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…

Nothing but Thirty, it’s a Chinese drama (sorry posting on kdrama thread).
I saw this article on Economist, out of all the places . Anybody watching it?
www.economist.com/prospero/2020/08/26/a-new-hit-chinese-drama-explores-the-pressures-faced-by-young-women

@JinBhoot we discuss CDramas on here too!

Nothing but 30 is on Viki so I have added it to my watch list!👍

I have paused Start Up and started Find Me In YOur Memory and am enjoying so far - fun cameos from Rowoon & Kim Seon Ho

Rowoon? 😮 I missed it. Which role/scene?

5 episodes into Some Day or One Day and I'm gripped. Kind of Time Traveller's Wife thing. Plenty of it left to go pear shaped (or more likely become unfathomably plot twisty) but so far I'm liking my Taiwanese Betwixtmas adventure a lot.

@boatyardblues in episode one he is the guy she goes for a drive with, one of the men she is supposedly two timing

@polkettle I may well be stuck into FMIYM now though I did watch the first 10 mins of One Day & thought it looked promising. A reassuringly big nose too, as you said

Thanks Betty. Damn my poor observational skills.

Excellent. I shall hope to have a full report to make on conclusion of business between charming big nose FL and prominent Adam's apple ML with good jaw and dimples by the time you're out the other side of FMYIM @bettys

I am very much enjoying the always excellent Kim Seul-Gi telling the extremely handsome news assistant that he has a common face 🤣🤣

I’ve ploughed through 12 episodes of FMIYM but have taken a brief breather as it’s been a full-on binge.

Oooh. Tae-Hyun’s father (the professor) is a nasty piece of work. Booooooo! (FMIYM)

It is eminently bingeable I am on episode 5 now and can already see Tae-Hyun’s father is objectionable.

Must. Go. To. Bed. 🥾🍑

Niche but pleasing to me revelation that couple in Some Day or One Day are Taiwanese Clare Grogan and Taiwanese John Gordon Sinclair from Gregory's Girl era.

One of my favourite films, Gregory’s Girl . Will def watch Some Day after FMIYM

Just come out of the Untamed rabbit hole. Managed to binge in 3 days! I am so pleased I watched it. Good acting, good storyline, beautiful to look at. Complex layer of themes. I'm trying to keep myself away from Untamed websites - I really don't need that rabbit hole .
I will wait to hear verdict on Someday One Day as it's on my watch list, but I'm not sure I could put up with an ambigous, convoluted ending, along with all the angst. I'm a snowflake at the moment

Well, Find Me In Your Memory was just lovely. It was your perfect one & done, all emotions given a workout kdrama. The leading couple were just lovely, the sister-manager was a great supporting character, as were the ML’s team leader and kickass director. Yes, it cantered through a few tropes and there were some miraculous recoveries from injury, but it was just lovely. Recommended viewing for any one who is feeling a touch snowflakey or in need of a 🐝-friendly ending. Satisfaction guaranteed! 👌

Hmm. I see I used the phrase “just lovely” three times in the last post. Like summoning Candyman, I’ve probably jinxed myself to a run of Melting Me Softly experiences.

Ahhh! Think that will be my next watch @boatyardblues!... I've just finished all the aired True Beauty... And it's lovely lovely lovely! Another one if you want something kind cozy and sweet and funny (with a little angst... This is still kdrama obvs! 😉)
And again... It just really tickles me... There I am... Enraptured in this world of school... Seoul Korea... Handsome male Leads... School bullies... Meaningful looks... Comedy... And then in kicks The Nolans... And I'm jarred into a world of 1980s... Flicky hair... Disco lights... Me riding around on my chopper bike... Handstands against the wall during playtime... and flarey trousers! 😂😂😂😉🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

😂😂😂😂🥰

It really is a Ray of sunshine now that I'm in Tier 4!😩😣😩😣

Bea thanks for those links!! Great track, both versions, and am I alone in thinking that camisoles, satin trousers and flicks is actually quite a good look

Oh and welcome to Tier 4 👋👋

Not a look I can carry off though, sadly but it did seem very glam back in the day

Is there anyone in the thread who isn’t in tier 4? If you’re Tier 1, no need to say - there aren’t many people on the Isles of Scilly & you’d be immediately identifiable to any other MNers there. 😄

Just watched today’s Run On. It is my new favourite show. I absolutely love the FL and ML, even more so when they are together. I also like the FL’s housemate, the female CEO and the half-baked artist.

Nolan's and KDrama cocktail? Hell yeah 💪
Two eps left of Some Day or One Day and it's fair to say that my hold on the plot has become as sound as it would be on a baby otter covered in shaving foam but that's not necessarily a criticism. All crossed for a 🐝 finale and then I shall happily follow you to FMIYM