MsLattés Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #19): Our noona days may be behind us but the ajummas of darkness will unleash their inner Gangnam leopards as the festive season approaches

[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/Netflix)
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)
Misaeng (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)
Kiss Goblin (Viki, webdrama)
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)*
King: The Eternal Monarch (Netflix)
Kingdom (Netflix)*

Mystic Pop-up Bar (Netflix)
The Guest (Netflix)
Train to Busan - film (Amazon Prime)

W: Two Worlds (Viki & Netflix)*
Zombie Detective (Viki)


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)
Lost Romance (Viki - Taiwanese)
Love O2O (Viki - Chinese)
Morning Call (Netflix - Japanese)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix - Chinese)
The Romance of Tiger & Rose (Viki, 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…

Thanks for the new thread @boatyardblues! I'm looking forward to following this thread from the beginning!

Love the new thread title too! 🙌

Aaaahhahahahaha! Great thread title!!🤣🤣💪🕺💃

Great new thread!!

Love the thread title!

SO GOOD

Well. It is a 🐝 friendly ending for DDSSLLS but ffs they didn’t have to muck about with a perfectly lovely story....it was obvious they would do the ‘some time later’ stunt because of the age gap but they really could have done it better.

Lovely piano duet though.

Wowser! Thread no. 19!!!! Yoiks!

I'm not watching anything on air at the moment... Been rewatching Crash Landing and it truly is a joy to watch! I'm loving it all over again!.. And Hyun Bin's pouty face! 🥰🥰🥰🥰😂😂😂😂

@bettys... Might give it a go then if ending is 🐝 friendly and satisfactory!! 👍👍

So glad to hear DDSSLLS turned out well. I’d paused watching after you all threw your hands up in despair last week. I’ll start again now, have 2 or 3 weeks episodes to catch up on.

I’ll be honest .....I scrolled to the end first to check before I watched it 😂😂

You are so useful. Putting DDSlotsofotherletters on list. Just finished Birth Centre. It was ... fine... Funny bits, sad bits, dodgy bits 🤷‍♀️ Enjoyable without being essential.

My Princess is for the Song Seung Heon fans only. The production values are daytime soap standard. The palace us all ersatz neo classical twiddles and Dunelm soft furnishings. If it was renamed The Lidl Princess, it would be more on the mark. It’s Heon’s chiselled cheekbones, faraway thoughtful looks* and beautiful eyes that are carrying it.

• Anyone familiar with Zoolander will recognise the model poses. For Heon, I think we have to claim ‘Black steel’ for his signature pose, a nod to both Derek Zoolander’s Blue Steel and Heon’s most comely role.

'Lidl Princess' that sums it up perfectly. I tried to watch it ages ago when I was on a Him Off Black spiral but ended up skipping to the end

You are so useful Cheers polkettle ! That's what MsLatté's Daebak Cybercafé is all about! There was talk a while back about adding symbols to the spreadsheet but I'm too scared to do it without HelloSwellow - if you're reading the thread Hello hope all is ok with you!

So dodosol...no matter how much I loved him I am not sure I'd forgive that little fib

Brambly I know!! And for so long!!!!
Mind you he did look very manly and as if he meant business with that kiss!

Great new title!
Place marking😀

I'm trying to think of my favourite 2020 show. I keep going back to 'Once Again' but my head says CLOY

Finished her private life which definitely deserves its top score. The only slightly distracting bit was the directors oddly short trousers? Not noticed that as a trend on anything else so far?

@Hydrogensonata I loved HPL - proper steaming sexual chemistry - but did do proper snorty laughs when Lion's terrible unblocked artwork revealed. Short trousers to emphasise his all important tallness? He's a man who just cannot be contained by the average Korean trouser length.

Seeing as we have listed our oppas, should we list would we would like to be noona to? And not in the family sense... 😉

@polkettle yes,I mean I'm no art specialist but when he revealed that portrait I just thought "well, it's the thought that counts?!'

I'm having trouble signing up to Viki! It won't let me verify my email so I can't watch any more of nine tailed until that is resolved! 😭 So I need something else to watch whilst that's being sorted...

I'm starting my first maekgolli fermentation today too, I will give it lots of love and treat it like a baby as we were told to do

My ds8 surprised me the other day, he downloaded duolingo onto his tablet and started learning Korean! Bless him, he wants to be like his mum 😂 he'll probably be much better at it than me!

FedUp I don't think any of my kdrama oppas are actually older than me 😂. I'm 13 years older than Seo Kang Joon so he can definitely call me Noona 😉

did do proper snorty laughs when Lion's terrible unblocked artwork revealed

OMG yes! So disappointing (especially as it’s the field I work in) they never get that kind of stuff right on tv. I adore HH KJW so felt bad for him, and admired PMY for keeping a straight face

Ré the short trousers, everyone seemed to wear them a year or two ago, along with no socks. I was out a year or so ago in a Korean restaurant with friends who thought I was bonkers when I started excitedly whispering about the man at the table next to us wearing a suit and no socks.... 🤣🤣

Oh my god the terrible painting in HPL 🤣

The bubbles just cracked me up.