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!

Oh Jin. 😔 That sounds like a very tough day. I hope you have someone on hand to give you a hug. Some fighting!! from me, to go with Pol’s lollipops.

I need the Move to Heaven guys to help me unearth my gym leggings in our geological-grade laundry/ironing pile, or I’m going to have to wear my pom-pom fringe shorts over my too-see-through fashion leggings to tonight’s class.

Ooh... revelations in Beyond Evil have got dh and me reinvested as we finally reach halfway point. Although a certain amount of yelling at telly. Clearly no-one in the KPD has watched Brookside.

Very sorry to hear Jin. Sounds extremely hard. Hope some K drama can distract you.

@JinBhoot fighting 💪 sending some virtual ginseng pouches for you too
I quite like the look of the publishing company as in romance is a bonus book or MMH or DAYS, or maybe web hosting like in www:search. Especially of Park Morgan turns up
Waiting for the next top of the oppas complete with screen wipe effects- Namkoong Min has just showed up in doctors and I'm considering adding him to my list (and he'd be an actual oppa!)

Nam Koong Min is an actual Oppa for me too! I don't remember him in Doctors but he played such a horrid character in Remember that I can't get past it! 😒

Good vibes to you too Jin and anyone else having a hard time!

Did you find your leggings Boaty?

Polkettle is there a patio involved in Beyond Evil? I want to watch that with DH, but he is resisting another K drama at the moment 🙄

@JinBhoot that's sounds really hard going. Fighting!

Did you find your leggings Boaty?

No I had to go with the pompom shorts over leggings. The instructor complimented me on my shorts though. I found a wet pair of gym leggings in the wash that came out of the machine earlier, so I have tracked one down.

I haven’t even turned the TV on yet. Everything got time-shifted this evening by messy IRL stuff.

Nam Koong Min is proper oppa material 😍 Loved him in Good Manager (Maneger Kim) and To the Beautiful Gong Shim. He's looking great for The Veil.

Thankfully I have a quiet start to my last night shift (3/3) so might squeak in an episode of Octogenarians and the 90s during break.

Nam Koong Min is admirable, attractive and I like his work very much. Sadly I am in noona territory for him.

You could play a good drinking bingo game with all the murderer/cop show tropes in Beyond Evil Rowdy but there's also enough intrigue and warmth to make up for them. I persuade my DH to an episode or two a week but we might pick up the pace now.

Nam Koong Min is lovely! His character in Doctors is wonderful. He's the single dad of the two boys who need surgery.

Aah yes, I remember now 😔 poor chap

@sakura06

Nam Koong Min is lovely! His character in Doctors is wonderful. He's the single dad of the two boys who need surgery.

Now I want to watch it. That’s my weekend sorted.

@boatyardblues I think you've seen this.....because you suspected ML (Kim Rae Won) was wearing a hair piece and ever since then I've been peering at his hairline whenever he crops up (I still think he's good though) . Namgoon Min only has a guest role but he's very good.

How come I can remember random stuff like this but not where I've parked the car?

[quote bettys]@boatyardblues I think you've seen this.....because you suspected ML (Kim Rae Won) was wearing a hair piece and ever since then I've been peering at his hairline whenever he crops up (I still think he's good though) . Namgoon Min only has a guest role but he's very good.

How come I can remember random stuff like this but not where I've parked the car? [/quote]
It’s possible. I used to keep a list but got out of the habit.

And I hear you about losing the car!

Just my weekly thumbs up for Police University. And also continuing thumbs up for Be Yourself - a CDrama with GASP - coherent episodes that end sensibly and complete a mini arc. Would potentially make a good watch with teen/old tween daughters.

I need rewatch the first episode of Police University as I fell asleep on the sofa. I need something to burn through.

I'm really enjoying Pinocchio, it's actually a bit darker than I thought it would be. Even Lee Jong Suk is okay in it, but I cannot stop looking at his nose! 👀👃🏻

Thank you my lovely friends, your messages meant a lot to me & felt like a hug.

I was too exhausted (mentally) to watch any dramas. Ended up on YouTube & watched BTS paint walls & assemble IKEA furniture 😂 it did cheer me up.
Welsh Corgi 😂 aka Wainscoting is the new word I have learned courtesy Suga.

Ahh Jin the soothing power of BTS, glad they helped 😘
Wainscotting - I did not know its definition before that Run episode 🤣

Finished YAMS - I really enjoyed it overall but I felt like the murder twins plot was never really properly used- I felt like they decided half way to stick to romance and then sort of forgot the darker plot but it was too interesting to just write off - it just of ended?

Whats everyone watching at the moment? @polkettle would you recommend police university?

Yes. Some standard big plot crime stuff but v sweet ml and cute squad and lots of warmth and fun. Easy company drama.