MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #40): The Filthy Noonas’ rapidly expanding flock gambol into spring with a giddiness only matched by Junkook’s drunken vlives

[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)
Little Women (Netflix)
My Name (Netflix)
My Secret Terrius (Netflix)🌟
Signal (Netflix)🌟
Somebody (Netflix, content warning: sexual & violence)
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)
Our Blooming Youth (Viki)
Pachinko (AppleTV)
Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (Netflix)
Tale of Nokdu (Viki/Netflix)🌟
The Forbidden Marriage (Viki)
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/Netflix)
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 Course in Romance (Netflix)
Crash Landing on You (Netflix)🌟Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Doctors (Netflix)
Doom At Your Service (Viki)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix)
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
Gaus Electronics (Viki)🌟
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)🌟
Delivery Man (Viki)
Happiness (Viki/Netflix)🌟
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)
Sell Your Haunted House (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’
We 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)
First Love (Netflix - Japanese)🌟
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)
Meet Yourself (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 Makanai (Netflix, 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)

Top Scoring 2022 Dramas
Coutrtesy of much-missed Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, updated by thread regulars. Marks out of 10.
#1 My Liberation Notes 9.45
#2 Alchemy of Souls 9.10
#3 First Love 8.88 (Jdrama)
#4 Our Blues 8.83
#5 Gaus Electronics 8.75

Top Scoring 2021 Dramas
#1 The Red Sleeve - 10
#2 Happiness - 9
#3 Devil Judge - 8.75
#4 Squid Game - 8.6
#5 Navillera - 8.57

Top Scoring 2020 dramas
#1 Mr Queen - 9.4
#2 Parasite (film) - 9.05
#3 It's Okay To Not Be Okay - 8.88
#4 The Uncanny Counter - 8.50
#5 Once Again - 8.42

Top Scoring 2019 dramas
#1 Her Private Life - 9.42
#2 Melo is My Nature - 9.00
#3 tied: Crash Landing On You, The Crowned Clown, The Lies Within, and The Tale of Nokdu - 8.75
#4 Hotel del Luna - 8.50
#5 tied: Romance is a Bonus Book, and Search: WWW - 8.17

We are fans of all things Korean, so equally happy to talk about Korean cookery, language, current affairs, film and music when the mood takes us. A few of us are learning Korean, Japanese and/or Mandarin (some more diligently than others), so we swap tips and links to language resources. Basically, anything topical goes.

We often resort to acronyms and/or abbreviations of show titles or 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!

Not guilty re: KDW vid, but enjoying it 😁

FedUp 🥺🥺🥺

And I loved it ❤️😂

Thank you all for your kind words. Yes, unfortunately dh’s ward bears little resemblance to those smart VIP rooms in k drama hospitals - not even Capt Ri’s N Korean hospital room.

Blooming Youth!... Blooming finished!

Nothing bad about it except the snail pace! 🐌🐌🐌🐌

I have no drama to watch! Time to peruse viki!

Am up to date with The Real Has Come - have been watching it in all its makjang glory with a smile on my face. How can I wait 5 days for episode 9??

Also up to date on The Real Has Come - it's a real binge-watch I wish I could see all the eps now!
Wannabe wifey is sooooooo awful!!! And the halmeoni!

I know - it's proper binge material!
The halmeoni with permanent expression of pursed-lip disapproval and the dreadful conniving wannabe-wife! I couldn't believe she IGNORED the phonecall about the Principal being injured 😱 plus, deranged ex boyfriend - I've lost count of how many times he has been slapped/punched in the face already and it's only episode 8.....

@TheLoupGarou and even the mum is conniving in her own way...emotionally blackmailing FL . And the preview to next week's just made me 🤬🤬🤬 with halmeoni & wannabe wifey's attitude to the pregnancy!
Also spent too much time trying to work out if the actor playing single dad brother also played youngest chaebol daughter's boyf with clingy family.

Excellent news. I'm going to save it until it's complete for a break glass emergency watch.

Yes me too! Was it the same actor with dodgy fake highlights?! 😂

I saw some hair-grabbing in the preview from the wannabe wife's mother as well 😡 poor FL - she does not deserve all these assholes! I like FL's family but agree her mother is both unreasonable and manipulative - I think it is probably because she doesn't want her to have the hard life that she herself has had though?

I predict youngest-chaebol daughter and single-dad bro will end up getting together, following a set of implausible circumstances 😂

J-Hope Insta update

🥹 Hobiiiiiiiiii I like the buzz cut! Going to miss him 💜💜

@Andante57 I'm sorry to hear about your trip.
Lots of best wishes to your DH for a successful op and speedy recovery.

Ahhh he suits it!! 💜💜💜

He actually really rocks it - good bone structure 😉😍

Agreed - Hobi can carry it off 💜 Hope he flourishes in the army as much as Jin is seeming to. (No new pictures or anything, but from previous photos etc. I get the impression it's like being in one big computer game for him 😁).

And a new addition to our oppas-in-the-bath collection 😁

Thank you JinBhoot. Hopefully the wait for his op won’t be too long.

I don’t like this one. Suga looks pretty gaunt and the bath tub looks like it’s in a skanky den. It’s screaming spiral into drugs oblivion. 😕

boaty he looks gaunt in all of them to be fair. He merrily talked about only eating one meal a day (when he's not fasting that is 😬) in a recent interview/live, I forget which. I find the skinniness ideal very hard to accept, I have to say. I hate to criticise anyone's appearance (this is no criticism of you for pointing it out) but agree he would look a hell of alot better with an extra 10 kilos.

I didn't get a drugs-use vibe from this at all I must say, but perhaps that because I was a skinny indie kid back in the 90s, as was MrSaram so kind of looked a bit like this. (Only a bit mind, let's not get carried away 😁) Both shorter than Yoongi, but well under 60 kilos while eating like horses. We never looked this skinny 😕 I hope he's bulked up a little in real life since the photos were taken so he has the stamina for the solo tour 😬 In my mad dreams I will be waiting in the wings as he comes off stage with a soothing bag of banchan and flask of barley tea like Nam Haeng-seon in my mom jeans and crazy jumpers. And instructions to not make it too much of a late-nighter. (Yeah, right 😂)

Hope Mr Andante is hanging in there with the snoring! Does he have to stay in until his op Andante ?

Saram Yoongi looks great in those pics! I like the one with the fire & tropical pattern shirt best I think.....

DH eye-rolls notwithstanding - I think I'm going to drop some money on some Hobi merch to console myself re: enlistment 😂 I'm sure he will do well as he gives 110% effort and positivity to everything he does ❤️

Agree Yoongi looks skinny, but he has always been thin I think, he gives off 90's indie kid vibes to me as well..... Rain oppa is another one meal a day guy, although he had his abs out on insta recently and I was pleasantly surprised - he has still got it 🔥😂

Just had another look - I do think the pics give off a slightly skeezy/grungy energy but I actually prefer it to his more clean cut pic concepts (see also tattooed CK era JK 😂) - takes me back to my youth 🙈

Rain's abs in pic 6

Still in the manhwa mine. The erratic translation on some series leads to unintentionally amusing mental imagery.

Crusty baguette with that chees board 😉?
You've probably already read it Boaty (and FedUp) and it might be too gentle for your tastes but I spent a lot of yesterday reading Gin No Spoon with much pleasure. Big brother cooking for siblings slice of life manga with (very) slow burn romance. 8 volumes swallowed and I'm hooked (with something like another 8 to be translated evidently)