Secret Garden (2010)

My first drama and it placed the bar for all those that are to follow. By now, I've watched a few more drama's, so I'll write my review with those in mind.

When I first watched this, I was absolutely hooked and convinced that Kdrama was so much more than I had ever thought it to be. It was great to have this as my introduction to this new world.

Story:
Well, I don't have much to say here. Genderswap is amusing and difficult. I think the actors did an amazing job at portraying one another after a swap. Besides this swap, it's really a pretty average story of a rich family versus a poor family. Is this bad? No, absolutely not. I really liked how it all developed. But is it really special? That, I guess not. It never bored me though!

Actors and Acting:
As stated above, the leads did amazing. This drama also introduced me to Lee Jong Suk and man, he got my attention from the get go for sure! Just like Yoon Sang Hyun (whom later surprised me in I Can Hear Your Voice). I thought the acting in general was really well done by everyone. There were a few scenes where I felt things were a bit over the top.. but not to the point where it got annoying. It fitted the story.

Overall:
It used to be a 10 for me, but now I rated it a 9 because another drama took its spot, showing me the bar could be raised even higher. Still - this is a drama I advice everyone whenever I can.

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This drama had a very cliche, yet interesting concept to it. The romance is definitely played out and spaced well. I especially loved Kim Sarang-Yoon Sang Hyun relationship. I felt that story was really interesting. However, at times I was a little disappointed.

Overall, the story does go full circle. It explains what it NEEDS to; however, there were minor instances that should have been better. In fact, sometimes they just didn't make sense (I don't want to give examples as they would be spoilers). Speaking from a literary lens, there were a lot of plot holes and things left unexplained.

The acting was decent. It wasn't great, but wasn't terrible. Ha Ji Won isn't THAT great of an actor, but she did have her instances where she really shined. When she cried, she had me on the verge of tears. Don't forget the body switching either. They would have to play the part of the other person which was very good. The rest of the main cast (as well as the minor/supporting) had a good fit (although I wish Jay Park was to be in it as originally planned :(..)

You normally can't go wrong with the music in a drama. SBS/Secret Garden staff did not fail to execute. "That Man" was a very catchy tune, as well as some of Yoon Sang Hyun's songs. I even downloaded the OST because I liked a good portion of the songs.

I'm not one of those people that judges a drama based on how much it makes them cry, the actors chosen, or something ridiculous like that. There were many small things that were left unanswered. The only questions answered were the big points (Gil Raim's father, etc.) The plot is a decent/very cliche body swapping drama.
Overall, I give it a 7. I'd say it was a very mediocre - almost good drama.

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Secret Garden is one of my top 5 dramas I have watched. Although It has the cliche of a rich guy falling for a less fortunate girl, it dominates other dramas with it's story. Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won acting was amazing and is showed in every episode. The ost for this drama was superior. I even downloaded it for my iPhone. I usually don't rewatch dramas unless I feel that it was that great. I would possibility rewatch some part of Secret Garden but not the entire thing. Overall I would totally recommend this to anyone, even if they don't usually watch dramas. Be careful, it is a tearjerker.

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I read a few reviews where some people said the story made no sense and there was no chemistry as in: why did they love each other?



I think the story is very based in reality. Why do you need a reason to love someone? Sometimes you just do, and you just can't figure out why! That's what this story is about.



People are attracted to people for various reasons, but they have standards, so when they are attracted to someone they are surprised. They say to themselves, "I don't understand, why am I doing this?"



I think that is why this story is compelling. Its not for some cliche reason like, "OH, she so pretty I must make her mine." Its a story about two personalities bridging and coming together. And of course there are a few plot twists, and other drama that make it exciting. Not to mention the comedy. I don't think I've ever laughed out loud so much when watching a single drama. It Had the right Mix of Comedy, Drama and Romance.



I will admit that at some parts this drama seemed a little slow moving to me. If producers can make a compelling in romance in a hour and a half with plenty of back story, why does this have to be done in 20 hours? I think it would have dragged less if it were 16 episodes. They could have cut out some of the really long unnecessary scenes. 16 Episodes would have been perfect for it.



None-the-less, If anyone takes the time and patience to watch it, I highly doubt you'll be disappointed!

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Seeing all these outstanding reviews, I have to say I was kind of let down with the show. At first, anyways. I started it expecting to love it from the beginning. Honestly, I fell asleep every time I tried to watch an episode. Not that it was boring, but that it just wasn't keeping my interest. However, I really dislike dropping shows, so I forced myself to keep trying.

It was worth it.

Yes, it took quite a few episodes but I finally got hooked on the show. I still don't find the show fantastic but I really enjoyed the storyline and some of the characters. The ending may have been cheesy, however, I found it super cute!

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Watch it because even if you might be a little wary of the plot as a whole it does work. You can tell the actors become more comfortable in their roles as the drama moves along and it makes it even better to watch. The writers avoid certain cliches by adding a twist to them. There is some really sharp and different dialogue in here between the two main characters, especially from the main male lead Kim Joo Won he has some real funny lines and then contrastingly some really (unusual) insightful ones too. Overall I would say just give it a go if you like romance and a little but not consuming fantasy.

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Common sense found in a dead ditch.

Where do I even start? I honestly don't know. This drama was such a drag for me. I tried my best to keep in mind that this drama is 10 years old, and I've seen it before and remembered liking it very much. But this rewatch, it just made me feel so annoyed and disappointed.

I have tolerated a lot of things from old, cheesy romcoms but I could not stand this one. First, for the good things: I absolutely love the strength of Ha Ji Won's character here. Gil Ra Im is very logical, right amount of being emotional and is such a practical, realistic person. Another thing I'd like to compliment here is the beautiful OSTs. I am honestly not so familiar with Hyun Bin, but he looks good. Those were pretty much the reasons why I tried my best to finish this, but it was not enough. Gil Ra Im is the complete opposite of Kim Joo Won, and you may argue that opposites attract, but I beg to differ in their case. I just find the attraction being too sudden, and the hints of her supposed emotions for Joo Won is pretty much non-existent and only became solidified when she actually said it. I couldn't believe how ridiculous that was, and I did not find that believable at all. Kim Joo Won is a complete asshole. I don't know what else I can add, but I was not for once attracted to his personality. A couple of characters in the drama mentioned that he'd changed after knowing Gil Ra Im, and I appreciate that, but the change was not enough for me to forgive his mistakes and overall arrogance and selfishness.

With that being said, I would also like to apologize to my mom for never finishing this. She motivated me after I ranted about the middle bit of this whole series, but I could not take it anymore.

I dedicate my 1 star for Ha Ji Won, half star for Hyun Bin, another half for their cute moments. The last star is for the OST, while baby Yoo In Na and Lee Jong Suk can share the last half star.

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The Fact this portrayal of abuse of a woman is so popular is actually concerning.

Take a woman who has been orphaned at a young age, but who is tough, has survived, has a career as a stuntwoman. A womn who despite her background has honour compassion and ambition. A woman who has male and female friends who admire love and respect her. Are you impressed? is it refreshing in a (14yr old) Kdrama to have a FL portrayed in this way?

Of course it is, now watch all that being relegated to irrelevance as a rich obnoxious mean spoilt asshole born with a silver spoon in his mouth decides he likes her.

From then on he repeatedly stalks, insults and physically abuses her, insults and manipulates her friends demands she like him, this lasts for the whole drama btw. He DOES NOT CHANGE.

So what of our FL she is too tough to be intimated by this asshole. She is too honorable to allow her friends be treated this way. She is too intelligent to not see his true self. She is too strong to just stand there and take abuse.

NOPE If you thought this was one for the women for girl power you were totally misled. This show basically says no matter how tough and competent and cool a woman is, if a rich handsome guy wants her she should just shut up and do whats shes told and count herself lucky.

Its still the worst most misogynistic boring piece of trash i ever saw in Kdramaland.

The fact its so popular especially amongst women is really disappointing.

Oh yeah and there is soul swap plotdevice which serves no purpose whatsoever. And there is nothing i mean nothing the ML does to remotely suggest the FL would fall for him.

Classic???? Not even close

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This kdrama was the hype for the winter season of 2010-2011. There were lots of mixed reviews but the rating just went higher and higher.

Secret Garden is one of those drama where you would have a love-hate relationship with the main characters. i.e. Joo Won’s character was a pure hell-egoistic-bastard but he does have his points to fact. Like being very loyal, analytical and annoying which makes you like him because you have no choice that he is annoyingly always there.

Ghaaaa… where can you find a good looking annoying guy like him?

WHERE???

Only in dramas.

As for Gil Ra-im, the pretty innocent-strong-vibes-persona her character emits is an ace. If a deck of cards tells you what’s the highest card? It’s the ace. Ra-im is an ace. She may not be THAT pretty, but man… if you fall for her your head goes bonkers just like Joo Won.

The writer of Secret Garden has a twisted mind; that I am sure of. If you’ve seen the ending of “Lovers in Paris” and “What happened in Bali”? You would understand what I am talking about. I’m not writing these things because I hate the writer, I am saying this because I am glad that there are writers like her who explores things beyond people’s expectations.

The music score was so-so for me, along with the rest of the cast. The drama had a very good story line and two great actors to lead it with but… it just wasn’t one of those dramas that gave me the “I shouldn’t miss” feel in it. I loved it for what it was but didn’t really look forward to watching it too much. Maybe it’s because of Oska? Who knows? All I know is I watched it for Hyun Bin and Ha Ji-won.

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I picked Secret Garden to watch as it was strongly recommended to me by a friend. Oh boy did i start doubting her taste after completing this drama. Why? First of all the prince and the pauper theme is extremely overused, cliché, and worst of all Secret Garden attempts originality by injecting needless humor and fantasy themes that not only fails to improve the overall story actually make it worse in the long run. Finally towards the end there is a rush attempt to play catch up because the plot was so loose in the first half so the end had to come up with a plausible explanation for the main character's obsessive love (via fate/destiny the usual kdrama troupe) and the ending was a half hearted attempt to give viewers who actually stuck to the end what they are looking for. This drama is one of the most obvious attempts of 'pleasing the audience to get higher rating' in kdrama, because frankly the last 20min of the show was so disgustingly corny I did not need to see it. 6/10 for this story out of respect for Mark Twain's Prince and Pauper being a masterpiece of contemporary fiction.

Moving on to the character, cast and acting. The only cast i'm familiar with is Ha Ji Won, she's a pretty girl and remarkable action actress. However sadly she lacks facial expression variety and seem to have the same face for all situation. She didn't impress me in King 2 Heart and failed to impress me in Secret Garden. The character she is playing must have extremely low self esteem to continue 'liking' a guy who verbally abuses her on regular bases (as well as his entire family for that matter). Next Hyun Bin... Well considering his role is suppose to be an immature brat of a rich boy, he does a good job of portraying that role. Hyun Bin's character is suppose to be 34 to Ha Ji Won's 30, but throughout the entire show i felt like it was the other way around. Well regardless to summarize my impression of this couple it was - no chemistry. Seriously, i spend the first 15 episodes wondering at what point does Ha Ji Won's character fall in love with Hyun Bin's. Was it after they switched bodies and she checked his body out personally? There was no spark at all, unless she was eventually convinced by his wealth, connection, and could not stand his immature attitude any longer.

My favorite two characters in this drama was actually Yoon Sang Hyun (Oska) and Lee Jong Suk (Han Tae Seon). Believe it or not I felt the strongest chemistry between them two (lol), kudos and props and applause to Lee Jong Suk for being able to pull off the 'i'm gay' vibe perfectly and fantastically. Yoon Sang Hyun's (Oska) reaction to being hit on by a guy was also hilariously funny. Damn it by the end of the drama I was seriously hoping for a kiss between them!

Other notable characters include Yoo In Na, Lee Phillip and Kim Sa Rang. This drama was made better by the cast of great support characters 8/10.

In terms of music, it was ok. I mean in a drama where you don't feel much chemistry between the main leads how good can the music be? Music is there to enhance the romantic atmosphere, but if there is none in the first place it's really hard to judge. Some songs that stood out was the ending theme, it had some good fantasy/mystical elements to it in order to complement the 'Secret Garden' theme. 6/10

I would not rewatch this drama if my life depended on it. Episode 7-15 was a total waste of my time and only good for a laugh, in fact I am of the opinion it could have been skipped altogether and wouldn't have affected the story at all.

Overall I cant say i enjoyed this drama much but it wasn't a total disaster due to the charisma of the support cast and the detailed side stories focusing on Oska and other side characters. I feel you really have to be mentally prepared for certain genres when coming into this drama, least you get shell shocked at the way the main lead treats and woos his love interest.

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Story- Very different from most stereotypical K Dramas. It incorporates pretty much all the genres which consited of comedy, action, romance, music themed. The pace is good but some episodes did feel longer than others. The ending was cute and one of the best endings in a drama ever!

Acting/Cast- Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won had excellent chemistry even though they are complete opposites. The supporting cast was fantastic!

Music- Beautiful score & OST.

rewatch- because there are a ton of funny moments & the cast is just awesome, Id watch this once a year.

Overall- This drama is the best korean drama ever made!

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I had zero interest on Korean shows before I came across Secret Garden. Because of this show, I became amazed by how amazing Korean production are able to come up with romantic dramas.

This particular show, Secret Garden, has a different twist since it has the element of supernatural / mystery in it. It is such a fun ride as it is a mixture of comedy, mystery, romance, friendship... Honestly, it was such an emotional roller coaster ride for me!

The sneak peek at the life of stunt men and stunt production was also a treat for me!

It also was a pleasure to watch Hyun Bin for the first time. He played the role so flawlessly! He and Ha Ji-won had such a strong chemistry! My heart fluttered every time they had a moment together. <3

I truly recommend this show to everyone out there looking for a good korean drama to watch! Secret Garden will really take you to a wonderful world!

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