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!

SirVix - maybe try and think of it as being sensible and planning for all eventualities - I mean even the Scouts got caught out this summer! Also, with kids, you are just going to worry a bit more. Am well jel, as love the cold and you you might get to witness the 'first snow with your love' scene that so often pops up! As to the coeliacs, when I have friends with dietary requirements travel into China we always recommend writing it out in the character set and you can RR it, so you can give it a try, and finally laminating it, or printing as laminated business cards? Do a bigger one that you hold onto, but quite a few small ones, then if the server takes it to the chef you are not worrying and trying to work out the how to get it back. Then you can hand it to servers etc, rather try and explain. Rice flour is used in a lot of food, things like Tteokbokki etc but certain noodles, dumpling wrappers etc would be wheat flour. I'm sure you're familiar with the look of rice noodles, dumplings with rice wrappers etc so maybe get the names of some dishes, so you feel a bit more confident?

Thank you Dragon I will definitely do that. I eat a lot of rice normally and use rice noodles, we tend to mainly eat GF as a family because it is easier, so lots of rice and tofu . Soy sauce is not usually GF , it can be, but more commonly is not, but I am not sure how much that is used in Korea. I will happily live on rice, tofu and vegetables, so if I can find dishes that don’t have gluten in the seasoning or sauce then I can stick to those I suppose ?
Dd1 has two university friends from Seoul so they might be able to advise us on some things too. Lots of logistical planning because we have animals, that is the main thing I stress about actually, we normally go on shorter breaks in the UK for this reason, but I want an incredible trip to another country with my dds, as we haven’t ever had that. Both dds love KDrama and listen to K-pop, we are all interested in other cultures and history. DH and I have our 20th wedding anniversary coming up, and I have a “big” birthday around the time we would go , so Seoul it is !
Dd and I really loved Our Blooming Youth, we were up until two three nights in a row binge watching it. Now we are going to watch it all over again with DH and Dd2 as she was away. Next on the list will be What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim now that we have Viki.

Binged through all available episodes of Fake it Till You Make it in three days at the weekend and totally obsessed. Hawt chemistry. And actually all the other plot strands hold surprises and are interesting to me. Top notch show.
Now bingeing through the whole Is She The Wolf to keep me going until final episodes of Fake it arrive. Its a strange premise and because all the contestants are performers and naturally quite flirtatious, it's very hard to work out who actually fancies who. But it's slipping down an easy treat.

Just watched ep2 of Mask Girl, was not expecting it to be quite so graphic 😱

I've finally got round to watching First Love with Takeru Satoh. Oh my god. My heart. What a beautiful story. Tears were shed. Plus the cinematography was amazing - all that falling snow, the city at night ❤️. I'm still processing.

First Love was terrific. It’s slim enough at 8 eps to be rewatched over a weekend. 😉

An absolute beauty

Finished Is She The Wolf? and a few non-spoilery take aways would be

• truly excellent fashion (definitely many notches above Love Island's sponsorship...).

• really unnecessarily emotionally manipulative (but I still lapped it up).
• I don't need to hear Film Out again for a while even though it's one of my fave BTS tracks.

It's a good time but the nuggety bruised apples of Love Village have way more heart really.

https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/tv/heres-when-strong-woman-gang-nam-soon-premieres-3493411

what the flip???????

Oh my days... not sure about that 😬

I'm definitely not sure about this, SGBS was my first and favourite K drama. I'm not sure if I'll be able to watch it. I think I read that Bong Bong and Min Min are making a cameo... I'm not sure if this is verified though. If they are in it, I hope they have very cute twins with bowl haircuts 😍

Binged through all available episodes of Fake it Till You Make it in three days at the weekend and totally obsessed. Hawt chemistry. And actually all the other plot strands hold surprises and are interesting to me. Top notch show

Also bingeing it, it is really good! More adult than most cdramas (sex is mentioned!!!), great chemistry and interesting side stories. Not quite following all the business stuff and keep wondering if FL has had a lip lift but thoroughly enjoying in spite of MLs pyjamas bottoms (just....no. )

Ha! At least he's not one with an ever-changing set of ornate silk pj's.

@FedUpWithBriiiiick Have you listened to Adoy’s new album Pleasures? I was a bit disappointed. It’s less bouncy and more samey than their EPs. It’s softened the blow of not being able to make their sole UK gig in September.

AppleMusic suggested a Kool Indie playlist of Korean laid back indie. I’ll report bavk on any promising artists. It’s a mixed bag so far.

Yeah not great I thought that too tbh!

report back on any highlights 👍

This sounds disparaging but I would love to be someone with an ever changing set or ornate silk PJs 😭

Actually me too AmVa but it can get a bit ott in CDrama PPL when they're off on one of their Let Us Underline The Importance of Traditional Chinese Handicrafts plot spirals.
(I think I may have just handsold you CDrama)

I think silk PJ's would be too hot to sleep in #stupidperimenopause but I wouldn't mind some for wafting about impractically 😁

I did consider getting a silk pillowcase as I read it helps prevent wrinkles < clutches at straws > (maybe that was satin? Anyway...)

I've just started watching My Lovely Boxer on Viki - first episode is pretty good. We are in the murky world of sports agents, gambling rings and corruption if that appeals to anyone 👍

We've finished The Uncanny Counter 2 and I really enjoyed it, very similar vibe to the first series, so not overly serious and it ended well I felt (although they had a lot of special effects to pay for so there were quite a few cringey ppl moments in the last episode).

We're now trying to decide what to watch next. I'd like to watch Destined With You and DH wants to check out Behind Your Touch, but neither are fully loaded yet so we need to find something to watch in the meantime. Whatever we go for, I don't think there'll be any silk PJs involved, but you never know.

Past Lives is in cinemas around us from this week. I’m booked in with DH for Ssturday. 😄

Kim Min Jae is off to the military.

https://www.soompi.com/article/1611953wpp/kim-min-jae-announces-enlistment-date

I'm watching The Killing Vote on Prime - crime thriller. It's still dropping so only 4 episodes released so far but I'm finding it interesting. I think ML, Park Hae/Jim had his overbite seen to and is much more attractive now.

! Hwaiting Kin Min Jaw.

I'll look forward to seeing the post-military glow-up though !

Migs I'm going to have to look for before and after pics now 🤣

Aargh autocorrect KIM MIN JAE