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…

Fab. I’ve added it to Netflix watchlist. Depending on your reports of Mask, I might have a little break for some kdrama. I’m missing hearing Korean. I am warming to Mandarin, but I still prefer Korean. Li Xian is eminently oppa-worthy. There must be a Mandarin equivalent.

Mask is very average but somehow I am on episode 13

Mask is very average but somehow I am on episode 13

Mystifying isn’t it? When I told DH I’d made such good progress on my Mandarin drama, I’m nearly done & told him how many episodes there are (with clipping for credits) he said: “but that’s a full time work week!” I just told him I’d been working really hard doing overtime this week.

Reader, I am on the last episode of Squid.

I don't think Mandarin has a direct translation of oppa culture but I guess he could be part of the GeGe club? I am thoroughly invested in your opinions of the last episode of Go Go Squid!

Ok, I take it all back. It was really heartwarming. Li Xian was really loveable by the end & I liked the other mooted pairings. I give it an 8 for the scoresheet. I will definitely seek out more of Li Xian’s work, but I will ardently resist another 40+ hour Mandarin epic - I can feel my arteries furring and my butt cheeks melting shapelessly into the sofa as I type, plus I find the pacing frustrating and find myself wanting to skip all the heroic patriotic scenes and public service messages.

So pleased you liked Go Go Squid, it is worth persevering with!

I'm not sure the same can be said for Mask as it has got really rather silly & I am employing lots of skippety doo dah which means I am missing plot points but I'm not sure it matters. Just want to get to the end now.

Mask can wait. I watched a bit (20 mins) of Tientsin Mystic last night just to see what you were getting at about style. It was a feast for the eyes & I don’t just mean Li Xian, though as the trainee ‘river god’ he spends a suitable amount of time in his river salvage cossie. The brothel scene was especially sumptuous, 5 words I’m finding surprising to type. I love the 1920s costumes and sets. Sadly DH and DS1 barracked about dodgy green screen in one of the underwater scenes, though I’m assuming some of them must be real because Li Xian did a free-diving qualification in Thailand to prepare him for the part (making sense of a run of particularly random insta posts c 2018). It is a big step change up in terms of production design & quality compared to the usual mainland Chinese output. On that basis alone, I’ll give it a go but I am shamelessly crushing on Li Xian.

Honestly, today was like waking from a fever dream. Crunching through 41 episodes of Go Go Squid, even with a bank holiday, was nuts. 😮🤯 I need to tame my addiction to make more room in my day for other interests & tasks.

That should have said ‘in under a week’.

Other interests and tasks are overrated 😁😁😁

I've used my weekends to watch Pasta, Personal Taste, and half way through Faith - Great Doctor^. I have to seriously curb my addiction .

I've used my weekends to watch Pasta, Personal Taste, and half way through Faith - Great Doctor. I have to seriously curb my addiction^

Thank you Fifi. In my mind, you were all smashing it this weekend, organising VE day afternoon tea, spending quality time with families and spring cleaning your homes. Always good to hear there’s at least one other kdrama slacker.

I netted the gooseberries this weekend and that was about it.

However I have added some dramas to the spreadsheet ( at the bottom hello ) Mask got a 5 in the end, I have no idea how it scored so highly on Viki. I also added some 2020 ones, and couldn't help noticing that the amount of green scores this year as opposed to 2019 is very high (love a colour coded spreadsheet)

We managed gardening on Friday - similar activities to you Betty (edible crop related) and a family evening with homemade pizza on Saturday, but the late evenings/warly hours were a wasteland of Squid and I stayed up far too late for about 4 nights on the trot, knowing I had an extra lie-in day. I now need to retrain my body clock to regular hours. Difficult when COVID seems to have brought his annoying aunt (menopause) with him & my sleep has gone haywire.

COMING TO NETFLIX!!!

Strangers From Hell - Lee Dong-Wook & Im Si-Wan . Strange goings on in an apartment block. Starting this Friday. Hopefully all eps as is from last year.

Mystic Pop-up Bar - Supernatural thing with shouty FL from She Was Pretty and Kill Me Heal Me. New series starts 20th May

My Shy Boss aka Introverted Boss - Drama about a shy boss finding love & coming out of his shell. With Yeon Woo Jin (on my oppa list but no one else has ever heard of him) and Yoon Park forever known as Crazy Kang. Hopefully all eps as is from 2017. A binge-watch (well I did anyway). Coming 1st June

Shameless crushing on Li Xian is a my favourite pastime 🥰 Since I was on call over the weekend I started Bad Guys . Very dark but totally hooked! 5 episodes in cos sleep is underrated 😂 Thankfully no shifts booked for this week yet, so having a C-drama browse.

We're all taking a week off the usual oppa programming to appreciate Li Xian but Hu Yitian (Xiao Bai) needs a mention. He's 26, so a young one but definitely worthy of a little bit of love.

Hu Yitian looks a lot younger than Li Xian somehow, even though there's only a couple of years in it.

There's an article here on E-Sports in dramas, has anyone seen Gank Your Heart?
Or maybe I'll try Accidentally In Love

I do like Hu Tian as well. Veritable harem here 😂 According to DC, it's not a list if you have a Word document...

YITIAN. MN really need an edit button

Accidentally in Love is an easy watch. Anyone know where I can watch Gank Your Heart?

I've just found it on YouTube!!

Dammit no subs

Better get working on your Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin) then, Betty.