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!

Sign of Affection, mostly. I love the manga.

Kids have been pestering for crunchyroll. I feel like another subscription service might be the straw that breaks the camels back 🤣. I have to work out if I could set it up to stop them watching Unsuitable Things™️ also.

Ooo and bettys I started watching Word of Honor. Omo. I am into it. Plan to binge this one whilst also slowly watching The Untamed with ds2 at a glacial pace. It's a win-win scenario.

There's a mature content filter on it - can't say how effective it is though!

@maldoandwae yes!! What was Kang Ji won doing there at the end?? That was a confused moment. Where were the judo moves!!! I understood the hiding and fear (scary situation, PTSD) but then once they were facing each other she didn't act like you'd expect there.

I can't believe when the show started people were complaining about Na In Woo not being handsome enough for a ML.

The best thing about Na In Woo - apart from his unexpectedly, sexy dancing - are the adorable, tiny, mirroring moles on his eyelid and below his (left?) eye. 😉

I was literally just thinking that!

Watched episode 2 of A Killer Paradox and now well and truly hooked. SSK is magnificent in this 👌 In fact another great all-round cast.

@Miggs I clocked and love the moles, too 😍 Na In-Woo is plenty handsome enough for a ML (although he appears to be comedically tall), and I'm liking PMY in this. But I agree with previous posters that they lack chemistry. I'm enjoyed the evil couple alot more and gunning for lovely Ms Yang and Mr Lee. One of my teachers has paired me up with a friend of hers in Seoul. We've been chatting online for the last month or so - I have no idea what she looks like, but in my head at least she's definitely Ms Yang 😁

Thanks for all the study love, chingus. I'm so glad I'm doing it, but it does take up an awful lot of time next to work and family life. What I really want to do is go back to university and do Korean studies, but it's totally the wrong time in my life to be doing that so this is an acceptable substitute.

@maldoandwae ooooh the grammar. I just took quick notes in class, so there may be mistakes. But I'll have a bash at explaining it. Apologies for incoming language geekery. Please feel free to skip 🙈

In Korean, adjectives conjugate as well as verbs. Consequently, Koreans don't learn grammar according to the main categories we have - nouns, verbs and adjectives.

Instead, they categorise words in two ways.

1. Differentiating between:
   체일 / cheil = concrete word (for example, what we call nouns)
   용언 / yongeon = word that conjugates
   Yongeon is then subdivided into:
   동사 / dongsa = action word (what we would call verbs)
   형용사 / hyeongyongsa = describing word (what we would call adjectives)

2. Differentiating between:
   주어 / jueoh = topic word
   서술어 / seohsuleoh = explaining word.

So, in a phrase like 방이 따뜻해요 / the room is warm, 방이 = concrete word + topic word, and 따뜻해요 = word that conjugates (describing word) + explaining word.

Why are we learning this? Because we're struggling with listening (doesn't help that verbs come right at the end of sentences 🙄) . Our teacher thinks it will help us to learn to analyse the grammar like a Korean would, as we listen. Although I've not explained very well WHY 😁 I think he's right. He'll be using these categories/terms as we learn new grammar.

I do want to ask next lesson where that leaves e.g. noun modifiers and adverbs. As they're respectively based on verb and adjective stems, I'm guessing they also fall under 'word that conjugates' and 'explaining word'. But I may be wrong 🤔

Never apologise for language geekery @Saram13, I can't get a handle on a language until I get how the blocks all fit together. I speak Welsh (2nd language), one that would keep the grammar pedants happy until the end of time 😆🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

I'm trying Korean on Duolingo but have had to get myself a grammar book as I wasn't getting very far on random phrases alone. I hate not knowing why!

I've kicked off with episode 1 of A Killer Paradox last night, and I think it will take another episode to hook me in, but CWS is one hell of an actor. He has this knack of making the viewer uncomfortable just with his eyes. Amazing.

@PunksVersusBrats Welsh! Oooooh! One of my closest friends is half Welsh, but sadly she doesn't speak it. All I picked up from her when we were kids was nain and taid 🙂

Yes same, I need to understand where all the blocks go. I started learning Korean as I loved the sound of Korean song lyrics (and this lead to dramas, rather than the other way around) and literally wanted to understand how they fitted together. And how one verb could have so many different endings (Korean is such a subtle language with so many nuances, it will take years to get on top of it).

Although the course is naturally getting more and more complicated, it's also getting easier in the sense that you have more refererence points the further you get. On top of the weekly course I have a separate class with a conversation teacher who is both very patient and great at explaining grammar, which helps. My Korean friends here all enjoy geeky language things too. I'm in mainland Europe (met DH studying in Europe as part of my language degree way back when, and then moved to his country and learned that language) so I help them improve their idiomatic English and teach them some of the local language, too. Happy geeks together 😁

Ooo and bettys I started watchingWord of Honor. Omo. I am into it. Plan to binge this one whilst also slowly watching TheUntamed with ds2 at a glacial pace. It's a win-win scenario.

Heh heh, glad you like it @TheLoupGarou However if you are watching it on Netflix it sort of ends inconclusively - there is an extra 10 minute epilogue (episode 37) on Viki that wraps it up nicely

He's great isn't he?

I started it on Viki, so that's even better 🙂

And how one verb could have so many different endings.

I read somewhere Korean has 400 different verb endings!
One difficulty I find is that there’s so much that can’t be translated directly. Quite often I write something and seonsaengnim says “it wouldn’t be said like that in Korean”.

All of this is why my Korean will remain at learned-off-drama Korean, allowing me to sweet talk, swear, order soju and grunt in various meaningful ways. It's enough.

I'm really disappointed that wasn't one of the 'why are you learning this language' options when I signed up to Duolingo. They have SO missed a trick! 😆🇰🇷

Korean swearing is v satisfying! Shiiibal!

Andante yes I make my conversation teacher laugh sometimes, she says 'you're saying it the English way again!'

Pol there is definitely something to be said for that approach too 🙌😁

TheLoup YES 🙌😁 We learned a sarcastic 'Do you want to get beaten up?' in a dialogue this week with the new teacher. I can also squeeze out a 'Do you want to die?' But can't really imagine many occasions on which a middle-aged British woman is going to need to say that during the average two-week trip to Korea 🤔

dd (age 7) has also embraced the joys of yelling YAH! Instead of 'hey!' when someone gets on her nerves 🤣

Heheh Saram no picking fights with ajussi's outside convenience stores just to test out your cursing 🤬 😁

Last night, BBC's The One Show did a short segment on K-pop and Korean culture sweeping the UK.
Remember last year's comments on Wookie's denim, wide-leg trousers with the deep turn-ups? Well you can buy then in M&S now, also PMY's trouser and waistcoat number she wore for the wedding in MMH.

Austin Butler (Elvis) appeared on Graham Norton yesterday wearing that male K-celeb failsafe of jacket with very low cut T and...

Troye Sivan wore some inexplicable K-style knitwear on Radio 1's live lounge a few months ago. The entire front (of what was really a dodgy dad jumper) was covered in flesh-baring cutouts. The fashion forward amongst us take note. Laugh at it today, wear it tomorrow!!😎

I'm imagining a hairy man wearing that jumper and can't stop laughing!😂

Captivating the King and Dr Slump really are a perfect weekend combo for me. Complex main course and pudding.