Thump-thump

After a disappointing "I picked up a star on the road", also a kdrama in which Sung Hoon is the male lead, I rewatched My Secret Romance. It has been one of the first kdramas I watched and it will remain somehow special to me as this contributed to my addiction to kdramas.
It is a light drama with no real plot twists. What it makes special is the excellent couple match (I do hope to see them as a couple again in the future) and the love scene in the beginning of the drama which resulted in their first and last love. I liked it that Cha Jin Wook changed from a playboy into a young man not being afraid to express his feelings. Usually a woman is better in expressing feelings.
There are many sweet, hiccup moments. Pay attention to the subtle looks.

Park Shin Woon shines in his role as secretary Jang Woo Jin. :-)

Favorite lines: You can get loose now. At least in front of me.

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I can imagine that the story line is not everyone's piece of cake.
To me it was recognizable in the sense that I am married to a man with whom I have quite an age difference. Although, to my surprise, the age difference was not such a big problem to the parents as expected, I could fully understand the love couple's feelings and struggles. I have been in a similar situation. Being in love, having a joyful time together, but always having to face trouble returning home to my parents. It was really a difficult time and to be honest also something I do not forget. It was a time where you decide to break up, ... not...
So to me this was a special kdrama and I just the right actors to play the couple. I am anyway a fan of Son Ye Jin and the chemistry with Jung Hae In was super, although her chemistry with Kim Hee Ju in Personal Taste was also great.

I love almost all the music. It fits perfectly, although sometimes I had enough of listening to "Stand by your man" over and over again...

Before having registered at MDL, I had my own grading system. These are the grades which I applied and which have contributed to the overall score I gave to this drama.
acting M: 10
acting F: 9.5
couple match: 10
romance: 9
emotions: 10
story line: 9
watch back: yes

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Just watch it!

I like gender-bender and cross-dressing dramas, so I could not skip this one.
However, I think also when you are not a fan of such types of dramas, there is no way that you will not love it.
Classic drama with a great team of actors (you just want to be part of them), emotions which you feel yourself while watching and good choice of music! All made the story come to life!
Don't miss it!

Before having registered at MDL, I had my own grading system. These are the grades which I applied and which have contributed to the overall score I gave to this drama.
acting M: 10
acting F: 10
couple match: 10
romance: 9
emotions: 9
story line: 9
supporting cast: ++
watch back: yes yes

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It's a classical drama, so bear in mind that you are back in 2004.
It's a sweet drama. Do not expect an amazing plot. It's just a nice drama to watch, perhaps after you have seen a heavy one.

It is all in communication!

I very much liked Lee Wan, so I have also checked out his other performances.

Before having registered at MDL, I had my own grading system. These are the grades which I applied and which have contributed to the overall score I gave to this drama.
acting M: 8
acting F: 8
couple match: 8
romance: 8
emotions: 7
story line: 7
supporting cast: +

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After having seen Snow White with Lee Wan, I checked out in which other dramas he was acting. Having read some reviews, I decided to go for Tree of Heaven. I regretted though that I read too many reviews. It would have been best to be fully taken by the plot. I will therefore not reveal anything. Just that it is surely worthwhile watching! However, bear in mind that this drama is from 2006, so be a bit open-minded.

Great acting of Lee Wan! Amazing change after the jump in time. Still wonder whether it was recorded later as he looked really more mature.
Also in general great acting of Park Shin Hye, although at one point I was a bit annoyed about the - to my opinion - too many tears.

Before having registered at MDL, I had my own grading system. These are the grades which I applied and which have contributed to the overall score I gave to this drama.
acting M: 9
acting F: 9
couple match: 8,5
romance: 8,5
emotions: 8,5
story line: 9
watch back: yes

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I think for always in my top 10

This Kdrama is the reason why I am hooked up with Kdrama and even after having rewatched it several times, it remains one of my favorites. I cannot help it. I like the acting, the actors (main and supporting) and the overall story.
I love the sweet clumsiness of the female lead, the way the love and caring develops during the story, the special friendships between the several characters and not to be forgotten the great house.
It is a good drama to get into the Korean world and culture. I had to get used to the endings of Kdramas though...

Before having registered at MDL, I had my own grading system. These are the grades which I applied and which have contributed to the overall score I gave to this drama.
acting M: 10
acting F: 10
couple match: 10
romance: 9
emotions: 9.5
story line: 9
supporting cast: +
humor: +
watch back: ++

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First drama to skip episodes

Mwa... I expected more of it. This has actually been the first kdrama of which I have skipped episodes. The female lead was kind of annoying to me. No offense, she was just following the script...lol.
I think I skipped like 3 episodes. As of episode 7, it was okay and the story got my attention again.
I have seen several kdramas with Sung Hoon as the male lead. Personally I do not find him attractive, but somehow I do have a weak spot for him, most probably because of his performance in My secret romance, one of my first kdramas.
His acting is not really impressive, but I hope to see him one day in a drama with more depth in his role.

I liked by the way the reference to My secret romance. After the disappointment of this drama, I started to rewatch it. So also something came out of this kdrama :-)

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1% of anything or something about 1%?

Initially I was looking for Something about 1%, but could not find a site to watch it for free. I ended up with the original 1% of Anything. As I usually prefer the original version, I did not mind at all.
Lee Jae In is boyish cute and in a classical drama being a jerk means like yelling a lot. For the rest he was not a complete jerk, I think. I like Kim Da Hyeon's independence and being persistent to keep her independency also after her marriage. She is a strong woman. She was supportive to Lee Jae In's decisions, however, also sometimes overruled, I would say (although she did it out of love...).
The kdrama is not only about the romance between the two lead actors (Lee Jae In and Kim Da Hyeon), but it goes beyond this. Also the supporting cast has its own story with its own end. I liked the several story lines, however, as each story got its own proper ending, this made the drama at one point a bit boring. I was about to put it on hold.
At one point I also found the remake and started to watch this in parallel.
Something about 1% had a more compact story line and therefore less episodes and focused more on the romance between the two leads. And then I started to miss Kim Da Hyeon's family :-), so in the end this persuaded me to also continue with the classic version.

As both have different positive and less positive points, I will give the same grade (so for different reasons).

Ah, and to me Byun In Chul is THE grandfather of kdramas! I hoped that he would also have been the grandfather in the remake.
I am also still searching for the song Chut Sarang on Spotify. Cannot find it :-(.

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Deep love

Okay... heavy stuff.
In the beginning I had problems with the storyline, did not really get a grip of the strange relationship between Shin Joon Young and Noh Eul. Eventually though I thought it was a really special relationship with deep love.

Heavy story, good acting.
I 'knew' Kim Woo Bin from Heirs and was curious to see him in a lead role. He did not disappoint me, I must say.
I liked Bae Suzy in this drama more than in While you were sleeping.

But hey... I was a mess after having finished this drama! I am always really part of the story, like really being in there, and I needed some time to recover. After having watched this, go for a light drama!

Before having registered at MDL, I had my own grading system. These are the grades which I applied and which have contributed to the overall score I gave to this drama.
acting M: 10
acting F: 9
couple match: 9.5
romance: 9
emotions: 10
story line: 9
supporting cast: +
watch back: yes

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I write this review after I have watched it more than half a year ago.
It is a political drama and I watched it when I still was rather new in the Kdrama world. Sometimes I had to rewind to read the subs again and to understand all intrigues and get a better hold of the plot.

I expected more of the romance. Apart from some sweet scenes, this was inferior to the relationship between Kim Je Ha (Ji Chang Wook) and Choi Yoo Jin (Song Yoon Ah). Hate, love, respect.
Song Yun Ah is a great actress in this Kdrama. I have to check out other dramas in which she is acting.
And JCW is just always cute and I like his action scenes. But in general good performance in this drama.

Before having registered at MDL, I had my own grading system. These are the grades which I applied and which have contributed to the overall score I gave to this drama.
acting M: 9
acting F: 7
couple match: 7
romance: 8
emotions: 8.5
story line: 9
supporting cast: +++
watch back: yes
As an average I would give an 8, but because of the amazing performance of Song Yoon Ah, I add one point.

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