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…

Monkey... where can i find korean 101? and i think you mentioned workbooks before? what do you use.?.. i'd like to start doing a bit of writing... in the vain hope that it will cement a bit of knowledge...

i find it's still a lot of guess work for me...i cheat and look for the initial sounds i know...ㅂㄷ갬ㄴㄹㅍㅌㅋ being the characters i can grasp quite easily... it's sooo odd to be able to read and sound out what i think the characters/words might be but have no utter clue what it says... like being able to read C-A-T but having absolutely no knoledge of what "cat" means????

Same for me I tried to work out what Sung Hoon's post said but got stuck sounding out the letters S-A-R-A but it wasn't saranghae (i think the word was 'lovely', which I haven't learned yet)

On a side note I was watching Mask at the same time as Twin (Norwegian) last night so reading two sets of subtitles, hence mistaking Ju Ji Hoon for a randomer

I've had 48 hours of no dramas 😱 due to a combo of work and family zoom chats. I just thought I'd say hello before I go and watch King

🙋🏻‍♀️ Waves at Girl you deserve some King enjoy! I’m wondering if I can slope off for today’s ep after mowing the lawn

Luna is, um, scary.

ㅅ+vowel makes the s+vowel sound and ㅅㅅ makes the harder shorter sh sound. I'm finding the ㄱ(k if at the start of a word,g otherwise) ㄷ(t at the start of a word, d otherwise)ㅂ (p at the start of a word, b otherwise and can be m in bacchim position. ㅍis aspirated p) hard to pronounce by themselves but easier to say when part of a word.

bettys it's koreanclass101.com and they also have free videos on YouTube. I'm following the absolute beginner course and finding it useful. I used their videos first before deciding to pay a subscription.

How did LMH keep a straight face while doing the coffee PPL??🤣

Love love love WDH pretending to be Eun Sop

Thanks Monkey.

How did LMH keep a straight face while doing the coffee PPL??

Or Kim Go-Eun in the kimchi and multipurpose balm PPLs. It’s really quite appalling this week. That said, it’s the same brand of kimchi I’ve got a fridge full of and it is tasty. 👌

So far, I think WDH is having the most fun with the 2 worlds/2 roles thing. Most of the other characters are a variation on a theme - kickass, capable etc.

I keep rewinding the WDH scenes to get double the fun

I keep rewinding the WDH scenes to get double the fun

I will be rewatching in the next few days for the same reason. His scenes are a riot.

Managed yesterday's ep of King but now I'm being made to join in picking our takeaway for later.
I absolutely lolled at the scenes with WDH. 🤣🤣🤣. Great stuff!!!

Poo now I have to wait for next weeks ep 😭😭

Thanks for the tip ré Korean 101 Monkeywench 👍

After watching some YouTube videos of my favourite dramas, I've come up with another hello's question of indeterminate time frames; which 2ML was the better choice for FL? Which dramas gave you the biggest case of SLS?

In language learning talks, I've got flashcards to make for the verbs I'm finding most difficult to remember. I feel like I'm revising for A Levels again 😂

I haven't got near verbs yet!

Good-oh I do like a hello question of indeterminate time

My cases of SLS:

Woo Do Hwan in Save Me
Kim Min-Jae in Hit The Top
Choi Jin Hyuk in The Last Empress
Rowoon in Where Stars Land
Seo In Guk in His Master's Sun
Dong Mae Yoo Yeon Seok in Mr Sunshine

Oh and Woo Do Hwan is shamelessly stealing King from LMH

Oh and Woo Do Hwan is shamelessly stealing King from LMH

Totally agree. In fact, LMH is actually limited by being the King as he has no double and is pretty much a one trick pony - comely, minted prince - in both realms. Kim Go-Eun, WDH and even coffee lady get more latitude to chew up the scenery.

Oh yes, and when everyone’s caught up, we need to talk about the final scene of today’s episode. Does that mean a blood tie?

I don't think it means a blood tie, just that his foundations are rocked and he now has a situation in Corea as the mum was in the bookshop there....the question is why were they swapped?

Do you remember the battered wife with the young son at the beginning, living the household with the older guy in the wheelchair? I thought bookstore woman might be that battered wife. In which case, wheelchair guy is the young son’s uncle. Do I have the links muddled?

SPOILER!!!!

Battered wife was mum of Korea’s version of Lee Gon. Eeevil uncle Prince Lee Lim killed the Korean version of king (drunk he bumped into first time he went) and Korean version of himself (in the wheelchair) and 8 yr old boy. She now lives as a prisoner in luxury. Dunno why eeeevil uncle kept her alive unless he needed her for some purpose
At least I think that’s right...

ANOTHER SPOILER!!!!!

Woman in bookstore in Corea was doppelgänger of gambling Korean mum but was looking at photos of present day Sin Jae so obv gave him away to live in Korea for some reason, and he was swapped with Korean Sin Jae in a coma when 8 yrs old
I think..,,

Oh yes, you are right about the battered wife’s son. The coma swap is more puzzling.

Just found Li Xian’s instagram account. He’s one fine-looking fellow. His GQ cover is fab, the Elle photoshoot more questionable due the stylist.

boaty isn't he just. The GQ shoot and the black and white photos are just droooool

This one raised a smile too. The man clearly has a sense of humour.

See! His grumpy characters hide all this lol I love the little smirk smile he does. DS does the same thing and it is well cute