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!

Oh AmVa I really wish I'd seen your comment before you read the end as I would have tried to convince you to keep going as you'd already suffered the really dark bit and there's some really touching scenes towards the end which leave you with a real sense of closure. I came away from it feeling satisfied with the emotional reunion scene between the leads, despite the ultimate (completely unnecessary) ending.

Double the abs and romance Pol......if it was just about the abs we could just watch sports. Like, you know, the mens 10m synchronised dive, for instance 😉

half-back-sweater
I think I've found where SK celebs buy their knitwear 😆It works back to front as well, I think.

Cobol, divers/swimmers have the best bodies. Remember Nam Joo Hyuk in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo?

Absolutely Migs, although when I think of Nam Joo Hyuk the rooftop bath in The Bride of Haebak is the first thing that comes to mind, if I'm honest.

Ooo same 🤣

Might rewatch that bit now you've reminded me!

Kinda depends where you started and where you’ve got to in your menopausal journey and life’s ongoing tussle with gravity. I couldn’t wear that jumper the other way round. 😳

Re the double abs, all good. I’ll confess I’d never given the surplus baked goods any thought until FedUp led us to the naughty manhwa. The last few months have been pretty educational. 🤣

And yes to Nam Joo Hyuk in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo. Sung Hoon was also a competitive swimmer. I like male swimmers’ physiques - toned without bulk. The sport also favours taller men, just like kdrama. 🙌

Bride of Haebak I haven't seen. Which ep please?? For research purposes only of course.

<whisper> I think we've scared off the lone male here. I blame those BTS dreams 😂

@Cobol I might go and watch the final scenes... I honestly don't think I will enjoy less for knowing what happens if it's a really well acted scene with great emotions. I don't really mind spoilers some of the time 🤷

Boaty you started me on the ABO world on AO3 and my eyes are now permanently in surprised mode, but I do like both fantasy and sci-fi. Reading manhwas makes my wrist tired (old injury) from having to scroll too much so it's time I explored BL - I've only watched Semantic Error so far.

Dreams you say? My ears were burning there Migs 😁 Coincidentally I was just looking through the next chapter in the course ('Experience') and one of the questions up for discussion is 'Have you dreamed in Korean?' I will have to find out how to say 'Well, funny you should ask that...'

I might have some horrific nightmares now though after seeing that fugly jumper 🤔There is categorically no point in my life at which I would have worn that monstrosity (and I speak as a sartorial survivor of the 70s, 80s and 90s).

Not guilty on the AO3 connection. That’s Pol and Thegirl’s bag, I think. I dipped my toe once but there's some v strange content on there, and I say that as a bato inhabitant.

Your wrist tired? OMO

Migs It's been a while since I watched it, so I could be misremembering but it seemed like he was in (and out!) of the bath quite regularly in the first few episodes. In fact, I might have to join TheLoup in a rewatch to jog my memory 😁

AmVa There's a lot going on in the last couple of episodes, with people finding out things about the past and the present all at different times so you'd probably need to watch all of it to appreciate the ending properly. It's very compelling viewing but yeah, really, really dark.

Ah yes migs - our Haebak ?Habaek? Whatever -- is a water god & thus likes bathing - there's a few rooftop bath moments. The plot makes ALL THE SENSE in this regard.

Also sniggering at the 'sore wrist' from too much manhwa - ooo matron!

Sorry Boaty, memory corrected. And there's too much sniggering going on on this thread!!!!

You look away for a moment and return to FILTH.
Good work noonas.

Sorry Migs, that was mostly my fault. Dragonrock made some interesting points about BL as part of a serious discussion but I somehow turned it into a conversation about Nam Joo Hyuk having a bath.

BTW if you enjoyed Semantic Error, you might like To My Star, it's a good "opposites attract" style romance. In fact most of the Korean BLs are pretty similar with an emphasis on romantic relations as opposed to the Thai BLs which tend to be a bit racier. And then there are the Tawainese ones which can veer between kdrama style romance and a how-to guide to having safe gay sex, which can be a bit weird (but very responsible and somewhat more realistic). Some of them are quite good. I really enjoyed Be Loved in House:I do although I did question my sanity a little when I found myself watching a load of Tawainese actors looking for a cat - I used to be so fussy about only watching quality dramas 😂.

If it's on AO3 it might have been me? I don't think I've scarred anyone's eyeballs with ABO recs though? But there's a lot of it out there 🤣 I'd have to be quite confident in someone's filth level to rec something like that 😬

Ah Be Loved in House I do was a fave of mine Cobol because even though everything about it was SO shonky at the seams it had real heart and was so sweetly unproblematic and angst free about sexuality. Loved the mum.
As I have said The 8th Sense is a nice new BL - longer than the usual Korean ones too.

And I don't do the ABO thing either - I like my Absolute Filth true to character thank you very much and straightens pearls 😉

I’m crunching through wholesome baguette-free I raised a black dragon on Manta. It’s total escapist isekai fluff. I opened my news app the other morning, saw all the Sudanese grimness in the headlines and headed over to Manta. Reality is hard at the mo. The little dragon is cute as a button. 🤷‍♀️

Stand down chingus, I'm not scarred by ABOverse 😂The groups and power dynamics of that world interest me but my god, the appalling smut writing! Just had a thought - the answer might be Chatgpt. I could ask for a revolution!

Now, how good is The Good Bad Mother!🤗
Queen of Masks just heated up too. Took 4 eps to really take off.

Just coming here to say HOW GOOD is TGBM Migs? Only two episodes in but so many twists and turns!

I'm going to start TGBM tonight! Am looking fw to it!