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…

@fifilacklustre

bea, I feel you need more merch

Roar! 🤣😂🤣

🤭 Sorry! I prob shouldn’t have said anything but it made me feel a bit queasy

fifi I feel you are a bad influence

monkeywench Baby! Lovely! Rugby - not so (imo)

fifi... That is only a smidgeon of the story... I started off with a very small bedside cupboard... Then a box... Then a plastic box and just recently acquired... Another box.... I'm not sure I'm going to be able to hide my ill gotten gains for much longer! There's only so much room under the bed...I'm one step away from cardboard cut outs and cushions... 😱😳

I like that mug Bea. I wouldn't have known it was BTS.

Ohh a baby Monkey that is exciting 😁

Bea are you sure that Her Private Life wasn't based on you

fifi... Well... I do look a little like PMY......

Not!.... 🤭😱🤯

fifi Noooo I'm not ready for halmoni status 😱😁 I'm barely accepting of ajjumma 😂😂 TBF her kids call me by my name, her mum can be granny, I'm too young for all that lark 🤔 My DS reassures me that any grandkids on his part will meow and DD just says that since she's not moving out I should have no need for them 😂😂
Bea How is it you pop into mind everytime I think of Her Private Life? DD and I both have Shooky as our ring tone so it can get confusing. She was watching Love o2o and has developed a massive Yang Yang crush 😍 Unfortunately for her not many boys look like that and she may have set herself up for future disappointment lol The FFW button is being used mercilessly 😂

She has also developed a liking for Big Bang, specifically G-Dragon, which suits me just fine because I love T.O.P's voice, especially when he speaks.

I tried Heart Surgeons tonight fifi, but it didn't draw me in. Lots of arterial spray and seemed a bit dour in spite of lovely Go Soo.

Enjoying Brahms tonight. Lovely nurse from Dr Romantic is good as the mopey pianist.

I'm telling you all! TRAIN!... Is gripping!. If you want to get drawn into a who dunnit... Timey wimey... Which reality am I in?... 2 parallel plot lines... Where am I? Who am I? Who is that? Ohhhh! Yes!!... Yikes!... Drama!?.... This is it!!
🤯😱😂

boaty... Brahms is good! Yes! But hoping that FL will grow a pair... Very soon! 👍💪

I think I might break up Once Again with something else, maybe Train. I've been powering through it (just finished ep63) but it's all very soothing. Even the gangsters were v unthreatening 🤣. I think I need a bit more adrenaline at the moment!

I was enjoying Brahms but fell asleep at some point in ep 2. I will have to retrace my steps tonight. Agree the FL is a bit wishy-washy, although going against her family to go to music college must have taken some fortitude. I’m trying to understand whether she started violin from scratch in her 20s or just upped her game. It’s rather confusing.

monkey all the fun of the baby and none of the responsibility - wonderful
I have no time to binge watch this weekend - this RL is a bugger!
Bea you've convinced me, I will start watching Train.
Thanks for the heads up bettys, I will give it a miss, blood is not my thing!
I'm hoping that Viki is quick with the subs for Once Again and Alice.

Brahms is rather nice, I like the focus on dilemmas musicians face in their careers, whether former prodigies or struggling with deciding to give up and conform.

Train was only 12 eps long!! 😱🤯... I didn't realise! It was good although a little confusing at times! A good solid OCN thriller which actually didn't Peter out at the end as some are prone to do!
Kept me and dh fairly puzzled until the end!
A good watch! I'd give it a 7.5 / 8 👍👍

I ended up watching Brahms and found it quite soothing, it must be the music. It has a slow tempo but enough happening to keep me interested, and ML + FL good.
Bea, as long as the ending isn't confusing. I can just about cope with open endings but not ones that leave me wondering what it was all about.

fifi.... It was an understandable ending!... But just wish it was a little more emphatic about it! 😁

Slightly spoilerish speculation, but do you think the reason the FL in Brahms was crushed to learn the violin maker had boffed her BFF was because it means their relationship is more serious than she thought or because it means he’s an absolute shit, as he flirts with FL and intimates deeper feelings for her whilst stringing her BFF along. Player!

boaty I think the FL is disappointed in him as a person & more than that realises that if she got together with him it would absolutely crush her BFF and their friendship wouldn't survive.

And as for 2FL stringing along two men.....I hope ML sticks to his guns & isn't swayed by her fickle tricks

Me too betty, I don't like her . I think that there will be trouble ahead for FL with her friend when the friend finds out that the violin maker is in love with FL. Also, the violin maker will try to seduce FL . There is lots of drama and angst ahead for them all

It feels like 6 years, not 6 months, since I lasted posted on here! I didn't watch any kdramas in all that time - unfortunately full lockdown and ds2's severe learning difficulties were as challenging and stressful a mix as I'd feared. Happily his special school is now open FT again, yay, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed the place stays virus free.

So to celebrate I'm going to be diving right back in again, I'm so behind there must be loads to choose from, which is lovely Where to start? It'll have to be something light and fluffy, I'm not fit for anything else. I'm going to skim through the multiple threads you've filled in my absence and see what to pick first!

Welcome home frogs! Good to have you back. Did you miss the love for Tale of Nokdu? That’s recently been added to Netflix and is very cheering.