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…

Bea is an enabler 😂😂

Monkey... I'm spreading the love! 😍💜😂

I was at a training session and ended up compiling a playlist to keep me awake lol Somerhing tells me web dramas are going to get hit up during the next few week's worth of training because there is quite a bit of downtime in between

Finished Marriage, the silliness reduced for the last few episodes but it had a nice enough ending. My favourite bit was the MIL staying with her MIL and SIL 😍

I managed to finish ep 4 of Its Okay last night before falling asleep on the sofa during ep 5. 🤦‍♀️ I finally ‘got’ the thread love for Kim Soo Hyun in the scene with Seo Ye Jin on the rain-lashed road at the end of ep 4. He was staggeringly beautiful in that blue high necked top. In fact both he and Seo Ye Jin looked amazing - hats off to the lighting person and the cinematographer. He also cried very prettily over the zombie story. I didn’t get the love in My Love from the Star at all, but I do now.

Its a good role for him range-wise too. The scenes with the autistic brother are tender and more challenging.

Totally agree boaty wasn't bothered about him before but he's dreamy in this. It's overall very beautiful too

I have been watching a lot of webdramas this week, but also am enjoying Was It Love . And although I do like ML from Go Back Couple I am rooting for the gangster

The fantasy MsLatte tour should round off with a few days on Jeju Island: www.instagram.com/p/CCtDHBepCKx/?igshid=1dqbdr513zsal

Not caught up with its Okay yet... Bit looking forward to the beautiful crying! 👌👍😘😍😂😭

Does Yoo Yeon Seok come as part of that tour boaty?

@bettys

Does Yoo Yeon Seok come as part of that tour boaty?

We can hope....

I need to get tips on beautiful crying because I'm looking like a horse who's trying to sneeze 😂

I've been watching a lot of web dramas to fill the time. I think I must be close to exhausting my options. I've seen some interesting ones from the Philippines which have been entirely shot in the actors own homes and take place through Skype calls, emails and Facebook posts. It's an inventive way to tell a story and to keep creating content during lockdown.

Our house speaks the most bizarre combinations of languages. We speak in a regional dialect for the most part but then there's odd bits of Korean and Japanese. Less frequently Mandarin but when we speak to our respective parents the real jumble comes out with Russian, French and German coming out. I swear if we focused on one language we'd be fluent but I fear it'll never happen.

hello I know what you mean about the jumble of languages 😂 My sisters went for a refresher course for Swahilli (we grew up speaking it) and found out that some of the words we use don't actually exist lol There was a hybrid of a tribal languages crossed with English, the occasional Hindi word and some Dutch. The Hindi and Dutch were because of a couple of our neighbours, we must have somehow absorbed the words into our vocabulary. Family conversations can be a bastardisation of languages, film quotes and cultural references, so God love anybody trying to keep up 😂 One of my sisters married a Croatian, so there will be another mix soon!

Intensive training for the new job started this week so planning a binge session to make up for lost time. I need a Eurolotto mega win. I definitely won't be the person saying I would still work, I would be too busy travelling!

OMO hello and monkeywench I am so envious!! I love languages! I speak fluent French (yawn) and a smattering of German but wish I spoke more...although of course will be fluent in Korean very soon due to my immersive language learning

although of course will be fluent in Korean very soon due to my immersive language learning

Oh yes, me too. Me too... 🤣 To be fair, there are phrases and such that I recognise now, so I know what’s been said before the subs appear, but other times I haven’t a fucking clue.

Immersive learning really works 😂😂 My Mandarin is coming along in terms of having a grasp of phrases, but the kids don't appreciate my efforts 😂

So this week I have been mostly watching web dramas set in High School... Failing In Love, Triple Date S1 & 2, and Real: Time: Love. They are 10 min episodes so not as bad as it seems but I need a break now as I am obscurely upset that the same actor in 2 of these series has failed to get the girl. Plus he died in Dr Romantic 2. All it needs is for Jisoo not to get the girl in his new series and I will be VERY VERY cross and forever give up on 2MLs

I finished Nokdu earlier for the second time. I spent a while bookmarking new/additional series on Netflix. It seems like My Mister is doing well - still showing well in trending, at least with my algorithms.

I gave Warrior Nun a go on Netflix.
Nope.
May tackle a sageuk or perhaps another TWdrama.

I gave The Old Guard a go on Netflix.
S’ok 🤷🏻‍♀️ Chiwetel Ejiofur is the best thing about it.

And that concludes my recent foray into English Language Netflix

I’m back to trying to finish Chernobyl (nearly there), but it’s so earnestly gritty and period-accurate, it’s uphill work. All the late 80’s Russian drudgewear and awful hairdos is making the men very unappealing, plus there’s the melting flesh scenes with the frontline power plant staff. 🤢 Emily Watson is the best thing about it by a loooooong chalk. Sky love to cast gritty, manly actors with regional accents to swagger and behave like chauvinists in lots of their dramas (hated that US one with Tim Roth as the sheriff too). After 2+ years of well-groomed, tailored dandy kdrama oppas, I’m finding it a bit jarring to my sunny upland sensibilities. Even the poisoners and executioners in sageuk do it in style with a swish of hanbok silk. This grungey palate and misery is so not my style these days. But it was deemed worthy & a ‘must see’ so I’m trying. 🤷‍♂️

Oh my. Grungey palette. 🤦‍♀️ So glad this thread is out in the MN sticks so that blooper is out of sight.

One of my friends thinks Chernobyl is televisual genius and keeps trying to make me watch it. I'm like nope, I've got enough gritty reality in my real life thanks. I want lighthearted beautifulness and funny boink/skweak noises 😂

Sorry squeak noises! I'm post night shifts, that's my excuse anyway.

And some dramas are gritty too just not Chernobyl level gritty.