MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #43): Where we marvel over the singularity of Taecyeon’s ears while waiting for Lee Min Ho to show up in his space scrubs

[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, Thai & Chinese drama as & when.

The previous thread is www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4842000-mslattes-daebak-cybercafe-kdrama-addicts-42-where-we-weigh-up-two-smokin-hawt-chaebol-hotelliers-one-tortured-by-loss-and-the-other-crippled-by-abandonment-issues?page=1here
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, 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)🌟
King The Land (Netflix)
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)h
Misaeng (Netflix)🌟
My Liberation Notes🌟
Move to Heaven (Netflix)
My Mister (Viki/Netflix)🌟
My Unfamiliar Family (Viki)🌟
Navillera (Netflix)🌟
Not Others (Viki)
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
A Time Called You (Netflix)
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)🌟
My Lovely Liar (Viki)
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
Behind Your Touch (Netflix)
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)
Fake it Till You Make it (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'm watching Yet To Come today 💜 I forgot how good it was, especially the rap-line 🫶

Oooo new cdrama with Dylan Wang & Bai Lu Only For Love on Viki, looks like all eps are up!

Currently enjoying Twinkling Watermelon & Perfect Marriage Revenge

Dylan Wang! That's the rest of my day sorted 😁

I'm enjoying both of those other two shows as well bettys - I've only 2 eps into PMR but I love the ML (plus FL's hideously toxic family!). Twinkling Watermelon is one of my favourites this year I think - I love the father/son bromance.

Oh and Moon in the the Day I forgot I'd started that one, but I liked the webtoon a lot.

Ooo! Ep 6 of Perfect Marriage Revenge 🔥 Sung Hoon deserves an advent oppa nomination purely for the delivery of the line "What can I do so that you don't have to think at all?" < swoon >🔥🚒🧯

10/10 oppa : would 100% marry to get revenge on my shitty family and ex fiance.

DS1 is home for a few days. He’s monopolising the TV with DH. They’re watching old episodes of Torchwood. 🤦‍♀️ I have a kdrama backlog I need to be catching up on.

Oh bad luck Boaty. I enjoyed Torchwood at the time but not enough to watch again. It feels a bit dated now.

I've added Behind Your Touch to the spreadsheet. It was scoring quite high for me until a couple of episodes from the end when it lost a point because of - <spoilers> - 😥

It’s OK. They reached peak cringe about an hour in (a natural reaction to John Barrowman delivering #metoo worthy dialogue IMO) and put one of the David Attenborough Beeb nature documentaries on. The segue from schoolboy bantz to an abandoned emu chick dying on the savannah was special. They all buggered off now so I’m watching the last episode of DDOS.

Barrowman is the epitome of ick.

He's known in our house as Bloody Barrowman 😁

DDOS managed a satisfying ending whilst also leaving open the potential for more. Given the creeping spread of the American disease* on Netflix, I’m chalking this one up as a good outcome.

• The American disease being seasons/serialisation.

Damn Castaway Diva. Once Winter Sonata was mentioned, I just had to rewatch it. It's so emotional, poignant and sad, especially knowing that Park Yong-Ha who played Sang-Hyuk, committed suicide soon after. The theme song is very lush too.❤

Watching episode 3 of Castaway Diva and I see there’s a room filling with water/overwhelm scene. One of the studios has built an expensive watertight set and they are maxing out their return on investment. I predict this is the start of a trend. (DDOS has them too.)

Muscat grape PPL too - it must be the same production company/studio as DDOS.

Very sad that Hyeri and beautiful Ryu wotsit have split up.

On the other hand beautiful Ryu wotsit is now Available...

I was sad to read about that today too.... (Ryu Jun-yeol: back on the market though....)

That is sad , they were so good in Reply, it was nice to think they were a couple in real life.

I've started DDOS I've only watched the 1st 2 eps but it's great so far. I'm still part way through Strong Girl Nam Soon too. I'm so slow at getting through dramas these days!

Rewatching Love Designer for Johnny Huang's ears and Dilraba Dilmurat's permanent lipstick 💄

I've started the new Dylan Wang cdrama - v likeable and capable FL (sort of like if Lois Lane wrote for a finance journal 😆) DW is a CEO-type - he seems to be playing a character significantly older than his rl age, which I'm on the fence about because wearing glasses and looking serious/a bit constipated in a suit only goes so far, but anyway he's handsome as always. We shall see where it goes..

Twinkling Watermelon finale later. I've loved this series and am on the edge of my seat after ep 15. Hope it all gets tied up satisfyingly...

Just googled DW age and he is only TWENTY FOUR dear God.

@TheLoupGarou I had a similar moment when deep in my Alchemy of Souls binge where I googled Lee Jae-wook and discovered he was born in 1998..

Breakup news has made me want to rewatch Reply 1988... The protective bracing of arms scene on the bus was absolute perfection .

TheLoup / Amva Dylan Wang looked really young (ie his actual age!) in Meteor Garden but I did think he was older when I first saw him in Fairy and Devil I must admit. I was already aware of Lee Jae Wook's age because he played Scarlet's toy boy in Search WWW but still thought he was hot in Alchemy of Souls - so wrong 😂.

I finally started Destined With You and it's definitely my kind of thing, I'm enjoying it so far. I've also been watching a daft little ghost story on Youtube featuring the boy band Treasure. I'm not sure why it came up on my recommends, maybe because I watched a bit of a travelogue with Suho in it? Anyway, although I clearly wasn't the target audience (teenage girls I'm guessing 😁) I quite enjoyed it. I like a good ghost story. Reminded me of being a teenager and telling ghost stories with my friends on Halloween.

@AmVa yes! And the boner-alley scene as well 😄 (I can't take credit for that one, the Afternoona Delight podcast came up with it!)

This one?