MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #26): With the dog days of summer behind us, it’s time to dust off your persimmon racks and dig out your down jackets for a cosy k-autumn

[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)
Monthly Magazine Home (Viki)
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)
Doom At Your Service (Viki)
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)*
Mad For Each Other (Netflix)
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)*
Move to Heaven (Netflix)
My Mister (Viki/Netflix)*
My Unfamiliar Family (Viki)*
Navillera (Netflix)*
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*

Once Again (Viki)
Stove League (Viki)/Hot Stove League (Netflix)
Racket Boys (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/Netflix)


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)*

AVOID, AVOID, AVOID aka “the shit list” 💩

Well-Intentioned Love season 1 (S2 is fine)
The Birth of a Beauty

Thread Regulars’ Top Scoring Dramas of 2020
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. 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). 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!

DH watching the TH Chelsea match & I keep asking if he’s seen PSJ & getting a blank look in response 🤦🏻‍♀️

Make him pause the screen any time they pan to the VIP area 😂

After dinner (and homework) I will be binging 2 eps each of HTCCC and Yumi's Cells

@bettys

DH watching the TH Chelsea match & I keep asking if he’s seen PSJ & getting a blank look in response 🤦🏻‍♀️

Is it at home? PSJ has GOT to be there!!

I've just finished Witch at Court, it was refreshing to see a show that focused on crimes against women and children. Even if some of the content was a bit unpalatable. It ended well though, but I thought a key piece of information was going to be revealed at the end! But I must have been baking up the wrong tree with my assumptions!

I think DH and I will watch Squid Game, from the trailer, it reminds me a little of Alice in Borderland, the Japanese show that was out earlier in the year.

I want to start Yumi's Cells and also HCCC this week. I hope I'm not disappointed in Yumi's Cells as I love the Webtoon so much.

Fully caught up on HCCC.
I think that the Dental Nurse should give up on the rigid cop and have a mad fling with the coffee shop owner.

No dinner started yet so going to get a take out. Went to Henley Festival last night and had Korean Fried Chicken which was very good.

I need to find a mid-week binge as given up on Racket Boys

DS2 has gone to bed with 30 mins of Squid Game final episode. We are back in Seoul, so know the outcome. It has been utterly gripping. It is brilliantly structure and paced. There have been a few bits where we were watching through our fingers and I had to zip past the sex bits. It’s definitely not for sensitive or younger teens, but it has been a real talking point over the weekend.

That should have said 30 mins still to watch.

I've watched Yumi's Cells now - WHERE IS NAUGHTY CELL???

I'm not sure I can watch if there's no Naughty Cell in his pants.

I like all the casting, (although am unsure still of Ahn Bo Hyun) , the setting, music - there might be a wee bit too much of the cells. I'm currently up to the second 'phase' of Yumi's life in the webtoon, so I do wonder where they will end the drama.

Ahh another joyful episode of HCCC.
Kids hanging out at FL’s place was funny. Preview of next episode is interesting.

Is 2ML filming BTS In the Soop type show 😂

😆

DH joked with 10 minutes of Ep8 of HCCC that we should turn off and watch Vigil instead and I wish we had. Poor Nam-Suk 😭💔 Can't wait until next Saturday now. Loving it.

HCCC: Lottery
I think ML won it, how else he can earn minimum wage & afford to live in a beautiful house & boat.
Or it might be that Granny, she gave money to her granddaughter to pay for education in USA.

Jin
I was thinking the Granny. Or even Raw Fish restaurant owner ( divorced due to not wanting to share half after realising her DH was still in love with his ex but not announcing as still wants him back without him influenced by win)

I think ML still has lots of layers to uncover, really enjoying the love triangle too.

@AesopsMables

Jin I was thinking the Granny. Or even Raw Fish restaurant owner ( divorced due to not wanting to share half after realising her DH was still in love with his ex but not announcing as still wants him back without him influenced by win)

I think ML still has lots of layers to uncover, really enjoying the love triangle too.

Raw fish restaurant owner might be a good call as lottery winner, as she owns the whole building that the dental surgery is in & FL’s rented home.

But ML would be a good call, as that makes him both well educated and wealthy, so marriageable. I wondered if he lost his (speculated) wife and child in the awful storms around the time of the lottery win so is unable to enjoy the money. However, the winner had to be trapped in the town by the storm. I’m not sure he was back then, as he was MIA for several years.

Re: HCCC There's something about FL's car accident chat that makes me think that she was in some way involved (accidentally) in the death of fictional wife and child. Pile up due to storm, she was helping and tried to save/comfort wife? That's a good k-drama trope.

(next week prequel) And FL's dad knows his past because saw him at hospital when it happened and that's why he's not keen on them being together?

Stretching now 😂

I do think that Raw Fish is the lottery winner though. The ex husband is 🤮

The fact that 2ML knows about her disk injury makes me think it is historic, either how she lost her parents (childhood) or college era. But you could be right about assisting at a RTA involving (still completely speculative 😂) ML wife & child.

@boatyardblues

The fact that 2ML knows about her disk injury makes me think it is historic, either how she lost her parents (childhood) or college era. But you could be right about assisting at a RTA involving (still completely speculative 😂) ML wife & child.

Hmmm yes timing is off, he's only a year older than FL.

My flight of fancy took me too far this time 😂

So FL lost her mum to illness, and ML lost his parents in a car accident when they were kids, we know that much.

The mysterious 5 years after uni is when he had the made up kid and wife that are now dead too probably. He's had a bad time of it...

Oooo … all exciting storylines.

Didn’t think of raw fish lady - quite possible

What if ML’s wife disappeared with lottery winnings?

In preview- little girl in a photo might be ML’s daughter.

I am loving the tension between ML & FL. All scenes with 2ML are fun to watch, loving his carefree character. Surfing scene with staff’s commentary was hilarious.

We need daily dose of HCCC.

Just to say, taking a coffee break to catch up with this speculative thread has made me very happy. Excellent content. I think you're all right.

I also enjoy the parallel thread speculation. It is one of my guilty pleasures. 😄

Anyone else quite relieved that Ahn Bo Hyun does not look like Ahn Bo Hyun in Yumi’s Cells? I think it’s the dodgy wig that’s saved it for me.