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!

Jin - The subbing was really slow, like glacial pace, and there was so much other stuff on at the time it just dropped off my radar. I’m glad to have started up again but I am desperate for ML to shave off the godawful tache and wispy goatee.

There’s no one in particular Boatyard - just idly thinking about it really - is there a universally perfect kdrama. Obviously nothing’s guaranteed - there are two I often see mentioned as being perfect and everyone seems to adore but I hated them (It’s ok that’s love and that Replay one - I forget which but I know one in particular was really really popular). So a lot comes down to personal taste. But are there any, even amongst those you personally love, you could wholeheartedly recommend with no reservations?

Amongst my all time faves, other than the two I’ve already mentioned:

Love Rain - this was my first kdrama so it obviously got me hooked, but the first 4 episodes are set in the 70s and are essentially about the 2ML and 2FL really (the parents of the leads) so is quite an unusual format.

She Was Pretty - probably one I’d be really really close to choosing but I know Hwang Jung Eum can be really irritating for some people and Park Seo Jon’s character is a little bit too much of a bastard even for a tsundere!

Marriage Not Dating was really good but the 2ML irritated the crap out of me and even though I loved it at the time, retrospectively it was a bit bland.

Squid Game - absolutely love it but not at all the right genre!

Crash Landing - perfection as a drama but as so much is spent in North Korea it’s not typical enough as a first recommendation - you’d want something a bit more standard.

Secretary Kim - I loved this programme but for one thing - Secretary Kim herself! I thought she was really bland - fight me!

Because This Is My First Life - Great cast and premise, but not really very typical. I mean, the main reason for it’s popularity I think was because it went against the typical tropes. This one’s my dh’s fave so I have to be nice. I was slightly more meh about it (I love the cliched tropes!)

I Am Not a Robot - almost made the cut, I adore this one but the pacing of the ending and the last few episodes was really ridiculous and spoiled it honestly.

So far I’m thinking:

Legend of the Blue Sea - stars Lee Min Ho and Sung Dong Il, so some good kdrama stalwarts there! Actually I can’t think of any flaw to this programme and it has an amazing OST so maybe this one!

Gong Shim - again, Minah and Namgoong Min are both excellent, the plot hit all the right spots and was very funny, can’t think of any real flaws. Her family annoyed me but they were supposed to!

Absolute Boyfriend was great as well, another Minah one.

Ones I will never recommend though:
Meloholic
Oh My Ladylord (Bastards)
Mischievous Kiss
Anything with Lee Jong Suk (except Secret Garden) - his face makes me irrationally cross!!
Weightlifting Fairy - I hated all the characters! It was memorable for the fact we nicknamed her dad Korean McShane because of his resemblance to Ian McShane.

On the topic of OSTs while we’re at it, which dramas have the best soundtracks or particular songs you love?

Absolute bangers of a sound track, seriously strong and classic:
Legend of the Blue Sea
Love Rain
Secret Garden
She Was Pretty
Fight My Way

Omo! Pull up a chair...
www.soompi.com/article/1495362wpp/dispatch-reveals-details-about-kim-seon-ho-and-his-ex-girlfriends-relationship

I would make a different one now, but comparatively early on in my drama watching I made this flowchart for my friends @heechulOppa
It's brought a few of my dearest to the fold but I have to accept others will never get it and try to continue to love them anyway.

if you had ONE show to convince some Otto becomes a kdrama concert to, what would it be

Several of my friends who’d never seen - or indeed heard of - K drama loved Crash Landing.
However I get quite fed up when I tell people that dh and I are huge Korean drama fans and their reaction is to burst out laughing.
I honestly don’t know why people find it funny.

I was wondering about something smaller scale and more self-contained like Another Miss Oh for your friend, Heechul. It has a comedy of errors, SK’s premium TV Mum Kim Mi Kyung, lotsa oppas, great FL, a dilemma. It’s all there without being showy or OTT.

@boatyardblues

Thanks for breaking my monologue FedUp! 👍😂

Sorry Boaty 😳 😔

[quote polkettle]Omo! Pull up a chair...
www.soompi.com/article/1495362wpp/dispatch-reveals-details-about-kim-seon-ho-and-his-ex-girlfriends-relationship[/quote]

Maybe it will just be me that likes Bossam 😬 I am watching it slowly though, I'm not whizzing through it.

Heechul you need something that leaves people thinking what happens next at the end of each episode! I'd agree with Boaty BTIMFL does that.

I always think Suspicious Partners would be a good one to start people watching K drama. It has JCW at his best, it has some quite amusing parts, a bit of murder mystery and romance all wrapped up in a bundle.

[quote polkettle]Omo! Pull up a chair...
www.soompi.com/article/1495362wpp/dispatch-reveals-details-about-kim-seon-ho-and-his-ex-girlfriends-relationship[/quote]
Yikes, what a mess 😳

Sorry Boaty 😳 😔

That was a genuine thank you Fed Up. I was just talking to myself so it was a huge relief when you popped in. 😄

[quote polkettle]Omo! Pull up a chair...
www.soompi.com/article/1495362wpp/dispatch-reveals-details-about-kim-seon-ho-and-his-ex-girlfriends-relationship[/quote]
Now I’m feeling even more mixed about the whole thing. He sounds like less of a dick (good), the relationship sounds far more complex (good), his friends etc are standing up for him (good) but in doing so her reputation has been extensively trashed (two wrongs don’t make a right). I suppose she opened the door on it by starting the whispering campaign, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. What an unedifying mess!

I think it's the culture where some ill-advised washing of dirty linen has such instantaneous and devastating career sequelae that comes across as most problematic from the whole episode.

Vincenzo is also a good drama for newbies, you can enjoy it without prior knowledge of kdramas.

Yes it's just awful for all concerned. I feel very sorry for them both. Seems to me to be a 'famous people in a relationship turn out to be actually human' situation. I hope they can both move on and it doesn't wreck either of their careers. What a mess.

@JinBhoot yes Vincenzo a good one. I also think Fight for My Way is a good entry drama, it's funny, a bit slapstick, has some well rounded characters and it's quite pacy. But I am ridiculously biased towards PSJ.

I think it's the culture where some ill-advised washing of dirty linen has such instantaneous and devastating career sequelae that comes across as most problematic from the whole episode.

I quite agree! I can’t understand how anyone who makes an accusation against a Korean celebrity is believed without any investigation and the accused is dropped like a hot cake from future projects.
I hope there will be a backlash from this practice and the accused are given a chance to give their side of the story.

Still ploughing through Warm and Cozy.

He was keeping relationship private to avoid public persecution & scrutiny.
Which now they both are facing & she is annoyed by that. His career & livelihood is on the line.

What happens to actors & actresses after scandals? Do they ever manage to earn living in any other fields or they become too hot for companies to even be hired as a salary man.

What happens to actors & actresses after scandals? Do they ever manage to earn living in any other fields or they become too hot for companies to even be hired as a salary man

I wonder that.
I’ve read reports that Seo Yea-Ji is in talks for a new film/drama so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see about that.
Jisoo is doing military service and who knows if he’ll have a career to return to.
Kim Jung Hyun came in for some flack but seems to have been forgiven thank goodness, and his superb performances in Mr Queen and Crash Landing must make him extremely employable.

Poor old Lee Shin Young aka Lt. Park in Crash Landing was accused of being a school bully and sure enough he had modelling contracts and maybe dramas cancelled. However his accuser who not only tried to ruin Shin Young’s career but also blackmailed his father, has since admitted he’d invented the charges and I think is being sued.
LSY has got a part in a forthcoming Disney production called Rookies or Our Police Course, and is also in a you tube production called Bite Sisters, also starring Kang Han-na from Start Up and My Roommate is a Gumiho.
The show so far is quite sweet but the episodes only last 10 minutes

What was the dirt on Kim Jung Hyun? I’m too lazy to google and wade through acres of fan guff to get to the point.

Boaty I think basically what happened was this:
(This is only what I’ve read and I don’t claim to have any first hand knowledge).
KJH was criticised for his inappropriate behaviour towards Seohyun, his co star in the drama Time. He refused to act affectionately towards her during romantic scenes and then refused her arm during a press conference.
Then it turned out that his girlfriend Seo Yea-Ji had been demanding that he tell the director that he wouldn’t do any romantic scenes or ‘skin ship’. In the end he left the series suffering from a breakdown. Somehow these texts became public knowledge and after that Seo Yea-Ji then became the target of hate messages - though public opinion amongst netizens was divided.

I think that’s roughly what happened but I’m happy to be corrected.

I don’t think I’d want to be a celeb in Korea (luckily there’s zero chance of that happening).

Thanks Andante. Your précis has dredged up some memories of previous reading around it all.

I’m really, really enjoying The King’s Affection.

@boatyardblues

Thanks Andante. Your précis has dredged up some memories of previous reading around it all.

I’m really, really enjoying The King’s Affection.

Loving the use of précis.