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!

That makes the book group in I’ll Go to You When the Weather is Nice really unexpected.

Yes. The book club is adorable. However I find Seo Kang-Joon‘s permanent half smile a bit annoying. It was the same with the ml in Summer’s Strike.

boaty Return to Seoul is definitely worth making a detour for. I'd be interested to hear what you make of it.

Re: D-Day. 🙌😁 I'll be watching it again this week with a visiting relative who doesn't have access to Disney+ at home, and then again with my student friend in a few weeks' time, with appropriate snacks and drinks 😎🙌🙌

I sent her that article and we've been discussing it, also in the context of D-Day. I was curious to know how it's been received in Korean media, so she kindly checked that out for me. As I kind of expected, she said all the coverage focused more on the album's success than the content. And confirmed that discussion of mental health issues remains taboo.

Also watching D-Day. It's great but does confirm the sapping cost of this fame and lifestyle. Honestly, if they're all still alive 10 years down the track that will be a success.

I vaguely remember watching this on TV before my discovery of K-drama.

I grew up in Asian education system, it wasn’t as intense as SK but it’s no where relaxed like British system.I don’t know what I prefer.

I see British students including my DC, while they have knowledge but I do feel they lack grit, perseverance & diligence of Asian counterparts.

Yes, it actually made me hope they don’t reform after all their military service. (Sorry everyone.) The toll of that lifestyle is huge. I want them to have some fun while they are still young.

Jin I'm pretty sure I saw that programme back then too 🙂 I think the guys who did that ATEEZ fish and chips interview I linked to a while back were featured on that show 😁

boaty Although I wd love to see them live, I understand what you mean. Where can they possibly go from here? 😬 I do seem to remember Jin saying he wasn't going to be dancing around on stage in his thirties, so 🤷‍♀️

Jin, I had seen that series before, but it was good to watch it again. Gosh, trying to compare UK and Asian/SK schools involves so many variables that it's difficult to say which is better. If I'm being generous I would say something like "horses for courses".
I used to work in the education system in the UK (not teaching) and also attended uni here. I believe current attitudes towards education in both the UK and SK reflect Maslow's hierarchy of needs. This thread on MN on attitudes towards private education, is an illustration of what I mean:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/black_mumsnetters/4768710-private-school-inverse-snobbery

Family circumstances and attitudes result in different expectations of what education can deliver. I now recognise that in terms of education, I was brought up with Asian style attitudes where competing and winning are goals to work towards; this in turn generates the deligence, resilience and hard work necessary for success. Luckily this was in a western country, so there was room for both education and enjoying life. All I have ever asked of my dc was that they perform to the best of their ability, they didn't have to be in the top 10% if they weren't academically capable. SK schooling is too punishing for me but we also need better teaching and higher academic expectations in the UK. Don't start me on grade inflation either!!

BTW, tough grammar questions for that Welsh schoolboy. He was probably never taught parsing and verb tenses, in any significant way, at school!

Dr Cha is just such an enjoyable, satisfying watch. I think of all the shows I have on the go, it's the top!🥰

Risqué Business Japan, is also very good.
Ep 2 with the adult actresses was an education in itself. That they are selling a fantasy, not reality needs to be more widely recognised by young people, esp when the earliest age for seeing porn in the UK is, wait for it, age 9. Primary school!!! And young girls are being pressured into doing stuff seen in AVs.😢
The topic is well handled - comedy and facts with some non judgemental and insightful Q&A. Maybe it's because it's Japan and they have a different (more open and honest?) cultural attitude to sex, from SK.

I loathe her conniving husband and MIL. The mistress is awful too, but the husband is king turd in a strong field. I get the whole plot advancing jewellery macguffin, but I keep wondering about the hospital’s infection control arrangements. The dangly bits look hazardous in a clinical setting.

Boaty, husband is a panto baddie! I like how the cheaters are obviously going to get caught, 😈plus there's tall, handsome, Dr Dreamboat 😜 and
evil MIL is going to get scammed. All the rubbish I like in one show!!

You’re right. It is panto. Booooooo! He’s (going) behind you(r) back to shag his mistress.

Sounds like they'll be in trouble if the Infection Control team come round and do a uniform audit ...... 😂

Re: BTS & reforming after the military, I think whatever they do has to be on their own terms/different to what came before. I hope they can find a way forward that will make them all happy. The level of fame they have at the minute is absolutely insane - it must feel stifling in a lot of ways, you have to wonder how long it can really last. I will watch D-Day tonight....

Great fan service in today’s Dr Cha: that close up of Dr Dreamboat’s thighs. 😂

I'm going to have to watch Dr Cha, I'm getting FOMO 😂

And it's 🙌 from me for Dr Dreamboat"s thigh closeup.😁

I'm now on Ep 3 of RB-J and the SK presenters are about to interview the CEO of an adult video production company called ..... Soft on Demand!🙀That made me chuckle.😹
Instead of a baguette manhwa rabbit hole, I fear this documentary could lead me down a rabbit hole necessitating Firefox Focus in stealth mode, Adblock Plus, Norton and Nordvpn!!

Migs, you sound remarkably well briefed about the additional requirements for, ahem, extended viewing. 😂

😂😂

1st take from D-Day : Yoongi has really nice hands (sorry. Must focus).

Amygdala is a masterpiece.

Aaaah boaty, I have form in visiting many questionable places online🤓

😮

Seriously chingus, the documentary is good. Once again, I don't know if it's because it's Japanese culture, but it's a job taken seriously like any other, (even if parents might not be happy with the sector), with attention to detail, striving to improve, job satisfaction etc and the CEO even talked about the importance of protecting the mental health of actors. I cannot help but make comparisons with the k-pop industry, but perhaps the difference is in the age and mindset of the actors when they enter the av industry.

That was a great documentary - I really enjoyed watching it: a really honest and insightful look into the creative process and into Suga as well - he is so talented, a genius at what he does really. I felt like he seemed completely burnt out and exhausted at the start of the documentary, but in a much better place as it went on. It seemed obvious from some things he said that he has had some therapy. The bit with Ryuichi Sakamoto was really moving, and I noticed then that Suga started to talk about his own dreams and plans for the future - travelling and working with traditional musicians from different parts of the world. I loved all the live music segments. All the concert footage I've seen online looks so good - I so wish for a European date, or at least a live stream.

It was a totally different vibe from the Jack in the Box doc wasn't it? I loved that one too, because Hobi, but I thought D-Day felt a lot more raw and personal.

😂 I should clarify I was watching D-Day: not got to RB-J yet (it's on the list!)