Secret Garden (2010)

so Over the top but so good!

I have just rewatched this drama (probably the third time) and I still enjoy this despite all the tropes and numerous flaws of this drama. I mean it’s 14 years old already. since then all the actors have evolved but it’s a nice beginner drama to watch. everything is in there. the star crossed lovers caught in the everlasting social ladder, the “I give you money and you disappear”, the poor girl wearing very expensive brands, the continuity problems. I mean what a feast. I still can’t get over the cheesy soundtrack.
I don’t think you would do a drama this way nowadays but 10 years ago, totally. So to conclude an oldie but goodie. you just have to be in the right mood for it!

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There's no doubt that this is one of the best K-dramas around. And there are many reviews that will say the same. But this review is my thought about it. And nothing more.

I loved the cast. They were great. Each and every one of them played their characters as perfect and real as they could. Hyung Bin & Ha ji won both are one of the most talented actors around. And they played there roles perfectly.
Specially in the body switching parts. Hyung Bin just stole the spot light for me at that moment. He was so funny. Specially his expressions. They were gold.

This is the only drama, I've so far with the most amazing OST. Each and every song had a reason. They were somehow part of the story. And they were so beautiful, that you just have to love it.

I loved the story. Well some of it. The only thing I didn't like was the switching. It wasn't necessary. It would had been an amazing drama even without. The switching - which most people were expecting, and it was funny - had little to none with story. In my eyes, it didn't do anything with the characters development.
Even saying that I loved the scenes. The actors were the reason.
And then the ending.

Overall it was an amazing drama. A great watch. It's full of fun stuff and moments. That's the reason it gets an overall 10 in my review and a place in my favorite drama list.

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For me, it was forgettable

The story line was interesting, but I didn't feel the leads did a very good job when they exchanged souls. So, trying to keep track of who what saying what to who was aggravating. Toward the beginning of the show, when he was already attracted to her, the looks he would give her...sigh! But later they didn't really seem to have that much chemistry. Plus, they fought ALL THE TIME. Hated the evil mother (I know, that was the point, but she continued to have her way, even at the end, hated that). I had watched this on DramaFever and couldn't even remember it, so I watched it again to review it. I now know why I couldn't remember it. Not that impressive. Loved the architecture, even though this was filmed long before WWWSK, it will always be the WWWSK house!

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Entertaining show, not fulfilling modern standards

When I tried watching Secret Garden the first time I dropped it after half an episode. Like many pre-2015 dramas it is really
Horrible production value both in video and audio - think of an older daily soap,
bad acting or rather alternative acting skills - painting a caricature of the characters rather than being believable and
cringe-worthy moments - have you ever heard a Korean woman demonstrating her English skills with a high pitched "excuse me"? That sends shivers down my spine.

When I picked the show up again, I steeled myself to at least watch 2 episodes. And the good news is: you get used to those points and the show actually is entertaining enough to let you finish it.

But even then there are multiple issues with the show: It is weirdly paced, with the supernatural elements only kicking in 6 episodes in and a lot of comedy resulting from them were a miss for me. You have the whole "Korean super-rich - we do not behave like humans - everybody around us is forced in a servitile position"-trope going on which isn't my favourite. And at the beginning the male lead is stalking and harassing to a point slightly outside my comfort zone.

Don't get me wrong: there are good sides as well, like properly dealing with its more serious themes like injury and social pressure.

If the production value was up to today's standard I would give it a 7 or 8. But as it is, it is mediocre at best and I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it.

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Don't hesitate, just watch this drama.

I'll keep it simple this is a much watch for every drama lover. Everything is iconic, the characters, the scenes, the humor and of course the romance.

The female lead is a strong character who takes no shit from people, and the male lead is a funny asshole whom you'll grow to love. And then there's Oska, I won't spoil it but he's the most iconic side character in every drama.

I can't help but give it a solid 10/10. This is one of my favorite drama's, I've watched it two times and will most likely rewatch it again in the future.

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An entertaining drama with some cliche scenes

I binged watched all of hyun bin’s drama on netflix after crash lading on you. I was hesitating on this as i found him a little too skinny in this show for my liking. But knowing the hype it generated back then, decided to give it a try.

I was really irritated with JW’s behavior in the beginning as he was really stalking the FL and disrespectful to her in many ways. It made me question whether that was an appropriate way to woo a lady. FL also seemed to be very disturbed by his actions (i would be) but somehow still decided to fall in love with him. I was on the verge of dropping the drama at the start but still decided to pull through it as i was curious about the whole gender swap.

I must say that the gender swapping scenes were what really made it interesting for me. The leads were really brilliant acting as each other, especially HB. His actions and facial expressions were so similar to Gil Ra Im and he was really comedic in his scenes with Oscar.

A memorable scene for me was when JW was stuck in the lift and as he was claustrophobic, he started gasping for breath and fainted. That acting there was really epic. I could literally see his veins popping out. Ha Ji Won even praised HB for his acting in that scene which was certainly well deserved. I am glad that he received awards for his acting in this drama as well.

Now let’s talk about some of the cliches used.
The evil mum who throws an envelope of money to the woman who dares to go near his son. The mum was literally overreacting in every scene that i was so afraid she might just combust.

The romance which i felt was unconvincing. What made JW fall head over heels in love with GRI? Love at first sight? All he saw was her fighting and suddenly he was so in love with her that he had to stalk her. And when exactly did GRI start liking JW? To me it was also very sudden. I felt that she would probably be better off with her boss at the martial arts school.

The kisses. The famous foam kiss was rather cheesy to me... and also the typical scenes where the MLs tend to force their kisses on the FLs while they struggled. Those just don’t feel right to me.

Despite all these grievances, i completed the drama whilst fast forwarding the scenes involving the side characters. I must say the JW started becoming more likeable towards the later episodes and i was even rooting for him to have a happy ending with GRI. I kind of forgot how arrogant and irritating he was at the start. I wished they did not end it with them getting married and having kids though. Knowing that they would stay together would have been enough.

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My Personal Comfort K-Drama

This was the first k-drama I've ever seen. It soon became one of my comfort shows, and I still love rewatching it again and again, even though I now know it by heart.

It was made at the beginning of the 2010's, when there were flip phones with batteries you could take out of the phone just to be dramatic, and they do that a lot in this (take out batteries as well as being dramatic).

The premise is really fun and quite original, and the two main actors are amazing and very believable at playing all the roles they are given. Not once I am confused as to which character they are embodying. I love it.

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A zany and enjoyable adventure

Watching Secret Garden is a great time. At times hilarious and adorable, at times devastating and intense, incorporating elements of magic, action stunts, family drama, and long lost secrets, Secret Garden runs the gamut in TV storytelling and character growth.

The plot is 80% comedy, especially in the first 10-15 episodes, as the Gil Ra-im and Kim Joo Won meet, stumble around each other, and try to figure out the other's lifestyle. Hyun Bin is hilarious as Joo Won, strutting around in his fancy Italian tracksuits and trying to keep up with Ra-im's badass action woman stunts. Then, in the last five episodes, there's a lot of melodrama; think a bunch of classic Kdrama tropes all piled together (ie. car accident, coma, amnesia). But there's a good resolution that maintains the earlier episodes' lighter tone.

I LOVED the cast and characters. The two leads are excellent. At first, the two second leads annoyed me, but both of them went through some satisfying character development, and I really felt invested in their storylines by the end. (Kind of reminded me of Seo Dan and Seung Jun from Crash Landing on You). Honestly, everyone should have a friend like Oska; he was so sweet and hilarious to Ra-im and everyone else. Even the other supporting characters were great :)

The one drawback is, that like with many East Asian Dramas, there's always the disapproving mother-in-law character who relentlessly tries to keep the main couple apart for NO GOOD REASON. There was definitely a lot of that in Secret Garden although the leads are able to stand up to her.

The soundtrack is ON POINT. Doesn't hurt that one of the main characters is supposed to be a K-pop star, so there are a lot of great bops as well as more soulful music. Hyun Bin even sings a song or two!

In conclusion, I recommend this drama; it's a crazy adventure and ultimately a fun time.

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I watched this drama for Hyun Bin, Ha Ji Won, Lee Jong Suk, and Kim Sung-Oh.
I am a huge fan of those four that I just named.

I've seen 4 to five of their movies/dramas. Wonderful acting.
Since I love them so much, I watch any drama with them in it. Whether they're villains, whether they have a cameo... whatever. I'll watch it for them.

Secret Garden is indeed a wonderful drama. I laughed throughout the entire show. I cried a tad bit later on, but it wasn't for long.
I suggest that the one's who haven't seen it, please watch. This is the only drama I'd proudly recommend. All 10 stars!!

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I can't believe I postponed watching this :|

AYO for some reason whatsoever, I paused this drama a couple of years ago, probably because I got bored during the middle, but then I restarted all the way from the beginning and carried through AND I DO NOT REGRET A SINGLE THING. actually I regret pausing but other than that nothing else.

everything was 5 stars to besides the story and that's only because Gil Ra Im, whose supposed to be skilled in multiple areas of martial arts, self defense, and works out daily because of her job, is constantly overpowered by Joo Wan, which by the way FRUSTRATED ME quite a bit. another thing was that most of the physical power he forced upon her felt like borderline sexual assault if this was real world but bc I watched the NG cuts & behind the scenes, I found it (guiltily) cute.
ALSO Joo Wan's mother was EXTREMELY ANNOYING and STUBBORN but that's part of the plot so there was nothing to be done about that.

I don't have any complaints against anything else. I love the way she made things difficult for him because he deserved it most of the time. the struggle was REALLLL satisfying. the bond between Joo Wan and Oska was a beauty. every other part of the plot was just intricate and didn't leave any obvious foreshadowing, plotholes, and repeatative scenes. my favorite thing was how they kept introducing new scenes that haven't been shown throughout the drama. (that may have been a slight spoiler). the chemistry was just perfect, comedy was funny, dialogue was interesting, and I love how the focus of the story (soul switching) wasn't the only part to the plot. They were somehow able to spread that across the drama and incorporated it differently from how dramas currently doing. (maybe it's just me missing 2010 type of dramas).

the characters had amazing growth, the OST has been added to my playlists, and I AM DEFINITELY REWATCHING THIS DRAMA. Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won look too good in this drama not to. I cried, I laughed, I loved, I was angered, and I had my expectations risen so there's pros and cons, mainly pros.

though many might not even know of this dramas existence anymore, I do hope this gets recommended or at least diffused somehow for a longer time because this drama really deserves its love and fame. it really gives me nostalgic feels

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