MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #45): Where we are *still* waiting on Lee Min Ho’s astronaut OBGYN to arrive and ponder whether 2024 will be kdrama’s breakout year

[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/4956077-mslattes-daebak-cybercafe-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?page=1 here. Our list is cumulative so includes previous threads’ recommendations. 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)
Maestra (Disney+)
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)
Tell Me That You Love Me (Disney+)
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)

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)
My Personal Weatherman [BL] (Jdrama, Viki)
Orange Days (Japan, Netflix)
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 💩
Melting Me Softly
The Birth of a Beauty
Well-Intentioned Love season 1 (S2 is fine & stands alone)

Top Scoring 2023 Dramas
#1 Bloodhounds 8.9
#2 = The Good Bad Mother 8.8
#2 = Deaths Game 8.8
#2 = Moving 8.8
#2 = The Glory 8.8
(#2 rankings by number of votes)

Top Scoring 2022 Dramas
#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!

Okay we have fiiiiinally finished Behind Your Touch - what the actual fuck was that last 30 minutes of the last episode. What was with that insane extended sequence in the women's prison???

Very pleased I picked the serial killer (who was legit creepy) before he was revealed, surprised overall by the body count, we laughed a LOT while watching it, but also it was so weird. Honestly no idea if I would recommend it. 🖐️🍑

Honestly no idea if I would recommend it.

I agree AmVa. I enjoyed it enough but I wasn’t particularly looking forward to our each day’s evening viewing as I do with dramas I really love.
The leads were good and the shaman is a good actor - he was excellent in a support role in Secret Love Affair. (Which seems to have disappeared from all platforms except Olga which is a shame as it’s one of the best. Could its disappearance be to do with Yoo Ah In being cancelled?)

I've just caught up on about 4 days of thread posts, you chatty lot 😄
I'm watching MMH but I think the wedding ep is next so looking forward to that!

Looking at my 'continue watching' list, I was wondering how we're all similar/different in the way we consume our dramas. I'm loyal to a couple of platforms (Netflix and Prime) but have many dramas on the go at once. DH and will have a couple that we're watching together (The Brothers Sun and Captivating The King), I'll have another two or three (Dr Slump and Gyeongseong Creature at the moment) and DH will have something else, usually one I've watched and recommended (currently Suspicious Partner), so that's 5 or 6 that we juggle.

Are other people more local and focused than us, or are there other drama floozies like DH and I? 😘

I am yet to convince DH to try a k-drama so we watch other stuff together (currently living Slow Horses on Apple TV). I normally have one series at a time on the go but because of MMH, I'm having to watch something else between episode drops.

I'm a drama floozy! I watch loads of things at once AND a massive bad influence as between dh and I we have nearly all the streaming platforms (Viki, Netflix, Disney+, Prime, iQiyi) - if anyone needs enabling/encouragement I am happy to oblige.....

Usually there's something dh and I are watching togethe - recently Gyeongsong Creature and I might watch something with the kids at a frustratingly sedate pace - me and ds2 are watching The Untamed which I am DYING to binge but have promised I won't watch without him 😬.

I work shifts so often have some free time when the kids are in school and I also sometimes watch at the gym as all the machines have Netflix on.... at the min I'm watching MMH and Dr Slump and we will probably start A Killer Paradox tonight, as that drops today...

If any one is interested, I was thinking of doing a mini-rundown on here of what's worth watching on iQiyi, as you can get a month trial for 99p?

Ofc if you are me, you get hooked on something that's still airing and then don't cancel, but that's beside the point...

(not if it will bore you all to tears tho 🤣)

@mrsfeatherbottom Slow Horses is brilliant! Have you read the books? They are good too 🙂

Well done on indoctrinating your kids @TheLoupGarou, mine are still 🙄 about their parents' strange ways.

(✌️ to a fellow floozy)

Good to hear praise for Slow Horses as DH & I are thinking of trying again. He kerps falling asleep. Does the pace pick up or is it a slow burner all the way through?

No but I think my mum has.

We're onto the second series and it's really good too. Gary Oldman is just amazing.

I started Pachinko today as we've a limited free trial on Apple TV. I read the book last year and liked the first 2/3 of it so I have high hopes.

I have shows for different occasions, Punks. I'm currently watching Marry My Husband with DH but when he's on early shifts I'll have an evening TV show I watch on my own (most recently The Matchmakers). I also have shows (usually older ones) I watch while I'm ironing, shows I have downloaded on my phone which I watch when I'm out and about like when I'm waiting for the kids and also something I can watch on my tablet when I don't want to watch what other people are watching/haven't anything better to do. It's the shows I watch on my tablet that I'm most in danger of binging. At one point I was trying to watch Six Flying Dragons while I was cooking tea. It was slightly more successful than previous attempts to cook whilst reading a book, but only slightly 😁

I’m finding Knight Flower a discombobulating experience. Kim Mi Kyung is playing yet another mother, but she’s so awful. Maybe it’s because she’s playing a mother-in-law that things are out of kilter.

I know they’re grinding the pious widow axe to make FL’s shenanigans more of an eff you to convention but I’m finding that story line hard. These young women must have suffered terrible fates in reality - basically imprisoned for years, half starved and harried until they topped themselves. The competitive misery between the noble MILs is doing my head in.

Jo Jae Yoon is giving another great villain performance. Yes, he’s typecast but he’s so good at it. I’m hard pressed to think of a Korean actor who theatrically villains better. Also, I am seriously coveting his purple and green swirly silk kimono-style robe. It is splendid. Want one!

Lee Jong Won is pleasing too. 🙂

I’m very much enjoying Yang Kyung-Won (Sgt Pyo Chi-Su in CLOY) in Welcome to Samdal-ri. The scene when he’s in the car and his father’s in hospital is hilarious. I wish he had a bigger part.

It's wonderful

Haha, I think it helps that they've always watched a lot of (kid friendly!) anime and via that got into manga like Dragonball, Sailor Moon, One Piece and My Hero Academia. They are used to reading subtitles and crazy plot twists!

Just you wait Andante. He reveals a lot of hidden depths in that part.
Having to recalibrate watching him be proper baddie in Captivating the King

Excellent, Pol, I’m looking forward to it.

Just read an interesting MMH theory on Instagram that the first week that Jiwon was back in 2013, the Jihjuk that was kind to her was still the 2013 one and it wasn't until a week later that 2023 Jihjuk appeared. I hadn't picked up on that at all.

ooh absolutely hooked on Captivating the King now Migs. So many schemey-wemey layers! And I don't object to JJS in short bearded King mode either.

So glad you're enjoying Captivating the King, Pol. Everytime the King comes on I think, "Can't believe you're in Hospital Playlist too". I do hope the show maintains its high quality, throughout.

Loving Sanghwa's expressions as he has to bear witness Migs