MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #46): *Still* no sign of Lee Min-Ho, leaving us with plenty of time to debate whether Queen of Tears can be genre-defined and what’s going on with Kim Soo-Hyun’s neck

[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/4989666-mslattes-daebak-cybercafe-kdrama-addicts-45-where-we-are-still-waiting-on-lee-min-hos-astronaut-obgyn-to-arrive-and-ponder-whether-2024-will-be-kdramas-breakout-year?reply=132388025 here.
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
I picked up a celebrity on the street (Viki)
LTNS (no major platform yet)
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)
Killer Paradox (Netflix)
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)
Destined with You (Netflix)
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 for Love’s Sake(QiYi)
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)🌟
Wedding Impossible (Viki)
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)🌟
Marry My Husband (
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)🌟
First Responders (Disney+)
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
Chicken Nugget (Netflix)
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)
Let’s Talk About Chu (Netflix, Taiwan)⭐️
Lost Romance [BL] (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, Japanese)
Some Day or One Day (Viki, Taiwanese)
Sweat and Soap (Viki, Japanese)
The Makanai (Netflix, Japanese)
The Romance of Tiger & Rose (Viki, Chinese)
The Untamed (Nertlix, 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 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!

Hopefully he gets to smile a lot!

CD1958 has storylines that might be pretty close to the knuckle for SKoreans. Set within the contex of actual historical events/practices, it is inevitable that we notice little change with the corrupt actions of those in power and the involvement of the judiciary. The current First Lady's problems with a Dior bag springs to mind!

This drama's reviewer/recaper lovepark, on Dramabeans is very good in their thoughtful analysis.

@Dragonrock I need some of that citron tea!! I am battling back to back colds over here to start off winter 🙄 last week in the office I couldn't believe the number of people who were sneezing etc - have we learned nothing! I felt like I was surrounded and the inevitable happened.

I did have a day off totally yesterday and was looking for an older drama to binge. Started Tomorrow but it wasn't really grabbing me. I checked and it wasn't on the list at the top of the thread as a recommended drama. I thought probably due to the Rowoon factor, probably some people here had watched it. Does that mean it isn't any good??

I enjoyed Tomorrow AmVa. It's a supernatural show predominantly but there were a couple of episodes which dealt with some pretty heavy themes, so was quite serious at times but also quite funny at others and was the first time Rowoon showed a gift for comedy. I remember a couple of pretty impressive pratfalls in particular. It's not a genre that's as universally as liked, though, so that may be why it didn't make it onto the list.

I a bought a HUGE jar of citron tea from Costco. It's great as a topping for vanilla ice cream and you can eat it like marmalade, with toast. Lots of sugar tho. Actually, you could probably use a spoonful of marmalade plus the juice of half a lemon/lime as a substitute to make citron tea. I make my own preserved whole clementines (French style, they're good for 10 years) and chop them up to serve with vanilla ice cream.

Migs those clementines sound insane!!

I usually just do a spoonful of honey and juice of half a lemon when I'm sick - probably does the same job I guess!

Cobol i might go back to tomorrow then - I do love a comedic Rowoon.

I also watch first episode and a half of Atypical Family - haven't seen the ML in anything before, but think he looks like a cross between Kim Woo Bin and Hyun Bin.

Does that mean you have never watched Search WWW @AmVa ? That could be just the ticket for a poorly binge. He is 🔥 in that and lots to enjoy.

@polkettle I have not!! And actually couldn't decide on a binge show yesterday so this could be it. I'll give it a try 😊

AmVa - he is also in My Roommate Is a Gumiho, which I enjoyed immensely, he does very intense well. Miggs - your clementines sound lush. I leave the lemon one for the husband and teens, the ginger one is mine. @AmVa - on the cold front, try boiling full fat Coke with fresh ginger and lemon, remedy I was taught in HK.

He was also a nasty bad lad in My Mister, which is a must watch drama ❤️

If you do go into Search WWW. We sat at the very table they eat at in episode 1...

Episode 11 of Lovely Runner was a delight from start to finish!!!

As soon as we saw that black plastic bag you knew what was going to happen in some way or another.

Chekhov's bag of XXXXXXX (redacted for spoiler reasons).

One of my favourite things about Lovely Runner is when Sun Jae imagines the makjang interactions between Im Sol and Taesung - so funny!

I wouldnt say I have 2ML syndrome, as I do think the chemistry between the leads is really good - although Im Sol's behaviour would realistically be a total red flag and Sun Jae would be 100% right to go to the US. I love Taesungs character though - bad boy with a heart of gold and cheeky smile - chefs kiss!

I'm on episode 9 I think, catching up (thanks to post-eurovision hangover binge on Sunday 😁)

CD1958 turns out to be yet another Disney+ show that is not available in Europe. Yet, at least. Ffs!!! On this subject, I managed to binge the remaining episodes of FlexXCop (loved it) and one episode of Heartbeat while in the UK before being cut off again. Looks like I'll just have to holiday outside Europe for the foreseaable future 🤔

Enjoying seeing and hearing about all your Korean food treats! I was so Korean-food starved during the latest UK trip (we weren't self-catering 💀) that I had three Korean meals on the trot on return home 😁 and downed a bottle of makgeolli by myself over two nights.

Andante yes I get the 'humorous' North vs South Korea comments too. Yawn.

Seeing the words Wi Ha-joon sent me rushing to Viki 😁 One episode in, enjoying MRiH (but what a crapola theme song!) No idea which direction it's going to go in. Intrigued.

Want to make a start on Frankly Speaking, like the sound of The Atypical Family, and enjoying Eye Love You. Not usually into whimsical/cutsey stuff, but the sea otters and food theme have swung it for me so far 🙌

I'm slowly continuing with Mr Sunshine - want to savour it, on episode 14 now. Think it might be time for My Mister for my next classic.

Have avoided Lovely Runner so far as not sure I'm ready for another time travel thing post A Time Called You and Twinkling Watermelon (loved them both, but that was then this is now). And The 8 Show lands on Friday arrrrgggghh help! Too much to watch! 😱😂

OK, what I am not getting with My Mister? I've got a good tolerance for a slow burn, and plenty of patience when necessary, but I've tried watching it three times now and never got past the first episode.

I usually agree with a lot of the recommendations on here, so why am I not feeling this one? Do I just need to persevere and wait for the sudden conversion?

You need to persevere Punks. Although you also need to be in the right frame of mind - it's quite a winter show I think so maybe not now! The first 3 episodes feel unrelentingly bleak but then you get hooked in and it's just brilliant. Stellar performances and really moving. Plus a good thriller plot.

Saram, you may be able to watch Chief Detective 1958 on Dramacool Olga’s but I know that’s sometimes easier said than done.

https://dramacool.bg/drama-detail/chief-detective-1958-2024-as

Thanks @polkettle , that makes sense. Each time I tried, I ended up finding something more lightweight instead, so mood sounds like it might be the issue.

Sounds a bit like me with My Liberation Notes, which I think is the same writer...? You need to be in the right mood for sure.

I did love them both but My Mister has much more plot than MLN and is probably a "better" drama (lots of My Mister fans who didn't get on with MLN). It has real momentum once you're sucked in and proper feels of all varieties. It's a male mid life crisis drama really 😁 But you need to be in the mood for something chewy and keep faith that it's not going to be as draining as it might first appear.

You need to persevere with the bleakness of My Mister so that the payoff is twice as sweet. It has so much heart. It also confounded my expectations about how the plot would develop. It’s a one-off. Definitely worth pushing through.

Xposted with Pol. 😄

I’m watching episode 12 of Lovely Runner. The pitcher of iced citron tea looks 👌 - I will be buying some before our next run of hot weather.

So many good shows currently screening that I'm enjoying and I haven't even STARTED Lovely Runner.
Enjoying TAF, MRitH, FS and also started Crash last night which is cracky fun with an excellent cast plus bonus Traffic Crime Reminder at the end (definitely needed by White Truck and Taxi drivers of Korea).
Need to finish The Midnight Studio which falls into the perfectly competent but not essential category and liked first episode of 195whatever Detective but it was a bit heavy on the men doing man stuff for me. I'll get back to it eventually.