MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #33): So much good content airing just now our Filthy Noonas’ hearts are fit to burst like squashed frogs on a country road

[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 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 a star 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. Happiness - 9
3. Devil Judge - 8.75
4. Squid Game - 8.63
5. Navillera - 8.57

2020’s top scoring dramas
1 - Mr Queen - 9.4
2 - Parasite - 9.05
3 - It's Okay To Not Be Okay - 8.88
4 - The Uncanny Counter - 8.50
5 - Once Again - 8.42

2019’s top scoring dramas:

1. Her Private Life - 9.40
2. Melo is My Nature - 9.00

3.= Crash Landing On You, The Crowned Clown, The Lies Within, and The Tale of Nokdu - 8.75

1. Hotel del Luna - 8.50

5.= Romance is a Bonus Book, and Search: WWW - 8.17

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 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!

Halfway into the first episode of Lost and it is so clearly class that I have bought a month of IQiyi to watch it in a kosher fashion. Not only Reply hottie Ryu wotsit looking gorgeous but CEO MA 😍!!

I've just finished watching Signal. I found it a bit slow and repetitive in places but it was a reasonably solid whodunnit. I really wanted to watch Tunnel but it's been displaced by a Thai version on Netflix, which didn't really grab me. I might have to put up with the adverts on Viki for that one eventually but for now I fancy a romance. It was a toss up between One Spring Night or Rain or Shine and I went for the latter. I'm part way through Ep 1 and I'm already enjoying the blueprints and structural engineering tips, so it might be a keeper.

You've sold it to me pol , I might try a different email & see if I can get a month's free trial on iQuiyi

@Bea Thanks re 'Again my Life'- sounds good!

@Prestel I thought One Spring Night was decent but Rain or Shine is excellent so good call there.. Tunnel is well worth a watch, quite heavy at times but also some funny moments and the cast is great. (I agree with you re Signal.)

Bonsai 💚

I went for green leaves, sorry Rowdy! Google says Sakura season is over.

Very good FedUp!

Fair enough, looked fab though! 👏

@Prestel I like both One Spring Night and Rain or Shine, either would have been a good shout.

Pol I like the sound of Lost, I need to finish some other dramas off before I start anything new though

Good to know Rain or Shine was generally liked, I'll crack on with that tomorrow then.

Love the Lego bonsai tree FedUp 🌸

Rain or Shine was the show where Junho acquired his Lovely Eyes prefix, if I recall correctly. It’s good and the payoff at the end is very worthwhile. Plus the Great Dane in a more attractive role as well as Lovely Eyes Junho.

@Saram13 my comments re BTS are speculation. I though they all will go together but May be 2years absence will impact the popularity so they will go in 2-3 lots so rest of the boys can hold the fort.
Hobi announced his solo music festival on his insta account.
I follow boys & their agency on Instagram, couple of accounts on. Twitter.
that is enough to show me BTS related stuff in suggested posts.

@polkettle Locke your Lego project.

@FedUpWithBriiiiick oops wrong tag - Love the Lego bonsai tree.

I have finished Military Prosecutor Doberman it was interesting & I hope real life military service is not that extreme & soul destroying. I wonder what type of treatment celebrities get during military service.

Finished Shooting Star, last few episodes were fillers but I enjoyed the fluff. Handsome Lawyer needs his own series, love his stance about finishing work at dot 6. What should I watch now? Recommend something similar pls.

Rain or Shine story done brilliantly. I have enjoyed watching it.

I would also recommend Black Dog slow & serious - good watch.

Boaty keep us updated on Yumi's Cells! DH and I were so upset at the end of Season 1, but I feel oddly excited about Season 2.

We just started My Liberation Notes, which looks stunning and is very good, but quite bleak. I'm hoping for some happiness somewhere (hopefully not in vain).

We just started My Liberation Notes, which looks stunning and is very good, but quite bleak. I'm hoping for some happiness somewhere (hopefully not in vain)

Yes, we’ve watched 2 episodes of MLN - I agree it seems quite bleak so far.

@Andante and others - thanks for the congrats! I am quite proud of myself if I'm honest. It's been a long time since I studied anything at a remotely formal level.

It's a 17-week course at beginners' level. One 3-hour lesson a week (mine was online, but they do on-site as well). They said 3 hours of self-study a week, but I'd say it was nearer to 8. I put in ALOT of time at the start to get to grips with that brilliant but pesky hangul.

Despite being 'only' beginners' level, it was HARD (but brilliant!). I can I now hold basic conversations, talk about plans, time, weather, numbers, buy stuff, order stuff, negotiate on price (this is a BIG deal in the course, so I'm assuming it says alot about Korean society 😂), say what I like and don't like. That kind of stuff.

The exam was two hours long. There were listening tasks with multiple-choice answers. Speaking (we had to learn 3 conversations and 60 stock phrases off by heart and reproduce them at random, plus introduce ourselves). Reading comprehension with multiple choice questions (the hardest bit was where the questions were also in Korean! 😰) Writing was translating sentences of varying complexity into and out of Korean, providing the missing word in a sentence, conjugating verbs. All handwritten.

Our teacher was excellent and made it fun with frequent references to K-dramas, BTS and other K-pop. We even analysed the lyrics to That That 😁She also taught us slang/examples of terms borrowed from English. I would definitely recommend it, but although the course itself is on online it would mean several trips over here 😕 as you need to show up in person for book collection and the exam. There must be similar things on offer in the UK.

@JinBhoot ah ok, thanks. It's definitely time for me to launch myself into the world of Instagram and Twitter 😃

@FedUp yes, I'd love BTS on vinyl too. Butter was released on vinyl as a single, but sold out before I was aware of it 😕

Love the Bonsai tree 😀

I'm also very much for everything in one place on this thread. I don't currently read manwha, partly because I really dislike reading on a screen, but it's still interesting to hear about it 😊

I spent most of yesterday cooking recipes from The Korean Vegan for friends, included someone who's been to Korea twice (twice! 😮) for work and was distinctly underwhelmed by the food (as a vegetarian). She still doesn't dig fermented stuff, but did like the bulgogi, and plain soju mixed with Coco Palm (does anyone else know that Korean soft drink? Highly recommended!) So I count that as a success 😁

Oh yeah, the mad BTS dreams are continuing. In the latest one Yoongi made a random appearance again. He was wearing a red and white long-sleeved t-shirt with an elaborate ruffle down the front. It was one of those ones where the logo of the designer forms the print, if you see what I mean. Like Fendi etc. I said 'Ooooh I like your top!' And he looked down at the ruffle in surprise and said 'oh....thanks!' He may have been a little taken aback as he had Psy's body 😂 so was somewhat fuller-figured than usual 😁

I can't start Yumis Cells 2 until I know how it ends, as I will not be happy if they deviate from the excellent Webtoon endgame (and I think they might).

Rest assured Andante and Sakura that there is liberation ahead (and for me at least, a lot of laugh out loud moments). But it's a drama grounded in observations about daily living. Don't expect grand 'happenings' as such. (This follows on from a group conversation where I had recommended it to a non KD friend and she said she was enjoying it but suggested it was slow on plot and asked when something would happen, and another friend hotly defended that something big WAS about to happen and it turned out she meant the hat blowing off so...)

Bravo Saram!

I'm on episode 8 and it's still pretty bleak, there's some really beautiful stuff happening with the relationships though in a very quiet and deliberate way.

That sounds promising Chikapu and pol. Not sure how DH will react though!

there's some really beautiful stuff happening with the relationships though in a very quiet and deliberate way.

^ This is My Liberation Notes in a nutshell. It is anti-Makjang: nothing much happens but everything that does happen is the important stuff, if you see what I mean. I can’t rate it highly enough. It is nourishing in a way that noisy, excitable dramas are not. It’s what brought me to kdrama. It meets my need or hunger for smaller scale, meaningful storytelling.

For me watching MLN is like watching F1. You wait so long for something to happen that when it finally does it's immensely satisfying.

Well the end of Shitting Stars was delightfully 🐝-friendly. Lovely fluff.

I know Our Blues will not be as twee, but hopefully satisfactory with as low a death count as possible (a life beginning/life ending trope is inevitable)

I started Lost last night and was hypnotised by Ryu Wotsits face (and lovely lovely hair 😍)

Well, I’m now all caught up with Purple Hyacinth, all 121 episodes 😱 so can get back to kdrama. Lost sounds good.