MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #44): In which a surprise feast of corking contract marriage dramas 🙌 is undercut by an imminent BTS content famine as Jung Kook, RM, V and Jimin enlist 😭

[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 www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4894818-mslattes-daebak-cybercafe-kdrama-addicts-42-where-we-marvel-over-the-singularity-of-taecyeons-ears-while-waiting-for-lee-min-ho-to-show-up-in-his-space-scrubs?page=1here.
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)🌟
The Worst of Evil (Disney+)
Tunnel (Netflix)🌟
Vigilante (Disney+)

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)🌟

Makjang
Perfect Marriage Revenge (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 The Eighth Sense [BL] (Viki)
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)
Semantic Error [BL] (Viki)
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)🌟
Daily Dose of Sunshine (Netflix)
Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Doctors (Netflix)
Doom At Your Service (Netflix/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)/When the Weather is Nice (Netflix)
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 (Netflix)🌟
My Strange Hero (Viki)
One Spring Night (Netflix)
Red Carpet - film (Netflix, very adult content)
Romantic Dr Kim - seasons 1&2 (Viki), season 3 (Disney+)
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)🌟
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/Netflix)🌟

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)
Twinkling Watermelon (Viki)
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)
Moon in the Day (Viki)
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)

Decent Japanese, Taiwanese, Thai and Chinese dramas
The Chinese & Taiwanese stuff especially is more variable quality-wise, so we’ve noted anything decent or worth a look 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)
My Personal Weatherman [BL] (Jdrama, Viki)
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.

When we 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.

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 spreadsheet is filling up nicely, don't forget to add your votes! It's been an unusual year for drama according to the Daebak Café feedback. The most-watched drama was Crash Course in Romance and yet so far it has only scored 7.25, while there are only 2 scores so far for My Dearest which was one of the highest rated dramas of 2023!

Get your votes in soon, we'll probably work out the scores for 2023 in a few days.

I need to finish My Dearest boaty. I stopped when I read it was sad, and I didn't want sad at the time, even though I usually like everything Namkoong Min is in.

The FL's knitwear in CCIR traumatised me 😜

We’re only just over half way through this thread & it started on 3 December, so we have about 2 weeks’ grace for tying up loose ends/getting our scores in. I usually incorporate the top scorers in the first new thread of the new year.

The FL's knitwear in CCIR traumatised me

Yes! And the ages of the actors didn't fit the timelines in the story, it was distracting. Similar with 19th life. Both shows were still enjoyable but fell a little short, while Behind Your Touch was great fun until <spoilers> just completely ruined it for me towards the end :(

Unexpectedly for kdrama, it was the sequels that seemed to deliver most in 2023 - Dr Romantic 3, Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938, Uncanny Counter 2 and Sweet Home 2 were all solid. I also thought Rowoon really found his niche with some great comedy roles and Heartbeat was really good fun even if the ending was slightly disappointing.

Which is probably why my top score went to a jdrama, I loved the conclusion of Alice in Borderland 2, it wrapped things up really well, something a lot of kdramas still struggle to do for some reason. Maybe it's some sort of metaphor for life - don't expect too much or you're bound to be disappointed 😊

New medical based Jdrama Dr Storks going down nicely this rainy night!

Well Park Min Young didn't annoy me as much as she has been doing recently in Marry My Husband (on Prime) so I'm giving it a cautious thumbs up after one episode

Medical based you say FedUp? Oooh

I found a lot of the romcoms fell a bit flat for me this year - lots of great starts that fizzled out and I won't comment on Heartbeats' absolutely wtf ending.

Overall my favourites this year were in the action/thriller genre - Bloodhounds, DP2, Revenant, Vigilante.

My favourite romance was probably The Eighth Sense and then A Time Called You, Twinkling Watermelon and Not Others are also absolutely in my 2023 top 10 list.

I wonder if I've been too harsh with my scoring? I'll have to go back and look, am holding off scoring a couple of the currently airing dramas as well....

What's it on @FedUpWithBriiiiick?

bettys I've been wondering whether to give that one a try - I swore off PMY for a while after Love In Contract..

Netflix @TheLoupGarou

Thanks chingu! Have just spotted it 😘

... am holding off scoring a couple of the currently airing dramas as well....

I don't think AGDtBaD is going finish before the scoring deadline is it? I've been sticking with it and enjoying it when it's on but, boy, it's been a slow roll out.

loup, I agree that the rom-coms weren't hitting it in 2023 and that the action/sci-fi/thrillers were better overall.

Although, migs I am enjoying My Man Is Cupid - its hitting a lot of the old-school, light supernatural rom com vibes for me, although it's not exactly treading new ground I think it's well done.

Day 8 of Alt-Oppas and this one is a cracker.

He's gorgeous - finding a good photo of him was NOT a challenge (this one is particularly ✨shalala✨), but I must admit I have never seen him in anything other than a special guest appearance in Move to Heaven. I'll rectify that ASAP. It's Ji Jin-hee!

OMG fedup, he's my absolute fav AO. After I saw him in One Warm Word, I had to hunt out his other dramas.

Just for you, chingu. Don't say I never listen 🤣

First gift of the New Year, thank you!!

He's a cracker Briiiiiick, I've not seen anything he's been in either!

And practically my twinny! An excellent find FedUp/ Migs

@FedUpWithBriiiiick - I sure am enjoying these AO. Like others not necessarily seen them in a lot but when they do pop up you sort of know it's going to be good. I presently have Demon, Cupid, Doberman, Perfect Marriage Revenge on the go but they all lost out last night to a few episodes of Her Perfect Husband C-drama. Also, anyone else note that Grazia (I know, I know blame my sister for buying it) mentioned Past Live as the best film of the year! Maybe, just maybe @mrsfeatherbottom, people might start looking at us less oddly, if it wins any of its nominations at the Golden Globes or gets an Oscar nod? Also, quick etiquette question, this is the only thread I post on so not sure of how it works, but if I want to quote someone, etc, is it OK to @ them or is there a more polite way?

Briiiick you have out-done yourself with today's oppa! Handsome, but also looks steadfast and reliable, could that shirt be made from husband material???

@Dragonrock , if you do @ names come up for you to chose which poster you're talking to/about. If you hit "reply" you get the full quote.

💃It's Singles Inferno 3 today!

So pleased to finally discover likeminded kdrama addicts. I m currently watching Bloodhounds. The violence is off the scale, but i m so invested in the heroes that i need to see it to the end. Also loved Weak hero class. Another ultra violent drama. Generally i m more into dramas like CLOY or Vincenzo.
I m so happy to have discovered this brilliant group.
Cheers