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…

I would highly recommend the Cdrama The Untamed starring Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan. It's on Netflix and Viki. I have so many dramas to catch up on.

Captain Kang could certainly do way better than not-French-French guy. She and robot Unni can shack up together in Space Sweepers 2.

Disappeared down an insta rabbit hole post Lost Romance which has led me to the blonde baddy brother actor's celebrity wedding, baby Doreen and floofy clippered cat. Regretting I never did a merpeople underwater and tandem.snowboarding wedding photo shoot.

Now come on Pol, you can’t tease us like that and not post his IG handle....

@polkettle I follow Marcus Chang on IG (lots of concerts as he sings the theme toon) and he seems a jolly nice chap

@Bluearsedfly36 The Untamed - I’ve tried twice to watch it I find the first episode hard to get through for some reason

Sorry yes that was mean of me... He is @hmc727.official and his wife (actor? singer?) is @chaochao1011 and both give GREAT insta.

I love the IG cray-crays. The safe, corporate Kdrama oppas are a bit dull IMO. Even the sainted Hyun Bin (sorry, not sorry).

Loving the IG - who knew he was an Ice Hockey player? And the cat and cute little baby and they looked like they had so much fun on their wedding shoot

I'm baaaack! RL can do one cos I'm off on AL next week and Viki are dropping Go Go Squid 2 😁 DH thinks it's terrible that every week I get swabbed I mutter to myself that an asymptomatic positive would be a nice break, but I'm beyond exhausted now. 1 more shift then binge land😍

Now to read through all these pages lol

@bettys the first couple of episodes are difficult to follow but it improves after that. Definitely worth another go. The WeTv app has the special edition of The Untamed and starts differently.

@polkettle I can also totally recommend The K2. All I'm saying is there is a shower scene that involved rather a lot of wincing from me and the behind the scenes stuff was hilarious with all of the nude shorts (not shots 😂)

Hu Yitian has really shed his stoic face in his recent dramas and is showing good comedic timing. I'm quite looking forward to Sung Hoon's new drama to see if he can shed the nice guy romcom image a bit, which will hopefully lead to more varied roles.

I've been watching Let Go Of My Baby reruns for my Jackson Wang fix and really loving the way he is with the kids. My DD watched a bit and said that he sounded like DS, scolds you while hugging you lol

This is the kind of homework I can get behind @Dontwanttobeyourmonkeywench K2 going on the list . Bravo on work 👏and happy ALing 🎉

[quote Rowdythree]@fifilacklustre I've just seen on Viki that a To my Star movie is coming soon... Will it be all the short episodes compiled into a movie or extra bits I wonder 🤔[/quote]
The same happened with Wish You, they added in 20mins extra to make it the movie which made it slightly better. There's a 10th special episode on Viki so I think this must be the extra scene that makes it a movie as it is only meant to be a 9 episode show. It would be great to have a series 2

I really enjoyed the Untamed, my favourite fantasy C drama.

Ha Monkey I've definitely thought that while swabbing. Enjoy your AL, you deserve it!

I've just finished the 9th episode, a second series would be great! What a nice love story... I really liked the understated way it was filmed, it all felt really natural 😊

Very disappointed with the special episode for To my Star is just behind the scenes episode.

Aah, I won't bother with it then... I wanted an epilogue!

I finished True Beauty last night and agree everything was nicely tied up and put to bed. I thought the head stuck in bars scenario was utterly stupid and unnecessary, but otherwise a clean dismount at the end. I felt bad for 2ML when she was doing his lips at the gig. He looked sad afterwards.

I have a pile of work reading to get through this weekend, so limited kdrama time. I’ll be interested in tips for good next series as I’m at a loose end now.

Finished WMEL... I found it quite sad, it was well done though, and a happy ending

@Rowdythree I agree it is quite sad, although I liked it, and the ending was nice.

Hopping up and down (metaphorically) as have watched Mr Queen sans subs and am now waiting for subs. Some bits you really don't need subs for (Court Lady Choi and the peach blossom wine ! Making out in the pergola ) but there are dastardly deeds afoot and I need the subs for that

son7003 has posted some great travel and food photos in IG today. I’m so glad I followed him by mistake.

Episode 13 of CLOY 😭😭 how will I wait until tomorrow to find out what's going to happen!

If I was watching on my own I wouldn't be going to bed tonight 😂

Looking forward to hearing what you think of episode 13, Rowdy.

I’ve started Love with Flaws on Viki and it has got off to a promising start.