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!

@boatyardblues we've not started Gyeongsong Creature yet but DH (born and raised in Japan) is always very critical of the Japanese in K dramas. This was especially the case with Mr Sunshine.

We completely agree about Gwan-Hee in 'Singles Inferno'. My sister-in-law and I are borderline booing him when he comes on screen now (6 episodes in!). He has a very high opinion of himself!

@FedUpWithBriiiiick loving the alt-oppas! 🥰

Penultimate day and a perennial favourite alt-Oppa. Dr Bong, Mr. Bang, and nasty Kato to name a few of his characters. He's just a bundle of ajussiness: Choi Young-joon 😍

Oh he's just so lovely 😍 I'm very much enjoying him as a Japanese baddy in G Creature. I didn't recognise him at first

Best Bong 👌

#1 Bong ☝️

Same here Rowdy!

Aju nice alt oppa today - Can't believe we are nearly done with our calendar for another year! 😪* *

Another good alt oppa choice today, though I also think Choi Young-joon is conventionally handsome. I wonder what separates the leading men from the handsome supporting men and 2MLs. Is it ambition? Ability? Luck? Better agents? I will ask my actress friend if she has thoughts about this.

Edit: autocorrect doesn’t like oppa

Hi all and welcome newbies.

I've just begun watching Hospital Playlist again having completely forgotten I'd started it some time last year so I'll have to keep an eye out for today's alt oppa as Dr Bong - I assume he won't be hard to spot 😁

He's ALWAYS on duty Cobol. Doesn't have a single shift off the ER in the whole 24 episodes.

Home again and only now starting to feel less jet lagged.
Looking back at our trip, I think the highlights for all of us were both the beautiful house we stayed in, and the Korean people we met. I wasn’t expecting locals to be so warm and friendly, as Seoul is such a large city. We did also have snow falling on Christmas Day, and saw pictures of Bo Gummy taken in the house we were staying in. Regret not getting dd to copy his pose in the same spot !

Lee Se Young is absolutely stunning in the interview scene of TSOPMC ep 11. I really hope she gets more modern, non-sageuk roles in future. She totally lifts whatever she’s in.

Welcome home Vix! I'm glad you had a fantastic trip ❤️

SirVix sounds like a great trip!

boaty I really like Lee Se Young as well, she's one of my favourite actresses - I totally agree she elevates everything she is in, she is so likeable.

Korea's hardest working doctor!

Your holiday sounds amazing SirVix. Serious FOMO. I will definitely make it to Korea in the next couple of years. 💪

Coincidentally, I was watching GC today and thinking, that evil Jap is really totally 🔥Then low and behold, he turns up as an alt oppa. Thank you fedup!
Welcome back SirVix, glad you enjoyed SK.
I see that InsideAsia is now offering guided tours of SK, so will download the brochure to check the itinerary as there's a Jeju Island extension option.

Back from Thailand and haven't quite caught up with you guys yet!
Had to share a very K drama scene with you all as I think you'd appreciate it! We rolled up in a taxi to our last hotel (fancy one) and the taxi driver tried to charge more when we got out, I held him to his 300Baht and felt a hand cup my elbow from behind as a tall masked Thai in a suit took over the conversation and got me my change. I must have looked very grateful because he then said that I had to be careful because they do it all the time (re taxi drivers changing fares). He took me to check in and summoned a bellboy to take our bags and show us into our room in a very authoritative manner! Later we sat by the pool waiting for some drinks when he came striding by, noticed us and looked worried. He walked back a few meters and started shouting at the staff to bring anti-mosquito spray for us immediately - then walked back and told us in a concerned way that we needed to use the spray around this area or we would be bitten. I have to admit I think I actually swooned at this point. Yes, I've been single a few years and no I've never had a guy be so manly yet caring of me. Finally on NY day he walked past our day bed and turned and said "Oh hi! Happy New Year!" and ignored everyone else... I know, I know...just let me have my moment. He looked like Wookie with a mask on.
Still swooning at the polite, kind competence 😚. Men really don't know how easily pleased women can be, do they? 😂

Now you just need to start a new job and turn up at the office on the first day to find out he's your new boss/assistant/CEO of rival company on secondment from Thailand to prove you are FATED Oppadoppa
"You!"
"You!" gasp and double take

Pol 😁

OppaDoppaDoo I had similar encounters with solicitous Korean oppas. Definitely enhanced my trip 😍 Polite, helpful men are automatically 100% more attractive than they would be if not polite and helpful. I agree it would be useful if more regular guys twigged this 🤔

I just realised I didn't yet say hello to our new posters. Welcome 🙂👋

SirVix Glad you had a good trip! Was the Bo Gummy pic from a drama?

I had little to no jetlag flying out, but looking back quite disruptive jetlag (conking out knackered at about 8pm 🙄) for at least a week after I got home. I will be going back this spring 😳 and this time have planned extra time off for when I get back (rather than going straight back to work - that was a mistake). This new trip came as a total surprise - a Korean friend has invited me to her wedding in Seoul 🥹 and DH said it was an opportunity I couldn't miss. I'm very much looking forward to it of course, but also slightly concerned about how it will compare to last year's trip, which was amazing and literally perfect from start to finish.

Day 12, final day of Alt-Oppas 😔

We don't need words... it's the Alt-Oppa of the Year, Jung Woo-sung! 👏👏👏

P.S. he's definitely our kind of Oppa www.koreaboo.com/rewind/jung-woo-sung-mystery-party-soju-interesting-funny/

Nicely done FedUp! A topical oppa and bonus montage. Brava! 👏

Saram - Fab news about the wedding invite (and supportive DH). Please come back to thread and tell us how much of the dramas’ wedding scenes hold up, eg pre-ceremony photos with bride in a bower of flowers, envelopes of cash at the wedding check-in. Also, I want to know if the buffet is all that. They make a huge deal of hotel buffets in the dramas.

A TOP CLASS oppa! He can mix me a soju bomb any day of the week 🤩

@OppaDoppaDoo that sounds totally swoon-worthy, and you know pol is right, he's definitely* *either the new CEO of your company, your new neighbour or the guy you have to make an important business deal with , ooo or (I thought of another one) the shady tsundere gangster boss that is buying up your neighbourhood for redevelopment (that one's my favourite scenario 😁)

Ooh I'm loving our final alternative oppa. He's strangely very sexy 🔥. I haven't gotten very far with TMTYLM but I'll definitely get back to it.

Finished GC and found the last few episodes much better. Looking at 2023"s kdramas, I've felt that the directors and screen writers seemed to be avoiding darkness, grittiness and sustained tension (looking at you esp Maestra) and going for blood baths instead. Ah well, roll on 2024's offerings.