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'm all loved up at the moment... Mr Queen will have to wait! 💜🥰

Hello JK!!... My min yoongi says hi too... He's upstairs!

Ahhh.. Yes! Sorry I posted the offer too late! Apologies!

Looking forward to delving into nonsense on iqyi!...esp secret Royal Inspector with Lovely Hair!

However I started watching DouLou Continent on viki yesterday.. (Chinese.. Mandarin)...I want to call it DuoLingo Continent! 😅😁 And it seems much more coherent than other historical cdrama tried to get into... It has a star wars feel about it... Peasant boy longs for something more exciting... Family obvs hiding some great power/history he has.. Then goes off to find his fortune...

Happy Valentines All! 💜💜💜💜

Happy Valentine's Day unnies and yeodongsaengs!

The first secret in Mr Queen The Secret 🥰

comes to hover anxiously to see if Bettys has gone into unsubbed Mr Queen like canary in coal mine and is sending heart or dagger eye signals

Are you going in polkettle I'm too fearful

I’m halfway through!!!! I STILL dON’T KNOW!!! 🤯🤯🤯

I'm in 17 mins and it's heart in mouth stuff

I’m at the point where punishment is being doled out in a very satisfying way, but just paused to say randomly that I wonder if Bong Hwan is descended from the young lad in the resistance who was leading the exercises, otherwise why did So Yong give him that meaningful wave?

That’s not a spoiler btw

I like your thinking. it was quite poignant!

I’ll reserve final judgement until the subs are out, I couldn’t read the Hangul, but it’s a cautious 👍 (although I did have a hankering for one of the 3 Cdrama endings but that’s prob too much of a stretch)

Okay now I'm really biting my nails. Come ON subbers.

I'm off at the end of the week so saving up Mr Queen for then- really hoping the ending is good.
Spent this week watching random Netflix series - my shy boss (which was good and spotted Kim Mi-Kyung popped up in again) 1% of something which was ok but too much arm grabbing and to my star which was a reasonable short lunchtime watch and Gogh the starry night again as a very light and fluffy distraction from a very long week!

Oh goodness, need to wait for subs for full understanding.
bettys PM your thoughts. This is definitely going in my top 10

Before I started the last episode I watched the first episode of She Would Never Know. Really not too sure, is it all angsty? Whatever I watch is going to be a very hard act to follow Mr Queen so I probably need something completely different.

Heads up: Li Xian’s Cartier shoot pics on his IG are mighty fine. 👌 He should wear red more often.

Before I started the last episode I watched the first episode of She Would Never Know. Really not too sure, is it all angsty? Whatever I watch is going to be a very hard act to follow Mr Queen so I probably need something completely different.

SWNK is ok, fairly standard stuff. I spend most of it gazing at Rowoon which is very soothing. I'm enjoying my run of Chinese contract marriages on Olga, currently Love In Time which has all the tropes - shared childhood, trauma leading to phobia, deluded ex-gf who thought she was the gf but never was, comedy 2nd relationship, nearly triangle, jealousy shenanigans & misunderstandings, hilarious ppl & boyfriend who brings you sanitary protection.

Will PM re sans subs thoughts on Mr Queen

I'll continue with SWNK just to see how she finds out, I agree about Rowoon, he is an oasis!
I'm going to try Poisoned Love on iQ

@boatyardblues that mage my day 🥰 Currently watching You are so Sweet with Olga and I think my teeth are going to rot lol Mandarin drama about voice acting. So far fighting the urge to slap sense into a few people 🙄

I'm realising that most of my romcom/fluff type stuff is either korean or chinese, never English 🤔 I wonder if it's because I would have gone for that genre of manga/anime so see it as an extension of that. Also, I don't think it would work as well in English. I can't think of a single show/movie in English that would be like Her Private Life or WWWSK in terms of fluff

Happy valentines Chingus, hope everyone has spoilt themselves with lovely K Romance ♥️

Well I'm finally done with BLWL, I didn't watch all 100 episodes fully, I was mainly watching for the main romance, and some of the side stories annoyed me so I skipped though some of the middle episodes. If I wasn't so impatient I probably would have watched it all and enjoyed it 😂

I enjoyed the storyline, it starts off sad about 2 kids committing /attempting suicide but it explores the resons really well and it's quite a powerful message behind the series. The annoying bits were interfering families, crazy CEO lady, pointless love triangles that lead no where and bad fashion 😂

I really want to watch Mr Queen I'm thinking about watching it with DH... Is it DH friendly? We're currently watching Snowpiercer which I didn't realise was directed by Bong Joon Ho.

@Dontwanttobeyourmonkeywench I watch zero romantic fluff in English, I can't think of anything either that would be of a similar style either. Even if there was, I probably wouldn't watch it. I feel like it's an excuse for me to watch fluffy stuff under the pretense of it helping with my language learning... 😂

Heads up: Li Xian’s Cartier shoot pics on his IG are mighty fine. 👌 He should wear red more often

boaty 💯💕 agree!!!

How many more episodes of My Little Happiness? I’ve nearly finished ep 28.

Ah, I think I have my answer. 😆 Credits rolling now...

@boatyardblues

Ah, I think I have my answer. 😆 Credits rolling now...

😁

Xi Lian’s IG put me in the mood for some Tiensin Mystic today, but it seems to have disappeared off Netflix. I thought it was one of their own productions. What gives?

I never bloody finished it either. 🙄