MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #15): Tiring of your usual telly during lockdown? Want to be transported somewhere else? Try our escapist boxset recommendations

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the K-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. 

We also dip into Japanese, Taiwanese & Chinese drama as & when. 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)

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
Hospital Playlist (Netflix)
Itaewon Class (Netflix)
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. Quite a few of us are learning Korean, Japanese and/or Mandarin (some more diligently than others admittedly), so we swap tips and links to language resources. Basically, anything topical goes.


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…

Hello MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic this is definitely the thread for you!
See Boaty another Hwarang fan 👀

I knew one of you would pick up on that! I’m just not sure I can get past the dodgy syrups*.

(*syrup = syrup of figs = wig)

mrsdimitri... Welcome! Yes! Kim Taehyung! He's a good boy! 😂 😂 😂

Might start extracurricular today... But then toying with Secret Garden... But who knows!... Might go back to Born Again!... Oh the choices! 😂

boaty... I know what you mean... The wigs are well dodgy... But that can't take away the bonkersness of it all and the ost! And the wtfery! 😂 😂

MrsDmitri if you ever want to talk about the beauty that is The Untamed I am always ready! I'm also partial to Thai dramas so would love if you've got any recommendations.

I seem to have accidentally developed a kidnapping theme in the dramas I'm watching. Someone get me a CEO romance stat!

Where have all the good contract marriages gone? That’s what I want to know.

I am going to adopt V as my spiritual eldest son, and can hear no wrong against him or any of the Wooga Squad.

You me and Bea , MrsDimitri!! You're in the right place!

I've got 3 eps left of Extracurricular & wondering if I can binge them all tonight. It's quite compulsive but dark, I really don't know where it's going to end up at this point

After that there's HP, and then King but quite fancy a contract marriage drama after that, will have to check out MDL for one.

Anyone seen Mask (Viki) with Joo Ji Hoon?

I've tried a bit more k-signal to see if the next crimes are the same and they are so I'm going to leave it. I'm not watching the exact same program twice, even if the ML is slightly better looking.
Starting Memorist now

I need suits and dimples and questionable morals

This needs to be in the next thread title 😆

the girl ... Memorist! I'm jealous you can binge watch it! It's great! 👍
bettys... Extracurricular! When you've finished... Tell me if it's worth my while!

This needs to be in the next thread title

Duly snipped in readiness

I am a serial binge watcher - if I like something I have to watch it all. It's a huge character flaw normally kept in check by boring things like work.

First watch of Untamed took me less than a week iirc (I didn't realise it was 50 episodes when I started!) I did it slower on the second watch...

I keep seeing good things about Extracurricular so interested if it's worth watching, and also King Eternal Monarch has been recc'd by DKDKTV Youtube channel, and they're pretty trustworthy. Finished Kingdom tonight which we're watching as a family so slow going getting everyone in the same room at the same time...

What else? Handsome Siblings on Netflix, slow to start but really enjoyable once it got going. Today I've mainly been watching dodgy streams of BTS Bon Voyage S4 and wanting to go to New Zealand in a camper van, so not much drama except for my sulking.

Mrs dimitri... Season 4 Bon Voyage is absolutely lovely! Best season so far as far as I'm concerned! Taehyung on a horse with Jimin on a bike! 😂 😂 And leaving Hobi behind! 😂 😂 😂 It's such good entertainment! 😂 😂 😂

I’ve just finished Extracurricular and it’s not a 🐝 friendly ending in fact it is somewhat vague 🤔 Some things tie up but some are left open so there could be a second season. Not exactly a cliffhanger but you don’t really know what happens next.
It’s dark and violent and there is no warmth in it, but you do want to know what happens to the characters (especially the hermit crab). It’s well made and gripping too with a good soundtrack and very well acted, especially by AI Ji Soo from APOYM and 2ML from Itaewon. And an original story, it felt quite new & different.
Worth watching but not if you’re in search of fluffy warm fuzzies.

I’m quite enjoying Squid now and I’m glad I persevered but its still not kdrama. The squeaky deferential women do my head in. I’m much happier with the likes of Scarlet and Tami taking baseball bats to a car, the badass lawyer in Hyena or FL in King flattening and handcuffing villains. I like my female leads to have agency and a reasonable dose of swagger.

Bea, Secret Garden is one of my favourite kdramas, it's my go to guilty pleasure.

boatyard I watched the baseball bat clip from Search: WWW on YouTube this morning. Then I watched clips of FL from Hotel del Luna scaring the crap out of men. Korean dramas definitely have some of the best FLs.

I really love all the super intelligent business-savvy women in kdrama, but they also scare me. It’s probably a reflection of where they are at with women’s rights in SK at the mo, where to be a successful woman in business you have to be really at the too of your game. They remind me of those pioneering women in the 80s like Janet Street Porter, Eve Pollard and Nicola Horlicks, who worked in traditionally male-dominated businesses and took no prisoners.

Top!

Another excellent episode of King today. Love the meeting of the doubles today and the disdain shown for one by the other. That was a particularly entertaining scene, especially the boyfriend jibe. 🤣

'HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW YOU ARE HANDSOME?'

Sorry didn't mean to shout

I'm loving it and I just don't care

Ooo! With the excitement of scones... Victoria sandwich and Street parties.. I'd forgotten new eps of King! 😂

’HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW YOU ARE HANDSOME?'

That bit made me laugh too.

Enjoyed the awful cardiac surgeon’s moment of realisation at the restaurant in this week’s Hospital Playbook. Serves him right!