My Secret Romance (2017)

Short: Production issues, a story that is just so unbelievably predictable in every way, a relationship that borders on abusive, and bits that drag on far too long. I mean, it's not *bad*, and I am happy with the ending, it worked, but, it was a drag to get here. Music was quite fun. Actors themselves were great.

Detailed:
I honestly struggled to finish this one, what kept me going was the music, the actors that I was enjoying watching, and a desire to see the relationship find its feet. But it was a struggle.

This was the version on Netflix, called My Secret Romance, 14 episodes around 45 minutes each - just to be clear.

Ok so...

Production issues - the audio is a mess. Some times you've got studio clean audio and clear actors voices. Moments later, possibly even in he same room, you've got raw echoey audio like they had to use it straight from the mics on-set. Another time you've got background music playing that's quite "busy" - but they've set the volume around the same as the actors so they're virtually drowned out. In another scene I noticed the waves were rolling backwards into the sea, clearly a bit of reversed footage, it looked really unnatural. Noneof this happens a a *lot* but it happens enough to keep it in your mind throughout.

Predictable story - I mean just about every cliche romance comedy trope is in here, and the timing of them is almost like this drama is a parody of romcom's. It's just *too* predictable :) One that comes up over, and over, and over (multiple times in one episode in at least one case!) is that deer-in-the-eyes look when she stumbles and he catches her, or she's knocked and ... he catches her, and... you get it. That doesn't make them all bad, but I just felt there were too many. Let' not forget the obligatory double love-triangle too of course!

Abusive Relationship - bit controversial perhaps, and maybe i'm just a bit oversensitive but... you know how when young lads like a girl one of their outlets is to pull their hair - which makes the girl miserable and hate the boy, that kinda thing. Well, now do that with a grown up guy who can't express himself in a sensible way, likes the girl a lot, so orders her around, is generally rude and abrupt to her, makes her feel bad a lot of the time, keeps her late at work, forces her to go out to places with him, fakes a seizure to get attention.... i mean in drama world that's one thing but let's not kid ourselves, in the real world that's a problem... and before you say "well, she could just leave" you have to remember he's her boss, and jobs are not the easiest thing to come by, and that's the rub. If this was brief, i'd have glossed over it, but it was 10 out of 14 episodes. This is not acceptable behaviour! Once he gets past it, it's all fine, but... isn't that how it is in real life too, until things go bad again? Let's just not make this acceptable. Maybe i'm just oversensitive, but I found this difficult.

Dragging on - the last 2 or 3 episodes, the last one or two in particular, really lay the flashbacks on thick.

So what did I *like*, why did I not make this my first drop?

I liked the music. I liked the actors, I thought they both worked well together and wanted to see their relationship to its pinnacle moment. I thought the relationship between the secondary leads Hyeon-Tae and Hye-Ri was nice and warm and was happy with how this progressed. I thought that the reconnection of Jin-Wook with his mother was by far the most tender and emotional moment of the story. The funny relationship between somewhat extreme characters of Assistant Kim and Je-Ni were amusing and well played.

There were good moments, the story DOES get somewhere, but it's built on a framework of flaws and issues. That said, it's also quite short - so if you're looking for that romcom fix and you've haven't seen it yet, well, if I haven't put you off so far then why not give it a shot and then please do come back and tell me if my review is unfair or wrong!

Leggi di Più

First of all, this drama hits differently than others. I finished this 2 days ago, and still, this is so powerful. The story is very nice, but I also had problems with the last 3 episodes. I mean, I can't understand why the story was so dramatic and everything changed. Anyways, the female leader wasn't my favorite one. I had so many problems understanding her reasons for doing something. But still. the show was saved by our favorite man. I recommend this for those who need a nice story, but the kinda weird and crazy ending(still sad about it). The drama was refreshing, I enjoyed but I wanted more than that.

Leggi di Più

Great, but has a couple slow episodes.

Overall I think this is almost the perfect RomCom. Unfortunately from maybe the end of Ep.11 until the ending things started to drag. All of the other issues that the characters encountered were resolved relatively quickly and the flow was "just right" through the majority of the show.

The characters are wonderful. They all have personality and depth. Hyeon-Tae is such a wonderful friend. We all need a friend like that.

If you're in the mood for something sweet, fluffy and cute that will make you hate the "conniving" ones but adore the love story -- then this is probably for you.

Leggi di Più

This rom com was totally carried by the amazing actors! I noticed a lot of bad reviews and just had to write my own to really explain why this cute show is worth watching. Yes the music at times overpowers the actors voices, yes the sound effects are ridiculous, yes the story is a bit weak... not feeling Lee Yoo Mi actually wants or even likes to cook. Yeah... we didn’t need yet another mother abandons her son storyline... “as if” anyone would leave behind Sung Hoon? So all that aside thank goodness for the actors amazing chemistry.. it’s the entire reason I binge watched this in a weekend! Let’s forget the fact that I totally now obsessed with Sung Hoon because of this drama! (I might stalk him on instagram;) He is literally perfect looking like a greek god... Aside from
his amazing looks, this guy is so funny! He totally is perfect as the super conceited rich Company Director. He and his secretary (Park Shin Woon) stole every scene they are in. I loved the side relationship with Park Shin Woon and his kitchen love Im do yoon ... They... were.... perfect. And boy this story needed the distraction they provided. Song Ji Eun and Sung Hoon was great in this and she matched his comedic sense well. I liked the storyline with her mother.. it was unusual and gave her character a little more depth. Thank goodness for the cast though because the story was pretty weak. The chemistry between the leads was off the charts - hello steamy car scene - whoa! that is what kept me coming back each episode. The story got a bit off track but I was super happy with the ending. Now just put these two back together in a drama without the insane musical track, weird sound effects and it will be a smash! I look forward to seeing them work together again.

Leggi di Più

One night stand to forever and ever

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the drama. The main cast is absolutely gorgeous. The male lead Jin-wook (Sung Hoon)'s voice is just so sexy. The female lead Yoo-mi (Song Ji-eun) is just adorable with her innocent quirks. It is a typical spoilt chaebol falling for an average girl story. However, the romantic and sweet scenes between the leads makes up for the lack of strength in the storyline. It's just an overall feel good drama which makes your heart skip a beat and go <3aww<3 . Comic relief is sparse and the other male and female lead had pretty much little role to play. They are not evil enough to create enough trouble for the lead couple nor are they sweet enough to make the leads second guess their feelings. I felt that their background stories had enough potential to develop their roles. I mean how can a second lead remain in love for pretty much a decade and not confess to the main lead or affect the main lead's feelings even once? Especially if you are comfortable enough to have close tussles with skin-ship and all... I like that this is not the case with shows like Goong or Fated to love you ....

Leggi di Più

Lá se vai mais um dorama que tinha TUDO para ser bom, mas teve aquela protagonista enjoativa.
Dessa vez, eu acho que a atuação dos atores foi realmente boa, mas aquele roteiro que constrói uma protagonista que atrapalha TODO o romance por medinho de ser igual à mãe estourou a minha paciência.

História: achei comum. Bem típica, na verdade. Contudo, os momentos entre eles são bem, bem fofinhos só que a maioria das demonstrações você vê por conta do nosso protagonista maravilhoso. Acho que a evolução dele foi a mais marcante, pois ele saltou de um moleque mimado, para se desenvolver como patrão rancoroso e se concluir como um cara realmente apaixonado que é capaz de esperar o tempo que for para experimentar um pouco do amor da protagonista.

PORÉM

Que protagonista enjoada. Já disse isso, mas ela realmente foi o que me impediu de elevar a nota desse dorama. Uma briga mais infantil do que a outra sendo que o vai-não-vai dela é BEM pior.

Personagens secundários estão bem mais amadurecidos do que ela e têm um romance bem topzinho.

Atuação: achei boa. De verdade, dá para saber quando o problema é a atuação ou se o problema é o roteiro, no caso, foi o roteiro o problema do dorama. Construíram uma personagem que esgota a paciência.

Musical: comum. Acho que não tem como esperar muito. Se encaixou nos momentos, mas não achei uma que tivesse total importância para o dorama.

No geral, é um dorama MUITO fofinho por conta do protagonista. Porém, você vai ficar incomodada(o) pelo menos uma vez com a nossa protagonista.

Leggi di Più

I love myself fluffy girly romance thing like this...:)

It's funny & cute (GEORGEOUS drawings at each episode opening), all episodes have funny "epilogues"... The only problems are exactly the same like in 'Noble, My Love'.

While I appreciate that they kept the funny male secretary from 'Noble', I'm having the same problems, firstly I don't like Sung Hoon (the girl is cute, cuter than most korean female leads), secondly I don't even like the kind of main character that he portrays. Again, it's a rich guy who has to gradually blackmail the main girl into being his gf.

The 1st episode is skippable until they hook up in the car, then the proper fun starts. She then meets him again, meets the funny male asistant... But then, it's all about him being her overbearing boss. That's kind of uncomfortable. I didn't like when the lead girl was constantly strained by his demands, while he was actually making a move on her (just because they once met years ago?). It was all so artificial. While the guy she SHOULD really get close to by now naturally (the one from the book store/cafe) got completely side-lined (friend-zoned).

Basically, what I didn't like was: Sung Hoon, Sung Hoon's haircut, his male character who after a one night stand acted morelike girls act after them, and also the fact that he became her boss. (Throughout the whole series, she keeps calling him "director"... idiotic.)
What I liked: It was funny, it was cute, nobody was a virgin or sexually clueless, no one fake/stiff kissed (well, mostly) and nobody yelled on the top of their lungs just during regular conversation (mostly). Wow, k-dramas seem to have improved, lol.

Some moments are SO goofy. Like the kiddie playground in epi 9... I really did regret that I didn't like Sung Hoon. It would be perfect if I did:-) Epi 9/13 main guy also makes his confession. It's not very believable one even for a dramaland: I can't help it, I am used to seeing that after the two characters get to know each other, spend time together, go through things together, they get closer, and relationship develops. This drama, we are supposed to believe that after two random strangers spend a couple of moments together and then don't see each other for years, relationship develops. Why not, right? As long as it's cute... Which brings me back to the problem that Sung Hoon is not my type of eye candy. Else I might enjoy this more. Either way, when his main guy misunderstands that he's got a kid, he embraces it immediatelly, which is really sweet. When the girl left though, I didn't feel sorry for the guy. He LET her leave.

The viewer should be in understanding with the fact that k-dramas ALWAYS tend to overdrag, so this one, having 13 episodes only and not 16, means it REALLY had no other plot or reason for further angst, lol. Last 3 episodes, even the "epilogues" went draggy... We watch scenes like: Main girl & main guy both travel on the same street but fail to notice one another, and therefore fail to meet. On one hand, this was draggy, but the truth also was that I even didn't particularly mind it that they didn't meet, lol. (And I'll let you guess if such scene then also gets "epilogued".) Then, there's like 1 minute with the funny male assistant... Nice. This is why I rated 'Noble, My Love' 9 stars, though it was basically similar: TIME SAVING, lol.

Near the end, among flashback scenes providing the runtime filler (like, you don't even need to go on youtube to watch this show's MVs, those are already included), they end up at the same place in the same car and that oddly reminded me of another k-drama called 'Witch's Romance', where the couple also had one great moment in the beginning and then after many episodes of suffering we watched an actual repeat of that scene. I didn't give that show very high rating... I know wievers were supposed to find the reminiscing montage moving, but something nasty in me wished for the girl to REPEAT her previous behavior, then:) Meaning, leave the car before the guy wakes up and not contact him for years. Who cares about the happy ending, LOL. But, we do get happy ending, and it's like 58 minutes long, so my rating is still generous, considering;)

Leggi di Più

This is show exactly what it meant to be

I was expecting lightweight romcom to binge watch and got exactly what i wanted. This is the type of show where you just want to chill in your sofa not thinking much about what you are watching and just enjoying some silly romantic comedy with beautiful actors. Is it deep? Nah. Is it toughts provoking? Not at all. Is it funny and romantic? Hell yeah. And thats all it matters. The chemistry between characters was great (even though the first close "encounter" could be somewhere else somewhere more romantic and memorable) and their bickering was just cute and funny.
The ML at the first was punchable spoiled kid but he actually turned out pretty good.
Idk what else to say. This is just not something you tear to peaces in a review. Its like when you go to some unknown fastfood where they serve something ordinary. You know what you are getting upfront and if its not awful there is no point to complain about it but you do feel good if its good. After all this is not some fancy restaurant where you expect complex and maybe unexpected flavours, its just a fastfood. And luckily a good one in my opinion

Leggi di Più

Without being too heavy, this series allows for a mental break for a relaxing evening

If you're looking for a series that can entertain you without taking up too much mental space, this one is definitely a solid choice for a relaxing evening.

It's not the ultimate drama, but it's definitely a good experience. I agree that there are flaws, but honestly, it's just a drama to watch in chill mode. I really enjoyed the story, even though it dragged on towards the end. The music is beautiful, and the actors are pretty good. There are some beautiful shots of the ocean, the couple, and the city.
The drama is based on romance, and personally, it's perfect for a relaxing night on the couch. If you don't know what to watch after finishing a long and gripping drama, you can definitely check this one out. It's nice, but not exceptional.

Leggi di Più

CUTE ROM-COM!

Unlike the negative comments here, I have come up with the positive review. When it was released, it was quite hyped at that time and I watched it ongoing. I loved it alot. It's romance part is sizzling with chemistry, the ost was sweet and in my playlist. Good music choice.
Sunghoon can portray indifferent CEO roles very well and comedic at the same time. The fl was a simple girl with complicated family which led her engage in a one night stand. Years later they meet again as employee and employer. It's a simple cliche story with good execution. Many might not like it and feel stretchy but rather than binge watching, I will suggest to give time in between and watch it with an open mind. It's a cute rom com which will not disappoint you. However, if you're not a fan of rom coms or cliche plots, this might not be your cup of tea.

Leggi di Più

So, I began to watch this drama again because it's on NETFLIX now!, like why do they keep adding all the dramas that I have already watched..gesh.
But anyway, this is my second time watching this drama and I am still thrilled by the story and romance.
I keep seeing videos of this drama and I miss their OSTs.
If you like to watch a fast-simple yet attractive and easy show, I really recommend this drama.
I finished it in one day (because I have other dramas that I have not yet finished T.T) and the ending made me sad..cuz IT'S THE END. Who doesn't cry In the end?
This drama is mostly rom-com... and I like how the kiss scenes are right there. LMAO.
I was kinda scared to watch this show because it's a small series, but I like it now because it's fast... at some ep it may be a bit slow.. but overall it flows.
The cast was amazing, I wish I can see them on their future roles.
Song Ji Eun is SOOO cuteee and when I searched up her age... I was shook. I wish I can still look young while my age is growing. The way she portrayed her character is astonishing. Her figure and such really matches her character in this drama.
Sung Hoon was of course 100% AMAZING. no cap. I wish i can see More of his abs hehe. Anyways I like his arrogant, bitchy look but is really a simple and nice person on the inside. I hope I can see him more on diff roles rather than just being the CEO or Manager in dramas. I like to see his normal outfits without any suits n such.
Kim Jae Young tho!! Ugh!! the Second lead-syndrome. T.T But I like how his ending turned out.. <3
For their first encounter, that was a really unique and mess up (in a good way) introduction. And they way they felt for eachother.
Anyways, I love this drama which is why I watched it for the second time.
<3<3<3<3
12:27am
4/26/20

Leggi di Più

Poderia ser bom se não fosse pela protagonista enjoativa. A ideia é um cliché comum de amor entre CEO e menina pobre, porém com um lance de uma noite só que resultou em um reencontrou anos depois e um grande mal entendido, olhando dessa forma a história poderia ser divertida mas fica estressante por alguns motivos, o primeiro é a falta de comunicação e esclarecimento que parece um pouco surreal, entendo que esse é o grande motivo que causa uma interação entre os protagonistas mas acho que uma simples conversa resolveria tudo, mas por algum motivo todos ficam contornando as coisas e não são diretos. Não consegui muito bem me conectar com a protagonista, eu entendia os motivos delas mas não achava muito válido, entendo que ela tem uma grande vergonha da mãe mas o tempo todo ela esconde as coisas que acabam piorando a situação dela, além de que ela poderia apenas colocar limites na mãe, novamente, entendo que ela não queria faltar respeito, e isso é algo considerado muito grave na coreia. Não me interessei muito pelos personagens secundários e o único que consegui gostar um pouco foi o protagonista. A mãe da menina me fez passar muita raiva e chegava a pontos desnecessários, sinto que todos os personagens de certa forma as vezes passavam um pouco do limite e eram meio sem noção, mas no geral é um dorama razoável, cheio de comédia e com poucos episódios que foram o suficiente para história inteira.

Leggi di Più