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…

I recommend Ghibli for family viewing. My favourites are Howl's Moving Castle, Pom Poko and Porco Rosso. The last one is my all time favourite.

The king 👑... I love it! It's all angsty and fretful and like bettys... Not a clue... But I'm sort of getting it!... It's just gooood!!
💜👍

I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying Mystic Pop-Up Bar (Netflix) Episodes 1-2 are a bit meh but it starts to pick up in 3-4 as more characters join & develop. Even shouty ‘YA!’ Hwang Jeung-Eum suits her role and the side characters are fun. I loved the Afterlife field day (new spin on corporate get togethers) and the supermarket co workers demonstrating how to get a girl to go out with you. I also think there may be a Goblin-esque storyline in there.

I'm supposed to be trying to sleep in preparation for night shifts but I'm just going to watch King on my phone in bed 😁. Sleep is for wimps.

Sleep is for wimps.

I’m nicking that for our next thread header. It is the Addicts’ battle-cry.

😁✊

Been watching some My Shy Boss this evening and the pencil thing is annoying me. If you want to whittle, just buy sticks. It would be cheaper and less environmentally unsound than constantly destroying perfectly good pencils. I approve of his kimchi fridge and covet his excellent knife collection though.

Years ago I worked with a graphic designer who taught me that to get a really sharp point you need to use a knife on a pencil. I still do sometimes.

Mind you there's a scene later where FL manages to wreck a whole bunch of pencils and that annoyed me

Woo-Hoo Jasper Liu & Lee Seung-gi's travel show Twogether is coming to Netflix on 26th June

I have to say that I like to sharpen my pencils with a knife when colouring in. I I sharpen the tip and leave more of the lead exposed so that I can colour in a wider area more evenly by tilting the pencil. It reminds me of sitting with my dad in a rainy afternoon sharpening his work pencils. He is an engineer and prefers his pencils sharpened with a knife. He had loads of stubby pencils that would have been difficult to sharpen with a sharpener, but thinking back it was probably one of his tactics to keep us quiet for a while 😂😂

@bettys

Woo-Hoo Jasper Liu & Lee Seung-gi's travel show Twogether is coming to Netflix on 26th June

My most cheering news today. Thanks Betty.

It's not drama, but loving Kang Gary's son in The Return of Superman. DD hasn't fallen for the drama trick yet but she loves Running Man and Busted, so it won't be long. (Rubs hands with glee) I have to say, Asian variety shows are so much more fun. I think the closest I came to enjoying an English speaking variety show was Taskmaster.

I feel like I need to understand the black eye-egg rolling think (Shy Boss). Is the egg cold from the fridge, so reduces swelling & the volume keeps it chilly for a while? Is it about the rolling and smooth surface, so a gentle, distributed pressure massage? Is the egg hard boiled, or is there a risk it will crack & leave you with an eggy face? So many questions. Does anyone know the reason?

And yeah, 🥾🍑 I fell asleep on the sofa, slept through 30 pivotal minutes (the lead-up to the sister’s death) so felt I had to reetrace my steps before turning in. 🤷‍♂️

From what I remember doing (very accident prone person playing competitive sport was never going to end in disaster 🤔) it was a cold hard boiled egg because the surface was the perfect shape for the eye socket. I have seen the slab of steak in films but always wondered if you would actually want to eat it after that... A cold egg seems a bit more hygienic

Thank you Monkey. The shape thing makes sense and I agree a cold raw steak seems unhygienic, but I suppose it is bendy enough to settle to the shape of your eye and form a good contact.

i thought this too!...the egg thing...
also i was puzzling over the other day... from My Shy Boss ... again....
Is it common practise to always take a photo of a taxi license plate and the pic of the driver whens sending lone female home...?

My Shy Boss... is turning out to be a nice little heartwarming watch... I'm enjoying it and have even warmed a little to FL...I love her sister... and even though i didn't like the team to begin with again... I've warmed up to them bit by bit as I suppose the intention was... ...a good light hearted watch with enough drama to make it not comeplete fluff!!!

I've spent the weekend watching Hospital Playlist which I
thoroughly enjoyed, such good acting and script. I may have shed a few tears.
I've also caught up with Oh my Baby, again really liking this, though I think that there will be a bittersweet ending, so preparing myself
I'm now bothered that I didn't push through with My Shy Boss, as everyone seems to have enjoyed it. Apart from the FL annoying the hell out of me, I was put off by the fact that the no-one seemed to be taking responsibility for FL sister. I have a tendency to over think these things

Fifi...I was put off by the fact that the no-one seemed to be taking responsibility for FL sister... but remember they've got to eeeeek it our for a whole 16 eps!!!!

Don't worry, all is revealed by the end! (Even though it still made me tilt my head a bit, but such is mental health I suppose)

My Shy Boss...

• l love her coats! They're just lovely!
• Mr kang looks so much better with floppy hair!
• I love the teasing friendship between Roun and Yeong Jung

Bea, I can foresee that my curiosity will get the better of me and I will end up going back to it. Probably best with a few gins to get over my intense dislike of FL .
On another note, I watched Are You in Love film with Sung Hoon recently and I really like his voice, along with other things . He seems to have much more of a 'lilt', almost a rhythmic tone than other actors. I've thought this before when watching him in other shows. Has anyone else noticed this? Does he have a different dialect?

Mr kang looks so much better with floppy hair!

Yes, the Crazy Kang look was much better.

Got to share this clip from James Corden about how ARMY & kpop fans have donated to BLM & flooded twitter with kpop to drown hate messages 😆