MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #34): July brings internal conflict. Make the most of sunshine and the long days, or keep on top of your kdrama? 🤔

[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)🌟
My Liberation Notes🌟
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)
Our Blues (Netflix)🌟
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.

The Red Sleeve - 10
Happiness - 9
Devil Judge - 8.75
Squid Game - 8.63
Navillera - 8.57

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

2019’s top scoring dramas:
Her Private Life - 9.40
Melo is My Nature - 9.00
Tied 3rd: Crash Landing On You, The Crowned Clown, The Lies Within, and The Tale of Nokdu - 8.75
Hotel del Luna - 8.50
Tied 5th: Romance is a Bonus Book, and Search: WWW

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!

Sorry Metheven I keep spelling your username wrong.

Thanks FedUpWithBriiiiick plenty of kdrama will see me right.

No problem FedUpWithBriiiiick

And you posted without an episode number and time stamp. Very bad form. 😉

Typing J-drama titles is exhausting in this heat...

LOL 🤣

My salads and side dishes went down a storm at the party, which was so much fun after the last couple of years. I now need to make a new batch of potato salad for us to eat. I’d forgotten how nice homemade potato salad is!

Now for Alchemy of Souls with a wind-down cuppa.

Sounds like you had well deserved fun Boaty. Wish I was there! 😊😊😊

It's 21C where I am so I made plans to stain the fence. Huh, I opened Netflix, saw Remarriage and Desires and then binge watched all 8 episodes!! It's a revenge drama, and Lee Hyun Wook looks very pretty in it - I want his skin! Top tip from the show: If you want to stand out, dance alone on a stage wear a red dress!😀

SK Beauty tip - Dr Mascara fixer for super long lash. Dd came home for a visit and raved about it.

Someone posted it before me, it was episode 4.
I just finished it and it was a roller coaster!
Great female 'baddie' and I know lots of people hated the love interest but I thought they were cute.
The BTS photos at the end of the last episode were adorable.

God, I love Alchemy of Souls so much. It’s the combination of Jung So Min with all the leggy young men, the magic and the bickering maidservant Kim/clueless Songrim boss mage combo. Jung So Min makes everything she is in a hundred times better - a class act.

Ep14 of Why Her is so tragic, but it's such a great show! Just when you think the bad guys couldn't get any worse... I can't wait for the final 2 episodes next weekend 😱

In my sweaty, covidy state, I have started watching The Uncanny Counter really loving it so far, I love stuff involving the afterlife.

I’ve not long returned from a shopping trip in to town on foot to get holiday clothes with DS2 after yet another growth spurt. We headed out mid-morning before the temperature took off. The walk home was hotter than Hades. British English badly needs a word like hangry for heat-related grumpiness. It wasn’t pretty. 😂

I feel I have earned a flop on the sofa with kdrama.

Humpiness, @boatyardblues ? No, that means something totally different, sorry. Hrumpiness?

US is one of the most emotionally satisfying shows I have ever watched.
The Counters are so perfect as a team and from episode 9 onwards I was welling up every episode.

Me too @Rowdythree. I’m expecting Why her? to have a belter of an ending.

Migs me too! It really deserves to have a cracking ending, I really hope we're not disappointed 🤞

Loving the chemistry and straightforward relationship in Into The Ring

I loved Into The Ring. The buttoned up civil servant at the council was a surprisingly engaging male lead.

Off the back off the positive thread chatter I have started Attorney Woo. Loving Kang Tae Oh in this. He always comes across so affable, I would be gutted if I found out he was a git in real life. He’s ‘happy place’ casting for me in the same way the Jung So Min is.

Also, no weekend post would be complete without expressing my love for Alchemy of Souls. Another thoroughly enjoyable episode tonight.

Eve, Eve! I've invested so much in this drama because I'm a sucker for revenge and liked FL in It's okay to not be okay. But now revenge has inexplicably turned into romance🙄 and I'm just around to see if Park Byung Eun's character is capable of expressions other than resting blank face.
When the only curiousity for the entire show is around Seo Yea Ji toning down the hats and white, kabuki make up, you know you should have given up earlier. Ayiiiiieee!😖
Thank goodness for Attorney Woo salvation.💝

Every episode of Attorney Woo is brilliant & better then the previous one.
Alchemy of Souls is also so lovely. Earlier in the thread some one mentioned about different FL in S2. I think its to do with her soul shifting to another body (I might be late to the party).

I am off to holidays in couple of days, I hope there are no regional restrictions on my Netflix account.

@boatyardblues suddenly I am hungry for potato salad but have zero time to spend in kitchen. (Finishing off work, packing & last min shopping).

I enjoyed watching In to the Ring, pre covid I was sitting near the team who was doing pretty much similar stuff. There was so much resemblance to the real life.

Outraged at only getting 250 ink in my Tapas Monday Fortune Cookie. #Firstworldproblems

I got 380 today. First time I haven’t had 250. Thanks for the reminder! 👍

I've always got something in the 300s before so I didn't think anything higher or lower actually existed. It appears I was more Fortunate than I knew.

Heatwave dilemmas - will looking at new reels/photos of 😎 he-so-cool Son Seok Koo bring my temperature down or will looking at photos of 🔥 but-he-so-hot Son Seok Koo actually put me in hospital with sunstroke.