MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #27): The one where global smash Squid Game launches kdrama into the stratosphere. 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/Netflix)*
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)
Hometown Cha Cha Cha (Viki)
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)/Couple on the Backtrack (Netflix)
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” 💩

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

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!

Couldn't wait till Sunday! HTCCC ep 15... 👌👍👌👍👌

I've done some odd late night Viki wandering and ended up watching a weirdly charming jdrama called princess jellyfish
It has the most bizarre title song I think I've seen especially when subbed into English...

You know we’ll all be looking that up in the morning, Hydrogen. 😂

I’m all caught up with HCCC. I was dry-eyed for most of it and starting to worry I have a heart of stone. Ms Gamri’s sleepover finally got me. I’m looking forwards to tomorrow’s finale. I am confident we are in safe hands with this writer/team.

You should! I feel it's the perfect show to watch whilst slightly drunk...
I'd love to have been in the pitch meeting for it

Why wait till morning, here is a trailer 😂
It’s based on popular popular magna series.

Ok I have to stop the crazy jellyfish show and go to bed now- there's a lot of physical comedy which isn't really my style but there are some comedy gold moments mainly involving evil FL and her minion- at one point she hypnotises someone and the minion says something about not knowing she could do that and she just flippantly replied oh, I took a correspondence course for this sort of occasion. And then later on evil FL gets out of a car and says she'll show the FL something -holds out her hand and her minion cycles past from nowhere, hands her the photo and cycles off.

I feel it needs a Korean remake with Kim won hae as the minion

Thanks Jin. Those two dramas are on my watchlist too.

HCCC needed ALL the tissues. 😭

Is it bad that I liked The Heirs?! I love a high school drama, especially one that's far removed from an actual British high school. Park Shin Hye should definitely have run away from all the toxicity though!

@AesopsMables There are some fans of The Heirs out there, it’s a bit of a marmite drama. I couldn’t get past the first episode. I don’t like Boys Over Flowers either mind you 😂 It would have been better to choose something else, like Reply 1988 maybe.

Bettys l loved Reply 1988*
*
Yesterday's viewing was eclectic to say the least, I hadn't realised there was a series 3 of Schtisel on prime so needed to address that, intercepted with HCCC and Yuma's Cells. I've decided to bin Come and hug me as I'm not feeling it.

Today, it's the dreaded ironing 😩

Will be saving HCCC for after ironing as a reward.

I've got the final 3 episodes of HCCC saved to watch, not sure when I'll get around to watching them though 🤔

One of my favourite shows I'm watching at the moment is Bossam on Viki. I just love it, the relationships between the characters are building really slowly and it's really nice to watch. It's quite long with 20 episodes, so lots of room for character development to happen.

Aesops I have the dreaded ironing today as well so need to find something I can watch while doing it as I will probably miss vital plot points & lose the mood if I try to catch up with Beyond Evil

I've watched the whole of the Awkwafina show on the iPlayer now and although off strict topic it's got a lot of KDrama nods (including a great ahjumma fight in Atlantic City) and made me hoot out loud. Highly recommend if you don't mind sweary comedy with plenty of rude bits talk. And subtitle free so potentially ironing friendly (ironing? What's ironing??)

ironing? What's ironing??

My favourite way to iron is to fold things neatly into a pile and then just sit on them.....

I'm anti ironing whenever possible! I tend to hang everything up and then just run an iron over it if absolutely necessary!
As neither one the woman or Yumis cells are fully subbed yet I've fallen back into bizarre jdrama jellyfish land - you may have to send help to get me out!😁🐙 (there isn't a jellyfish emoji!)

I seem to remember a shaming day at a playgroup/nursery when a 4 yr old DS loudly asked "What's THAT?" about both an iron and a hairbrush...

Ha ha, i just put my ironing board on freecycle as it gets used so little! The only thing my iron gets used for is Hama beads
😂

I've watched ep 14 of HCCC, I'm not very keen on all these coincidences! I'll have my tissues ready for the next episode. Thanks for the warning! 😭

Happy with the lotto reveal. 👏

The rampant PPL is driving me up the wall, mind. Have they crammed it ALL into the last episode?

HCCC ep 15: Not a dry eye in this house

Get me a Domino's or slap me briskly round the face until I come round Boaty.
Beaming. May just start the whole series again from the beginning. Definitely one I could play on a loop.

All finished! That's HCCC and not the ironing 😅

I guessed the lottery winner correctly (all the gifts he poured on her).

Overall ep 16 was fab but that Pizza scene, WTF??🤬.

Without doubt one of the best ever shows for me, up there with BTIMFL and MELO. ❤️❤️❤️

Oh yes, and what happened to the newborn baby in every scene with its parents- no baby ?? Even Boh-Ra seemed more excited about playing with a hedgehog than her new undisclosed name/gender sibling 🧐

I had to go out for a couple of hours & got caught out by the 90 min finale. Just off to make a sandwich & then I’ll be digging in for the last half hour. See you later!

HTCCC! 👍👍💕😘😍👍

HTCCC is the only drama where I have watched puppy love behaviour without cringing.

Ughhhh PPL was just too much, however I do fancy a pizza slice now & I don’t like pizza… that my fellow drama watchers is the power of PPL.

Love the proposal wordings too & I never ever listen to proposal regardless of how emotional or sincere they are.

This was the best drama of this year … hats off to the writers & cast.

ML & FL were looking gorgeous in all black.

Funeral rituals & dressing was new for me, does it vary from region to region?

What is starting next week? How are we going to fill the HTCCC gap?