MsLattés Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #22): As pandemic restrictions ease the Ajummas of Darkness and ARMY recruits are on spring manoeuvres, camping under the cherry blossom

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the K-curious. 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 Queen (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)*
Lovestruck in the City (Netflix)
Pinocchio (Netflix)
Radio Romance (Netflix)

Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)*
Run On (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)
To My Star [BL] (Viki)
True Beauty (Viki)
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (Netflix/Viki)

What’s Up With Secretary Kim (Viki)*
Where Stars Land (Viki)*
You are my Destiny (Netflix)
You Make Me Dance [BL] (Viki)


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)/Hot Stove League (Netflix)

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)
Peninsula - film, Train to Busan sequel (Amazon Prime, iMovies)
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)
My Little Happiness (Viki, Chinese)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix, Chinese)
Some Day or One Day (Viki, Taiwanese)
The Romance of Tiger & Rose (Viki, Chinese)
Tientsin Mystic (Netflix, Chinese)

Thread Regulars’ Top Scoring Dramas of 2020 (updated for thread #21)
Courtesy of Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, updated by/for thread regulars. Marks out of 10.

1 - Mr Queen - 9.4 (5 votes)
2 - Parasite - 9.05 (10 Votes)
3 - It's Okay To Not Be Okay - 8.88 (9 Votes)
4 - The Uncanny Counter - 8.50 (4 Votes)
5 - Once Again - 8.42 (6 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 explained or 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…

P.s. Would love to discuss this with others and get their feedback/opinions...

Hi everyone, I hope all is good with everyone in k-drama obsession land?

Can I ask if anyone else was upset by Something in the Rain? I've been on holiday this week, so binge watched it and was far too invested in how lovely the ML and FL were together - all the lovely laughing scenes in cafes and cuteness in bed together and how ML was just so lovely and supportive. I just wanted to scoop him up and keep him!

I also liked that they actually followed each other - so when one ambled off sadly the other followed to see if they were OK or have a hug, allowing me to shout 'yes, good job!!' at the screen, not 'go after him you idiot!' like usual. 😂

But SPOILER ALERT

Why does it then go so crazily horrible? I get that the mum is a snob (even though ML clearly has a good job as he can afford a lovely flat and FL can only afford a tiny hovel), but the dads and brother are (mostly) on their side, so why does FL (after insisting nothing will ever split them up) dump ML so quickly and why do they both have to lie to each other constantly - about who they're with, where they are and what their plans are? I mean, if you're having a clandestine meeting, when you've repeatedly lied about going straight home, don't get them to pick you up at the communal office where its bloody obvious you'll be caught out! 🤔

There's just episode after episode of misery and trauma... Then why after the wedding, when she bared her soul about how awful the last few years had been for her, was he so cold when he'd told his friend that he still had feelings for her? And having been so cold and horrible, would the recorded message be enough for him to completely change his mind?

Then there was the fact that there's only about 30 seconds where you find out the outcome of the court case/harassment in passing - I thought this was going to be a real 'women's empowerment /don't put up with men being crap' moment, but no, the men still have positions of power, the women have learned to put up and shut up and the FL is traumatised and pushed out of the company... 🙄 It's all just dealt with so quickly and unsatisfactorily, after the build up and focus was huge in earlier episodes.

I spent the last episodes (and the last few days since finishing the show) feeling bloody traumatised and miserable and tbh the last 5 minutes weren't enough to save it for me, as there was no real sense of how they'd live together after having not overcome any obstacles before. 😭 Why couldn't it have happened earlier in the show so there was more time for a decent resolution?

I want to shout at the writers and get them to re-do all the last episodes for me! 😭 Or maybe I should just go and rewatch the earlier cute episodes and pretend that the series stops there!? 🙄 🤦‍♂️

Gosh, that was quite the rant there! 🙈

@leeloo1 Aaarghh! All the reasons why I gave up on SITR and jumped to the last 5 minutes! ML & FL so cute but story infuriating

We’ve just finished Descendants of the Sun which we thought excellent.
I loved the scene in the last episode when the doctors thought they were seeing a ghost.
I am constantly in awe of the wit, skill and originality of Korean script writers.
Apparently there was talk of a second series of DOTS but presumably now Song Song have broken up in real life they couldn’t take part and it wouldn’t be the same without them.
I think we are going to watch My Love from the Star next as it’s written by the same person who wrote CLOY.

@bettys - 😂 I admire your presence of mind! I kept watching hoping it'd improve, but... It wasn't to be. Skipping to the last 5 minutes would have been a great solution and now you know you didn't miss anything (other than a world of annoyance). 😂

Now I don't know what to watch, as I can't face another disappointment. Maybe strong girl, as that's highly recommended on here? Are the ML and FL suitably adorable/heartwarming? I do fancy watching goblin, but couldn't find it anywhere.

@Andante57 - I loved DOTS, a great mix of love interest and humour. My heart definitely 'fluttered' when the text messages were suddenly shown as 'read'? Although I did ponder on who had been keeping them both neatly trimmed and shaven when they were away for a year! 😁

44 episodes of Surgeons binged. Overblown, portentous, wordy, totally ludicrous in places and I LOVED it. Equivalent of choosing random battered 80s paperback from holiday cottage bookshelf and then finding you're stuck to sofa absolutely gripped for whole stay.

I’ve just caught up with Oh Master and love it. Lee Min Ki’s character has thawed and blossomed. Nana is rather lovely. 2ML is flower boy meh, but one of those bone-headed chaebols whose sense of entitlement keeps him batting against a closed window regardless. I like the mothers’ friendship and the poignancy of the imminent loss that neither of their children are talking about. I have high hopes for LMK-Nana boffage in later episodes given the shared housing set-up and their burgeoning mutual attraction. 😄

[quote bettys]@leeloo1 Aaarghh! All the reasons why I gave up on SITR and jumped to the last 5 minutes! ML & FL so cute but story infuriating [/quote]
Exactly what I was going to say! Thought it was great until it all started going horribly wrong, and I just found it traumatising to watch! I also skipped to the last 5 minutes to see the conclusion, and it literally is in the last 5 minutes that you find out the ending! Aagh, thinking about it gets me

I don't give up on dramas often, but I have no regrets about giving up on that one!

leeloo ML and FL in Strong Girl are adorable 😍

I've started Strongest Delivery Man which I'm enjoying. I've decided I'm going to watch all the dramas that have been on my radar for a while, but I've never got round to watching.

@leeloo1 It's a case of so many dramas, so little time! I don't want to waste it on something disappointing. I will sometimes skip to the end if the warning signs are there, and then make a judgement call as whether to go back and sit through the whole lot.

However this comment by @polkettle explains v well that you sometimes find a gem amidst the dross...

44 episodes of Surgeons binged. Overblown, portentous, wordy, totally ludicrous in places and I LOVED it. Equivalent of choosing random battered 80s paperback from holiday cottage bookshelf and then finding you're stuck to sofa absolutely gripped for whole stay.

I watched all of SITR but, as thread regulars know, I am not a skipper. I also used to stick with whatever I’d started to the bitter end. I’m a ghoster and fade anything that’s not grabbing me these days. I found the resolution more rewarding for having pushed through the angst. I found Son Ye Jin and Jung Hae In engaging as a couple so wanted to see how it panned out. 🤷‍♀️

[quote leeloo1]@Andante57 - I loved DOTS, a great mix of love interest and humour. My heart definitely 'fluttered' when the text messages were suddenly shown as 'read'? Although I did ponder on who had been keeping them both neatly trimmed and shaven when they were away for a year! 😁[/quote]
Haha yes, Capt Yoo looked particularly immaculate.

We thought about SITR but having read these comments maybe we’ll give it a miss. Also, Son Ye Jin will always be Se Ri to me.

@Rowdythree - yes, it was like the writers had taken a sudden dislike to the characters and having made us love them suddenly made them make horrible decisions and make everything bad happen to them. We'll done for skipping ahead too... maybe I need to learn to do this?

@boatyardblues - yes, Son Ye Jin and Jung Hae In were very lovely as a couple... I did try to persuade myself that they had maybe 'grown' personally during their years apart so would be a better couple - and that the mother having apologised might be more accepting of them together. But if there had even been 15 minutes of them post-make-up I'd have felt less cheated I think.

@bettys, can I ask what point in the drama you decided to skip to the end (hah I need pointers for future shows!)!

I'd had a few series that I'd started but hadn't grabbed me really, so having found one I loved initially (well for the first 10 hours or so! 🤦‍♂️ 😂) it was hard to accept the loveliness wasn't coming back...

I'm still halfway through put your head on my shoulder (will anything ever happen in the story?) and my secret terrius (I got bored) so maybe should try your trick of watching the end of those to get some closure! 🤔

@Andante57 - it's hard not to associate the character with the actor. I actually felt bad for Son Ye Jin at the beginning of SITR, as she was sooo busy and downtrodden, I realised I was feeling that it was a shame she didn't still have her business from cloy! Oops, I'm an idiot! 😂 🤦‍♂️

Leeloo I can completely identify with that.
After I finished CLOY I read articles on the possibility or likelihood of Korean reunification, wishing they could all be together again.
I had to remind myself that it’s a fictional tv series, for goodness sake!

@leeloo1 Dunno exactly what makes me skip......when the plot line gets dreary....when the characters make stupid decisions...(noble idiocy or spinelessness infuriates me)....when the initial 'oh this is good withers away....it's different for everyone!

@20questions I have added Revenge to my watch list, it may be a while before I can discuss though as the list is loooong and I have actual work at the moment pah!

I tend to skip the "staring out the window angst" bits. In c-dramas, the "pontificating about the wonderful cultural/civil/political outputs from the Motherland" bits tend to skipped.

I was all ready to flag up a GOOD ART alert for Oh! Master (the rain installation in 2MLs flat) but then spotted the BAD ART (unicorn drawing) which even though it was made by by a teenager/child is still awful

I have a confession to make.

I've binned off iQiyi.

I'll wait for Oh! Master to hit one of the other platforms to continue it 👍

Apologies for gate crashing the thread....but has anyone watched all the episodes in RUGAL? Does it end satisfactorily?

I got about 2/3rds of the way through but then it seems to have morphed into some sort of 90’s Power Rangers programme and it felt a bit too silly.

I’m currently watching episode 3 of Bad Guys Vile City having loved the first series. Not sure if this series will be as good.

I've binned off iQiyi.

I'll wait for Oh! Master to hit one of the other platforms to continue it.

Dramacool

corcai No need to apologise for gatecrashing with a kdrama question & welcome. I’ve not watched RUGAL but others definitely started it.

@corcaithecat Hello !! No such thing as gatecrashing on this thread, just join in! I started Rugal but dropped it when they got the Thunderbirds outfits and never went back. Also though Bad Guys: Vile City not as good as S1 ( prob cos it didn’t have Park Hae Jin or Ma Dong Seok in)