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…

Happy New Year all!!!!!
I love that we have kept each other company through a bollocksy 2020 through our mutual love of kdrama, this lovely kinship has been a delight to me 🥰 and I wish you all the best for 2021 😘

Happy New Year! Glad to start the year with the confirmation that the CLOY couple is for real 🥰

Happy New Year! Very excited to wake up to RiRi couple confirmation. "They bonded over their love of golf". 😁 Aw. 2021 off to a cracking start even if Hyun Bin is now officially taken curses.

Jinx @dontwanttobeyourmonkeywench

polkettle it made me smile 😃 you would have thought that I knew them personally 😂

Happy new year, gang!

@polkettle

Happy New Year! Very excited to wake up to RiRi couple confirmation. "They bonded over their love of golf". 😁 Aw. 2021 off to a cracking start even if Hyun Bin is now officially taken curses.

Seriously??? That's made 2021 be off to a good start!!!

Happy New Year everyone.

We are enjoying What Happened to Secretary Kim and Romance is a Bonus Book.
However I think Crash Landing will always be my favourite - I keep rewatching certain scenes as they are so adorable.

Happy New Year to all. Hoping for lots of good K-drama this year.

Loving the news about RiRi relationship, and her post about them was very sweet, you can feel the embarrassment in it. .

I might have to go and do a quick CLOY rewatch in tribute...

🤯🤯🤯💕💕💕😁😁😁
Please don't end like Descendants! Song Song!... 😖😣😣😣

Lovely to hear about Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin, though it means one of our piggyback carthorses is off the market. Although there are a lot of very tall kdrama oppas, there aren’t many heavy set, muscular ones.

I noticed that the ML in FMIYM does musical theatre and is not your usual 6’ kdrama beanpole, but rather moderate in height. It seems to be the way, the Korean arts ‘sorting hat’ for males. See Jo Jung Suk also. Are you 6’+? Modelling, then acting. Are you 5’10+? Idol training, then acting.

[quote boatyardblues]Lovely to hear about Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin, though it means one of our piggyback carthorses is off the market. Although there are a lot of very tall kdrama oppas, there aren’t many heavy set, muscular ones.

I noticed that the ML in FMIYM does musical theatre and is not your usual 6’ kdrama beanpole, but rather moderate in height. It seems to be the way, the Korean arts ‘sorting hat’ for males. See Jo Jung Suk also. Are you 6’+? Modelling, then acting. Are you 5’10+? Idol training, then acting.

He may be moderate in height but still taller than me!😂 At least he seems comfortable in his height & doesn’t wear lifts/heels. Shin Sung Rok is the only by one I can think of who does a lot of musical theatre and is v tall.

I have got to the bit where the professor is being particularly dastardly (ep 12)

I’ve been wasting time on Insta this morning. I’m convinced Kim Jae Wook loves his cat more than his little floofy dog. He photographs it way more and is photographed cuddling it more than the dog. It’s a fine looking cat too.

😂😂😂
I was also admiring those pics. I don't think I even realised he HAD a dog before now.
You are so right about height hat sorting. But this is why I like the shorter ones because I think they're often the strongest actors from all those years on the stage. Very noticeable in the Hospital Playlist audition tapes how they're ALL recruited from musicals. Director very clear what he's looking for...

I feel sad for his little floofy dog now 😔

He's actually very evenly weighted in his dog/cat posts until April 2020 when he goes all one way. The question is what happened? WHAT DID THE DOG (or cat) DO?

@polkettle

He's actually very evenly weighted in his dog/cat posts until April 2020 when he goes all one way. The question is what happened? WHAT DID THE DOG (or cat) DO?

Is it COVID/lockdown? God knows you can’t get a minute’s peace when you are all locked down together. You’d have the floofy dog being all needy: “love me, love me, love me, wanna play, wanna play wanna play” and cat like “meh, laters loser” and going off to do its own thing, maybe swinging by a couple of times a day to check in. After a few weeks of that, we all know who’d we rather spend time with. Amirite?

pah! Give over with yer cats are best malarkey

Oops. Does the cat/dog thing need banning to promote thread harmony?

2021 off to a cracking start even if Hyun Bin is now officially taken curses

Yes, there will be a lot of people feeling like Seo Dan after hearing that.
Poor Dan - though she was quite vindictive towards Capt Ri when she realised what had happened.

🤣 spot on Boaty
Okay - in the cause of thread harmony- favourite dog/cat in K-Drama?
I'm going random never mentioned before or after puppy in peril on first floor ledge in 1% of Something and the weirdly cooperative/chatty Ouri in BTIMFL

I was going to say the cat in BTIMFL. A few times, particularly in cdrama (in the knowledge of China’s vastly different attitude to animal rights), I have wondered if the cats/kittens are moderately sedated. They are so chilled, abnormally so.

@boatyardblues

I was going to say the cat in BTIMFL. A few times, particularly in cdrama (in the knowledge of China’s vastly different attitude to animal rights), I have wondered if the cats/kittens are moderately sedated. They are so chilled, abnormally so.

I've always thought this too.