MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #17): I need suits and dimples and questionable morals

[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 as they are peppered with pop-ups of “Olga” and friends offering a good time, which gets in the way of the drama.

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/Netflix)
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/Netflix)*

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)*
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/Netflix)*
Kingdom (Netflix)*

Mystic Pop-up Bar (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…

Morning! Thanks for the new thread 😊

Love the title boatyard! 😂👍🕺

The title was something one of you posted and I thought at the time it would make a great title, so ai squirrelled it away.

I stand by that time I said I needed suits and dimples, and questionable morals! I need a well produced versions of Before We Get Married but with better writers. Nothing has hit that high on my guilty pleasure list since I watched it.

Checking in! DS birthday today so curbing the urge to binge on my day off to spend some time with him. Well, at least 20 minutes between him surfacing from his room and getting picked up by his friends 😂 The rest of the day is mine to watch Hotel De Luna and Mystic

I have a day off too. My boys have arranged to go out for a socially distanced walk with friends for most of this morning. 🎉😄

Nothing has hit that high on my guilty pleasure list since I watched it.

Agree!!! It is my benchmark for guilty pleasure It would be great if they did a kdrama version. Who would they cast though for Jasper Liu's role???

Seo Kang Joon?? They must have dimples obvs

If did a kdrama remake, (I hope) the weird stock market sex party would be classy and hawt rather than seedy and quite troubling.

Interesting interview on Woman’s Hour with a novelist talking about her Seoul-based novel about plastic surgery.

On now - started around 10.12.

Hello - feel like I've been away forever! Love the title of the new thread, it's exactly the Kdrama I need just now.
Been caught up with work and RL, but still managed to watch some web Kdrama, and 20 Century Boy and Girl, which is on Viki. It's quite sweet, likable, and passes the time -not exactly selling it .
Off work now for the next few days, so looking to fill my time with shows with' questionable morals' . Does anyone have recommendations, not on the spreadsheet? if not, I will have to re-watch something. Going to save Was it Love to binge. As much as I enjoyed Mystic Pop Up Bar, I don't think I can put myself through shouty Hwang Jung Eum in To all the Guys...

Hello everyone. I too have been absent but diligently watching and rewatching. Currently enjoying it's okay to not be okay and was it love?

Does it have to be Korean fifi? I can recommend Hello Again (dimples!! suits!! sadly no questionable morals but a fair few shirtless scenes) & The Romance of Tiger & Rose both on Viki

I really enjoyed today’s Was It Love. It’s my favourite viewing of the week currently.

Mine too! And now there’s even a puppy!!
And the teeny tiniest glimpse of lovely calming Rowoon 😍

Mind you if past appearances of puppies in kdramas are anything to go by we’ll probably never see it again 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh, is Rowoon in SF9? Damn, I will have to rewind and pay closer attention.

I am warming to the writer. From the forward glimpse, I think learning about the chaebol will play on his anxieties that she left him because he didn’t have money or status which, of course, is stupid and massively underestimates her character. She doesn’t feel held back by people looking down on her and judging her, she just gets on with it. She will end up with him, I’m sure, but the journey is fun. I am also majorly rooting for the gangster and like that he is more layered and struggles so much with parenting. The gym teacher is too good to be true, a tad one dimensional and the least interesting of the four men.

I should have qualified that by saying that it’s a toss up between gangster and gym teacher on physique. I’d need to see the gym teacher in a suit and fitted short to be sure, but I think the gangster may have the edge.

Shirt, not short. I’m not that much of a lech.

Just checking in, I have been very busy in rl with the puppy and family stuff which has interfered with my watching schedule! I have been watching Tiger and Rose in small chunks and think it is really good, she FL is just so romantically clueless 😆

Shirt, not short. I’m not that much of a lech.

I may also be watching Descendants of the Sun in the background for the scenery 😍

@Cassini

Shirt, not short. I’m not that much of a lech.

I may also be watching Descendants of the Sun in the background for the scenery 😍

Descendants of the Sun was very generous with the morning squad runs and favourable optics.

I’m still rooting for the gangster ( and I think he would win in the shirt off stakes) but I do like how the idiot writer showed how loyal he was to FL and think she will prob end up with him. I love her character and really like the actress too she is hilarious and nuanced at the same time.

Cassini glad you’re enjoying Tiger & Rose ! I started off thinking the ML was 🤔 but ended up really liking him. FL is great too

Bloody MN just ate my long post. Grrrr.

I am going to own it: I like Son Ho Joon. I first saw him in Reply 1997 and he was funny and engaging. He was great in Go Back Couple, a role that required considerable range and a sensitive, nuanced performance. I thought his character was smarmy in My Secret Terrius but I enjoyed his performance. He’s very enjoyable to watch in Was It Love and I think it will ultimately call on a similar range as Go Back Couple. He does come across as a bit of a smart arse, but not in the smug annoying way that JJS does. He’s a charismatic actor and I always enjoy watching him. He’s not my type at all (Set aside the twinkly eyes for now) but somehow his mischievous vibe has won me around. I also suspect he’d also be good fun in the pub.