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…

...and after the car crash of dodosol's ending it cheered me up

@TheGirlWithTheArabStrap.... You and your bts fanfic! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😱😱

The Uncanny Counter!... It's great! Really good fun! Lovely lovely characters! Worth a watch! Demon hunters! 👍👍

@Cassini

Did anyone else see us get name checked on the thread about the British being too ignorant to watch "foreign" films 🤣?

Me... an intellectual 🧐

Where is it Cassini?

@TheGirlWithTheArabStrap

Just checked that foreign film thread 😁. Someone recommended Viki for Korean tv and it wasn't even one of us! 😁

One of us needs to PM that person a link to that thread.

OMG these wild stress dreams are so weird! Had the most hyperrealistic dream that we all met up in Soul and were having a few 🍸 when Jin And Yoongi decided to join us because the craic was mighty. Next thing RM and Jackson Wang plonk themselves down while Henry Lau plays the piano 😂 We were all so very witty that RM invited us to a VIP concert and we had an absolute ball 💜💜 DH said I was laughing in my sleep and creeped him out because he thought I was watching something on my phone but when he looked over I was asleep 😴

Jin And Yoongi decided to join us because the craic was mighty

😮😂👍💜💜😁 well of course it would be!!

DH said I was laughing in my sleep and creeped him out because he thought I was watching something on my phone but when he looked over I was asleep

😱😱 how vivid was that dream! You must have looked possessed 🤣🤣

Boat

It is in Aibu but I can't seem to link to it!

bettys let's just say I was disappointed to wake up to DHs face and leave it at that 🤣🤣 I mean we had soju and BBQ and eye candy and could eat like horses yet still be skinny... 😤

I was feeling all smug about my art house foreign film choices until I remembered that half of them are badly made Taiwanese rubbish where the sets wobble and I only watched The Handmaiden because you lot told me about the octopus in the basement....

Cassini I read that thread and thought about adding my Bollywood and Nollywood choices but stopped myself 🤣 I like my Taiwanese dramas/movies with wobbly sets and odd sound effects, makes me smile 😃 nearly finished Miss Rose and can't get over the totally wooden acting but can't stop watching it either

Oh Monkey what an excellent dream! 😍.
My BTS dream was about them complimenting our hospitals Covid19 preparations. Boring 😴

@TheGirlWithTheArabStrap

Oh Monkey what an excellent dream! 😍. My BTS dream was about them complimenting our hospitals Covid19 preparations. Boring 😴

🤣🤣🤣 to both dreams but isn't that exactly the sort of thing those kind BTS boys would do? Bless them for taking the time in their busy busy schedules to give your infection control measures a boost.

Absolutely they would!

They totally would do that 😁. In my dream I was like this is totally normal that they actually visit the hospital. It took about twenty minutes before I thought "wait a minute! This is a dream! 😳

Lucid dreaming if you became aware whilst still in the dream. Once you are lucid dreaming you can steer events.

I need to practice this boaty 😁 it really only happens in boring dreams like where I think I've overslept but then realise I havnt because it's a dream.

Ugh today is a lights on all day kind of day - very dreich and wet. Woke up in the middle of a work dream so am v of your BTS dreams, so much more fun! I did once dream that I was doing a photo shoot with V though (I was the stylist, not a model sadly)

@polkettle how are you getting in with Reply 1988 ? I’m finding it interesting as it’s nothing like the 1988 I remember but I’m not completely engaged with the characters, though I have guessed correctly which one she WON’T end up with (took a sneaky peak at the end)

@bettys I've only done episode 1 but I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I normally do episode 1s. I find it normally takes me 3 to fall in love with a series. Ooh you are sneaky! I have my suspicions - partly informed by time reading Hospital Playlist fan comments which had some half forgotten spoilers- but will hold off for now. I loved all the Olympics stuff as an echo of 2012 here and the perms! It's obviously a total nostalgia fest if you're Korean.

I only saw the first 5 mins of the last episode so I still don’t know which one she will marry. I’m on ep 3, I don’t really like the grownup version of her you see at the end of the episodes as teasers so maybe that’s colouring things.

@Bea I've just watched the first ep of Uncanny Encounter and it looks pretty fun so far👍.
As soon as I saw the ML I thought "that hair is wilfully crap and ripe for a make over". Lo and behold 15 mins later he gets new hair 😂

I'm chortling away at all your BTS dreams!... 💜💜🤣💜🤣💜🤣🤣
@TheGirlWithTheArabStrap... Yes! I thought that too! I loved the effect of how it went curly! 😂😂😂... It's good isn't it! I love the noodle gang! They're already very sweet!... Looking forward to more of it! 👍😁

Goddamnit! Didn't realise Hospital Playlist was only 12 eps. Was not prepared for end of series! Really enjoyed it.

On to Prison Playbook? Or will I do Reply 94 or 97?

@bettys Just starting episode 2 and laughing at them working out their percentage compatibility from names which is definitely something I also did in 1988.

@polkettle I'm on ep 4 of Reply 1988 and I've been sucked in now. I like the growing attraction Jang Hweon has for FL, I reckon it's between him and Taek.

There was a lovely moment between Jang Hweon and his dad that made me well up a little.

The perms are hilarious. I'm also watching The Crown S4 in which there are also epically big 80s shoulders