MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #41): A poorly anticipated placeholder thread to contain the Filthy Noonas’ ongoing musings on all things Korean, with Japanese and Chinese sprinkles

[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’
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)
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
Courtesy 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 - 9.40
#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!

The macarons found a home. 🤣

Macaron Spoiler

They got eaten 😋

Crosspost boaty 😂

I love Prison Playbook too! It's not my comfort drama (I would never claim HP is the "best" drama - it's just the one whose world I can mentally retreat to and snuggle up in most easily) but everything Shin PD does is gold in my book.
Only I am still angry about how one PP character gets woefully short-changed.

Aw Subway's back in SYIMNL! It's been a while since we've had a low grade sandwich enjoyed with gusto 😍

Which character? Looney? 😢

Yep.

I totes eyerolled at that scene. As if chaebol eat in Subway! 🤪

I was just about to post about Subway 😂😂 it's been a while indeed!

I also must have had something in my eye there at the end of ep3 of SYIMNL.....

Relief that the macarons did not go to waste 🙌

Lol boaty they would be in some rooftop hotel lounge eating sashimi rolled in gold or something - nah let's give that a miss and get a meatball marinara 😂

I love KTL - I am going to have a hard time waiting until the weekend for new episodes. It's beautifully shit, the plot is flowing along nicely That macaron scene was brilliant. Lovely Junho is handsome as always - I'm not sure I'm feeling his line of double-breasted Gestapo macs though 😂. That tripping-over-heels-romantic-catch-by-ML at the end of ep4 has to be one of the top 5 ever, swoon.

I’m finding KTL and 19th life more comfortable viewing than Crazy Love. The first two are glossy, trope-laden kdrama romcoms played with a straight bat. Crazy Love is a slightly uncomfortable view. When KJW is playing non-amnesiac CEO he’s actually unpleasant and controlling. He’s not that appealing as ML and FL is a bit sappy. It was a genius move casting KJW when they saw the script, as people will still watch it.

Omg I just realised I wrote "beautifully shit". No. I meant "beautifully shot" . Omo. That's a typo worthy of "Sh**ting Stars" - I feel like I should put out a correction and a press release.

boaty I might try an episode of Crazy Love later - is it still worth checking out?

I feel like beautifully shit worked really well in that sentence 🤣

Yes yes yes yes YES

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongseong_Creature

www.instagram.com/reel/CtnGdM2uqbP/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

So excited for Gyeongseong Creature 🎉🎉

Me too!

I thought this was interesting - another effect of globalised streaming platforms and the dispersal of social movements.

Netflix political drama Wave Makers lights MeToo touchpaper in Taiwan.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/e520126c-11f2-11ee-9673-09365d127a9f?shareToken=4c183f86fbfb643ad22ca7a2852c2fcb

I've only watched Glastonbury this weekend so need to catch up with KTL
I took my eye off the thread for a couple of days and have had to scroll back miles to find what I'd missed 😅

@TheLoupGarou welcome to the world of Yulje Medical Centre.
tgats is my all time favourite frame PERIOD!!!
I refuse to rate any drama same or higher on the spreadsheet. I found our lovely FN due to HP. I wanted to talk to people about it, randomly searched on MN and found my tribe.

I have started King the Land. It is meant to be binged watched. Story seems slow and sometimes just too random (as per k drama standards). I am smitten by ML.

FL’s skirt in ep3, I can totally rock that look, where do I shop for it or do I need to get it stitched.

Whats with parachute landings on first day to work, this is 2nd drama. Did someone tried it for real in SK and now dramas use it as tongue in cheek way?
What is ML’s sister doing? Mind game or actually provoking him?

My background is in hospitality so I can relate to quite a lot of stuff. Snobbery was quite real at my work place it was mainly from Europeans (surprisingly Germans) targeted towards Asians. Americans were alright (more like FL’s team leader in new team).
They never asked us to sign DNR🤭 but have seen & heard quite interesting stuff. Rich (filthy) people are on other planet.

*That is my all time favourite drama PERIOD!!

Jin a relative of mine used to work in Harrods bridal department and has some tales to tell about mega rich bridezillas and wedding lists - it's another world.

Is anyone else struggling with two chaebol hotel romances at the same time or is it just me? While KTL is full on romcom and 19th Life is straight up romance, so reasonably different, I'm getting a bit muddled around background stories and scheming relatives. And who exactly is the school kid from Crash Course in Romance in 19th Life? He keeps appearing randomly with zero context. I wish I'd saved one to binge later tbh but it's too late now.

Agree that I wish I could binge KTL -its so much fun I wish I could just whip through it.

Has anyone watched The Forbidden Marriage - it aired late last year. Very funny, silly historical with lots of anachronistic references. But then also lots of murders so a bit tonally strange sometimes. The ML is the guy from Sh**ting Stars who I like. Plot is a bit thin at times but a good bit of fun.