MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #14): Special welcome to any MNers stuck at home who need escapist boxset recommendations

[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)
The Fiery Priest (Netflix)

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)*
Signal (Netflix)*
Suspicious Partner (Netflix)*
The Lies Within (Netflix)*
Tunnel (Netflix)*

Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
100 Days My Prince (Viki)
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)*
Where Stars Land (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)
I’ll Go To You When The Weather is Nice (Viki - currently airing)

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)
My Mister (Viki)**
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*

Stove League (Viki)

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

Extraordinary You (Netflix)
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: Two Worlds (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)
Go Go Squid (Viki - Chinese)
Instead of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk (Viki, Chinese)
Love O2O (Viki - Chinese)
Morning Call (Netflix - Japanese)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix - Chinese)
Tientsin Mystic (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…

Dreaming lots here also, DD1 and I were up at 4:30am as both woke from strange dreams at the same time. I hope I sleep better tonight. I really want to like Weather it's gentle and calming but agree, it needs some more drama.

Just starting ep 13 of Hyena and the pace is constant and evolving. Very good. Unlike FL new 'mobile rope' which appears to be made from Steam Iron cord! 🤔

I am not feeling the love for PMY in Weather, whereas she was very engaging and funny in Her Private Life. SKJ is lovely though.

I’m just popping on randomly to say that the Black Skirts are great for listening to when cooking with a large G&T. Whether the two are connected I couldn’t possibly say 🤷‍♀️

I think PMY was better suited to HH KJW, I think she’s a shade too old for SKJ 🤭 SKJ is just too lovely in Weather 😍

I am, again, admiring the knitwear in Weather. I particularly like PMY’s grey sleeveless funnel necked jumper this week.

Bettys I now have a glass of wine 🍷 and the Black Skirts... not what I was expecting! Which song would you recommend as I currently have a face on 🤣🤣🤣

And HH KJW needs a break out Hollywood role to show her skills off in a Cameron Diaz style comedy role!

Cassini Yeah not all their stuff works!! The two tracks I have on my kdrama playlist are Holiday and Someday.... surrounded by a lot of Epik High to be sure....

Plus I've just read MrsMop1964 s link about vivid dreams, it seems to be a lockdown phenomenon

I had a dream about running away from cyborg dog wolves and throwing hand-grenade tennis balls to kill them off... make of that what you will 🤣

Time to Hunt, dystopian thriller, is coming to Netflix on Friday - stars Lee Je-Hoon (WSL, Signal) and Choi Woo Sik (Parasite). Squeeee.

Also Giri/Haji.

Tigertail, a Taiwanese film, looks good too.

KLAXON!!!

The King: Eternal Monarch is coming to Netflix on 17th April

Not so thrilled about LMH but there's Woo Do Hwan, Kim Go Eun and the sergeant bloke from Where Stars Land (squeee) and is written by the writer of Mr SunShine, Goblin, DotS etc

Not so thrilled about LMH but there's Woo Do Hwan, Kim Go Eun and the sergeant bloke from Where Stars Land (squeee) and is written by the writer of Mr SunShine, Goblin, DotS etc

I saw that trailer too & started reading your post thinking I’d post “meh, it’s LMK” but you make some good points, Betty.

Since Fukukaka (the ending was alright actually) I've been having a run of Jdrama on Viki as they are bite-sized which suits my present inability to focus.
Hey Sensei: Don't You Know was sweet & actually had a FL that wasn't so ditsy (although she was 'pure')
Have just started You're My Pet with again a non-ditsy FL who gets dumped as her bf prefers someone less high-powered, and demoted for thumping her boss who was trying to kiss her. She takes in a street dancer as a pet (as you do)

Someone started a Duolingo thread saying they couldn't work a damn thjng out, grammar wasn’t explained etc. I posted saying I felt the sane about Duolingo Korean. Another posted that Lingodeer was better for many languages, including Korean & Japanese. It is so much better, I love it. If anyone else is learning, I recommend it.

I've been using Drops and it's great... I've already got some understanding of the alphabet..
But drops has really cemented it! I was even able to read the name of a mountain that BTS climbed the other day! 😂 😂
Behold! I present my skills!... How I dated my eggs the other day!
.😂😂😂

Brownie point for anyone who knows what date it was! 😂 😂 😂

bettys You're My Pet is so bizarre, but I kind of loved it. I've just finished The Literary Virgin/Bungaku Shojo on dramacool soon to be on Viki which has a strong(ish) FL.

I'm also awfully excited for The Eternal Monarch but if WDH let's me down with this project, I'm going to stop automatically watching things he's in.

Extraordinary You is getting progressively sadder and more poignant as time goes on (nearing end of ep 13). I hope there's a happy ending, or I’ll be throwing my toys out of the pram later.

But if I ever have a hard time, Rowoon is welcome to come round and embrace me. His hugs look very comforting.

Bea I thought you were using those eggs to insult your family then I realised its also a word for Fool. So I'm guessing the 1st?

hello...! 😂😂😂👍... 1st of April!... Oh how I larfed to myself when I did it!... 😂😂

boatyard... Yes! Rowoon is indeed very comforting... Like SKJ... He's equally lovely in Where Stars Land..! 😂

Oh no Bea and boatyard I've just paid for Duolingo, so I'll have to stick with it else I'll be annoyed with myself for wasting money. How much is Lingodeer?
I was starting to think that about the grammar but thought it would start to get explained as I progressed through the levels.

I have not watched any dramas for a few days 😳. A combination of work, DH/DS wanting my attention and also the weird unable to concentrate thing. I am hoping to watch an episode of Weather in a bit.

Duolingo is at least good for short bursts of attention.

I think Duolingo fails to explain that Korean is a Subject - Object - Verb language as opposed to Subject - Verb - Object like English. I found it relatively okay to do the exercises once I could reorganise the sentences in my head