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…

@JinBhoot I'd agree Go Kyung-pyo is definitely the better bet. There's a bit where he says the news anchor is only interested in her now because he is which seemed logical.

To be fair the last few dramas I've watched I've thought I'd personally go for the 2ml in preference- possibly start up is an exception but I still felt sorry for him.

Finishing early today so off to watch more healer - when does all the lovely knitwear make an appearance?! 😁

No no NO! Couldn't disagree more! 😁 Of course she should be with complicated sexy unprincipled-except-actually-very-principled argumentative singing dancing crying news anchor who she has hawt hawt snogs with rather than polite dull safe mr handy-with-a-tape-measure chaebol.
But you know - vive la difference and dramas for all tastes and all that 😁
In other news, today's episode of Lovestruck featured a VERY fine Grrr brooding about in a black scarf and coat and... swoon...

(why does the grinning emoticon look so constipated? I need a different emoticon)

[quote TheGirlWithTheArabStrap]@Rowdythree Graceful Family is hilarious. It's very OTT. Look out for a very dramatic funeral 🤣🤣🤣[/quote]
I just say the dramatic music is a bit ott and annoying! I'm not sure what style of show it's trying to be like!

I can't settle on anything, just started another series Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life I thought it was going to be light fluffy and romantic... Turns out it's about 2 kids trying to commit suicide 🤦‍♀️

I’m quite enjoying The Love By Hypnotic, mainly for the sleepwalking bits which remind me of the Chinese hopping zombies

Rowdy I’d read that about Beautiful Love, put me off too

Ahh the knitwear has appeared - can see why Healer was so popular 😁

I’ve just watched a couple of ZE:A MVs for, ahem, research purposes. Their videos are as camp as Christmas and they come across like they’d right at home in Lisa Simpson’s Non-Threatening Boys magazine*.

• OMG, do not google ‘Lisa Simpson Unthreatening Boys’. There’s pornhub content. 😮 You can never unsee naked Lisa with massive norks diddling herself. Someone actually went to the trouble of animating that. 😱 Righty ho, back to soothing kdrama where there are NO PUMPING BUTTOCKS.

And I completely forgot what I was going to say, which is that Im Siwan was one of three kdrama actors that I recognised in the Breathe MV.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
God bless the internet.
I think Lost Romance (which I am thoroughly enjoying) may win prize for slowest motion kiss from burning gaze intention to lips actually meeting. Italy could have got through three prime ministers in the time it took.

I just watched the first episode of Nothing But Thirty, the drama that someone posted an article about upthread. It is very high quality, production-wise, but strangely muted. I’m not sure whether I’ll keep going. I also find the conspicuous consumerism and the focus on wealth, bling etc doesn’t resonate for me. I much prefer the kdrama focus on friendships and family. On the plus side, I immediately recognised the Shanghai skyline, so I feel like my awareness of China has improved a smidgen.

Healer...! The knitwear!! The fine fine fine knitwear on Brrr! Grrr! JCW!... Oh I love Healer... Maybe I should ReWatch! 😍🥰😍🥰😊

I also noticed there’s a Go Go Squid 2 on Viki, Appledog’s story. No Li Xian, so that’s a no from me but there may be others who are interested.

I have started Healer as well, already watched two episodes. Looks promising 🙂

Can I also get my own island please.

Jin Are you in the UK? 01.29? Do you need one of the night owls to 🥾🍑 you while you are bingeing Healer?

@boatyardblues yes, I am in UK. Seriously time flies when you are Kdrama land, one blink and it’s past 1am.

Hopefully, I will go to bed early today.

Had anyone watched Tempted on Netflix? I've just started it... Another one I know😬 hopefully I'll settle on this one, it seems good so far.

Time definitely flies when in K drama land jin. early night for you tonight!

@Rowdythree I quite liked Tempted, mainly for Woo Do Hwan (& Kim Min-Jae). It's a high school version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses so you can see the plot coming a mile off......but then that is often the charm of kdrama!

Ooh thanks @bettys, yes the charm of a K drama is that you can usually see what's going to happen

Kdrama PP finally wore me down.* I ordered a Dyson V11 Animal today.

• Or the endless effing lockdown mud off our boots, the cat hair and the refusal of my kids to do the vacuuming part of their chores. If I make it fun and cool, like how it is for all those kdrama oppas, they’ll vacuum right?

Looking forwards to Run On tonight. I really want to see FL lose it with ML’s awful father, and the golfing sister, the wife, the son and uncle Tom Cobley. It will be so gratifying.

Ooh forgot about Run On I am so immersed in The Love by Hypnotic. Feeling quite concerned about True Beauty.....please please don't balls it up!

boaty we have a Miele Cat & Dog which is excellent at getting labrador hair off rugs, but not so good at enticing others to use it

Feeling quite concerned about True Beauty.....please please don't balls it up!

With two such attractive MLs, either outcome is a win for the FL IMO. 😄 I guess ML shares her interests, so they’ll still get along OK when the mad sex fizzles out but 2FL would be so much fun for her twenties and the pre-baby bit of her thirties.

2ML. 🤦‍♀️

That would be a whole other ending. 🤣

bettys how are you finding *A Love Hypnotic^?