MsLattés Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #18): Our piggyback taxi service has been suspended whilst we are socially distancing

[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)*
Stranger - 2 seasons (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)
It’s OK Not To Be OK (Netflix)

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 Handmaid (film, Netflix - content warning: explicit sexual content)
The Package (Viki)



Straighter ‘Slice of Life’ dramas on universal themes
Hospital Playlist (Netflix)
Into The Ring (Viki)
Itaewon Class (Netflix)
Live (Netflix)
My Mister (Viki/Netflix)*
My Unfamiliar Family (Viki)*
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*

Once Again (Viki)
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)
My Secret Romance (Viki)
The Last Empress (Viki/Netflix)
Sassy Go Go (Netflix)



Mad as a box of frogs/uncategorisable

Strong Girl Bong Soon (Netflix)
School Nurse Files (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)
Find Yourself (Netflix - Chinese)
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've watched the Queen's Gambit and I can confirm there are NO sexual assaults, and is worth watching. It's more focused on mental health/substance abuse.

Very refreshing, considering that most western showrunners seem obsessed with sexual exploitation of women and girls.

Thanks FedUp. It was either going to be a chess playing janitor in the basement or a paedophile janitor. I went to bed. If there’s no paedo janitor, I’ll go back to it as it looked intriguing.

To be fair @boatyardblues I had that awful feeling too about the janitor or the orderly guy, but thankfully not.

I've just watched ep 3 of Search and I've nearly had a heart attack! It was too stressful! I would never normally watch stuff like Predator 😂. Good job the FL is super kickass and the men are all good looking to make up for it. I'm going to watch ep 4 now 😁

Spent the last few days on Just Between Lovers and now need a stiff drink. Put me through the mill right up to the end. Scriptwriter seemed unnecessarily cruel on the poor main pair. Gorgeous gorgeous Busan aesthetic though (and not just the ML...) I'm always a sucker for a bit container ship cranery.

Aaaaah, Just Between Lovers...... Lovely Eyes Junho with his tousled hair and Bad Boy vibe 😍

I love his kitty posts on his IG account!

I know! I should know better than to fall for a roughty toughty bad boy by now (expensive keeping him in special KDrama ointment)...but a bad boy with a Bengal cat?? Irresistible.

What’s Junho’s IG handle?

le2jh

Ahhh! Lovely Eyes 😍Junho!..he'll be back with is soon I hope!

Ep 1 flower of Evil! Ooo! I'm sure all is not what it seems!.... Great so far! Sooo many questions!! 👍👍👍

Ah, I am already following him and was admiring his Bengal with DS2 earlier in the week.

Maybe it's time for a thriller from the list (or Flower of Evil?) Do they tend to have snogging and loovvve too please? I need to calibrate my expectations right.

Crikey ep 6 of Search was tense! To quote TheGirl Good job the FL is super kickass and the men are all good looking to make up for it.
The 2FL village ex-marine is pretty darn kickass too! And do we think murdered good soldier Yeon Woo Jin from 1997 is going to turn out to be ML's dad?

polkettle judging by the first episode of Flower of Evil there is certainly snogging, but I haven't seen the rest.

From our thriller list, the ones below do have romance/snogging:

Come and Hug Me (Dramafast)
Healer (Netflix)*
Heartless City (Viki)
He is Psychometric (Viki)
I Hear Your Voice (Netflix /Viki)
Suspicious Partner (Netflix)*

Just to add that dramafast no longer exists, but I think Come & Hug Me is now on Netflix

Marvellous! Thank you @bettys ☺️ Reminded me to check in on the Something Nasty in the DPZ too.

*DMZ even

Do you have a review round-up of the past year's dramas? For instance, the best romantic comedy, the biggest disappointment, and so on.

I finished Love is Sweet Cdrama over the weekend, it was overlong but the ML + FL were very good together, great interaction between them, it made the show.

Really enjoyed this article scroll.in/reel/977332/crash-landing-on-the-world-why-korean-dramas-are-addictive-like-an-unending-stack-of-potato-chips

The 2FL village ex-marine is pretty darn kickass too! And do we think murdered good soldier Yeon Woo Jin from 1997 is going to turn out to be ML's dad?
Yes bettys the ex-marine lady is so cool!!! The lovely villagers are the light relief between the heartattack tenseness 😂. I agree Re his probable Dad too.

Ha polkettle that article is spot on!!! I totally relate to the watching on your phone bit. It's possible to watch zombies etc without terrifying your child as they can't see the screen and don't understand the language 😂. Excellent parenting tip!!

I've watched 6 episodes of Start Up now and at first I was a bit sceptical that the romantic story line was so nailed down from the start. But there have been lots of twists and interesting bits so I would definitely recommend now 😁.

I'll shut up now, can you tell I'm not at work 😂😂😂

Ooh I'm pleased some new dropping ones are shaping up well as I work my way through the old 🥰
The bit in the article about 90% of drama writers being female was interesting. That does seem to be the key.

The bit in the article about 90% of drama writers being female was interesting. That does seem to be the key.

I will read the article later, but this is really interesting to me. Kdrama talks to me in ways that other drama doesn’t and I find the humanity and complexity of the characters and their stories really compelling. Perhaps its one of the reasons that kdramas are so good at showing the reality of women‘s (and men’s) lives, how past experiences shape us and the hard choices that we have to make. They pack such an emotional punch that they are way more satisfying in my view.