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…

Toyboy is becoming a more rounded character with the backstory. He was a bit 1D - campus heart throb - at the beginning.

I started the first of this week’s Alice episodes but have ditched for more Find Yourself. I think the detective’s argument for his mother and the prof being 2 different people is bogus, the 2006 doule-sighting. One of them is a time-traveller and I know I’m way more bolshie now than I was in my 20s, so personality/behaviour does change over time. I still think the prof is his mother and I’m hugely confused by the timelines and alternative universe stuff. Does the carousel scene shift it, because they were in the same time AND location and didn’t go up in a puff of smoke? So confused...

I have a lot of time for the geeky designer in FL’s office in Find Yourself. His handling of his one-sided crush in ep 18 is spot on! The good parallel stories for the supporting cast is pushing this into decent kdrama territory. 👍

I have a lot of time for the geeky designer in FL’s office in Find Yourself. His handling of his one-sided crush in ep 18 is spot on! The good parallel stories for the supporting cast is pushing this into decent kdrama territory. 👍

Agree on both counts!

Am also continuing with Find Yourself instead of Alice as I think the suggestions of romance are bleurghhhh even if they're not actually the same person. Plus I'm not in the mood for mind-befuddling timey-wimey stuff.

Give me secret office romances, kisses in the lift and one-sided crushes!!

I've just been out to the city centre for the first time in months 😳, and I checked out a Korean supermarket I haven't been to before. PSJ told me to buy this Kimchi, so I did 😂

You have the big packs of kimchi in your store? I’m so jealous. One of the stores I go to is in quite a studenty area. There will be regular kimchi supply issues there from now until next June, when they head home for the summer.

Bettys would save that packaging... clean it dry it and then frame it...

They did have the big packs 😁. There are a lot of students around here but lots of them are isolating in their halls due to lots of positive covid cases so maybe that's why the Kimchi stock was OK?
I was slightly tempted by some BTS socks too 😂

Bea - haha you know me so well! The dried seaweed packs are the best.....

There are no BTS socks in my local store. They did have Bibigo brand kimchi over the summer and I kept forgetting it was way spicier than the usual brand they stock. There were a few complaints about my kimchi stew being “so spicy my mouth is on fire.”

thegirl... don't do it...

as the next thiing you'll find yourself doing is finding all sorts of cute merch online... figuring out you can't get it straight from the UK and then start buying from shops in Korea .. and not only do you have to pay extotionate p&p (sometimes even more expensive than the item itself!!!)... but then you get stung at customs ... and then your other half (who's working from home! Damn You COVID!!!) looks at you suspiciously as he yet again accepts another parcel from South Korea ... and then you have to squirrel it away in all sorts of cubby holes and boxes around the house... then staking claim to a few empty shelves in daughters room (who has left for university) made yourself a little office space (COVID!... again) and then you ever so slowly start "Bangtanning" this new space...
I can only only imagine this happenning............

Buuuut! It's great fun! and I have nooooo Money!

www.orientalmart.co.uk/

has loads and loads of goodies for those who find it tricky to get supplies.... x

Hahahaaa Bea I'm trying to not get sucked in but it's so hard!!!!

For those of us watching Find Yourself, has anyone managed to track down the location for the university building with the ziggy-zaggy triangular facade? I’ve been trying to convey the weirdness of it for DH, but he says that he needs to see some decent images to take a view on whether it’s good-weird or bad-weird.

the girl.... It's just too easy... Once you get ahold of yourself and calm down... They throw a spanner in the works!...
New album "BE" out in November! pre orders from tomorrow! Just announced a few hours ago! 😭😭😭

I got a Weverse account a few days ago Bea 🙊 so I'd heard about the album.

I've just finished School Nurse Files. It's definitely "box of frogs". It's not like anything I've ever seen. I think I enjoyed it 😂

Betty - thoughts on Yuan Song’s open necked stripy shirt, navy sailor trousers and white deck shoes in eps 20 & 21 of Find Yourself. I thought he looked amazing at the bus stop. I clearly need to get out more...

I really want the domineering CEO to FOTTFSOFAFOSM. Ugh.

thegirl... Oh dear! You've got a Weverse account! 😂😂That's it now! You're well and truly gone! 😱💜💜💜💜💜

boaty oh I couldn't agree more!! I think he's a model-turned-actor, he made the bus stop look like a photo shoot location.

Also want CEO to FOTTFSOFAFOSM he is really getting on my nerves,

Am in hope that FLs professor friend is somehow in 20 episodes going to get back together with FLs brother, and that annoying CEO's annoying niece is not going to end up with anyone, she is so materialistic.

I know there had to be a shift in tone to stretch it for 40 episodes, but the CEO is like Dick Dastardly and FL cringes away from him like Penelope Pitstop. Ugh ugh ugh. Creepy bastard. Come back Yuan Song!

How many episodes is it going to take for the tone to shift back? this is going to be frustrating

Tricky. You know I’m not a skipper, but I don’t think I can bear to watch CEO pawing at FL. I’d quite to see her twin punch him in the nuts. I’m off to google the twin next as he’s pretty hawt. I was impressed with his 1 armed sofa press up as he answered his mobile a couple of episodes back. Ideally he should end up with badass Prof Song.

Well, CEO actor David Wang is 46 in real life so in the right ball park for the Gangnam Leopards on the thread. He’s in good shape. The lead actress/model/singer is Chinese, but amongst her many talents she is also the leader of the four-member South Korean girl group "f(x)". The photo of the twin bro on MDL is meh, so he’s definitely better on screen. ML is 21, which isn’t that much older than DS1.

If it goes on for too long I’ll be making use of the 10” ffrwd button.

Agree twin bro is hawt & fat too good for annoying niece.

David Wang actually looks better in his profile pic on MDL than as a CEO .

Have to say if I was off on a post break up girlfriends trip it wouldn’t be fishing