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…

Just checked out Stranger I haven't seen it so will def give it a try thanks Bettys
So much coming on Netflix this weekend, including one of my fave Scandinavia shows Rita season 5. Happy Days!

Oh I’m a big fan of Rita too! Always makes me want to go to Denmark again

• Aesops, enjoy Portugal, I've missed two holidays there this year so please make up for me by eating and drinking extra

I've caught up with WIL. I wonder if it will be a 'one year later' ending? Where you find out what has happened to them all as they attend the premiere of the film.
FL - not with the writer, but someone else and working successfully as a producer.
Writer - writing about his experience and building a relationship with his daughter.
Actor - offered opportunity to go to Hollywood due to role in the film.
Teacher - getting over his one-sided love, and working as a basketball coach/teacher, maybe a romance.
Gangster - in my house

Gangster - in my house

Eh wot???? In your dreams !!!!

Otherwise am ok with rest of your predictions

Hi guys! RL has been hampering my viewing but I've mainly been watching C/T drama and my Madarin is picking up. Definitely better at listening than speaking, but hăo (good) and zài jian (bye) get used a lot. Korean reading is progressing, just need some one to talk to lol. I can't wait until this month of intense training is over and I get back into my usual night shifts so that I can catch up!

Wotcha monkeywench !! Very impressed with your language progress, I’m still bizarrely chuffed when I manage to recognise the word for ‘door’ never mind trying to have a conversation!

Very much enjoying Into The Ring, it has a lot of heart and the two leads are charming. I’m wishing I could emulate FL’s ‘moddl strut’ but I’m just too short! 🤣🤣

I'm soooo behind everyone! I hang my head in shame!😞😞
Away for a week or two and no drama watching here!! 😫😱
Too busy! I'm going to have to proper binge when I get home! 😁
TRAIN has peaked my interest through trailers and soompi gossip... Now boaty watching deffo next drama!! Feel like a bit of ocn grittiness! 😫😬
And Bangtan were on I-Land today!... I so need to catch up on that! 💜💜💜
.... Soo behind! I am a bad k drama addict!! 😭 😞😔

I jumped the Train for Into The Ring temporarily. It’s a binger, as you can see from the time stamp.

Very much enjoying Into The Ring, it has a lot of heart and the two leads are charming. I’m wishing I could emulate FL’s ‘moddl strut’ but I’m just too short!

I love it too. I thought FL’s Ministry of Silly Walks strut to the District Chairman’s office to discuss recruitment was baaaaad, but otherwise the both stride like beautiful tall people with looong legs. I also like the way the ML stands. He must do something like taekwon do or pilates because his posture is top notch.

Heeeelp!!

🤣🤣 could you not find a 🥾🍑??

I made it to bed around 1.40 in the end. 😧

I really like the ML/FL combo in Into the Ring. It's a winning combination - her courage in the face of opposition, her intuitive understanding of people and interest in the concerns of the local people, then his knowledge of governance, ordinances, the budgetary process and the historical antipathies between the other council members. Actually, seeing that written down it’s a bit sexist that he’s all business and she’s all empathy & soft skills but also scatty and undisciplined. I suppose it is countered by the other female council woman and the district chief, who are arch politicians and ball-breakers to boot. I do like FL’s approach of not waiting for permission & just getting on with it. Contrast the slow career progress of her ex-squeeze, who is busy courting establishment grandees...

Catching up with To All The Guys but finding it frustrating, & the way FL sticks her tongue out to ‘taste’ the food in ep 11 Is positively repellent

Omo! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/AMA/3995841-Im-Korean-AMA?msgid=99164820

Wow!!! It's a brilliant thread, thanks for the link!

Love that thread! Obvs the people from this thread asked the most interesting questions 😊

Mostly me asking questions at the mo. I must stop.

Hi all, I'm a recent convert to k-drama, but am loving so many of the actors and storylines. I feel like I'm watching some different shows to you guys... Maybe as I'm newer to it and have only explored netflix so far?

So far I've watched :

• The inheritors (I loved Lee Min Ho as Kim Tan, although he needed to get a bit more understanding of how precarious the fl's position was and stop dragging her into cupboards.
• You are Beautiful - omg, I could watch this all the time (and managed to stay up til 5am binge watching episodes! 😲). It was painful when all 3 guys ended up loving her and she could only pick one - I was team #whychoose on that one! The 1st ml was so beautiful though. I found the soundtrack really catchy to this too, so ended up humming it to myself.
• The king: eternal monarch - omg, Lee Min Ho being beautiful again and an interesting storyline.
• Cinderella and the four knights - again team #whychoose! They all ended up being lovely and I enjoyed the way they developed the characters.
• My love from the star - oooh, this took a while to grow on me and I wasn't sure why the ml liked the fl? He was beautiful though and a good comedy actor, so I enjoyed watching it.
• The cheese in the trap - this was mostly just weird, so I took a break from it and watched Love Alarm, then went back to it to see if the ml was really a psycho or not. 🤔
• Love alarm - this was OK. Not hugely gripping, but OK.

I haven't finished :
Boys over flowers - everyone seems to rave about this, but I didn't like how they portray the poor family. The fl would surely have learned table manners at her new affluent school, but no, she's still stuffing food into her mouth and talking through it. 🤔

😂 That's the end of my brain splurge!

Oh I forgot Pinocchio - and probably more too - that was a bit of an odd show, but I liked how it all (kind of) worked out.

Hello and welcome leeloo1!

We've all been watching kdrama for various amounts of time ( 2 years for me) so have rattled through a fair few! As you can see we're on thread 17 We've all got different favourite oppas & dramas so if you have time do dip into previous threads and explore our recommendations at the head.

I loathed Boys Over Flowers, could not see the attraction of FL, and it put me off Lee Min Ho until King: Eternal Monarch where I started to like him (but still prefer Woo Do Hwan )

I loved Pinocchio ! I'm a huge Lee Jong Suk fan! Plus it has Kim Young Kwan I can't remember if While You Were Sleeping is on Netflix (it may be on Viki) but if so you should check it out.

Yay! leeloo made it over from the AMA thread. Welcome to the kdrama addicts thread. It’s like Hotel California - you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

I should have added for leeloo‘s benefit that we debate kdrama on the thread a lot and often differ in our opinions about actors or shows, but it is always good natured because our love of kdrama unites us.

Thanks for the invite @boatyardblues! 😁 I do feel I've found my people, who will understand my obsession with these dramas!

@bettys - Lee Jong Suk is indeed very lovely and omg, the bath scene! 🙈 I did like Pinocchio, but was sad about the poor brother ending up in jail. I didn't feel he'd had much of a chance after his whole family was disgraced & or 'died'.

I'm glad someone else didn't like boys over flowers - as on fb the fans rave about it, so I wondered if I was missing something.

I've spent the whole evening trying to get viki to work! I managed to get it on my phone, but chromecast to the TV only casts the subtitles. 🤦‍♂️ Through xbox I can do everything... Except actually play a show, it just buffers endlessly. So I'm giving up and will find something on netflix to tide me over and try again with viki another day.