MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #36): The one where gluten-free and baguettes stopped being about baked goods. Best leave it at that.

[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
Alchemy of Souls (Netflix) 🌟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)
Sweat and Soap (Viki, Japanese)
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!

Easy!

Episode 23, 30 minute time stamp of Forever and Ever and mine and the FL's questions and resulting expression post explanation are IDENTICAL.
This drama has no discernible plot at all and yet also gaping plot holes - quite an accomplishment. I'm really thoroughly enjoying it.

I thought you'd invented a new word - way easy =wasy 😁

I've started Gaus Electrics which is great fun, only 3 episodes in so far. Thanks for the recommendation

I've also just started Curtain Call for Sung Dong Il, but mainly because I like dramas that have a North Korean theme, and I'm also enjoying the historical flashbacks, so I'm hoping there will be more of that. Heartbreaking to see the reunification meetings between separated families.

Rowdy, I've given Gaus a reprieve and now on ep 6. I'm still not fond of the peripheral characters but like the two main couples.

Maybe it's time for cdramas, so recommendations welcome!

I’m marooned in manhwa-land, no thanks to FedUp. I am reading gluten-free stuff as well as all the huffing humping ones. I have the attention span of a gnat right now and feel I may be on a downward slide into communicating solely in manhwa exclamations. Shwaaaa!

Oh my days boatyard, all good so long as they're not the "slurpy" exclamations!!!

Shlup!

Omo - feel like I've sighted a unicorn. It's a GIRL love web drama. Very cute first episode although no English subs (that I could see) so I had to follow transcript while watching.

Cooking post.
The K cookbook I posted about previously is now only available in French😞 so I just bought the kindle edition of another cookbook by the same author for 99p (Eat Korean: our home cooking and street food) and that's worth it for the dipping sauces and gochujang recipes alone!
After tasting store bought makgeolli and liking it, I'm on the hunt for a recipe as it only tales 7-10 days to ferment. Christmas will be very different this year!<exploding bottles>

In an ULTIMATE Chinese nerd poppet sexytimez move, ML of Forever and Ever has just removed his cardi to impregnate FL.

😱And you didn't provide the timecode???!!!

I am way behind you on this drama in spite of enjoying it as I too have been waylaid by manhwa, of the baguette and gluten-free kind. I have become absorbed in isekai 😩

Apologies if it has already been mentioned, Alexander Armstrong’s tv series about South Korea starts tonight on channel 5 (it was postponed because of the recent tragedy). Anyone else planning to watch it?

😁 I don't know how far in you are Bettys but if you're hoping this will become gluten-rich snogging territory you will be disappointed so no time stamp required. They are totally adorable nerds throughout even when frisky.
It's still a very sweetly intimate and romantic drama somehow though and they spend a lot of time chatting in bed. I've really enjoyed it and will miss them when it's over but it's kind of acquired taste territory given low keyness of much of it. Has some class to it amongst the nonsense and head scratching family politics.

Ewwwww. 😂

November look is my favourite

November look makes me want to get the scissors out of the kitchen drawer. September for me.

Alexander Armstrong annoying me a bit in this show - stop talking to that poor woman while she is trying to do your make-up!

Ooooooh Yoongi 😍 October all the way here 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻 He has never looked better than during the Busan concert imo. Although the flirtation with David Bowie Man-Who-Fell-To-Earth-period orange hair late last year was also very welcome 😁. And I also appreciated the post-wisdom-tooth-extraction puffy face and careful tangerine consumption in Feb 2021's group V-live.

@boatyardblues I agree totally. I did wonder if we were being trolled for all the long-hair love 🤔😂 Apparently the latest look is a reference to Fuji Kaze, a J-pop artist (look up his Shinunoga E Wa on Spotify and you'll see what I mean). The money's on a possible collab, perhaps on Yoongi's rumoured upcoming solo album 👀

My goodness that boy's hair grows fast. Mr November for me.

September or October for me!

@FedUpWithBriiiiick 'boy' arrrgghhh no! 😱😂IN HIS 30s IN KOREAN YEARS [repeats comforting mantra to self and double-checks age-appropriate-oppa calculation]

Photos where we get the gummy smile are the absolute best though. Particularly when Yoongi met his basketball heroes in Japan and fanboyed 😃

I couldn't choose November because the hair reminds me of Laura Pergolizzi singing one of my favs "Lost on you" even tho I know Suga is waay prettier. Sorry for introducing that image to your head!!

I didn’t feel he was necessarily the right person for this show somehow 🤔.

😱😱😱😱is it just me that can see a ghostly baguette in that picture???? 🥖

(September October for me)