MsLattés Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #20): With Hyun Bin off the market, the ajummas off darkness begin researching his ‘oppa fabulous’ replacement in earnest

[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)
Some Day or On Day (Viki, Taiwanese)
The Romance of Tiger & Rose (Viki, Chinese)
Tientsin Mystic (Netflix, Chinese)

Thread Regulars’ Top Scoring Dramas of 2020
(courtesy of Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, updated by/for thread regulars. Marks out of 10.)

1 - Parasite - 9.05 (10 Votes)
2 - It's Okay To Not Be Okay - 8.88 (9 Votes)
3 - The Uncanny Counter - 8.50 (4 Votes)
4 - Once Again - 8.40 (5 Votes)
5 - Hospital Playlist - 8.21 (7 Votes)

2019’s top scoring dramas:

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
🥾🍑 (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…

Here = hear. 🤦‍♀️

@Hydrogensonata I'm no help on KPop. I just add the OST songs that grab me to an ever expanding playlist. And then play it loud and try and sing along much to my family's derision.

Not kpop, but I like O3ohn. He’s done several OST songs but his EPs and albums are good. I like We Are The Night too. Their Vertigo album is unusual, but in a good way. For sunny electronica, I am partial to 1415 and 92914. For out and out cheesy kpop, it’s hard to beat some Superjunior or BlackPink. I have a smattering of BTS and their various solo outputs/collaborations on my phone.

Aleph too.

Thank you @boatyardblues & @Rowdythree, it’s all very fascinating. I wonder if it’s an Asian thing as South Asian countries also have relational words based on age & relationship.

I have spent evening reading some translated literature including poetry (niche genre) & I kept thinking what would founding members at Gyeoroo Publishing ( RIABB ) will make of this book.

Oh Hoon, you naughty boy! I don’t think his new Netflix drama is going to win him new fans.

It’s really bloody miserable with all the broken marriages and duplicitous partners. I’m just rewatching the 15 min bit in the middle I nodded off in earlier but FML, the pandemic calls for levity and warm feelings not this angstfest.

Lee Tae Gon is a suitable candidate for that age-appropriate oppa list, though.

Someone else please post and break my monologue. 🙏

I’ve had to pop round to Olga’s to continue with My Little Happiness as ran out of episodes on Viki.
I am disappointed that Sung Hoon’s new one doesn’t sound promising. I can’t be doing with angst either right now, hence fluffy dramas & floofy dogs

I’ve got an episode of She Would Never Know to catch up on but I’ll save that for tomorrow with the heady delights of True Beauty & Run On

For kpop, to add to the ones previously mentioned I listen to Epik High, Baekhyun, Sumin, Hoody, Dasutt, DPR, Exo, Monster X, Got7, Peggy Gou, and lots and lots of BTS

Now I’m monologuing......

No, no Betty - you are all good. I forgot to thank you for the Instagram floofy puppy and 2 Sphinxes. DH and I had fun scrolling through the Sphinxes’ pictures with a degree of bemusement. We can’t get our heads around anyone having a hairless cat. So much of the enjoyment of our cat is his velvety soft fur and the cuddles. Has anyone had a cuddle with a Sphinx? Is it like having someone’s bare arm resting on yours?

Dunno about the sphinx cats, they are slightly intimidating but cute when tucked up in bed. Best thing about our dog is his velvety ears when he lays his head against you.

I am fascinated by the men’s eyebrows in My Little Happiness . They are very sculpted and blacked, especially the lawyer lead. I wonder if they filmed a historical drama before as the men in xianxia always seem to have winged eyebrows

My childhood Lab had the softest ears. I was just thinking how tolerant he was, as he let me stroke his ears often. If someone sat next to me and started messing with my ears, I’d want to bite them.

😂😂

bettys, I've been fascinated with MLeyebrows since watching it, now excited to know that there is another male in the show with similar
I'm on episode 7 so not sure where all the angst is going to come from? Will it be about her father's death? Love triangle?

I was swithering about watching Sung Hoon's. new drama but when I read the synopsis about all the cheating and lies I knew I couldn't bear it.

Thanks for the Dasutt recommendation Betty. 👍

Also, if it wasn’t you recommending Dasutt’s lunch hour thank you to the other poster who made the recommendation.

@boatyardblues it was me I have been listening to Dasutt non-stop recently, it is so cheery and there is a sort of retro feel to it!

@fifilacklustre I have got up to ep 18 of MLH after a late night chez Olga and now have to wait for the rest of the airing episodes. The angst / hiccup in the relationship has just happened. The ML payed 2ML in Put Your Head On My Shoulder with the FL, but didn't get her in that drama.

I'm glad it's not just me staring at the eyebrows - the lawyer's have been plucked and tweaked like an art form. He appears later in the show.

@bettys @fifilacklustre The lawyer's eyebrows in MLH are fascinating aren't they? You can actually see the wax marks...

@bettys Huh I've only got up to ep 12 on Viki! 13 & 14 due today. Are you watching it on another streaming service?

Today's Lunchtime Listen:

Wishing On A Star - BTS

At Night - Peggy Gou

Those tiny vitamin tonic bottles so beloved in kdrama have arrived in the UK! As seen in Lidl.

[quote FedUpWithBriiiiick]@bettys Huh I've only got up to ep 12 on Viki! 13 & 14 due today. Are you watching it on another streaming service? [/quote]
Caught up with all episodes on Viki now, so definitely have to catch up with the rest of the episodes with Olga. I believe the show is meant to finish tonight in China.

fedup you can watch on Dramacool, but it has lots of risque pop-ups!

Thinking of starting A Girl Like Me after this as it looks fun.