MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #23): Need help sorting your low stakes Cdrama nerd poppets from your kdrama oppas and flower boys? C’mon in!

[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)*
Navillera (Netflix)*
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
#Alive (Netflix)
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)
Sisyphus (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 ‘You May Also Like’
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)
You Are My Hero (Viki, 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 bum 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…

Like @bettys I was hooked pre Covid but the promise of satisfyingly good endings and all will turn out well has been essential this past year! 👍👍👍👍

@polkettle What a fabulous essay. I smiled throughout and might have even shed a tear...

Even though I've been watching K-dramas since 2018, finding this board and all you lovely noonas and chingu during Covid, I've felt like part of a community. No apologies, no "guilty pleasures".

You've encapsulated everything we all love about K-dramas. Well done!

Ah...thanks for reading my spew of words pals 💞. I'd probably write something different now (cos god knows there's been escalation 😂) A good thing to come out of a pandemic and hats off to all you old timers who stumbled on the secret of happiness pre-Covid

Oh Pol thats exactly it!

@polkettle that is lovely and so true!! I enjoy kdrama even more because of talking about it with you lot.

I enjoyed reading your love letter to kdrama too Pol. I came to it following a major bereavement and its good heartedness brought me a kind of warm hug and escape that none of the US stuff was offering.

Damn, I came to say that I’ve now finished ep 4 of Vincenzo and I’m hooked. When the new boss is revealed near the end of ep 4, I was like: “is it him? It looks like him but sexier and with different hair...”

@boatyardblues!!... Ep 4 is THE one! There's sooo much I want to say but can't as I'll spoil! It just gets better and soooo much better! Vincenzo is a perfect example of me watching it just to fill the time... First few eps I was a bit "meh"... And didn't warm to any of the characters! Almost dropped it... But then!
.. BAM!! ep 4... And it ramps up! The characters! Storyline! Just gets sooooo goooood!!.... I might ReWatch... With now... Knowing! What I know!!... 🤯🤯🤯🤭🤭🤭🤭

I watched episode 4 last night too @boatyardblues, it was an absolute banger! Am going to do an episode per evening. So good! DH watched it with me (first time ever) and admitted that it was 'alright'

@LarryUnderwood

I watched episode 4 last night too *@boatyardblues*, it was an absolute banger! Am going to do an episode per evening. So good! DH watched it with me (first time ever) and admitted that it was 'alright'

DH watched with me and he thoroughly enjoyed it!!!

Oh thank you polkettle. I think if we watch it then I’ll read the synopsis of the first 2 episodes and take it from there.
Dh has gone away for work for a week and I wanted to watch The World of the Married while he’s away but it seems to have vanished from Netflix and I can’t find it on Viki either.
Does Netflix ever bring back series that it has removed?

Polkettle I’ve just read your brilliant essay!
Your description of starting Crash Landing exactly mirrored mine. Dh heard it was good and said let’s give it a go and I was a bit dubious. I also found the first episode hard to follow but by the second one I was getting into it and then I was completely hooked.
Since then we’ve watched quite a few and I don’t think I’ll ever watch anything else.

@polkettle loved reading that essay 💕 thankyou for sharing- the but about the focus on female friendships and in particular the way older women are often integral to a plot (both for good or bad!) is definitely part of the reason I grown to love K-dramas so much!
I think finding this board really cemented it- I often properly laugh out loud at the comments (the YAMH watch along was a fab example) and I always find the chat really warm and welcoming 💕

😂😂 just been catching up on the spreadsheet and adding scores and comments.... I love reading comments from others! (@polkettle @JinBhoot...🥰 ) can't believe how much it's grown!!! 🤣 I thought I would be the only one to mention Westlife for YAMH! @polkettle !!! You beat me to it! Though I didn't mention the SPAM! 😲

It's all about the absolute essential information Bea 😁
I love others' comments - so useful as well as funny!
Going into Doom 🥰

And we’re off... Doom ep 3 has landed, 1% translated.

So I've ordered my Korean textbooks now. And downloaded Weverse. Am going all in. Might as well commit, right!

@LarryUnderwood

So I've ordered my Korean textbooks now. And downloaded Weverse. Am going all in. Might as well commit, right!

That’s the spirit Larry! Go big or go home as the Yanks would say. 😀 Fighting!

@LarryUnderwood

So I've ordered my Korean textbooks now. And downloaded Weverse. Am going all in. Might as well commit, right!

Weverse!! 😂😂😂... Now you really are in trouble! All those "Run" episodes!! And hours / days / weeks of content! 💜😂

@LarryUnderwood

So I've ordered my Korean textbooks now. And downloaded Weverse. Am going all in. Might as well commit, right!

That's the spirit Larry 💪 which books have you ordered? I can recommend the Talk to me in Korean podcasts to get you started

Can someone send me a link to the spreadsheet please? I haven't seen it yet.

I've been living in the 80s today watching Reply, it's such a nostalgia-fest. I love it. I think I'll have to save Doom for tomorrow

I’ll PM the spreadsheet link to you now Rowdy. Give me 5.

Thank you Boaty 👍😊

It looked like it hadn’t sent the first time so you have it twice. 😄

Doom at 50% subbed already! I actually squealed with excitement because it looks like it’ll be done by 9pm or at least later this evening. 🎉🎉🎉

@polkettle that was well written pretty much described my journey though I started 2018 with SITR got me all belly butterflied out.

Hi 👋 all