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!

....Intriguing....!!!
www.koreanfilm.co.uk/job-opportunity-london-korean-film-festival-volunteers/

@Bea pity it's too far away and over 18, this is the type of thing that DD would love to get involved in as a future career. She's keen to learn photography and cinematography (although the thought of my very petite and fine child wanting to haul those cameras around seems completely alien) and basically anything to do with the back stage side of things, but opportunities are limited where we live. I wish live theatre would reopen soon, at least she could get involved with the local am dram, but they aren't doing anything this year either.

Quite enjoying the frank FL in Run On so far, but only 5 episodes in, so hoping it picks up. Witch in Court was the next on my list, so interesting to see what people have to say.

Thanks for that link Bea , I have forwarded it to DS & his GF as he & his friends are in related fields.

monkeywench do they do drama at your daughter's school? DS started with drama tech-ing for the school productions then did it for A-Level (the Tech side not the acting side) and has just finished a degree in Photojournalism. All the lighting and ladders work has proved very useful

@bettys they do, but as always the focus is on performing 🙄 Luckily her friend's dad is a sound tech and has always taken her to help out, so she does get the odd chance, just very difficult to find stuff that is more tech oriented for her age group. She's decided to do 2 Media GCSEs and is aiming for the local college rather than returning for A-levels, and the more vocational side would suit here better at this stage. I always thought the whole GCSE/A-levels thing was ridiculous because if you want to go to uni then your A-level choices will be based on course requirements, and in turn your A-levels will be based on GCSE choices 🤔 I suppose coming from a system where everyone had to pass school exams to graduate from high school (more like continuous assessment) then choose to sit the national exam for state universities or individual exams for private universities, at least you only had to meet the points threshold and it didn't matter how you got there. You were applying with known grades and you knew which subjects are weighted heavier according to what course you want to study, so you could do the minimum to pass your weaker subjects and pull up your GPA with the stronger ones.

Funnily enough, I was just thinking about this because I had gone through a spate of school based C-dramas and the focus was on the national exam.

Trying to send a DM but it's not working. Unlikely I realise @Dontwanttobeyourmonkeywench - but if London in any way a commutable sixth form option then look at LSA.ac.uk

A FEMALE NIPPLE in Squid Game! Shocked and Appalled.
Bunged some chopped kimchi in the shepherd's pie mince and it was a great decision.

Bunged some chopped kimchi in the shepherd's pie mince and it was a great decision.

That’s some far out fusion cookery, right there. Sounds good!

Thanks @polkettle, looks interesting but unfortunately too far.
I had marinaded some turkey mince in bulgogi sauce and frozen it, so DS made us a noodle stirfry with it. It was lively, but I'll be oozing garlic for days 😂

I went a bit overboard with the gochugaru in my kimchi stew on Monday night. It was delicious and very full on. I paid for it today. 😂

Bea thanks for that photo of your steaming tray! We have one for our rice cooker and I had no idea what it was or what it was for!

Finished Goblin today. I was not a fan of the ending. I loved it though, especially the bromance between the goblin and grim reaper.

Pol - I don’t remember nipple in Squid Game. Was it the toilet shag? If so, I was too busy ensuring DS was looking the other way (bad parenting, yup).

It was. It was very very blink and you miss it 😂

..... @boatyardblues... a toilet shag!!!! ... I was goingt o watch it with 14yr old dd!!!! (it's all over tik tok ny all accounts!)... Howevere i was in the middle of Lovers Red Sky ep 1 last night and she watched it with me... then watched ep 2 and then told me i wasn't allowwed to watch anymore without her... (i think she secretly likes the prospect of teh romance!... although she's trying to be cool and nonchalent about such softy squishy emotions!)

The toilet shag is rather unseemly 😖
Have now finished Squid Game and did guess both twists. Kinda wished for better endings for both of the little brothers and although the ending is slightly open I hope they’ll leave it there (though it’d be nice to get more Gong Yoo in a suit 😍)

I concur with your views on Gong Woo. More of that please.

I thought the dye job hints at more to come, like painting a dot on a snail you catch & release back into the garden.

Apart from HCCC I have nothing to watch during the week. Anyone watching a fab drama that they could recommend?

I've just started Lovers Of The Red Sky and I'm liking it... though i think @boatyardblues might have given up with it...

Just finished Witch At Court which was good fun and not too taxing...

apologoes if you've seen these... i can't keep up wth everyones watches!!!

I've not seen either Bea
Thank You ☺️

Police University remains enjoyable if not essential viewing.
Also enjoying the erectile dysfunction one (!) You Raise Me Up and LoTRS is pretty enough despite some slow episodes.
Be Yourself is a very solidly made and straightforwardly sweet gurrrlpowr CDrama which has just completed. Definitely one for the DDs

I’m still watching LOTRS, despite it being very slow. It’s like watching one of those pottery videos with a potter at their wheel shaping a vase. It’s quite relaxing and much prettier than pottery.

The antidote to Squid Game basicslly.

My Universe - Coldplay & BTS

I'm really enjoying LOTRS! It's lovely... Great ML Ahn hyo Seop and FL Kim Yoo-jung
she's lovely and very engaging (FL in lovers in the moonlight)... 🥰... The support cast are great with some sweet comedy and quite touching... 😊... And with underlying fights for the throne... Amnesia... Bad and good spirits! The kit and caboodle! 👍

[quote JinBhoot]My Universe - Coldplay & BTS

[/quote] It's a BANGER! 💜💜