MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #32): Spring is in the air, it’s blossom season and the BinJin wedding was lovely. Happiness abounds!

[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, AppleTV and Disney+. There are also platforms streaming content illegally if you go looking. We don’t actively promote them as they are peppered with pop-ups of “Olga” and friends offering a good time, but we can point you in the right direction. We also dip into Japanese, Taiwanese & Chinese drama as & when.

The previous thread is here but our list 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. Writer/actor Simon Pegg referred to it fondly as “tonal chaos” - it’s part of kdrama’s charm. View the categories below as best approximate & ask if you need guidance about suitability for younger viewers.

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 Name (Netflix)
My Secret Terrius (Netflix)*
Signal (Netflix)*
Snowdrop (Disney+)
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)
Pachinko (AppleTV)
Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (Netflix)
Tale of Nokdu (Viki/Netflix)*
The King’s Affection (Netflix)
The Red Sleeve (Viki)*

Romance - lighter & fluffier
Beating Again (Netflix)
Business Proposal (Netflix)
Coffee Prince (Netflix)
Dali & the Cocky Prince (Viki)
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)
Twenty-five Twenty-one (Netflix)*
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)
Yumi’s Cells (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)/Rain or Shine (Netflix)*
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, Netflix)*

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)*
Hospital Playlist 2 (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)*

On The Verge of Insanity (Viki)
Once Again (Viki)
Stove League (Viki)/Hot Stove League (Netflix)
Racket Boys (Netflix)
Would You Like a Cup of Coffee (Viki)*

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)*
Happiness* (Viki)
Hotel del Luna (Viki/Netflix)*
King: The Eternal Monarch (Netflix)
Kingdom (Netflix)*
Kingdom: Ashin of the North (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)
In House Marriage Honey (Viki, Japanese)
In Time With You (Viki - Japanese)
Instead of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk (Viki, Chinese)
Lost Romance (Viki, Taiwanese)
Love O2O (Viki, Chinese)
Million Yen Women (Netflix, Japanese)
Morning Call (Netflix, Japanese)
My Little Happiness (Viki, Chinese)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix, Chinese)
Rinko Wants To Try (Viki)
Some Day or One Day (Viki, Taiwanese)
The Romance of Tiger & Rose (Viki, Chinese)
To Fly with Me (Viki, Chinese)
Tientsin Mystic (Netflix, Chinese)
You Are My Hero (Viki, Chinese)*

AVOID aka “the shit list” 💩

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

Posters’ Top Scoring 2021 Dramas
Courtesy of Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, updated by thread regulars. Marks out of 10.

1. The Red Sleeve - 10 (2 votes, more pending)
2. Happiness - 9 (6 votes)
3. Devil Judge - 8.75 (3 votes)
4. Squid Game - 8.63 (12 votes)
5. Navillera - 8.57 (7 votes)

2020’s top scoring dramas
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, writers, film and music when the mood takes us. We have some ARMY (BTS fans) among our regulars. Some 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 sometimes resort to acronyms and/or abbreviations of show titles or favourite actors’ names. 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!

Joy club lady is a brilliant piece of casting. She's nailing it.

Great news, FedUp

I felt so sorry for the teenagers in Our Blues what a sad situation. I've no idea how they ended up so sensible with those two for their dads!

The girl’s Dad is decent enough but the boy’s father is hideous.

Yes, Ho Sik seems to have turned his life around, but In Kwon is absolutely vile, when he downed the bottle of soju! 😱😱

Spring has arrived in South Korea, and hopes are high that tourism will blossom as brightly as the cherry trees at the roadsides. “You’re the first tourist I’ve guided in three years,” Ryu says ruefully. “My English has got very rusty. But now things will get better.”

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/47e56770-c7b3-11ec-9868-6fd925016a0c?shareToken=f35b439fecf15731b424576552e7acef

Lee El is a good actress and she's playing her well, but my god the sister in MLN is a pain in the hole!!!

The scheme to get out of embarrassment going wrong is hilarious though 😂

Our Blues was pretty brutal and the storylines are not keeping me interested enough to look forward to it each week. It's also 20 eps so guess this is why everything seems so drawn out. I'm not invested in it at all but FOMO will keep me watching.

My Liberation Notes was again perfect. Totally absorbing and every characters storyline both good and not so good are paced well and woven beautifully. I cannot get enough of this show and even forced DH to watch this morning. He made a comparison to Tennessee Williams which I did not debate.

LFM&D was so rushed at the end that there has to be a season 4!🙏

I've also started 1% of something it's quite dated but incredibly similar to Business Proposal. So much so I checked if any of the writers/producers were the same. It's easy viewing and watchable.

I’m caught up with My Liberation Notes. It’s so good. I loved Gu and Mi-Young’s exchange on the ?temple steps. Their performances are so nuanced. Lee El’s character is so annoying - she’s doing a terrific job.

Well I just bawled my eyes out at Our Blues.

I did not bawl but I agree it packed an emotional punch. Yeong-Ju (sp?) is an excellent tactician. I love the clarity of her thinking.

@AesopsMables there’s got to be a LfMD season 4 - it’s my secret vice 😝

I stopped watching OB as I felt it was going to be sad and I can’t deal with sad just now. I’ll review that decision after all the episodes have dropped.

Like others here, I’m enjoying MLN, even the crazy/annoying siblings and watching Tomorrow, Green Mothers’ Club and Inspector Koo. I obviously have too much time on my hands 😁

I found it really difficult to watch, especially when In Gwon was trying to drag Yeong Ju to the hospital, and the resulting fight after, really brutal 😖

I'm hoping to get a quiet hour to myself to catch up with MLN🤞

I’m counteracting Our Blues with a double shot of Shitting Stars. ML’s gym work out in ep 3 was just the pick me up I needed. Top notch abs. 👌

Yes quite pleasant

Spoiler alert: still no sweaty throwdown

Oh. My. God. What the hell am I watching? Well Intended Love why didn't I check if it was on the shit list first?

First the positive point. Very pretty ML.

But the negatives. Illegally obtained her hospital results, falsified them and made her think she had leukaemia. Actually let her think that, because he fancied her. Forced her to marry him so he would donate his bone marrow, which he didn't actually donate because she didn't need it. Then when she found out, basically imprisoned her in the house. Controlling, bullying, what a creep. And of course, she will probably forgive him and they will live happily ever after. If she posted on Mumsnet, everybody would be saying LTB.

Solidarity chum. It's a rite of passage to watch one shite drama. And that one is "pure shite" on the FedUp NI scale of good.

FedUpWithBriiiiick Pure shite, indeed. The worst thing is I know I will finish watching it, grinding my teeth the whole time. Talking of which, the cdrama teeth aren't a patch on the kdrama ones.

I like the 9-6 lawyer in Shitting Stars. He's all angles and his ears are a bit weird.

I binned it off at episode 12 when they revealed she’d never had leukemia. If you ever find the original thread in this series, you’ll see I was raging. There’s a reason why we created a shit list. The list would would exist even if Well Intended Love S1 was the only thing on it. It’s that bad. I can’t figure out why anyone would think his enormous wealth would outweigh his absolute hideousness as a human being and that he’d make an attractive ML. It made me wonder a lot about the weight Chinese society might place on affluence over ethics.

Yes. It's not just pure shite, it's downright offensive and sexist.

Incredibly offensive and so sexist. I mean, the FL is a bit of a wet weekend, but blimey, just bin him off, love, you are worth so much more than him. A pretty face doesn't make up for what he did to you.

Bloody hell, she has taken him back already. Stupid woman.