MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #42): Where we weigh up two smokin’ hawt chaebol hotelliers, one tortured by loss and the other crippled by abandonment issues

[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
Bloodhounds (Netflix)
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)
Race (Disney+)
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)
The Good Bad Mother (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)
F4 Thailand (Viki)
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!

I wouldn't be without Viki, it's a bargain compared to how much content there is, and the better subs

Viki is definitely the best value of all my subscriptions - sheer amount of content and the best subs, as said above ^^.

Is anyone else up to date in Behind Your Touch? WTF is going on? I have actual whiplash from the changes in tone,what am I watching?

A comedy with Lee Min-Ki? - hmm,I guess I'm in.
A thriller with LMK as a hardened cop fighting criminals and election corruption? Absolutely yes- 💯 in.
A serial killer drama? Sure, fine.
A romance with LMK as male lead? Yep yep yep - age appropriate oppa and he has still got it.
Am I here for a small town comedy-drama with ensemble cast and side dramas? Yes, I'm into that as well.

It's just the juxtaposition is SO extreme - if she had psychic powers related to general, non-butt, touching I think it would be less jarring. It's just SO silly and then suddenly a serial killer. 🤯

Totally tonally bizarre. Which isn't unusual for a KD but I think this one is losing the charm it had and, much as I like both actors, I'm finding the leads annoying. Dropping for now but may go back if it picks up.

It's definitely a bizarre one! There's just so many things going on in this small town. Saying that I am kind of enjoying it and I'll stick with it, if only for Lee Min Ki.

A small love letter to Gin No Spoon manga on Bato. It's got loads of chapters and kind translator adds three more each week as they work their way through all the volumes.
It's a deceptively simple slice of life and recipes manga following the ups and downs of an extended family and friends. Entirely gluten free. But very warm and subtle and exquisitely drawn. And deep in it really packs a hefty emotional punch with some of its storylines. Gentle but powerful.

Spotted in the wild! New contract marriage J-drama Osokon. First episodes most promising.

Ooh!

I'm 5 episodes in now. It's a gem!!!

Ooh! I saw a clip of this on TikTok the other day and thought it looked good!

Is it Viki?

Have subscribed to Viki, agree on the cost of one fancy coffee a month. I paid the annual sub as it was so reasonable.

Olga's

I was looking forward to starting this adter I'd finished Uncanny Counter 2 but it sounds a bit weird. I really love Lee Min Ki though!

TheGirl Behind Your Touch is WEIRD. I'd add shades of Jim Davidson (the theft in episode 5 😁) to TheLoup's list🤔 . It seems weirdly outdated in concept, execution, everything really. I'm not ready to give up on it, I need to know how it's going to resolve (I am prepared that it won't). But it's now gone on the Fast-Forward of Doom....

Finished Mask Girl, really really enjoyed it (setting, story, music, cast, black humour, all worked).

Made a start on Moving, liked the first episode. Will start Risque Business Taiwan this weekend too as I really enjoyed the Japan one.

I definitely prefer the shorter series with shorter episodes - enjoy the feeling of actually making good progress. Someone upthread (SirVix? Cobol? Dragonrock?) said the 12-parters tend to end abruptly, which I agree with. But 16+ episodes....arrrrggh it can take me months to get through them. Although I do appreciate it gives more scope storyline/character-development-wise.

Some 12-parters definitely feel rushed (like 19th Life) but others feel about right, like Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist which wrapped things up really well in 12 episodes. And then there are some shows that leave a lasting impression in just 6 - both Hellbound and The School Nurse Files pack in a lot in a short amount of time. I'm happy to watch much longer shows if there's a lot of story to tell (like Alchemy of Souls or Six Flying Dragons) but I do agree sometimes slighter stories can be dragged out too much to fill the standard 16 episodes, although that's still better than the 20 episodes of older kdramas, which often felt too long to me, even when they were good.

Question about My Lovely Liar ep 9- was that camping rental PPL?? 😅 if so that has got to be up there for most left field PPL.

Finished CDrama When I Fly to You (Netflix). It's a packet of Werthers drama for when you need something very sweet and totally unsurprising. Mainly high-school setting. The second couple for once is equally engaging and its episodes end coherently enough that you can watch in small doses.

I thought that too! Very visible logo on the van 🤣

I'm not sure it's great PPL as they seem to leave you with the most enormous and inconvenient tent to put up on your own with no instructions.

🤣 I would definitely want a team of minions to erect that tent for me - our most recent camping trip almost ended in divorce after having to put up/take down family sized tent in the pouring rain 🏕️

Just been catching up on ep 3 of Destined With You . This ticks all my fantasy romance boxes so far: enemies to lovers, high stakes, marked by fate, magic, civil service (actually not really that last one). I'm loving tsundere Rowoon also. I would definitely be binging if more episodes were out.

Now for My Lovely Liar - this was a day off well spent (went to two curriculum talks and then took the kids for a haircut after school as well 😇)

After finishing the very good, The Devil Judge (2021 but new on Netflix ), I could not bear to go back to the silly touching butt drama. Destined with You is going the way of KtL for me. The story is taking too long to develop and not even Rowoon (Junho in KtL) is making^ me want to finish it. Both shows have meh FLs. I fear that the current crop of Rom-coms is pushing me in saram's camp for now, particularly as Moving is so interesting- in pace, acting and storytelling. The Uncanny Counter^ is going well too, so I'm being pretty ruthless about dropping any dramas that even smell of being in the 5/10 zone! Sorry not sorry

Genuinely sorry for the formatting failure tho!

I can't get into Uncanny Counter 2 - I'm surprised as I really loved the first series. I'm wondering if it's because we watched Revenant and DP2 right before it, which were SO good.... I dropped KTL and got bored of SYIMNL - I watched last 4 episodes but ffwd a lot.

I quite like FL in Destined with You although her behaviour around her crush was cringe and childish I can let that slide for now. Totally agree tho - so many dramas, don't waste time watching ones that aren't doing it for you....

I can't remember who mentioned F4 Thailand Boys over Flowers but I binged it like crack watched it 👍 agree, it's my favourite version probably, along with Hana Yori Dango (although that's mostly nostalgia as it's the first version I watched). Thai heroine is the least drippy and 2ML definitely more appealing than in the other versions. Why do I keep watching them? No one knows 🤣

That was me TheLoup. The only one I've done but one probably enough for me! I had a lovely time watching it too. Really liked both leads and all the ott fashion.