh! I should have refreshed before posting because I basically repeated what Betty said. Still, it’s good to know we are consistent in rolling out the welcome mat. 😀

Thanks! Definitely a convert I watched Stranger because I'd seen Doona Bae in a few things and enjoyed it so much - although shaky start but noticed that with a few K-dramas - went rooting around for recommendations. Then I found your list and became addicted. I particularly like the non-fluffy romantic dramas. I watched Because this is my first life twice, and so far it's my standout. But also loved the look of shows like Romance is a Bonus Book, the colours alone are really seductive, although I did think that the sexual chemistry between the leads was a bit lacking. But I watched it after the heavy-duty drama of Something in the Rain so that didn't help. Also the k-pop soundtracks are wonderful.

Young That's exactly how I started watching kdrama, with Bae Doona & Stranger.
If you like zombies she is good in Kingdom.

For romance Crash Landing on You is a must! Or the one some of us are currently watching, Where Stars Land on Viki

Oh just saw you said non-fluffy romance. Any of these are great and less fluffy:

Another Miss Oh (Netflix)*
Crash Landing on You (Netflix)**
Fight For My Way (Viki)*
Go Back Couple (Viki)

Just Between Lovers (Viki)*
Melo is my Nature (Viki)/Be Melodramatic
One Spring Night (Netflix)
Red Carpet - film (Netflix, very adult content)
Romantic Dr Kim - seasons 1&2 (Viki)
Search: WWW (Viki)*

The Package (Viki)



Younghill Come join us in the chat, you know you want too! You picked a pretty solid list for starting with. It's a shame Her Private Life won't load for you though. Definitely keep trying with it, and add Crash Landing on You to the list before it gets too long.

Chuckling at the thought that any of our lists are anything but extensive after falling down the rabbit hole 🤣🤣

monkeywench we have to make sure to have all bases covered. we wouldn't want people to be able to climb out of the rabbit hole.

Thank goodness BTS ticket sale postponed! Hopefully we'll have a clearer idea of what's going on by the end of April! Fingers crossed 🤞!

Bettys... Rowoon... He's so nice in WSL... wonder if we'll get any back story to him!... WSL... 😂😂😂... It's classic kdrama... You think you know where its going and then WHAM! it's going a completely opposite direction... 😂😂😂👍👍👍

I just finished My Mister on Viki. Tricked into watching quality television! (I really loved it actually. )

My Mister might end up being one of my all time favourite kdramas, though it is an increasingly crowded field.

hello 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hotel California all over!

This is interesting.... From my Kdrama Mentor on Tumblr... I've not started Weather yet... But thought might be of interest to those who are...

By my current tally we’ve had around 20 unique posters over the last year & at least half of us are either totally beyond help or regular visitors/contributors. On the other hand >15 of you could be Betty & Bea’s sockpuppets* 😂

• I’m confident this isn’t the case due to oppa preferences.

One more thing... I'm on a roll tonight...

I'm absolutely hating the team section Gong... He's like nails down a chalkboard! Very slappable... I'm almost skipping his parts as he irritates me soooo much!... Same for the screeching other Female Team Leader... They are the negative in WSL for me so far! 😡😡😡😡😡😡

Boatyard!.... How could you suggest such a thing!... Now if the new posters all had a thing for lovely eyes... Lovely hair... Race Horse Legs SKJ and Toasty LJS... Vice Chairman and a HUGE fondness for Strong Girl Bong Soon... Plus insist on tidy happy happy endings.... Not to mention an unfathomable love and adoration for those funny talented bts boys.... Then there could be some truth in your suspicions! 😂 😂

They lure you here then make you delurk! Save yourselves! 😂😂😂

hokolo My Mister is pure class isn't it? Definitely in my top 5

Bea the annoying Gong guy is the annoying doctor in Forest, he seems a bit typecast

Avert your eyes if this thread is your happy place to escape the c-word, but I thought this was an interesting article which shows how well organised the South Koreans are, but also how intrusive some of the contact tracing was: www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/coronavirus-cases-have-dropped-sharply-south-korea-whats-secret-its-success

They lure you here then make you delurk!

Mwahahahaha. 😈

As it went on, I got really worried My Mister was going to be a romance. I mean it is. But you know what I mean. But then it wasn't. But it was!

Everything about it was right.

These are my fully coherent thoughts on the matter.

Yes Bea they are totally ott. I think a bit of ott screeching can have its place, but two of them is a bit much. Also agree that Rowoon is lovely. And I love the M and F Security guards.

As it went on, I got really worried My Mister was going to be a romance. I mean it is. But you know what I mean. But then it wasn't. But it was!

Absolutely hokolo!

Everything about it was right.