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…

Bea has BTS fever!

It’s interesting how those “taken for granted assumptions” in kdrama prompt you (maybe just me?) to do some digging. A throwaway comment in Hyena about a murder victim being a “poor soul” because she died with her eyes open led me to this:

Open eyes at death may be interpreted as an indication that the deceased is fearful of the future, presumably because of past behaviors. Such an interpretation is invited in the newspaper headline ‘Bomber McVeigh dies, eyes wide open,’ referring to the execution of the Oklahoma City bomber.[1] A concentration camp survivor describing the awful, delirious death of a school friend during internment wrote ‘when I looked at him again he was dead… his eyes, wide open with alarm, stared into nothingness’[2] Chinese (and Taoist) belief suggests that the dead have to be judged in hell and punished according to the sins that they have committed in life.[3] In such societies the startled post-mortem appearance of fixed open eyes suggests a fearful, and not a peaceful judgement....

From: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2902109/

I am familiar with seeing coins placed on closed eyelids in British historical dramas but had no idea why, so this little diversion has been doubly useful.

Damn, this was the bit about coins which explains the why:

The practice of forcing eyelids closed immediately after death, sometimes using coins to lock the eyelids closed until rigor mortis intervenes, has been common in many cultures.

I like the Irish thing of opening the window to let the soul free. The one thing I've found interesting is the speed with which funerals happen. Irish funerals tend to be 3 days later, so you can generally guess when a funeral is going to be held and employers tend to be more accommodating about letting people attend funerals. I couldn't get over how long it took for my best friend's mum to be buried in England. It was an expected death and it still took nearly 4 weeks, and she said that wasn't bad.

The cultural differences and similarities around rites of passage are fascinating. The one I find interesting is when they celebrate a baby's first birthday in Korea and they put items for the baby to pick that predict their future job. If I had done that for my kids DS would have picked car keys and DD would have been looking for the food 😂😂

monkeywench my nan's funeral happened 2 months after she died. she was a completely expected, normal death as well. it made grieving so much harder.

we did something similar for DS on his first birthday. he picked a toothbrush so we've either got a future dentist or a teeth model? he has loved the dentist every time we've been so maybe it's a good bet.

Been watching Still 17 this morning and really enjoying it. ML just bought Red Ginseng for dogs at the vets. After watching Melo I ordered some Red Ginseng sachets for energy, apparently v good for immune system. I should try to remember to take it I guess but the taste is quite bitter.

After watching Melo I ordered some Red Ginseng sachets for energy, apparently v good for immune system.

We all laugh at the PP, but it works on the susceptible... 🤦‍♀️

Interesting about the eyes open at death beliefs boatyard.

We are into day two of BTSCon. DD is struggling to stay awake now after waking at 4 am again (I joined her when I woke at 7 ish). Really wish I could understand more Korean. J Hope's Moma was v emotional. And the flossing in DNA! Lol

I missed yesterday's fan muster, though DD tried to go back and show me the family thing and I saw it briefly before livestream ended and was deleted .

It would have been easier for international fans if it was only a day though. This situation is likely to last some time so they could have done a couple of weekends of one day instead of a full weekend perhaps. It's really great that they have done this though. We've had great fun watching.

Is your army bomb syncing Bea? We don't have one, and watching via YouTube.

I've tried ginseng before and it did nothing for me, but I have chronic health condition. Hope you find it more useful Aesops.

I find a regular dose of vitamin D puts the spring back in my step, especially in winter. I bought a load on offer late last summer to get me & DH through the winter. We forgot to start taking it this year and had the most horrendous winter of colds and chest infections, plus feeling meh. I dug it out & we started taking it again when I read in COVID coverage in late Feb that it is protective against respiratory tract infections and we both feel perkier.

Yes, low vitamin D makes your immune system weaker, as well as lots of other symptoms. And our levels drop over winter so taking a good dose can really help in winter. I had the whole family on it this year, which has proved serendipitous. I take it year round.

I take Vit D, B and C every day and it does make a difference to how I feel. I had blood tests done before I started taking supplements and my levels were the lower end of being within range, so GP wouldn't persue treatment but taking VitD is the difference between having bad SAD symptoms and being able to get through the winter without actually hibernating.

VitD is the difference between having bad SAD symptoms and being able to get through the winter without actually hibernating

Yes, a friend recommended vit D to us a few years ago - she has a neurological condition and it is prescribed by her neurologist to support her cognitive functioning. I noticed I was much sharper mentally in the years we remembered to take it through the winter, as well as succumbing to fewer infections. This winter was foggy and grim without it, so I will definitely take it next winter.

I have chronically low vitamin D and am on medication for it til my days end but I noticed the difference immediately after taking a loading dose over a week. It really is amazing the difference it can make!

If you don't already take it Hello, magnesium can be a useful mineral to have as it aids your ability to absorb vitamin D. Also I take daily doses of vitamin D at 5,000 or higher, in an oil based capsule rather than solid tablet. Lower than that and my level drops.

We were talking about Korean and Japanese sentence structure over lunch and how Yoda’s idiosyncratic sentences (eg Certain I am) would not sound unusual to Japanese and Korean speaker if directly translated. Do any of you know if the syntax is switched to a more Anglophone pattern in dubbed Korean and Japanese versions?

I know that when I create subs and have to amend the word order for the sentence to make sense, some things can get lost in translation because you basically have to up end the order. The one that is difficult to do is make clear who the subject is. In Japanese you really don't use I,my, me and the subject is often omitted.

For example, I went to the movies with him is "Kare (him) to (with) eiga (movie) ni itta (went to)." However, Kare can be a person that you have been talking about before that or your boyfriend, it all depends on the context of the conversation that precedes that statement. It can even be shortened to "Eiga ni itta", which completely omits any subjects, so it's difficult to translate without knowing what the context is. It implies that I went to the movies, but it's only clear to the person that I'm speaking to directly.

You'll often find that the person's name is used instead of him/her/you and in Japanese the person's surname will be used commonly because using someone's first name implies a level of intimacy. My sisters don't refer to me by my name when talking to their friends (even though I've known them for years), I'm always the older sister (on ei san).

I don't know if it's the same in Japanese, but the word order for Korean can be used to make jokes. They don't translate well to English because the sentence structure just doesn't allow for it.

It's the same in Japanese, puns can be difficult to translate both ways. Word play can sometimes make the dialogue and it's difficult to convey that tone in English. It's a bit like how double entendres in English can be difficult to explain to some who doesn't speak the language.

Stick me with a fork! I'm done! 23 hours of bts concerts watched this weekend! It's been epic! I love it!
ginger... Yes! My bomb synced up! It hasn't been on since Wembley so it was very nice to see it fulfilling it's duty! 😂 😂
I liked the marathon over the weekend... They were obvs working to KST so not so bad for them... It felt like a real Army Global event (twitter has been hilarious!) I feel they wanted to connect all Armys together so I guess that's why it was all over this weekend and wouldn't have been soo arduous for kArmys!... Plus! Bts led us on little fitness routines in between! 😂 😂 It was great fun! Now I have to see what state the house is in!
If I can stay up tonight... I'm looking fwd to ep 2 of eternal monarch 👑! 👍

Bea glad the bomb worked! We missed the fitness routines. I admit I wasn't up to the full marathon but what I did watch was good. DD watched all and enjoyed it very much (when she could stay awake!).

monkeywench I find honourifics a tough one too. Most people come into Korean dramas knowing the basics but trying to explain the difference between cutesy boyfriend oppa and literal oppa is hard when they both translate to brother. I do wish English had a better system of honourifics though. Its one of my favourite language features.

I watched from about 10 this morning (lightweight) it was very very good!

I was thinking about the different formalities of Korean language and K-pop. And whether using the more casual forms in songs (as I assume is usually done?) makes people feel closer to kpop stars?

I noticed they used a mix of formalities in their thank you's. (I am only very beginner so couldn't work out much more than this).

It's always interesting in K-drama, looking for the moment when they use less formal language to each other in and how they react.

I’m finally catching up on Hyena & just starting ep 15. I second the 😍 for the rainbow wedges. Not sure I’d wear them, but they are so fun. It’s really hit its stride & I have high hopes for a good ending.

Loving the penthouse suite tantrum. 🤣