MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #16): Serving up guaranteed corona-free escapism throughout lockdown to lurkers, passers-by and regulars.

[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 AmazonPrime. There are also platforms streaming content illegally if you go looking, but we don’t promote them.

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, no major site yet)
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 (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/Netflix)*
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 (other sites)
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/Netflix from June)
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 (no mainstream platform yet)
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 decent quality
Regulars also 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 Scoring Dramas of 2019
(courtesy of Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, which are updated by/for thread regulars)

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…

Klaxon! Olga and her team of pirates have done the OMB subs in quick order again.

Yes I thought the dance in Shy Boss was embarrassing

Talking about More sex, more niche practices etc. I've just watched The Handmaiden 😳🙊🙈

I recorded it last night and I've just deleted it after watching in case DS watched it by mistake and was terrified off sex forever by the s&m bits 😂

Yep. Biiiiig difference between kdrama & film. And to think she was the FL in Mr Sunshine!!

I was properly open mouthed with horror at the bit in the basement near the end. All those body parts and an actual massive octopus 😨

Yes indeed! It's based on Fingersmith but takes it so much further!

@TheGirlWithTheArabStrap

I was properly open mouthed with horror at the bit in the basement near the end. All those body parts and an actual massive octopus 😨

Omo!

As for Oh My Baby, Jae Young all but lost the plot this week. That scene at the end of ep 12: what on Earth was he thinking?!?!?

That scene at the end of ep 12: what on Earth was he thinking?!?!?

I know!! I didn't fancy his chances much anyway but he really doesn't deserve her.

Agreed.

I started dipping into Nokdu because why not? Jang Dong-Yoon is just beautiful to watch. It’s funny because he definitely reads as male, but I don’t they could have found a more refined young male to play the widow. I am intrigued all over again by his beautiful neck and how he does not have an obvious Adam’s apple but still has a reasonably deep voice in chap mode.

monkeywench Thai BLs are in a league of there own for the most part. Plus they pull the old bait and switch, you go in for a lovely cute time and then bam you're waist deep in awkward sex scenes.

boatyard it seems none of us can resist the draw of Nokdu. Even though my Netflix list is a mile long, I still passed on all of it just to watch the beautiful dance scene by the lake again.

What are BL dramas? I’m guessing boy love (gay) stories. Is that it? I’ve not heard the abbreviation before.

Which episode is the lake dance in?

Thanks to you hello I ended up watching 5 episodes of I’ll do it in my next life 😱🤯🥺🥱

Luckily they’re only 25 mins long

(In my regular viewing) I like crime drama/mystery, anything historical (or pseudo-historical - I like the costumes!). Thriller is ok as long as it doesn't stray into horror/gore. Romance is fine.

Re - Queen: Love & War, so far I'd say that the first couple of episodes were quite confusing (jumping back & forth in time, to set the scene). Mostly seems ok now, by episode 11, except I occasionally want to give the King a good shake for allow other people to control him so much. Grow some balls, FGS! And I'm sure there are some cultural references I don't understand - is there / did there used to be a stigma about having twins/multiple daughters? (Not a spoiler, BTW! It is mentioned in ep 1 but I don't understand & Google tells me nothing.)

Oh and... J drama? Do I want to know? Japanese? Something else?

Jdrama=Japanese
BL=Boy Love aka homosexuality (or implied)
My granny told me that there used to be stories about twins, sort of changeling type stories, that were widely believed a long time ago, which is why twins weren't considered to be a good thing. It's a bit like the old myths about left handedness being a sign of badness.

The multiple daughters thing is because male offspring were essential for families with money and power and marrying off daughters could wipe you out financially with the bride dowry, never mind watering down your power if you were the one with the upper hand. The woman always got the blame for multiple girls births and could lose status within the imperial court. (This is in Japan BTW, although the social hierarchy would have been pretty similar between China, Korea and Japan)

boatyard BL is boy love. I hate that phrase personally because they're not boys, they're men. I only use it as its the accepted acronym in the community.

The dancing scene is about half way through episode 3!

bettys I'm not taking the blame for anything! It does bumble along quite quickly though doesn't it!

hello I suppose BL as a term has become more recognizable than yaoi, which is the term used for homoerotic literature in Japan. Yaoi is generally written by women for women and usually features flower boy types, although that has been changing, and the stories tend towards more romantic fluff than gay literature does.

My gay Japanese friends say that BL stories really feel like they are written from a female romantic fantasy point of view. They say it would be like a hetronormative man writing about female romantic relationships/friendship, but some of them do enjoy the genre. They have said that the more LGB stories become socially acceptable in public, the easier it is for them to be open.

Feeling stuck in a Kdrama slump. Really want to watch something that's so good, it makes me stay up into the wee hours.
I feel that I've watched all the good stuff . Not that desperate that I would watch Handmaiden though .
Watching the Handmaid's Tale, is the extent of what I can endure these days!
I'm similar to you Bea with 'hands clasped at pearls' with overtly sexual scenes - kdrama chaste scenes suit me fine. I'm blaming the menopause

Yaoi is generally written by women for women and usually features flower boy types

Thanks Monkeywench, that’s really informative and explains the woman in I’ll Do It In My Next Life who says she wants to be a plant living in a gay couples apartment and draws manga of incredibly pretty men to illustrate it 😂

fifi have you worked your way through the spreadsheet? 😆

Sitting with it open now bettys . I have stopped watching anything below a 7 score - not worth my time So I've pretty much watched what's on there. There are still a few like, Voice, Signal and Life, but feel I need to be in the mood for these
Currently trawling through Netflix to see if there's anything new.

fifi - I was taken by surprise by The Handmaiden; I was expecting sex but not dark, dark s&m. And at the beginning it's all normal, then wham! Straight into someones arse being beaten, and it just gets more extreme. I was v surprised after 12 months of solid kdrama 😳

Fifi ...looking through the spreadsheet now to see what you've watched!...
Romantic Dr Kim 2 - lovely stories... and good!
Hwrang - for the silliness!
Pretty Proofreader is quite sweet... it trips along very merrily!
Weightlifting Fairy -!!!!! You've not seen this!!!! This is deffo what I would go for... It really is lovely!!!! -

I'm going to stop right there and get yourself off to Netflix/Viki !!! Weightlifting of lovely lovely lovely!!!