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!

MLN is running at a 10 for me at the moment. I don't want to change a single shot or line. So so good.

Bea, it's all very exciting, isn't it?! I was initially disappointed that it wasn't a full new album but with the continuing enlistment hanging over their heads I can see why they wouldn't want to release all new songs and then not be able to perform them properly. Otsukare would be amazing if not entirely representative of their back catalogue 😆

As for Mapp and Lucia, I haven't seen the latest adaptation but I've read all the books which are simply wonderful. A few years ago I read a biography of the author (E.F. Benson) and his family and they were a jaw-droppingly odd lot. His father was the Archbishop of Canterbury, one brother wrote the words to Land of Hope and Glory (which I think BTS sing a lot on Run etc. - you can link them and Mapp and Lucia in one easy move) and a sister was an Egyptologist.

Sad to say I haven't had any BTS dreams but I'll keep hoping!

I've watched all of Sh**ing Stars and I really love it so far. It's a worthy replacement for Business Proposal anyway, it has a similar lightness of touch. I agree that the parts in the unnamed African country were cringeworthy, but I can well imagine similar scenes being in a UK tv show from ten years ago, which given how far Kdramas have come already in terms of cultural awareness, isn't bad going. The bathroom scene was actually hilarious and as a female I wasn't offended in the slightest.

I'm off to catch up with MLN now. I agree with you Pol, it is kdrama of the highest quality. I think Mr Gu is a mafia boss son, maybe he has defected from the family? He certainly has an underlying air of menace. We never found out how he got the money for the kitchen cabinets from the halabeojji earlier on.

Ok Chingus, the Korean holiday is not going smoothly. We got to the airport in plenty of time but when we went to check in we were told we needed a visa - something the travel agent assured us we didn’t need.
We were told we could apply on line and it would take about half an hour. The website was completely useless and kept crashing so we had to repeatedly fill in all the details. Eventually we did it and waited nervously for the results.
An hour later the results came back - visa refused. Apparently we’d ticked ‘British Subject’ rather than ‘British Citizen’.
The flight closed in 10 minutes so that was that.
The travel agent put us up in a hotel but has said this morning that as we missed our flight out our return was automatically cancelled and he can only find flights with an 11 or 36 hour layover in Thailand.
Dh managed to find a Lufthansa flight via Munich and the travel agent asked him how he found it? Surely travel agents know how to look up flights!
So watch this space….

I knew something would go wrong - we’d been looking forward to it too much.

Oh my word, how stressful Andante. 😕 I hope you get it all sorted quickly. Has it made a mess of your itinerary in SK?

I hope the travel agents are suitably chastened and working hard to make it up to you, eg upgrades on your flights or accommodation.

Boaty fortunately we had a day with nothing booked on Saturday which is the day we will now arrive (provided we get there!) so I told the travel agent not to reschedule the original plans for sight seeing on Friday as we will be too exhausted.
We were flying business which we’ve never done before and will never do again but it’s 14 hours because we can’t fly over Russian air space and we put an inheritance towards it as a once in a life time holiday.
However there aren’t any business seats available on the return and we can’t stay more than an extra day there because of dh’s work.
I feel like that man who lived in the airport for a year - wasn’t there a film made about it?

It’s gutting when holiday plans go awry. I’ve been there more than once. I hope you get quick solutions so you can get going again without too much disruption.

Thank you Boaty.

Oh Andante, that sounds so stressful! I really hope you get there and still manage to have a wonderful time 🙏

Thanks Rowdy. Dh has dealt with it all and we won’t be using this travel agent again!

MLN is running at a 10 for me at the moment. I don't want to change a single shot or line. So so good.
Totally agree with this, it is perfection!

Adante - I hope things go smoother for you now. Finger crossed.
Bea - Fellow Mapp&Lucia fan here too. Such a brilliant show. Have you tried the books? E.F. Benson's writing is very good.

I started The Killer's Shopping List last night. Sadly I fell asleep during ep1 so will try again tonight :)

Oh that is really awful Andante. Hope you get it sorted and are on your way to a dream holiday soon. Just got the Rough guide out of the library to start planning autumn 2023 trip - going without family and with fellow fan rl chingus so we can nerd out and giggle at filming locations to our heart's content.

Talking of fanfic I may have developed something of a HP fanfic habit (reading it not writing it). Endless supply of badly written smut and I can't look away.

I'm hoping to go Autumn 23 too Pol, depending on dds uni plans. I'm a bit envious that you get to go with a friend, there is no way I'd get away with that! It's all or nothing with the Rowdy family 😆

Aesops I looked at The Killer's shopping list ,I'll be interested to see what you think of it.

My drama viewing has been seriously impinged by DH injuring himself. Not only do I have less time to watch, but he's lying on the sofa meaning I can't sit down and watch anything anyway! 😒

@polkettle Who do you ship in HP? I was a dedicated SS/HG (but only when she was of age) shipper. There really are some fabulous fanfics out there but unfortunately, an awful lot of rubbish.

Aha Metheven . Confused for a moment and then realised that my use of initials is especially unsuitable for fanfic discussion - Hospital Playlist not Harry Potter! It's all awful prose but mesmerising - I am agog with admiration for the writers' abilities to churn out words and plot and to head off in unexpected directions. (Ikjun as college student crown prince of Korea anyone??) Even more admiring and agog that they're often writing it in a second language (but -related- would like to gently correct their understanding of the word 'fisting'...)
And obviously there must be SO much more BTS stuff- think I would never emerge from that rabbit hole were it my bag.

And sorry to hear about Mr Rowdy Rowdy but let's coordinate our trips and then you can abandon your family and run away with us 😁!

Haha polkettle I am obviously not entrenched in kdrama enough to realise that 😂 If you ever diversify into Harry Potter fanfiction, do let me know.

Sounds like a plan 😆🙌

Metheven my first thought was Harry Potter too and I'm well entrenched in Kdrama 😁🤓

Andante oh no! That sounds terribly stressful 😕* *Hope it all goes smoothly for you from now on 🤞 And curses on the travel agent 🤨

Bea and Musique hmmm, I was wondering about the joint enlistment thing too, given the format of the 'new' album....potential 'farewell for now' tour....suspension of Run BTS (right?)... I guess we'll find out sooner or later. Maybe I'll get CLOY x BTS dreams if it does happen? 🤔😃

Rowdy (get better soon to Mr Rowdy) and pol autumn 2023's in my diary for a Korea trip, too. Current plan is to go with a friend, but DH and DD are showing more and more interest, so who knows? I wd be happy to go alone if necessary, too. That's one of the reasons I want to learn at least some basic Korean.

Glad it wasn't just me Rowdythree. In fact, it has just inspired me to re-read my favourite Harry Potter fanfiction.

Sorry to hear about the visa/flights disaster andante. Almost worthy of a kdrama. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it works out for you.

As for BTS and the military service, we're going to find out soon, surely, as Jin is 29 and that's as late as they can delay under current rules. Unless there's government intervention and an extraordinary exemption he'll be enlisting by the end of this year.

(I only know this btw as a Guardian reader, not a BTS fan 😉)
www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/23/south-korea-split-in-row-over-military-service-for-bts

Thank you everyone for your kind words. We’re on board and about to take off.
The onscreen safety announcements feature k pop stars -not sure which ones.

Safe flight Andante! ✈️

How exciting Andante! Keep us posted with updates (if you want to, obvs).

Andante’s travel woes have reminded me of the awful mishap at the start of The Package (Viki). An amuse bouche of a kdrama at something like 8 episodes. It slipped down a treat.