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…

BTIMFL - FL’s mum & ML’s conversation at the wedding .... my heart my heart hand me some tissues please

@JinBhoot yy ML is just fab in BTIMFL

Bit disappointed in today’s Run On tbh, I find FL very opaque, can’t fathom her out
Was also distracted from her sobbing by the camera pulling back slowly to reveal the box for a smoke free roaster.
And the scene in the opticians - wtf?? He looked gorgeous in all those glasses!

Very much looking forward to this with very underrated Ryu Jun Yeol although i don't know if it'll be on Netflix or Viki....or newcomer to us iQiy!

New Sung Hoon drama hitting Netflix this weekend - Love (feat. Marriage & Divorce). I live in hope of Sung Hoon getting a decent, break-out role some day. Even though he’s often ML, I don’t think he’s had a role that does him justice yet. 🤞

Anyone seen True Beauty yet??? whaddya think?? So good!!! Hate what Su Jin is up to but love ML & FL & 2ML and proper lolled at the meal after the necklace hunt!!!

Agree boaty ré Sung Hoon such a nice chap, excellent at comedy but gets pants projects so hope the new one is good.

I nearly cried at the end of tonight's True Beauty 😭😭

ML & FL & 2ML in fact everyone is just so lovely it's horrid 2FL and the bullies that are just so nasty!!!!

I know, it's heartbreaking!

Rowdy do you think they may have been the same bullies that made out Se Yeon was a bully which wasn't true & led to his death?

Ooh, that thought hadn't crossed my mind, it would all tie together nicely though

Well I’ve caught up with Run On and I don’t think FL was enigmatic at all. She knows she’s near the bottom of the pile in social capital terms (orphan, foster care, pulled herself up by her bootstraps) and she knows FL’s father has the means and motivation to absolutely destroy her and everything she has worked so hard to achieve. I could totally understand what she was driving at in the closing scene. I did wonder if the next week peek hinted at ML’s mother being in her corner. Interestingly, his mother has a lot of leverage and could seriously bugger up her husband’s political ambitions. The father’s sense of entitlement and ownership of his adult children is grim. 😞

And the scene in the opticians - wtf?? He looked gorgeous in all those glasses!
@bettys, I'd be so pissed off with a bf being a mard about me picking glasses.
Also loving 2FL and 2ML

It would be nice if we get to Im Siwan in his track kit again before Run On finishes. I was very distracted by his shoulders in the Jeju race scene. In reality, he’s only 5’8 and we could probably share coats and shoes, but he’s just so damned twinkly I’ve had to make an exception to my usual racehorse oppa specification for him.

Agree boaty, I'm double Siwan-ing at the moment (Run On and Misaeng) and think he's lovely. But what was the giant blue patchwork coat about??

The father’s sense of entitlement and ownership of his adult children is grim

Totally grim! I guess I'm a bit disappointed that the FL isn't more ballsy about it after the cinema scene where she took Im Siwan by the hand. She acts one way to the dad but then doesn't keep it up.

@TheGirlWithTheArabStrap yes! I wear both contacts & glasses & would not have been happy if my other half had been so maungy about me wearing glasses

I feel they could have done a better job of the fake well at FL’s ancestral home in Mr Queen. I was initially leaning towards a hollow fibreglass sound on tapping, but I’m thinking the muffled sound of sculpted polystyrene now I’ve had a better look.

I should be off to bed soon but Mr Queen is hotting up, in more sense than one. 😮

Is anyone else affected by kimchi supply issues? My nearest Korean store is almost always out of stock so I drop by whenever I get the chance. The assistant told me last time they are having problems with imports and supply. I was passing a couple of days ago and as I entered the young woman on the till said “we’re still out of kimchi”, saving me traipsing to the other end of the store. Should I be embarrassed that she recognises me (even masked) and knows my buying habits?

@bettys Yup, that whole conversation at the end I was like "did they break up?" Couldn't tell at all! The preview of next week clarified. I think. 😳

Also what happened to 2ML? Turned into a total wet blanket. I suppose his strategy seemed to work with Dan-ah, but it was a right turn off for me 😂

I'm soooo loving True Beauty at the moment and all cross as they sey up Su Jin to be such a lovely stable feisty best friend who would stick up for you... only to turn her sooo bad ... all over a boy! Argggh!
The crochet scene was truly lovely and heartwarming / along with the bromances galore!... (i love this show of non toxic masculinity! - altho i am aware this is a drama!!) and it just generally is a good one! So far there's nothing really irking me about it at all (excpet teh stuff that's supposed to irk me!!!)... a solid 8 so far... almost a 9?????? {shock]
looking forward to see how it ends... and gutted that Uncanny ends this weekend... though very very much looking forward to seeing how it al pans out.. if there's a cliffhanger...as it is netflix!!! .....

I saw an article saying the writer of Uncanny Counter had left suddenly over a disagreement about the ending of the show?
50 down 50 to go in Once Again Absolutely LOVING it. What a bunch of poppets and happy making low stakes storylines. Exactly what this January needed. "I thought you said you weren't going to binge this one Mum but you're on episode 48?" Totally rumbled by ds1

Popping my head up from my continuous Chinese fantasy drama watching. I've watched so many since Christmas . Also managed to re-watch What's Wrong With Secretary Kim, Tale of Nodku and new short dramas Colour Rush and Wish You and a couple of J Dramas. Honestly, I need an intervention
Looking forward to watching Run On and True Beauty but waiting until they have finished so I can binge, and be sure they don't go downhill.
Now searching for next show

Oh forgot to ask - is anyone watching Lovestruck in the City? So want this to go well for Ji Chang Wook.

Honestly, I need an intervention

I think you speak for most us in expressing this sentiment. 😆

I have just returned from HMart in New Malden as recommended by Aesops and there is no shortage of kimchi there 😋

Loving BTIMFL and having to force myself off to bed when at a vaguely reasonable time! @boatyardblues yes that bit in the restaurant with them all there was incredibly well written and acted- I just wanted to go and give them all massive slap for treating her like that! I think the acting between all the "couples" is really believable - that kiss by the sea- and then her phone going off 😁
I've saved true beauty for a Friday night treat and I didn't catch up with run on last night- BTIMFL was just too good!